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| food and fireworksWe had such a great evening, celebrating July 4th at the Bachmanns. Iris is the consummate Navy wife and she definitely knows how to throw a party. It was so beautiful to sit outside under the trees and amid the festive decorations, eating all the great foods she'd prepared.
What really made the evening was the fireworks display. San Diego puts on four separate big shows along the bay, each perfectly synchronized so that the same, exact display lights up at the same time. On the city side, you'd be choosing one venue and watching that show, but from Iris' house we could stand/sit in her yard and front porch and see all four going off at once, against a backdrop of San Diego skyline. Truly beautiful. In between the pops, the silence was broken by all the seagulls flying about and crying out to each other.
Iris told me she got quite a shock when she first spied Tim, as he looked exactly like Martin when we all first met. While I would dispute that observation of exact twinship with Martin, her remark did bring home the fact that we were Tim and Joy's age when we first began to be friends. That's a loooong time -and, in some ways, just a blink of an eye. | | |
| sickBrian is sick with the flu. He's been in bed most of the day and hasn't eaten a thing. Normally, I'd be fine with letting him sleep off the worst of his illness, but I feel uneasy and worried about him. How do I know he doesn't have swine flu? | | |
| (Not finishing a) Quilt In A DayKelli's mother-in-law works with Eleanor Burns of "Quilt In A Day" fame. I've known of Eleanor since the Fall of 1980 when I went, as a newlywed, to a class at Michaels in Clairmont, so I could learn to make the beautiful tree skirt I saw on display in the store. I remember driving in a blinding fog just so I could learn to make that treeskirt. Not trusting my own taste, I used the exact same fabrics as the display quilt and proudly finished my skirt in time for my first Christmas with Martin. In the ensuing years, I have made dozens of those tree skirts to give out as gifts - all my brothers and their families got one, as well as my folks and many, many friends over the years. The original is now with Tim, for his tree.
Back to the present. Kelli's mother-in-law offered to teach a class just for we MMCS teachers and I signed up to go. This was awhile back and I honestly forgot about the date until Kelli reminded me. So, last Sunday, I drove to San Marcos to hook up with Kelli, Laura C, Aimee, Ally, and Alyson for our private session to learn quilting.
Whew! I can see how addicting quilting could be - just looking at the rooms full of fabric bolts was seductive enough to get me picturing beautiful and elegant future quilts. We were allowed to choose three fabrics and then sent to work on learning the basics of how to make a pinwheel quilt.
I wondered if I'd feel out of place as the only old lady in the group but the girls made me feel very comfortable and welcome. We had such a great time, laughing and learning. When we'd completed our first squares, Laura made the comment about how you could really read our personalities in the fabrics we'd all chosen. My choices were deemed beautiful and elegant - and I smiled inwardly at those lovely descriptions.
Unfortunately, we didn't get the quilts finished and they're going back this Sunday to finish the job. I will be flying to Norway that day, so my quilt will have to wait.
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| mood musicI added a new element to Vivaldi's Fall Suite - at least for the older kids. I'm going to use that piece to discuss ways that music can affect what we see on TV and in the movies.
I made two slideshows to go with the the music - one is eerie, with graveyards and black cats and bats flying in dark skies. All the "scary" stuff I could get by with putting on a screen for a Christian school. Then I made a second slideshow that has beautiful Fall pictures - leaves drifting to the ground, roads covered with fall foliage, trees and hillsides abaze in color - that kind of thing.
When I played both of the slideshows back with the music included, they really did turn out well. I'm excited to do this with the kids and then have a Socratic seminar about what they saw and heard.
And I'm REALLY excited that the work is done already and ready to pull up for whatever week I end up doing the Fall stuff. | | |
| by the grace of GodI've felt so light and carefree this morning - knowing I don't have to play the piano, like I did last week. It's good for me to stretch myself, it's good to be obedient and it's good to put aside my own terrors - or deal with working in spite of them - all of that. But, in the final analysis, I just feel glad that I can go today and not have to deal with playing the piano!
But, what a change. I remember the day when I felt just as terrified about even being on a stage, much less holding a microphone in my hand. Now, here I am filling in for people on praise team. No one would get what a transformation that is for me - not so much that I'm doing it but more that I'm not freaking out about it days ahead of time and making myself sick with worry and dread about what might happen on the stage.
Change is never as fast or as dramatic as I would like - but God is good. | | |
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