This past week seemed to go on forever!

Was it just last Sunday that I was preparing Monday and Tuesday’s seminary lessons?  What all happened this past week?  Well….

“Gunner”, my Volvo, these past two weeks or so, had occasionally not wanted to start right away.  Every time, however, I just had to turn the ignition a second time, maybe give it a teeny bit of gas, and it would be fine.  Monday morning, though, I got the distinct impression that I was going to have to look into this problem sooner than later and I called Steve on my way to Oakland to give him this heads up.  (I have still not resumed my walking to and from Oakland because my Achilles tendon still has some bad days).  And, sure enough, after I ate some lunch and took a little nap at home, it just would NOT start at all.  And I had to teach at Rock Bridge in an hour!  Thankfully, Steve answered his phone at work and thankfully, he could come get me and thankfully, I was only about five minutes late for my class.  The sound Gunner made was not what I was used to hearing with a dead battery so I was just sure it was a starter.  But, after we had to towed Tuesday morning to Walt’s Repair, that is exactly what was wrong.  Now, mind you, it was an EXPENSIVE battery. Yeah, I know, Volvos run around in higher circles than most cars.  But, I am so glad he is Mr. Reliable again.  And I am grateful for Sarah and Steven who helped with rides for Steve so I could have a vehicle for everywhere I had to go for two days.

RTO had a rehearsal Monday night.  I went to a CCO friend’s get-together on Tuesday evening.  We have STILL not started our fall rehearsals yet.  Our conductor is STILL in Europe!  So we poor musicians just don’t know what to do with our free Tuesday nights this month.  Wednesday night I put together gig bags and Thursday night I did finances.  Friday night, Steve and I watched an old 1944 film called “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” that really could have used some editing.  I guess it was made to be more of a “feel good” film for people weary of being at war than to tell a good story. 

Sadie got groomed on Wednesday.  Wow, she always looks so different afterward.  Smaller.

I helped Sarah do some of her moving on Thursday.  Right now, she is living in that “between-places” limbo during a move, poor thing.  She still seems to be on track to be completely out of the Lamb’s place and into ours by next weekend.  We took a load of furniture to her storage unit and I helped her organize where to put everything.  It is small but it will work.  We also delivered a love seat out to Tyler Phillip’s parent’s home in Sunrise Estates.  He has agreed to keep this couch for Sarah until she gets her own place again.  I'm not sure how his mom feels about this, but I guess that is not my worry....  It has been so many years since I have been in Sunrise Estates.  Brought back LOTS of paper route memories.  And memories of our friends who used to live there.  I had to take a photo of Steve and Moana Burn’s house.  The ONLY way I was able to recognize it was the garage added to the front.

Saturday was a full day.  The St. Louis temple is still closed so we drove to Kansas City to attend the 8:30 temple session.  We ate breakfast in the car on the way and lunch in the car on the way home because I had to get back in time to leave for an afternoon wedding gig in Hermann!  It takes exactly one hour to get to Hermann by interstate and then state highway.  The leaves are just thinking about turning so the view during all my travels that day was very beautiful.  I got home in time to grab a quick bite of dinner before I went to the church for the Women’s Broadcast.  I was pretty tired last night.  

Weather has turned warm again and the AC is back on.  Indian Summer.  I visited the YSA branch for meetings today.  They released Bruce Barrett as branch president and sustained Doug Moore.  Mark Burris will be one of his counselors as will David Bergin.  We are resuming our "cookies" tonight and having the Fletcher family in our ward over.  

So, nothing earth shattering went on this week.  It just was busier than recent weeks.  And I guess that is why it felt so long....

September 15-20

September is marching on to its end.  For most of the week, it was just regular old stuff. 

I purchased a simple orchestra arrangement of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” for my 8^th graders and I had to watch the music video (AND Weird Al’s parody video) to prep myself on the tricky rhythms.  Just in case you haven’t seen either one lately, here you go….

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsUXAEzaC3Q          Bad

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2mU6USTBRE          Fat

 My Netflix watch for the week was “Westworld” – a 1973 sci-fi starring James Brolin and Yul Brinner.  It was a VERY slow moving film and, of course, quite dated as far as special effects.  I would give it a 2 out of 5.   Kirsti, were you the one recommended it to me? 

Life got a bit full on Thursday when I started my day substituting in seminary and went immediately afterward to a district-wide secondary instrumental music teacher’s gripe-fest, er, I mean, meeting.  I am SO glad I only teach part-time because the full-time teachers really do have a huge load to carry.  Afterwards, and following a quick stop by home to let dogs out and back in, I had Rock Bridge orchestra.   Then, I drove home for two lessons and then drove BACK down to the south of town for an orchestra booster meeting and a late-night Gertrude, the cello, pick-up from her trip to Iowa. (see last blog).

Friday was just as full – another seminary day followed by Oakland orchestra and then Steve and I drove to St. Louis to help clean the temple that afternoon.  We were assigned to help with shampooing the carpets.  In the evening, we watched Noah, Quinn, and Lucy while Emily and Joe enjoyed a night out to celebrate their 10^th anniversary.   

