What we did this past week……

I seemed like mostly musical things…...

Sunday – it was the Columbia Civic Orchestra playing the Messiah but I already told you that last week.
Monday – I had to go to the doctor because I developed pink eye. Yuck. Now I am putting drops in my eye four times a day.
Tuesday – It was the Columbia Independent School Instrumental Music Winter Concert. I had three groups perform and the Advanced Orchestra really wow-ed the crowd – mostly because it was triple the size from last year. I attribute the later school start-time to the increase in numbers because we have to meet before school and no one likes to get up earlier than they have to just to play their violin. It also helps that all the violinists in this group play at the advanced level so they sound really good.
Wednesday – my adult string group – Carpe Harmonium – had their final class in the form of a recital/Christmas party at one of the member’s homes. Remember that we played at a nursing home last Saturday? We did exactly the same program and did so much better. Not sure why because this was in front of people we actually knew which would usually make someone more nervous?
Thursday – I spent all morning in a R.S. presidency meeting in Jefferson City but I got to stay home in the evening – wahoo! I worked on Christmas projects.
Friday – I was asked to play in a string quartet for the Smithton-Ridge Ward Christmas party. And, they needed me to play – get this – VIOLA! I only had one “cello moment” when I mistook a G for an A but, other than not being able to do vibrato, I did OK. Plus, Steve and I got a free meal out of the deal. That is always a good thing.
Saturday – Columbia Civic Orchestra played again in a program of Russian Christmas and/or winter music coupled with a Messiah Sing-Along with the Columbia Chorale. The solos were auctioned off on e-bay and three of the four singers were actually pretty professional sounding this year which made for an awkward-free experience all around. Beckie came over during the day and she and I became candy-making machines. We had a couple of learning moments in the process: bittersweet chocolate is sweeter than unsweetened (to me, the word “bitter” has bad connotations so it didn’t sound like it would be more desirable – oh well), baking chips will not produce the same texture as bars of baking chocolate and should not be a substitute for baking bars, and NEVER use unsalted butter when making toffee even though it sounds healthier. The salt stabilizes the toffee so the ingredients don’t separate in the end. Thankfully, our mistakes still tasted good so things weren’t a total loss.
Today – We had about 3-4 inches of snow fall last night so trying to find a place to attend church meetings proved to be a challenge. Steve and I were scheduled to speak in Moberly in the morning but they cancelled. Our home ward, Bear Creek, meets in the afternoon so we thought “surely, they will have meetings” but they cancelled. The only ward in Columbia that held meetings was Highlands at 12:30 so that is where Steve and I went and we had a great experience. What a nice ward! And, it is so crazy that a ward in the same town would have soooo many people I don’t recognize.
We have a new patio door. Our old one was slowly failing so we asked Bob Eschrich, our resident handiman, to look for one at Habitat for Humanity where one can find all kinds of used building materials. This was six months ago. Well, this week, he finally found the kind we wanted (hinged – not slide) and he installed it on Friday. It is a very nice door which we got for a very nice price and I LOVE it. Now he is going to build a gate to put at the top of our deck stairs so Trissy won’t ruin this door like she did the old one. And, I think I will actually wash this one regularly!
Sorry for no photos. I took enough last week to cover this week.....

It’s December and we hit the ground running……

Here is a photo of our little invalid.

Sadie had hip surgery the first day of December. The cause is called Legg-Calves-Perthes disease. Her right hip developed poorly and you could hardly see a hip and thigh bone in the x-ray. It looked like a white blur. So, the vet did a femoral head ostectomy. Yea, I don’t know what that means exactly either but the bottom line is a two-inch incision, a dog that cannot do stairs, run, or jump for a week (which means we have to carry her outside to potty several times a day) and doggie rehab exercises to stretch the hip. We had noticed Sadie favoring her right left leg off and on ever since we got her, but I just chalked it up to another one of her strange idiosyncrasies (like how she licks metal). However, the weekend before Thanksgiving, she began to favor it all the time so we took her to the vet and now she is a recovering surgery patient.

Christmas music performances have already begun. Three this week. First, my adult string group – which we are now calling Carpe Harmonium (because we meet at a place called Carpe Diem) – performed at Parkside Manor Nursing Home yesterday afternoon.

This ensemble is comprised of amazing individuals – all quite successful and smart – who are beginning string students. Most already excel in another musical area and they have picked up string playing very nicely. But, they are still beginners and feel very self-conscious that they don’t sound like Yo Yo Ma or Perlman so I booked a gig with a very forgiving (and appreciative) audience. (yes, that is me playing a violin - which puts me at everyone else's ability level).

