A wonderful week!

Ah, the week of my birthday, Thanksgiving, family time, movie time, food, and friendship.

And I only had to teach on Monday – at Rock Bridge and three private students.  My sister Juli and Elise both flew in to St. Louis Monday afternoon.  Joe picked them up on his way home from work and took them as far as Ballwin.  Emily and the kids then brought them to Columbia that evening and we tucked everyone into bed all around the house.  It was nice to have a houseful again.  

 

 Noah got to help grandpa make cinnamon rolls Monday night (not gluten-free, sadly.  But Steve did make me some pumpkin muffins with streusel topping for my birthday breakfast)

Tuesday, my birthday, was spent visiting the Amish shops.  We spent way too much in the bulk baking supplies store.   

 

 Lucy, Quinn, and Noah enjoyed the swing outside the Amish quilt shop.

Everyone was present for my birthday dinner of pork steaks, baked potatoes, broccoli, fresh pineapple, and pumpkin cheesecake.   

 

 We watched “Edge of Tomorrow” (loved it) after Emily and the kids left for St. Louis. 

Wednesday, aside from running a few errands, baking pies and preparing other foods for Thursday and driving up to Lonnie Rays for lunch, 

 we just relaxed and watched TWO movies – the original “Walter Mitty” (very funny) with Danny Kaye and “Maleficent” (surprisingly good). 

Thursday was one of our more quiet Thanksgiving meals.  

 

 Emily and her family were in Alexandria, Virginia with Joe’s family.  Steven and Tamara ate with her family (her sister was in town).  And poor Sarah had to work ALL DAY. So, sitting around our festive table were just Steve, me, my sister Juli, Elise, Melanie, and Lizzie Crippen.  

 

 

I made the same amount of food that I usually do so we really have a lot of leftovers.  Every storage container was filled to the top and both refrigerators were packed to the roof.  We got to watch the parade and the first part of the dog show before  eating.  We watched "White Christmas" and "Home Alone" after.  And had phone or face time conversations with lots of out-of-town family.  

Friday, poor Sarah had to work all day AGAIN and Steven and Tamara had a state football championship game to attend (Battle High won state in Division 5 football) so it was just Juli, Elise, Steve, and me that drove to St. Louis to attend the temple and enjoy some festive St. Charles holiday celebrations.  We visited shops, ate dinner, and mingled with Santas and musicians in period costume as well as hundreds of other tourists.  This was just St. Charles - Part 1.  Part 2 will be on December 26th and will include Southerlands, and Merrills, and Lambsons, Jr. and Sarah, and Melanie.   

Even though Emily and family were gone, we stayed at their home over night on Friday since Elise had a very early flight back to Syracuse.  Juli's flight wasn't until 5:30 in the evening so we spent our day at the St. Louis zoo.  Weather was just perfect (in the 60's) so most of the animals were out enjoying the sunshine.  

 

 (map is upside down, Steve)

Juli's "must see" were the giraffes

I guess I need to see elephants - I sure took a lot of photos of them!

the ostrich on the left kept picking at the one on the right...

We walked all over the zoo so Steve and I were completely worn out by the time we pulled into the garage back in Columbia.  We unpacked, ate dinner, and then collapsed in front of the last movie of the week - "The Book Thief" (a perfectly beautiful film).  

It is back to regular life today and this coming week.  I hope your week was as perfect as mine!

Pre-Thanksgiving week news

I had a studio recital yesterday (I think it has been at least a year since I had one).  Here are nine of my fourteen “regular” students.  (If you want to count a lady who comes once a month about seven times a year, then I have fifteen.).  

 

 

 The big banner in the background is because we had it at a piano store that has a room dedicated to recitals.  They let me use the facility at no cost and the Yahama grand is marvelous to play. 

Steve and I went to St. Louis Friday evening  -  along with seemingly millions of other people that clogged I-70 at the same time (probably MU students going home for Thanksgiving).  Thankfully, there were no accidents to bring traffic to a complete stop but there were times when 10 mph was all we could go.   We made it to the 7:30 temple session and then spent the night at Emily’s.  We only stayed until 11:30 Saturday morning but, in that time, we helped Emily prepare for Noah’s birthday party that began at noon.   

 

He had a Minecraft theme so the shirt we gave him as a gift was perfect!

 

 

 Emily created this "punch" game (idea from Pinterest).  The kids punch their hands through the squares and get a prize)

 Joe made the "axes" on the table out of cardboard and duct tape!