 

After supper, we let the kids play on the trampoline a bit before baths, stories, and bed.

Steve agreed to watch “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (one of my favorite films) and to actually stay awake – which he did!  And he admitted afterward that he saw some merit to the movie and could understand why I liked it so much.  Thank you, Steve!

Saturday morning

Emily had a photo shoot in Illinois so Steve and I went with Joe and kids to Noah’s soccer game.  Since Joe is the coach, we had to make sure Lucy and particularly Quinn didn’t run onto the field (he loves his “dada” and his “woah”).  It was easiest to do this by taking them to a next-door playground.  It was brand-new and very cool and creative.  

  Look at the fun xylophone! 

 

 

 

 Quinn got a bit wet playing with this imaginative water spout. 

 

 After the game, we drove to a nearby community college where Parents as Teachers had collected a whole parking lot full of service and emergency vehicles and trucks.  Not only was there a fire truck and police car but big highway department trucks and trash trucks and a crane and an 18-wheeler and RV and school bus.  

 

Lucy is holding a little Instamatic camera (I had one as my first camera!). Emily found it at a flea market.  Lucy loves to "take pictures" with it!

 Notice Quinn is sans his blue jeans which he soaked at the playground fountain that grandma and grandpa let him play with - oops.

 The highlight was a police helicopter landing.   

 All three kids had a blast!

Steve and I left for Columbia around 12:30 and got home to some very happy dogs (thanks, Sarah, for taking care of them!) and to make raspberry ice cream to take to a stake public affairs committee get-together at 5:00. 

It was a very full 72 hours!  I haven’t even had a chance to play my cello to see how it sounds!  This morning, I worked on two more days of seminary lessons and I bathed Trissy.  She must have rolled in something because she reeked.  I also replaced an area rug that SHOULD have been clean but it, too, smelled.  One of the trials of having pets. 

Fall arrived this week

The leaves are still green but, brrrr, it has been chilly this week.  I got to turn off our AC and wear a jacket and I had cooked cereal for breakfast yesterday....all signs of fall

Here is the weekly update on Steve and me…..

Steve is doing better.  Mr. Kidney Stone (the size of a small pepper corn) left Monday afternoon.  Poor Steve.  I had a doctor visit on Tuesday morning – I finally decided that my right hand grip was not going to start feeling better on its own (it has been bothering me off and on for three years!) and I had also developed a painful Achilles tendon that has kept me from walking for exercise these past two weeks so that needed some medical attention, too.  I am waiting for a hand brace to arrive at the pharmacy and I guess there are also some shoe inserts to help the ankle.

We had some fun events to look forward to this week. 

Civic Orchestra has not started up yet – because our conductor is touring with his group, Alarm Will Sound, in Europe – so Tuesday night, Siri Geenen decided to gather some of her lady friends from orchestra and elsewhere for food and visiting.  There was a beautiful spread of food brought by everyone.  Mary Manulek is a cellist in CCO and she also has a gluten-free bakery business (her husband is celiac) so she brought some delicious things that I could eat.  After we were through stuffing ourselves, we watched a wonderful little documentary called “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life”.  It featured a Holocaust  survivor who was a professional pianist and still alive and playing at the age of 109. 

Sarah and I attended a painting session at The Canvas yesterday.  

 

 

 

 I guess you can tell where I will be putting my creation.  We both had a lot of fun.

Saturday evening, Steve and I had TWO dinner opportunities!  We started at a meal for members of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society here in mid-Missouri.  We enjoyed barbeque- mmmmm.  Then, we made an appearance at the Bear Creek Ward chili cook-off at the meetinghouse.  Both events were outside and by the time we got to the church, temperatures had cooled off quite a bit.  I had not brought a jacket so I was chilly and we left fairly soon after arriving. 

Saturday was a busy day because we also had our second RTO rehearsal.  My appearance on Radio Friends with Paul Pepper back in August brought two woodwinds to our ensemble.  They are sisters and one plays flute and one plays clarinet.  They have to be in their seventies but they still sounded pretty good on their instruments.  We also have a horn player from a previous Radio Friends appearance who has been quite the recruiter for our group.  She found another flute player as well as a trumpet player who plays fairly well.  It was a great rehearsal.

Speaking of instruments, Gertrude, my cello, is taking a road trip to Iowa tomorrow to visit a “cello spa”.  Mary, who I mentioned earlier in this blog, is from Iowa and she knows a luthier up there who is so good that many cellists from here in Columbia take their instruments to him.  Mary’s husband is going up to Iowa tomorrow for a few days and he was already taking Carol Elliot’s cello (she is principal cellist in CCO) so I am sending Gertrude to get a different bridge.  I had to have a new one put on about a year ago by a fellow here in town and it just didn’t sound the same when he was done.  We all think the reason is because he uses thicker bridges.  So, Gertrude is being fitted for a skinnier bridge – hopefully, she will sound like her old self again when she returns.

Steve and I watched “Divergent” Friday night.  Of the three post-apocalyptic films I have seen recently:  Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Giver, I have to say The Giver was the best.  It was certainly the least violent.  

That's all, folks