The Little Things

Recently Kaia and I made a whirlwind trip to Eau Claire for Easter. We were up and back in two days but we managed to bring our charcoal grill home with us. It's been almost two years since I have been able to grill a brat or a burger so within days of its arrival in Champaign (actually I think it was more like hours) I was grilling:

Right before Easter I made a beer. Somehow I managed to fit the brewing process in between dashing from gigs to recital rehearsals. This weekend we finally bottled the beer. The recipe is a clone of the New Glarus Spotted Cow (which is unavailable outside of Wisconsin) called "Speckled Heifer" that I ordered from Northern Brewer. It ended up tasting pretty good in the test phase: 

I can't wait until it's carbonated and chilled in the refrigerator.

Now that the semester is winding down I'm remembering what it is like to be a real human being. Things like hobbies and even the idea of a couple of hours of leisure time are beginning to sound not so far fetched. Grad school makes me feel inadequate if I'm not spending every single waking moment working on a project, a paper, or studying a score. Sometimes, though, you just have to stop and smell the roses (or drink the beer from the bottling bucket).