Keal Family Letter, April 2005

Hello Friends and Family! This is the April edition of the monthly
Keal letter. Spring has Sprung!!! at least here in Lenhartsville.
We've been highly enjoying the beautiful Spring weather lately. We've
made a Spring resolution to go on a 30 minute walk every day. I read
an article (Reader's Digest or something) that was saying that 3 hours
of regular exercise a week has the same (good) effects as
anti-depressent drugs. We've been going almost every day (except for
days when it's pouring rain) and loving it. Just outside of
Lenhartsville is a little road that runs right beside the creek. It
passes an old mill and a waterfall over a dam. It's a beautiful place
to walk, and it takes us exactly a half an hour to walk from our front
door to the most beautiful spot on that road and back. The walking and
the beautiful weather has been doing wonders for Tirah's post-partum
depression.
Cirdan is now 9 months old. He just started crawling within the last
couple of days. I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing a baby
crawl for the first time. He's like a little wind-up toy. The worst
of his teething seems to be over for now. He's got his four front
teeth in. Lately he's been his smiley, laughing old self.
We've been getting a little more sleep lately, except for the last
couple of nights when Thea had the throw-ups. But that seems to have
passed now, thank goodness.
Thea is talking more and more every day. She's using complete
sentences like "I think MeeMah is down stairs" and "I think Carl went
Bye-bye." Of course it sounds more like: "Ah dink Mee Mah eh dawn a
dits." but if you know the lingo you can hear it. (for those of you
who don't know "MeeMah and DeeDah" are my parents) She is also learning
many more numbers and letters. The other day we got her to say the
entire alphabet (with prompting for each letter). We've started using
a "Naughty Room" as a method of punishment. Our naughty room consists
of a gate closing off the area at the bottom of the attic stairs... a
very boring place to be. So far it's had good effects on Thea's
behavior, especially with her hitting Cirdan.
We got our monstrous tax refund, so we are in good shape as far as
financial survival goes, at least for a little while. Part of it is
going towards buying studio equipment for me... and I've already used
up my budget! One of the things I bought was a new Control Surface
and Audio/MIDI Interface. It will allow me to have physical control
over the functions of my music software (so that I don't have to use
the mouse all the time) and it has a huge number of microphone and line
and MIDI inputs (something I can expand into as my studio grows), and
also it is a Firewire connection to the computer instead of a USB
connection (Firewire is a much better connection).
Peter Genzlinger (who is my brother-in-law), and I are working on a
business partnership for my music career. Steve Simons (who is also my
brother-in-law) is starting a publishing company/record label with his
brother-in-law Alex. (That's a lot of brothers-in-law!) The four of
us had a business meeting not long ago to discuss me joining their
record label. It's all very exciting stuff.
Check my website (www.solomonkeal.com) for more updates about my music
career. Fairly soon my website is going to have a new look, designed
by Elise Simons.
Well, that's about it. Have a wonderful Spring day!... (if you are in
the Northern Hemisphere)
May the Lord bring you Peace.
Love from Solomon (28), Tirah (25), Thea (2), and Cirdan (9 months)
Keal.