 

 Noah's finished cake.

 

I am still sad about not teaching at Oakland Middle School but I am finding so many blessings having every morning open.  I am managing to fill my time with plenty of things to do; some related to Christmas gifts, some related to family history.  It gives me more time to be helpful.  The Oakland situation has also caused me to seriously consider my teaching future and I have officially decided to “retire” when Steve does.  I will finish the 2014-15 school year and be done with that chapter in my life.  Neither Steve nor I have a perfectly clear picture of what lies ahead these next few years (until he reaches 66 and can collect Social Security which will provide us with the additional income for a mission) but this decision feels like the right thing to do.

While we were in St. Louis, Emily and I watched “Quartet” while I helped her make little stuffed “creeper” toys to give to Noah’s birthday guests (see photo of punch game).  The movie was about the people in a retirement home in England dedicated specially for musicians.  I could relate to it on so many levels – musician, being old :)!   And, lately, I have been geeking on Star Trek.  Steve and I watched a documentary called “The Captains” where William Shatner interviews all the captains of the various Star Trek franchises.  It was quite entertaining.  With Sarah here, her Wii is hooked up to the downstairs television and I am watching Enterprise episodes when I have a spare 40 minutes and a project to do. 

I am really looking forward to this coming week!  Elise and my sister, Juli, will arrive tomorrow.  My birthday on Tuesday.  Making yummy food on Wednesday. Eating it on Thursday.  Going to St. Charles and St. Louis Friday and Saturday.  Yay!

November 10-16

The RTO had a gig yesterday at the VA hospital here in Columbia.  Here we are minus one violin player (our best one and first chair) and a horn and flute player.  I took this photo to buy some time as all three were running late.  Thankfully, they arrived shortly afterward and the "show went on" with a full ensemble.  It almost didn't go on at all because, up until Friday night, weather forecasts were predicting a 2-3 inch snowfall to start right at the time we were scheduled to perform.  We bumped our start time to an hour earlier and then, there was NO SNOW!  I had all that heartburn for nothing. 

Later that day, I went to an early dinner at Les Bourgeois Winery with Carol and Mary.  Both ladies play cello in the CCO and both have November birthdays.  Mary is my age, Carol is a year younger.  I had the most delicious "Autumn Salad" with grilled chicken!  We had hoped to watch the sunset over the Missouri River but, sadly, even if there was no snow falling, the skies were still covered with clouds.

I went right from there to RBHS with Steve to watch the fall musical "Curtains".  Ever heard of this play?  I hadn't. And, after watching it, I know why.  It was pretty forgettable - both the music and the story.  The pit orchestra often sounded like they were still in junior-high and it regularly drowned out the cast.  There were technical glitches - static microphones and, at one point, the house lights went up and the stage lights went down right in the middle of a duet.  Many of the vocal numbers were written in a really low key for some of the singers and all the songs just seemed to go on and on.  You know, the typical high school musical production.  But, last year's show was so well done that I guess I figured RBHS theater was always going to be above the norm.  Nope.  I have to hand it to the kids, though.  They did a great job with what they were given to work with.  The one bright spot was Bryce LaFond who really CAN sing and act and is just as handsome as can be.  I guess Rug Rats really can grow out of their crazy baby faces!

Friday night, Steve and I went to see "Interstellar" at the theater (thanks to almost year-old gift passes from Elise).  Wow, it was incredible.   I couldn't get to sleep that night for thinking about it.  I still can't stop thinking about it. 

The rest of the week was pretty average.  Steve had a rare Wednesday night free and we watched his November movie "The Family Man".    He and I visited the Moberly ward today.  On the way home, we saw that a teeny bit of snow had fallen the closer we got to Columbia.  It was just enough to make the ground muddy for Bones and Bacon to get really dirty tonight at dinner.

I had some bloodwork done in conjunction with my annual physical the week before and my cholesterol levels came back sky high!  I am now waiting to talk to a dietician because I really don't eat that much food that has lots of cholesterol.  We have had bitterly cold temperatures all week - hardly climbing out of the twenties - and there is no relief in sight for the next several days.   And that's the news for this week.

