Seasons

Floating...

Drifting...

Mud crutches

A young robert zimmerman once said, 'you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.' Even earlier, he also said, 'a hard rain's a-gonna fall.' Essentially, zimmy's treatise was this; rain will come and your beloved meteorologist cannot be trusted to tell you exactly when that will be.

I don't believe i'm putting words in the mouth of dylan.

Maybe i'm speculating only slightly, but when i woke up on tuesday morning and decided to take the family on a trip to brown county state park, i hung a whole lot of hope on the accuracy of my local weather forecasters.

This is not the face nor hair of a man thinking rationally nor realistically.

After a drizzly drive south and a scenic picnic from the confines of our car, the whole family took a hike down our favorite stream. Despite the light rain there ain't alotta water flowin over the limestone.

After a brief turkey chasing excursion, we moseyed on into the hustlin, bustlin town of nashville for a couple of homemade waffle cones. We continued on our stroll and happened upon this quaint destination...

Haunted wedding chapel or theater of the dead?Just minutes from continuing our journey homeward, we stumbled upon what might be the single greatest find of our travels this week outside the sausage wagon in bargersville...

Ol' jonesie's really trying to sell it with that tagline.

We decided to take their word for it.

Chill cuz

Olivia made her first trip to the mighty fort of wayne last weekend.

Not only was this her first journey to her mother's homeland, but it was also her first overnighter outside the rockey home since her departure from the hospital of her birth. Upon arrival, she was greeted with a portrait rendered by her cousin megan (girlfriend really nailed those bright blue peepers, eh?).

As one can tell, olivia and megan enjoyed some endearing nonverbal exchanges...

Megan's brother kyle is completely enamored by olivia - particularly her little feet. He'll just sit and look at her and laugh and point out the bubbles she makes. He seems just as infatuated with her as anyone. He held olivia's attention fairly well too. Perhaps it was the canine costume which he paraded around in for the better part of the evening.

Our girl's already up to just under nine pounds. After a decent night of eating and falling swiftly back to sleep, so far today there has been very little keeping her satisfied. We do believe a growth spurt is on its way. She just cannot get enough to eat.

Here's what baby girl's been rockin out to today...

We got some things to get done.

They are as follows:
-Lick this logo
-Help a sister out
-Make a modest buck
-Take a chill pill
-Ride the dragon

Holler if you feel me.

Pumpkin patch particulars

Tuesday morning (approximately 10:00 am, which is actually quite early for us these days) we skipped town with our friends chris, amy and bella to the booming metropolis of trafalgar, indiana. Trafalgar is the home of one Apple Works, an immaculate apple orchard which features a country store, petting zoo, super slide, bamboo maze, pumpkin patch, disco parlor, iced cream farm, monkey-go-round and a salad bar. They have a wonderful balsamic vinegar.

These dudes are serious about their snacks.

The final destination during our Apple Works visit was the pumpkin patch. Apparently, there's been a shortage of hay what with the economy and all. Therefore, we were left hayrideless to find our own way down the twisted gravel road which ended at the fabled patch of gourds. Fortunately, from in the distance, a gigantic, apparently angry pumpkin called us forth to gather up his kin for our own.

Olivia had a decidedly delightful time as she searched high and low for the perfect pumpkin to take home with her. She could not contain her shrieks of absolute joy from erupting uncontrollably. It was an incredibly emotional traipse through this particular patch of pumpkins.

proper.

Diapers of diamonds

This weekend began entertaining the fantasy that our little olivia had produced a diaper full of diamonds. This happened to be untrue as we discovered those tiny diamonds were merely beads of super absorbent polymer commonly found in diapers. Miranda of course thought that olivia's pee had crystallized overnight, but i knew instead that our little girl was a diamond producing phenom.

Nope.

Just polymer.

On saturday morning, i had the joy of playing a completely acoustic, unamplified set of songs at the indieana handicraft exchange. It was fun to get out and play again while visiting friends and making new ones. I also got to sit in on harmonica with the half step sisters on their rendition of bobby dylan's 'you ain't goin nowhere'. Delightful time. Thanks to all who came out and showed support and bought some sweet handmade stuff.

In other baby news: Olivia is still adorable.

Today's tasks:
-mind the mustard room
-rock some chili and some d. johnston
-looooong walk
-explore other options for producing diamonds internally
-poop

You do the same.

