Uncommon Ground, Cleveland and Hoot, oh my!

We've been busy. Dan has played loads of shows, before and after our Thanksgiving in Cleveland. Work has been slaying and I have been making loads of toys and goodies for sale on etsy.






The Prosperity Social Club in Cleveland knows how to decorate for the holidays. They might have officially tripped off my holiday cheer.




Handsome Dan bookends. November and early December were lovely.

More Cleveland Thanksgiving

So, if we're lucky during the Bardsley Thanksgiving in Cleveland, Dan and his brother have a hootenany for the rest of the family. They both have upsettingly beautiful voices and they often do this performance that mixes a perfect blend of pretty, heart-rending and the dumb/funny that twins inspire in one another. There are few things better than them playing together. And we lucked out this year.

So here are two videos taped on my crappy camera at a family party--which explains the coffee house chatter. The first song is them not getting through Rocky Mountain High, but not getting it through it in the funny way they have. And the second song, "My Favorite Chords" by the Weakerthans, Dan recorded a version for me for my birthday, so when he looks up and smiles at the moment in the song that goes "it's such an enormous thing, to walk and to listen". . . that's for me, or maybe, really, for me and Dan.

It's okay to be jealous of any of this . . .

Bad Blogger! Bad!

I have fallen woefully behind here. But it's been so busy. Thanksgiving in Cleveland and Amy's little sweatshop kicked into high gear for Renegade (which I was only physically able to do one day of. . . so a bust after all that work, but that story to come in later posts as I get caught up).

But first Cleveland! Which is so much fun every year--Turkey Day with Dan's people, hanging out with Susan and Tony and Karen and the Brother's Phillips. Dan is a twin and that's especially fun. No one tickles Dan quite like his brother Scott does. They have a slightly different funny than the rest of the world.

But here were some of the sites.

The Westside Market. I make everyone go every year. Eventually, folks are gonna say no and I will have to go alone, but I desperately want one of these in Chicago. A huge market filled with independent meat and bread and cheese and chocolate and crepe, and tea and coffee and herb vendors. It's open a few days a week and all of the food looks 100% better than what's available in the grocery store. If we had one of these in Chicago, I wouldn't shop for meet anywhere else.

Plus the building is unbelievably beautiful.