This spring has been wonderful! So far, just warm sun and rain and no
frost. The front yard is covered in
daffodils and the fruit trees are beginning to bloom.
Last weekend was the General Conference, Easter, and a
visit from the Southerlands so blogging was not going to happen. Instead, I enjoyed watching two days of
conference and soaking up the peaceful spirit that it brought into our
home. I loved having Emily, Joe, Noah,
Lucy and Quinn here. Noah relished
showing everyone his Pokeman cards. Lucy
was potty training and fearful of Trissy and Bones. Sadly, I didn’t get a really good visit with
her this time but she had more important things to work on. I did get to hold her for a small bit just as
they were getting ready to return to St. Louis.
We admired the Shoupe’s blossoming Bradford pear tree. Quinn obsessed over Steve’s train set
downstairs. He was there every possible minute. He cried when he had to come up for
food. He sneaked down when no one was
watching. Just like his big brother at
that age.
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take a close look at the village. Quinn-zilla attack!
This is how we arranged the living dining room to better watch conference
Tamara, Emily, Sarah
The stake Easter cantata was last Friday with rehearsals
Tuesday and Thursday earlier in the week.
I was in charge of putting together a small instrumental group to
accompany the Hallelujah Chorus and Death Shall Not Be My Comfort. It included a string quartet and a flute and
clarinet. I was on cello, Savannah
Kitchen (daughter of the conductor and in the choir) was on viola. I recruited two very talented RBHS violinists
to play – Alice Yu and Joanna Yu (not related) and Alicia Taylor to play
flute. The problem was finding a clarinet. I thought I had found someone – another RBHS
student – who assured me he was available to be at both rehearsals as well as
the performance. Then, on Tuesday, it
was a 6:25 doctor appointment that prevented his attending. On Thursday, it was a previously scheduled
rehearsal with another group (which I was not made aware of until we were
actually in rehearsal!). Suzanne, the
conductor, and I were in a panic. Who on
earth could we get at such late notice?????Then, a young man in the choir, Sam
Guernsey, came up to me and said he could play clarinet for us. Huh? I
have known him all three years at RBHS and never seen him play in the
band. But, evidently, he played all three
years in middle school and has occasionally pulled out his clarinet since then. And, thankfully, when he played for me and
Suzanne after Thursday rehearsal, his tone was clear and lovely. In the performance, he did a terrific job and
the number sounded amazing. The whole
cantata went very well. And, I was
delighted to see that neighbors Norma Shoupe and Jan Murphy had accepted my
invitation and were in the audience. Jan
Fowler, the fine arts secretary at RBHS was also in attendance (Savannah had
invited her). The entire chapel and
overflow were full to capacity. Nice.
Steve has started to take mornings off from work on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays in order to use up his accrued vacation/personal leave
hours before his retirement on April 30th. “Use or lose” with those hours. It is a nice easing into full-fledged
retirement and I have enjoyed having him home.
He putters in the yard, works on family history, one day we went grocery
shopping. Today, we passed out flyers to
all 60 neighbors in Oakland Manor inviting volunteers to help in the Clean-Up
Columbia event this Saturday morning.
The only movie I have watched in the past week and a half
was Hundred-Foot Journey. Steve and I loved it in the theater and we
enjoyed it just as much a second time. I
finished East of Eden. What an
amazing book. I can’t wait to have a “book
club” with Emily and Beckie who both list it as their favorite book.
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