The following is a paid political advertisement

How was our night you ask? Tacos by roscoe's and a small reunion of former stonegate personnel made it mighty fine indeed. A triple shout out to our girl wendy!

Late nights are when olivia gets to chill with daddy. And by chill I mean chug a couple ounces of soy peppered with a healthy dose of burps and bellyaches. It's hard to resist when she burns a hole through your soul with those baby blues. Consider my heart fondue.

Activity for the home viewers:
Congratulations to mr. andrew who was the only participant and therefore by default the winner of the last create-your-own-adventure montage. His winnings were not, however, unmerited. His story will be published in a future post. Mrs. fields is waiting for you sir.

Here's this weeks create-your-own-adventure montage. The winner receives a surprise. Step up to the plate y'all and tell us what's goin on in this series of dramatic photographs...

We interupt your regularly scheduled blog posting for this important bulletin:

Don't forget to come out to the second annual indieana handicraft exchange at the harrison center for the arts in downtown indianapolis this friday and saturday. Your own joel rockey will be sharing a set of handmade songs, tee shirts and digital music discs on saturday morning at 11:15 am. The harrison center for the arts is located on the corner of 16th and delaware in beautiful downtown indy.

Later in the evening, my pal katie basbagill has an opening reception for a showing of her photographic work at B-Java. More live tunes.

In other news:

Just over the horizon is the fabled return of a rockey home companion's beloved podcast known affectionately as the aural supplement. To satisfy your appetites in the following days, I will be posting links to previous episodes for downloading and trading with your friends.

Podcast Archive: Episode 9:
The ground grows colder by the hour as we construct our masks and ask to devour the candy corn cobs turning to dust in the wake of Autumn's final gust. Chilled to the bone, guest host Senor Hector LaVeta tempts the recesses of your ears with hallowed tones of excitable stones being thrown in the dark of night.

MP3 Download: Episode 9

Cheers!

Your daily dose of daddio

In between tummy time and diaper changes, mom and dad delivered some delicious duds for all the cool cats and chicks who like to sport whimsical drawings of feathered string vandals on their chests. Look for a few of these for buyin at the handicraft exchange performance this saturday.

The boss, the band and bob kept us groovin while our squeegees were movin.

The weekend was full of grampas, grannies, cut grass and chinese. Help is nice. As is food.

We were just about to call it a night before getting that ever expectant ring from brother nelson. An inquiry regarding a tee shirt order turned into a evening of good convo and sweet za. We are mighty blessed with some mighty amigos.

Ana got in some practice by consoling miss olivia while miranda bestows our guests with some baby stories. Note the glared photo by zb chillin overhead. Miss olivia wasn't quite so sedate earlier in the evening....



Meanwhile at The Mustard Room...

Crankin out some long sleeve tees for the folks at iupui thanks to some return clientele. As pictured, brother nelson was left to fold tees a second time. It may be time to think about puttin him on the payroll.

Spewing forth

Yesterday's shirt count:
3

Today's shirt count as of 11:00am:
2

When will daddy learn to burp olivia over a burp cloth?
Still to be determined.

Enjoy this challenging new short film by up and coming filmmaker hector laveta. After viewing it nine times in the corner of a darkened room i've come to question my own sanity.

Be ye warned.

Couches, cookies & the company dime

We won't discuss want went down last evening. Let's just say that today has been much better. I'm typing away on a new toy/business expense while my two lovely ladies lie silently on the sofa.

It is currently five minutes after 3 in the afternoon and we've yet to leave the house. Just chillin with some chicken lasagna. Olivia seems to need some olivia time kickin it on the floor. I keep forgetting, she's only been on the planet for five weeks and it's likely she still needs time to take all of this in...

Hang tight my dear, there's a whole lot more to come.

Now for an activity you can enjoy at home:

Create your own story for this montage of photos taken a couple weeks ago during our trip to ikea in west chester, ohio with our friends Rachel and Claire (not pictured). The winner receives a cookie from mrs. fields.

Go get em kids!

Slim pickins

Let's just begin by saying, I stumbled upon some much needed sleeeeeeeep overnight. I am sorta-to-well-rested with a trail of half finished projects left in my wake. All unintended puns aside, I presently sit in the mustard room typing between a cool breeze and a hot cup with an optimistic outlook upon the unfolding day.