Autumn time

I took the Rock Bridge orchestra to hear the St. Louis Symphony on Friday.  It was called a "coffee concert" that started at 10:30 in the morning.  Unlike previous years when we attended short, hour-long "young person concerts", this was a full, two-hour performance and, instead of being attended by tons of school kids, this crowd was mostly old people - some REALLY old.  But, we heard some fabulous music by Sibeleus, Schumann, Grieg (his piano concerto), and Liszt.  And, they had free Krispy Kream donuts before the show! 

The kids were so great.  They loved the longer format.

(anyone recognize Savannah Kitchen above??)

 After the concert, we made a brief stop at the St. Louis zoo so the kids could eat their sack lunches.  We had hoped for a longer stay but only had 30 minutes. 

  I saw one of the students, Roman, kind of wandering aimlessly (he has some special needs) so I suggested he and I just sit by the fountain and eat our lunches since he had already told me he came to the zoo in the summer with his sister.  I didn't want to lose him in that brief thirty minutes.

 

 So, for 25 minutes, we ate and visited and enjoyed the beautiful autumn day.  Then, with just five minutes left, I started to visit with other students who had started to trickle back.  And, when we got on the bus and I called roll, Roman was not there!  I had LOST him in those five minutes!  Aak.    Fortunately, he didn't go far and we found him only after about 10 minutes of looking.  He had figured he wanted to see some animals and off he went.

It was a week of medical appointments - Monday was a mammogram and Thursday was my annual physical which included x-rays of my feet.  I have been having issues with my right Achilles tendon since early September and, while it doesn't really hurt any longer, it is still swollen.  So, the doctor wanted to see what was going on.  I haven't heard the results, yet.

Otherwise, it was just a regular old week.  My Netflix this week was "Who Killed The Electric Car?".  It was interesting.  Stupid big oil and auto industries!  It was grocery buying week.  We fed the sister and elder missionaries yesterday evening.  The weather has been just gorgeous.  I am loving this autumn.

Halloween 2014

Beckie came to Columbia on Wednesday before Halloween.  So exciting!  I prepared the room she would be staying in by trimming the crazy spider plant that was threatening to take over.  I have
never seen a spider plant send out tendrils like this, have you?
 

 

It was so fun to have her here.  She took this photo of me and the dogs. 

The dogs all loved having her here.

 

 Thursday morning, Sarah, Beckie and I enjoyed a walk in autumn loveliness on the nature trail behind our neighborhood.   

 

 

We ate BBQ from Lonnie Rays one night and Beckie cooked amazing roast chicken another night. 

Beckie wanted me to help her perfect her cake decorating skills so we created a “sincere” gluten-full and a gluten-free cake/pumpkin patch for Linus to await the Great Pumpkin.

 

We drove back to St. Louis Friday afternoon to be a part of the Southerland’s Halloween fun.  

 Quinn is a train engineer and Lucy, the owl, is blowing on a wooden train whistle.  She called Quinn "train boy"

 

 Noah is "Ender" from his favorite game, Minecraft.

 And look who drove over from Indiana!  

Steve and I returned to Columbia that night but Beckie and Julina stayed over so they could watch Noah’s soccer game Saturday morning.

Saturday afternoon, the Columbia Civic Orchestra stretched Halloween to another day with their Post-Halloween Concert.  I was a cello, using a costume I made YEARS ago, and my cello was a person.  Can you see the tuning-peg hat I am wearing?  And notice that my cello has yellow braids.

 

 By then,  Julina, Beckie, and the Southerlands had arrived at the house and Steven, Julina, Beckie, Noah, and Melanie all attended the performance.  We played some great music - Danse Macabre, Night on Bald Mountain, the March to the Scaffold and Witches Sabbath from Berloiz Symphony Fantastique, an overture from a 19th century vampire opera, and the funeral march from Beethoven's 7th symphony.  Five days later and I still can't get those tunes out of my head!

It was also a Stake Conference weekend so Steve couldn’t attend the concert due to meetings.  After the Sunday session, we all gathered at the house for a meal and as much visiting as we could get in before Southerlands took Beckie back to St. Louis so she could catch her Monday morning flight back to Hawaii.  Boy, it was so great to have her here.  And to have Julina come, too.  We sorely missed Elise and Kirsti  :(

 

 

 

 

 Tamara didn't want to be in the group photo but I captured her with Emily.

This is a cute photo of Noah helping Melanie pick up after a game of dominoes 

 

 Lucy explored our back yard in her elephant pajamas and pink cape.

 

What a great weekend! And, whew, I think I have caught up on blogging now….at least until this Sunday.