Day 35 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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The boys are back in action! Davis suggested a poem:

"Today's Challenge:

Write a six couplet poem about your day."

 

Davis wrote this piece:

"An Evening’s Couplets (March 12, 2018)"

 

I woke up to blowers of leaves and things, a bit peeved and blinking and dry

Took a shower so cold, it left me brazen and bold, facing forward determined and spry

 

A cortado “for here,” a quick glance at the news, to a meeting, I finally went

With some voice over guys (both warm, funny, and kind), that I hoped, for me, might represent

 

We drove up to Jasper, pretty much just right after, to see grandmama and grandpappy,

He teetered, she choked, but they laughed when they spoke, very old and yet still very happy

 

We stumbled through the lines and songs and try to stay on script

The writers come tomorrow and we are scared, but well-equipped

 

Rehearsal flies like time with wings, despite the songs of praise

The Spanish gospels sung off-key, an intoxicated craze

 

A day like this deserves reflection, so, at last, we do regroup

While Leeann cooks pasta around 11, and I sit and sip my soup

 

The bed calls out, and we pray to answer, if not now, then certainly soon

For our eyes are weary and we’ll sleep, in theory, quite well under crescent moon

 

 

Charles wrote this piece:

"March Couplets"

 

Roused reluctantly from a night’s sleep

Drove to work in the forest green Jeep

 

Worked the day with an unconscious dunce

And somehow failed to thank my lucky stars even once

 

Took deep breaths in the Hamakua wide open

Clipped ‘em in, zipped ‘em and stayed mostly soft-spoken

 

Took solace in the stories of a hillbilly named Vance

Recognized my L(if)e had begun with one hell of a chance

 

Went to the h(om)e of a family most endearing

laughed and loved over plenty of dear meet

 

Learned all the ways that we grow before birth

Took a deep breath, became on with the E(art)h

Day 33 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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For this week's a cappella challenge, Davis sent this one:

"Today's Challenge:

Pick a stray melody from your voice memos (under 30sec) and record it in the middle of a three-frame a cappella video. Send it to me and I'll do the same. Add top and bottom harmonies. Post it."

 

Here's Davis' piece with Charles' harmonies:

 

Here's Charles' piece with Davis' harmonies:

Day 32 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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Davis transitioned to Birmingham where he will be for the next few weeks, so the boys finally got their next challenge going.

Charles sent Davis:

"Today’s Challenge:

Just before you go to bed tonight, set out a cushion and a pen and paper. Sit in meditation for at least 5 minutes.

When it feels right, open your eyes and free write a short poem."

 

Here's Charles' piece:

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Here's Davis' piece:

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Weekend Challenge 8 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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After a busy week with a little less productivity, the boys reached out to their brother Kent for a weekend challenge.

Kent suggested:

"Write something inspired by the lake. Essay, song, poem, whatever. But about the lake"

This is presumably in reference to the house on Smith Lake in Jasper, Alabama they grew up enjoying every summer.

 

Here's Davis' song:

 

Here's Charles' Song:

Day 30 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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Back at it for another week! Davis kicked it off with this suggestion:

 

Today’s Challenge:

Write up a recipe of something you created and love to make and share it with me. We’ll post them on the website.

 

Here's Davis' recipe:

Simple Indian-Spiced Open-Faced Breakfast Sandwich (not vegan)

 

Ingredients:

 

2 slices of fresh bread*

2 eggs

cheese of your choosing (sliced thinly)

butter or Earth Balance

salt

pepper

paprika

garlic powder

red pepper flakes

cumin**

curry powder**

fenugreek**

coriander**

cinnamon**

avocado (optional)

sriracha (optional)

 

1.Toast slices of bread to desired crispness

2.Over a medium-high pan, melt butter or substitute. 

3.Crack two eggs into pan. Reduce heat to medium and allow eggs to cook until the edges begin to brown and are easily flippable.

4.Flip the eggs over, separating them if necessary, and reduce to low heat. Spread cheese evenly over the eggs and cover. Let sit for five minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

5.While cheese is melting, spread butter or substitute across the slices of bread. Spread optical avocado onto bread slices.

6.Remove cover, and quickly move eggs to each slice of bread. Add optional hot sauce. Season with spices to taste**. 

7.Enjoy!

 

Notes:

*Fresh bread will absolutely give you the best result. I often use baguette, sourdough, or a country white loaf from my local bakery.

** I used to make this with a since-discontinued Vindaloo Fire spice blend from Spice Mode. Get creative… whatever you have and whatever makes you happy!