Yesterday's givings were rife with good vibes, friendly furrow voices, toasty cheese and comical situations over chocolate covered pretzels and rum. Watch out for those pretzels, they'll come back to haunt you. Also, revelations continue to abound. One particular discovery is that olivia apparently wants to eat not just eight to twelve times a day, but instead always times a day. We continue to trudge forward in apprehensive glee with the occasional soy-based supplement on the side to give mommy a chance to catch some much needed and overdue sleeeeeep.

While picking some of the last of summer's bounty for lunch, I spied this love among the ruins. Despite his ancestors, the little purple pepper that could reluctantly emerges forth beneath the warmth of the autumn sun. We'll try to keep a closer eye on this guy.

More from the digital/analog catalog. Definitely feelin the mellow as of late. I'm starting to think that mr. simon's self titled solo album might be one of my favorites of all time this week. There we go...

Assignment for the day:
What are your top 5 favorite self-titled albums this week?

1. ________________


2. ________________


3. ________________


4. ________________


5. ________________

Alright, your lists are due by midnight next friday morning.

I'll be chillin with the flamingos

Land of the free and home of the voodoo cowboy

Wednesday turned out to be, not so much less productive per se... let's just call it a different kind of productive. There were lessons learned and unlearned. Let's run through a brief recap:

-breakdowns = breakthroughs
-revelations in song + voodoo cowboy (more to come)
-fatter lines
-papas fritas
-prayer circle
Whilst digitally groovin on pictured records in no particular order, the space cowboy himself revealed to me the musical inspiration for wilco's posthumous collaboration with mr. woody guthrie on the whimsical number, 'hoodoo voodoo.' This song holds a particularly special place in my recorded music timeline as it was included on one of the - if not THE - first mixtape which I crafted for my then-girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife. Why did this musical similarity just recently occur to me and what significant role does this revelation play in the upcoming presidential election? Stay tuned. We'll be back after this message...

So, you love downloading rare and hard to find music by your favorite artists, but hate the fact that sharing music of any kind is 100% illegal? Feel trapped by the tight grip johnny law has on yours and your friends' record collections? Do want change? REAL CHANGE? Well, if you pledge to vote for that change, regardless your political leanings, jeff tweedy and the boys from wilco promise you a free - yes, you hear correct - FREE mp3 download of a live performance of the bob dylan classic 'i shall be released' accompanied by fleet foxes! Just click on the VOTE button.

Need more? Thinking to yourself, that was a fine performance, but golly, now i'd really like to hear something from dylan himself? Well, look only slightly further! For a limited time only, mr. dylan is offering up a free mp3 download of a track featured on his forthcoming 8th installment of his bootleg series, tell tale signs. This six minute long outtake from the time out of mind sessions will surely have you and your kin begging for more.

You're welcome.

Today's agenda:
-anniversary blend
-flamingo, round two
-universidad burning
-free iced cream
-return to the office

I reek. Maybe let's see if we can't squeeze a shower in there somewhere.

Unarmed

agree to disagree.

My thrills and chills and spills

Well, it's fair to say that last night was one of those nights when emotions ran pretty high. After a couple of good nights, the clan decided to spend much of the night exercising our lungs. Nothing that a protein-rich breakfast of chicken embryos and english new-wave band squeeze can't cure. However, it does all lead me to wonder why our little peanut-shaped visitor chooses certain nights over others to deprive us of sleep.

Perhaps it's the comment I made just before bedtime about her soiled di
aper pail smelling like pretzels.

Regardless, the day began rather pleasantly with plenty of good feeding, sleeping and the occasional consolable crying. After a bit of silk screen preparation, we even paid a visit to our friends at greenwood's finest chinese dining experience, eggroll #1, for some takeout which we took to the park for a chinese family picnic.

...and ever and ever and ever! An obvious shout out to 'sailing' songsmith christopher cross forever immortalized on a picnic tabletop in greenwood, indiana. I'm starting a petition to have this recognized as a national monument. You can sign here X__________. I'll copy and paste as i recieve your signatures.

hunting and gathering.

Speaking of, today's tasks shall be as follows:
-consume more coffee
-run some tees through the ringer
-ice the proverbial cake
-speak of the pompitous of love
-keep a safe distance from pretzels

At ease.