Second, the Bear Creek Ward Christmas party was last night and the ward choir performed “Carol of the Bells”. The piece is unaccompanied but we were a little concerned about staying on pitch so I thought I would ask a music colleague who directs a church handbell choir about the possibility of getting a few bells to ring during the song. She very generously allowed us to borrow some. Three of us in the choir each rang two bells and I think the number sounded amazing.

It was sure fun to perform. How fun would it be to ring in a bell choir? Elise already knows!

Third, tonight is the Civic Orchestra performance of the Messiah at Jesse Auditorium.

Most of our Christmas decorations are up as of last night. Steve just needs to arrange all his nativities on the piano and then we will be finished.

This is my studio - with TWO trees. The one in the foreground has lambs and musical ornaments. The one in back has s'more ornaments and all our old fashioned (and old) ornaments.

Here is the "stick" tree that I made one year in Relief Society. It is the only kind of tree that can fit in this very crowded room.

Our bedroom is has a Peanuts theme.....

The doll house gets decorated (of course?!?)

I love this ceramic tree that belonged to my parents. Notice the little bird "lights".....

The "main" Christmas tree...

And, stationed right by this tree is the birthday gift Steve and I gave each other - still in the box that it arrived in four days ago. I am too intimidated to set it up. Hopefully, some of the more technically adept folks at dinner tonight will help us?????



Finally, on a non-Christmas note, here is my little blooming azalea reaching toward the light.....

the lamb-e-umptum

Thanks to the Steves brain storms, I was able to come up with a new blog name that will permit some family privacy but still express the personality of this blog. Because having to log-in to read a blog is a bother.....

Time to be thankful –

For loved ones who were able to gather at our house. Emily, Joe, and Noah and Julina, Elise, and Elise’s roommate, Rachel all pulled into town Wednesday evening. The Southerland gang stayed at Steven and Tamara’s house. Julina stayed with Beckie. Rachel stayed in the quilt room and Elise and Tonks occupied the Noah’s Ark room. Kirsti went to San Diego with her roommate Janica. Everyone left for home Sunday. Kirsti hit some snow after St. George so I am especially grateful that she made it back to Provo safely.

For good food – oh my, we had waaaay too much. Emily made a triple batch of puppy chow. It was so huge that she had to use a garbage bag for mixing.

Beckie brought a delicious carmelized onion/apple cream cheese dip and Julina provided gluten-free crackers so I indulged a bit too much of that yummy stuff. I baked gluten-free pecan and apple pies but Beckie also made a flourless chocolate cake and Jason Bell made a gluten-free chocolate cranberry cake and both were like truffles on a plate. Incredibly rich – especially with the whipped cream with sour cream topping that Beckie made.

For 55 great years and still feel pretty fit as a fiddle (or should that be cello?). I got some lovely gifts and Steve and I and some of the kids also pooled our joint birthday moneys and bought a 26” HDTV on Amazon. I guess it is time to join the 21^st century in television technology considering the fact that all our other televisions are at least fifteen years old!

For a lovely Frasier Fir Christmas tree that we got Saturday at a cut-you-own tree farm. Now, the fir is from Michigan but it was the same price as the ones growing and the branches were much prettier. So, for the second year in a row, we opted for an import. However, we still took the hay ride out to the tree-cutting area and back because everything is fun with a three-year-old grandson.

We put it up and decorated it Saturday night. All the other decorations are still in their boxes strewn around the garage. Hopefully they will get put up throughout this week.

For Noah who will always be in my memory this year ringing a brass bell in each hand as he hunts down poor Alfred the cat. And, if brass bells are put way out of his reach, a bell Christmas ornament will do just as nicely.

For the fact that Sadie’s surgery will not cost more than $300.00. Yes, she has a bad hip – I saw the x-ray and it looks terrible – which explains her three-legged limp that got worse the weekend before Thanksgiving. She will go under the knife on Wednesday.

For a fantastic Harry Potter VIIa movie. Saw that on Friday afternoon.

For a new cell phone that I am finally beginning to figure out. The best feature is that I can text with a full keypad. The worst feature is the set of dumb ringtones that I cannot change until I get a memory card.

For a relatively painless family photo taken after our Thursday feast.


For all of you…..