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And here's Charles' recipe:

 

Eggy Potatoes (not vegan)

 

Ingredients (preferably organic/local:

 

10-12 small potatoes

eggs

Butter (or Earth Balance)

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Fresh Rosemary (optional)

Ketchup or BBQ sauce (optional)

Hot sauce (not optional)

Cheese (optional)

 

You’re also gonna need:

 

A mixing bowl

An oven

A stovetop

A pan for eggs

A baking pan

 

 

1. Chop potatoes into nice sized bites, no bigger than a ha’penny

2. Once the buggers are chopped up, preheat the oven to about 390-400°

3. Pour a bunch of oil on the potatoes and swish them around in the bowl until they’re all wet and oily

4. Generously salt and pepper those suckers. If you got the rosemary, say a little gratitude prayer for the leaves and then chop them up and sprinkle them in the bowl

5. Transfer potatoes to baking pan and leave it for approximately “a while.”

6. This is a great time to make coffee/tea or watch a Tiny Desk Concert.

7. Once the spuds are slightly golden on the outside, switch the thing to “broil.’ If you have the option, go “hi” not “lo.”

8. Melt the butter in the pan, crack some eggs, make ‘em how you like ‘em. I do “over-easy” where you crack it in there and wait til it’s golden brown on the outsides of the yolk and you flip it and reverse it. Don’t let it linger much longer. (Unless you’re in a hurry) 

9. This is a good time to shred some cheese on top of the eggs.

10. Once the eggs are done, the potatoes should also be done. Burning smell means they’ve been in too long. Every oven is different but if 70% make your mouth water when you open the over door, you good.

11. Put all of this on plates. Cover the eggs with hot sauce. This is not optional. Incorporating catsup or bbq or taco sauce or whatever for the ‘Tates is personal preference.

12. After a quick gratifood, kiss your wife and then hopefully you both turn into food vacuums.

Weekend Challenge 7 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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This weekend, we decided to keep it relatively simple and cover a song we really like but haven't given ourselves the chance to learn.

Here is Charles' cover of "What You Don't Do" by Lianne La Havas:

And here is Davis' cover of "Hard Times Come Again No More" written by Stephen Foster in 1854:

Day 14 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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Charles brought a big one to the table today.

"Today’s challenge:

Make an Index Card Story Movie.

Take a bunch of index cards and write a story.

Make a 1-2 minute movie holding the index cards up to the camera.

It can be funny, true, dramatic, factual, as long as it tells a story.

Also, choose appropriate music to score your piece."

 

Here is Charles' story:

And Davis' story:

Day 13 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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Davis began the week with a beautiful suggestion.

"Today’s Challenge:

Write a sonnet. 14 lines. a-b-a-b c-d-c-d e-f-e-f g-g format.

in iambic pentameter."

 

Here is Charles' piece:

 

"The poet sits before his moving screen

And here he types and tries to find the voice

Hidden within the time and rhyming scheme

But stunted by each every approaching choice

 

To simply put inside the blocks of words

An assembly of similes to convey his talent

Would sacrifice the flow for the absurd

And reveal that skill was something that he’d hadn’t

 

And yet the bastard spilled across the page

and worked his way into a passioned clip

His early lines he chocked them up to age

He trusted that the point would start to tip

 

And thus he’d found himself damn near the end

And told himself he’d have to try again"

 

And here is Davis' piece:

 

"

I walk and think ‘bout that which I have lost

The innocence and boyhood dreams I’ve known

I’ve grown into a man; and at what cost?

To be mature, and, to be sure, alone

 

When I was young, my dreams were open skies

Boundless as they boldly twist and turn’d

And now those dreams, I’m told, are distant lies

Isolated by the fear I’ve learned

 

I must defy the nature of this path

And so, my love, my dreams I cannot scorn

To pierce the shell of crippling terror’s wrath

And live the purpose for which I was born

 

I pray we crack the many masks of men

And birth anew our purity again

Weekend Challenge 3 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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Charles kicked the weekend off with this suggestion:

"Weekend Challenge:

Make an original beat using Garage Band. Avoid preset loops.

Send beat to twin and each twin writes on top of each other’s beat.

Beat due Saturday by Midnight.

Finished song due Sunday by Midnight."

 

Here is the song Davis made with Charles' Beat:

 

Here is the song Charles made with Davis' Beat:

Day 9 of The Year Apart (and Sometimes Not)

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Charles sent Davis this prompt:

"Today’s challenge:

 

Choose a song that is 20-60 seconds in length.

 

Do facography (choreography of the face) to the song.

 

Record it. Post it."

 

Here are the results!

 

Davis chose the "Interlude" from Ben Folds' 1997 project Fear of Pop:

Charles chose "Pig," the closing track from The Books' 2006 record Music for a French Elevator and Other Oddities: