;)
Yesterday, I drove into Anchorage to visit a friend who had come down from Barrow for medical care. Afterward, in the early evening, I stopped by to visit Kalib and Jobe, who had just returned home with their mother.
Not long after I arrived, their dad pedaled up on his bike, home from work. He stopped at the mailbox, then looked up a Kalib, who was looking at him.
;)
The two greet each other.
Lavina was amusing Jobe.
;)
As he waited for his dad to get situated and come in, Kalib decided to give Jobe a hug.
;)
Kalib can get a little rough, but Jobe didn't seem to mind.
;)
He pushed it to the edge.
;)
Then Kalib needed a hug from his mom.
;)
It turned into a rather nice group hug.
;)
Dad came in and took a seat on the floor. Kalib jumped onto his lap to play. As noted, Kalib can get a little rough.
;)
Dad gets rough right back.
;)
Just a bunch of ruffians!
;)
They invited me out to dinner at Taco Kings, so Kalib and I headed to the car so that he could ride with me. It was growing dark, darker than it looks in the picture. I had to push my ISO to 6400 and shoot slow shutter speeds.
;)
Kalib and his blanket.
;)
Kalib prepares to jump.
;)
Dinner at Taco King. I had a bowl of chicken soup, chips, and water.
;)
Then I brought Kalib and Jobe home with me. Jobe fell asleep right away. I kept thinking that Kalib had fallen asleep, too, but every now and then I would hear his little voice rise through the dark, "bus! bus!" Kalib loves buses.
I had the radio tuned to KSKA, to a program where they play contemporary music from around the world. As we drove through the dark, they played a Ladysmith Black Mambazo rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." It begins with the roar of a lion, and then the soothing voice of Ladysmith speaking as though to children, telling them a story, as the choir softly sings acapella in the background. Then she sings the song... "hush, my baby, the lion sleeps tonight..."
As I drove through the dark Alaska night toward home with my little grandsons in the back seat, one asleep, the other looking for buses, the car filled with sweet sounds, spawned by grave danger, sounds from Africa.
At that moment, it seemed to me to be the most beautiful song that I had ever heard.
It was exquisite.
After I got home, I googled it and came up with three Ladysmith versions, including the one I had heard, which I link to here. I put my headset on and listened to it maybe five times, mesmerized. It is playing right now, even as I type.
I went to iTunes, hoping to purchase it and put it in my iPhone, but iTunes did not have it.
they will appear larger and look better
If go to the slide show and do not see a picture, but just a box that says, "thumbnail processing," click on it anyway and the first slide will appear. This is just another Squarespace aggravation. Hopefully, within the next few days, Squarespace will finish processing the thumbnails and the pictures will appear. With Squarespace, you never know.