Our trip to the St. Louis Zoo

Steve and I went to St. Louis Friday afternoon to attend an evening temple session. We stayed with Emily and Joe and went again to the 7:30 Saturday morning session. It was really nice to spend so much time in the temple but the real "work" of the weekend was taking Noah and the three Egan kids to the St. Louis Zoo after our session so Joe and Bishop and Annie Egan could attend. We had Elle (age 4), Noah (age 3), Ike (age 2), and Abe (age 4 months) and OH MY did we have an adventure. First of all, because it was a nice day, I was just positive that all the near-by parking was already taken so we parked the Egan's vehicle waaaaaaaay far from the entrance. Thankfully, the Egans had a double stroller (which wouldn't turn on a baseball diamond much less a dime) to help with carting everyone. BUT, before we could even start walking to the zoo entrance, we had to figure out how to get the baby seat out. Only, we forgot that nowadays, baby carriers pop in and out of the car-seat base and so we spent a good ten minutes trying to unbuckle the entire apparatus with endless frustration. Finally, my brain decided to cough up the memory that we only have to detach the carrier – and then we spent another ten minutes trying to figure out how to do THAT! Arg! So, we finally got into the zoo and, with two hours to kill, one would think we would be able to cover quite a bit of territory. Wrong! We saw the bears – which we always see since their habitat is right at the entrance. Steve took the walking kids to see the penguins and then Abe was hungry so we had a snack. Then, while Steve kept Abe, I took the others on the train around the park (you should have seen Noah jump up and down wildly as the train pulled into our station). We started to go see the elephants when we got the call that parents were on their way to pick up. Yea, that is all we did. And, keeping track of Noah and Ike was a full-time job. I did that while Steve tried to steer the un-maneuverable stroller away from curbs and fences. Thankfully, there were no tears, no meltdowns, no accidents, no kidnappings. And I got some cute pictures……

Grandma-Jeanne time

Noah was here for most of the week. The idea was to help Emily through this mysterious ailment she is suffering through. On Monday night, we met Joe half-way between Columbia and St. Louis (and that would be the Phillips 66 station at the Jonesburg exit) and made a Noah transfer. While he was glad to see us, he was "so sad" most of the ride home until we pulled into our driveway and he shouted "I SEE IT!" (meaning our house) and from then on that night, he was happy - with Sadie, with Trissie, with Alfred, with trains. He went to bed perfectly. Thank goodness. He woke up extra early and sad, but perked up pretty quickly.


Here he is on Tuesday morning where else??? but at the train set downstairs. Can you see Mai checking things out?

Thankfully, Sarah and Beckie and Steven were available to help during the times that I had to teach. Sarah had him from 2:00 until bed-time on Tuesday. Hooray for Aunt Sarah! She also had him all this morning as I had to go to Jefferson City for a R.S. Presidency meeting.

Here he is brushing Alfred.

Beckie took him back to St. Louis with her today at noon because Emily couldn't bear the thought of being without him on his birthday - he turned three today. He "helped me bake and decorate a little train-shaped cake yesterday for him to take back home. We stuck a candle in a muffin for his breakfast. And, of course, we sang "Happy Birthday" to him - more than once. Yesterday, he helped me and my friend, Terri, do some yardwork around the church and below is a photo of the rock he found.

We had stake conference the first weekend of November. It was my first one in over four years where I did not have to worry about the music. That is not to say I was not involved in the music – I sang in the choir that performed for the Sunday session and I have to say it was a most satisfying experience. Because my stake music chair replacement was not called until September, there was not a whole lot of time to put together a stake choir so Claudine invited people she knew could sing and liked to sing and WOW, she came up with an amazing group of singers. I felt like I was singing in University Singers again! Sarah joined me in the choir and we both realized how much we missed being in a top-notch choir. What I did have to worry about was helping with the meal which is always provided for the brethren after stake Priesthood leadership training and before the Saturday evening session. I also helped with food for the meal after the Sunday session for the stake presidency, the stake Relief Society presidency as well as the visiting temple president and mission president and their wives. Such are the duties of the stake Relief Society. Steve had three talks to prepare for Stake Conference. THREE! So, every spare minute he had the two weeks prior was spent working on these talks. I heard two of the three messages and he did a great job. The entire conference was really uplifting.

Civic Orchestra is now working on holiday music. We are accompanying the Columbia Chorale again in excerpts of the Messiah that will be performed in Jesse Hall as part of the MU Concert Series. And, we are working on our own portion of a concert the following week that will feature Russian Christmas music. I have asked to move to the back of the cello section rather than sit second chair. There is a reason I chose to major in Music Education over Cello Performance in college. I really don’t like the pressure of performance. I love sitting back in the third row where I can make a mistake and not feel like everyone hears it. No more knot in my stomach Tuesday nights.

As for what has been occupying my time these past two weeks, I finished Noah’s quiet book. I have entered lots more photos in the family photo album and I have decided to include 2010 pictures and I have almost completed a small photo book of the Austria trip of 2009. So, I have spent and will continue to spend lots of time at the computer. It is enjoyable work and I look forward to sharing the results with everyone. Until then, here is just a sample.....

this is me at the Schonbrun Castle in Vienna, Austria.