Happy New Year

2010 has been an exciting year for the Krehbiel-North family. We’ve had lots of great opportunities to play music. Theresa stepped up to take over scheduling bands for the local farmers’ market, and she and I played there several times. We also joined a new dance band called The Funkship Columbia and played gigs to appreciative audiences in The Dalles, Mosier, Bingen, and Hood River. The theater we’ve been remodeling was finally ready for a concert (maximum legal occupancy 100!) and we threw a music bash with many local musicians, including a revival of our old favorite band, The Family Joules.

Rory and Jasper also continued their music development and performing. Jasper played violin at the Unitarian Church several times and Rory, after having played clarinet for just a month, played for the Solstice service.

Rory got over her fear of singing ‘in front of people’ long enough to perform a duet from Wicked with her friend, Martha, at a local talent show. She also performed in Spoon River Anthology, Robinson Crusoe and Tartuffe. Both Rory and Jasper performed in a production of A Comedy of Errors with the local homeschool group.

Rory continues to dance ballet and has added jazz dance to her schedule. Jasper joined a Lego robotics group and his team took second place. Now they’re busy getting ready for the state competition on January 16th. He also really enjoyed playing soccer this year.

Besides working on the theater, I’ve been working in various emergency rooms in both Oregon and Washington (Hermiston, OR, and Goldendale, White Salmon, and Ilwaco, WA). I’ve also been working on a limited basis at La Clinica del Carino in Hood River. Theresa has continued to teach ESL and work on her many projects: Peace Fellowship, Transition Towns Committee, and Local Currency.

We travelled to Charleston, Ill in May for a surprise party for my Mom’s 75th birthday. I’m not sure she’s over that yet. Then we had a Krehbiel family reunion in Divide, Colorado in August, which was great fun until the altitude got the better of J.K. Next time we’ll choose someplace at sea level!

Finally we spent several days on a houseboat in July and then went to a “Bavarian” village in Washington after Christmas

This year we’re planning to begin building a house, so wish us luck.

Here’s wishing you health and happiness in 2011,

Rod, Theresa, Rory, Jasper and Inka