Jazz at The Cooperage

For those of you who are unaware, I've moved back to the Mountain indefinitely. Some might view it as a step backward, but in this economy, I'm just thankful for a roof over my head. Considering I live in the middle of nowhere, there is never much going on, which is why I was thankful to get out for an evening in Honesdale.
Honesdale has no big claims to fame; and for all of those fans of The Office, I hate to disappoint, but Schrute's Beet Farm does not actually exist in our great metropolis.
What does exist, as of a month ago, is The Cooperage. It's a newly renovated building on Main Street that hosts a variety of events. The last Friday of every month there is a "Concert at the Coop," which stems from John Kascht, who used to have concerts in his chicken coop outside of town. As John said before the show, the benefit of the new facility is the fact that one no longer has to venture into the field to use the bathroom.
This evening I had the pleasure of seeing the Matt Hoffmann Quartet. It consisted of Matt Hoffmann on the vibraphone, Dylan Canterbury on trumpet, Mario Pietra on upright bass, and Sam Lester on guitar. Their set list consisted of "Lover Come Back to Me," "Dancing Sunbeam," "Creepin," "After Theater Jump," "How Deep is the Ocean? How High is the Sky?" "I Concentrate on You," and "Three Little Words." As is common in jazz, during each song, each musician had a solo. What's great about seeing Matt play, though, is the fact that he gets so excited about the music that everybody plays. One cannot go to a show and not hear him humming along to the tunes as he plays with an ever present smile on his face. The show was definitely the highlight of my day.

Wedding, Tick Tocks, and Storm Chasing

On Saturday I ventured up to Sayre to meet up with my brother. His roommate was getting married at the Calvary Baptist Church, and Nick kindly invited me to attend. In typical Muth style, we arrived at the church with five minutes to spare, parking in one of my brother's clinical instructors in the process. The ceremony was beautiful and I particularly liked how Pastor Kurt stated that love was first a decision, then a commitment, and then an emotion. After the ceremony we chatted with the bride and groom, along with the other members of the family. Being Nick's sister makes talking to people a lot easier because everybody thinks he is fantastic and want to get to know me because of that. We chatted with the Day's about their recent trip to England while we waited to see the newlyweds off.
The reception was held at Pine Cradle Lake. The route was lined with green helium balloons that my brother, Chip, and a few others had put up that morning. Nick of course still had the helium tank in his trunk to prove it. Since we were early, I sat outside and read a bit from Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and watched the caterers roast the pig for the reception. Nick and I sat at a table with one of his co-workers and Chip's former roommate. We chatted about comedians among other topics. I spent the evening enjoying the food, slice of cake, avoiding the bouquet, and dancing. It was definitely a great evening!
Last night I decided to have a beer, along with chips and salsa at Tick Tocks in Honesdale. Some of you may think that going back to the town isn't really worth counting as travel, but in typical Kayla style, I ran into some interesting individuals. As I was paying my check, a man in his 60s came over to me asking if I wanted to join he and his friend because a "beautiful girl shouldn't be sitting alone." I wasn't going to agree, but then he asked if I liked Jeopardy, so I opted to stay and chat. Little did I know that this chat would last an hour, but I really enjoyed myself. The man who invited me over was named Rich and apparently is a retired firefighter and police officer from the Bronx. He bought me a glass of cabernet and toasted me saying, "Here's to you kid." Any evening is complete with a reference to Casablanca! I met his friend Clinton, who apparently is the new owner of The Fireside. He was born in Brooklyn, but now lives in Tyler Hill. They were joking that the people with money are smart enough to live up on a hill as opposed to down by the river. Rich apparently enjoys kayaking and kayaks the Delaware River and the East River. I jokingly said I hoped that he hadn't come across any bodies, and of course he said that when he was at the beach once, he saw one floating for the lifeguards to retrieve. Clinton left, but Rich and I continued to chat. He apparently retired a year before the World Trade Center attack, but since he used to be a chief in Lower Manhattan, he knew 34 men that died that day, which led to alcoholism that he has since gotten under control. He said that his former driver on the squad left his wallet and keys behind because he assumed he wouldn't survive that day. This encounter taught me to always take the time to talk with my elders because they always have intriguing stories to share.
Today on my way home from work I could tell I was driving into a really bad storm. I actually felt more like a storm chaser than anything else. It wasn't nearly as bad as the weather I encountered in Denver two summers ago, but it was still crazy nonetheless. The skies blackened quickly, and the cloud formations were cone-like at times. Soon the pouring rain began and was almost blinding in spots. I could also see flashes of lightning in the distance up in Stroudsburg. Thankfully I made it home safely and in time for the season finale of NCIS.

