Life, lately

From last weekend's annual McPrince carving party

My friend Quentin recently tipped me off to a good, little-known Portland band called Dolorean that I've been listening to a lot lately. Good stuff for this time in life, at this time of year, as the last of the leaves pile up and the mornings turn from crisp to see-your-breath cold. Just this week I started having to scrape my windshield in the mornings before leaving the house.

For tonight, though, forget the chill. Amy's upstairs in bed and here I sit, curled up with Wiley, sipping a stout called "Old Viscosity," listening to what one reviewer calls the "ambient folk-rock" sound of Dolorean's three albums - "Not Exotic," "Violence in the Snowy Fields" and "You Can't Win." It has me thinking about something Q sent me in an e-mail about the next album the band's lead singer will be working on. The note, taken from their site, reads as follows: " 'The Unfazed' will be an austere affair focusing on turning 30 years old, growing up, giving up, finding unbelievable happiness in being honest with the people around you and living very simply.' "

Amen, brother.

Last weekend we had, as pictured above, the annual McPrince Halloween carving party. It was a reminder in the inevitability of growing up. It was fairly austere, too - Amy limited her cooking to chili and a tasty bread pudding. Amy and I dressed up as the ghosts of this 100-year-old house's past, playing off the way-too-new slab of concrete oddly placed in our 1907 garage. (She was the dead wife; I, the shovel-wielding dirtbag husband. Maybe Susan can shoot us a copy of the "American Gothic"-esque picture she snapped, or maybe we'll get another shot tomorrow night if we re-create the spectacle for Hugo's legendary neighborhood party.) When we started our little party three or so years ago, it was all big people. Now, I swear, the little ones are soon to outnumber us. Wiley was surrounded and overwhelmed. And, I think, quite happily exhausted by the end of the night.

Back to that quote, though. I'm not one for giving up; Amy would be the first to vouch for how that stubborn-as-a-mule Prince streak will likely preclude that from ever happening, in damn near any capacity. But I am, in a sense, finding ever more enjoyment in living more simply and directly. Being healthier, more balanced, settling down to a greater extent. As my friend Casey noted yesterday, domesticated life ain't half bad. In fact, it's pretty damn good.

Along those lines, we hit a barn dance on Sauvie Island last weekend with fellow Vancooters the Robinwoods and honorary ex-pats the Nieloways. Their wee Anna was a delight all the while, whether the gang was gathered around a big bonfire or two-stepping to the always-entertaining tunes of Lisa and Her Kin.

But enough about the week past. The one to come has potential to bring big - exciting and crazy - change, too.

Or, to again quote the boys from Dolorean: "They all told me at different times to go ahead and go all the way into that feeling and try to come out on the other side. As the project wore on I eventually did, and the sentiment of "You Can't Win" changed drastically. Instead of the frustration that I was feeling early on there was a renewed appreciation of hard work, a belief in the complexity of love, and a newfound joy in creating..."