Christmas Weekend: Trekking ~446 Total Miles to Visit Friends and Family

This Christmas weekend has been busier than usual for me, which wasn't a bad thing. I love driving, so it was kind of exciting to do so much traveling to visit with people. My fun started on Friday with a trip to Honesdale, PA, for a surprise going away party for my friend, Mark. He is moving to Chicago to live with a friend and work as a computer programmer. I came to town a bit early to run errands with Beth before venturing over to Mark's. It was great to see many old friends from high school again. I hadn't seen most of them since June or July, so I enjoyed catching up with everybody, including Cara, Mark, Shaun, Joe, Beth, Heather, and Allaina.

Following this little get together, I ventured back to East Burg to meet up with my friend, Teresa. I hadn't seen her since May, so I was really excited to spend time catching up. This visit to her house of course involved being poked and prodded by her mother who was wondering if "Flaca" has been eating enough. I also got scolded for not coming to visit, even though Teresa hasn't been home. Most of this discussion was of course in Spanish because her mom is convinced that I am fluent...the funniest part is that she'll talk to Teresa in English, who is actually fluent in Spanish. Makes me laugh every time. We relaxed watching a movie and talking about what we've been up to lately. Teresa also showed me all of the food that her mom had stocked up for her two day stay, which included a large leg of lamb that I was tempted to use as a club.

On Christmas eve, I ventured up to my parent's mountain in Galilee, PA. This was quite relaxing and involved eating, baking cookies, and a nap. My brother made it home for a tasty steak dinner before we all went to the Tabernacle Bible Church in Honesdale for the Christmas Eve Worship Service. It was very well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed the selection of hymns for the evening. Following the service, I promptly booked it back to my apartment in East Stroudsburg in order to meet up with Rhi and Seamus so that we could go to Midnight Mass at Our Lady of Victory in Tannersville, PA. I actually ended up traveling separately because I was dealing with some sporadic stabbing pains in my stomach. Thankfully it got to a point where it didn't get any worse, even though it didn't get any better for a time, so I was able to make it in time for the carols at 11:30pm. I was intrigued by the Catholic traditions that took place during the service, but I think my favorite part of it involved kicking off Christmas listening to the tolling of church bells. I made it home by 1:15am and I followed my brother's orders and opened my trunk to find my presents from him, which included a framed bag from when we went to Shakespeare and Company in Paris, a framed picture of East German soldier, Conrad Schumann, escaping to West Germany (he knows I love history), the book Choices, and a poster from the Switchfoot/Relient K concert we went to back in 2008. All around, some pretty epic gifts in my book. I then finished putting up the Christmas lights before Rhi, Seamus, and I all dozed off to episodes of Lock Up.

I got up around 8am to venture down to Hellertown, PA, in order to attend the Christmas service at Saucon Bible Fellowship Church. Pastor taught about how Jesus is our healing servant and that His birth and ministry fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah 53. After the service, I picked out two poinsettias to give to my mom before driving back to East Stroudsburg for a quick nap and to chat with Rhi and Seamus. Apparently they devoured all but three of the Christmas cookies I brought down from my parents, so I promised to steal some more for them. I finally made my way back to Galilee, with two brief detours in Honesdale. I decided to go up to Irving Cliff to get some pictures of town and I also stopped in Central Park to get some pictures. For those of you who don't know, the man who wrote the lyrics to the song Winter Wonderland, Dick Smith, was from Honesdale and it is said that his inspiration for the song was snow-covered Central Park.

I reached Galilee around 3:45pm and was greeted by my parents. We chatted a bit before opening presents. I was pretty excited for the toaster oven/rotisserie that my dad got me. I'm pretty stoked to try and cook a chicken now! About an hour later Nick arrived in his usual pre-zombie state. Being a nurse, sleep isn't always on the top of the list of activities. He opened his gifts and my dad tested out the RC helicopter he got. I was amused that he flew it right into the tree. Soon Anita joined us for a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and broccoli, which was followed by cookies and chocolate. We topped off the evening by watching the Packers game. All in all, a very busy Christmas weekend, but probably the most content I've felt in years, which is promising for me. Now it's off to rest my eyes and see what tomorrow brings. Possibly some indoor soccer, but maybe just a bum day on the couch.