That's just the way of life

Tonight, as I was tucking my youngest into bed, I gave him a great big squeezy hug and I marveled out loud at how big he is getting. I remembered the tiny little baby I used to cuddle in my arms and told him he would always be my little guy, even though he wasn't so little anymore. He matter of factly said, "that's okay mom, that's just the way of life." Such big wise words from such a still small little boy.

Pesto and grilled peppers

We wrapped up the three day weekend with a nice pesto and some grilled peppers. Just us at home. Just the way I like it.

Earlier in the day, we all trooped over to Lake Elizabeth, a park in the center of town. We had talked about driving down to Carmel to the beach, but decided that it would be too crowded and not much fun to sit in miles of traffic on the way home. Instead, we bought sandwiches at the Safeway deli, and hung out by the edge of the small lake, only ten minutes from our doorstep and enjoyed a lazy afternoon. It felt great not have an agenda. To simply lie around on a blanket and talk with the kids or throw a ball around was nirvana. We have had a busy weekend of entertaining and being entertained, so it was nice to just relax and hang out together and veg. We saw Star Wars yesterday and there has been an on-going family dialogue about the movie and how all the episodes hang together. We are keeping ourselves plenty amused and entertained by thoughts of sith lords and jedi powers.

I am not sure how our schedules got to be so crammed full of commitments, both work and social. I find that I miss lazy mornings and unprogrammed days. I miss having the time to page through a glossy recipe book and put together a grocery list that includes prosciutto and gorgonzola cheese instead of oatmeal and frozen pizzas. I miss the smell of summer when the cool mornings used to give way to hot sultry afternoons, when the only planned activity involved curling up in the lounge chair on the porch and reading a Nancy Drew mystery. Today some of that feeling was recaptured. Today the world slowed down, e-mails went unanswered and I made pesto and grilled peppers. Life is good. Now if I can just remember what this feels like tomorrow...

What do Helen Frankenthaler & Maurice Ravel have in common?

Not a whole lot except they were paired today, in our F.A.M.E program. Just the other day, I finally figured out what the acronymn for FAME really stands for. I used to think it stood for Fine Arts Music Education but it REALLY stands for Fine Arts Mini Experience...not that it really matters a whole bunch. But is just goes to show, I am learning a lot of new things about the FAME program that I didn't know before, now that I have been elevated to the exalted status of FAME coordinator. For instance, someone has to ACTUALLY schedule all the FAME sessions with the principal every month... we ACTUALLY have a budget for the program... AND if a volunteer docent can't fill his or her spot, I ACTUALLY have to: a) either find a replacement, or b) fill in for the MIA myself! Who knew! So much responsiblity to deal with. Previously I was just happy to create my lesson plan and distribute it amongst the other volunteers, show up and teach the kids and then come home feeling great after having spread around a little knowledge about an artist or two.

Now that I am coordinator, I am being pulled into the dark, inner workings of the school. I have been enrolled in the PTO's (Parent Teacher Organization) Yahoo group and now receive a plethora of emails regarding school insurance plans, Mrs. Bailey's retirement gift and why the school can't renew it's script program. Lot's of stuff I hadn't really thought about before or really wanted to know...ahhh, ignorance is bliss!

And then, there is this responsibility of finding docents. Hmmm, did I realize when I agreed to this gig that I would have to pick up the slack for missing docents? The first fly in the ointment came on Monday morning, when at 9am the phone rang and I learned that my music docent for the first graders couldn't perform her duties. Panic set it. I sent out urgent emails pleading and begging for someone to come forward to teach the lesson with me. I already had four art classes to deal with and was hoping that I wouldn't have to do the music lesson as well. Even though I played piano for five years as a kid, and I know a smattering about composers, I feel entirely more comfortable speaking about artists. Well, it looked bad by Tuesday when I realized that everyone was pretending that they hadn't seen my pleaful emails. It seemed that no one was available to help me. So, resignedly, I began to brush up on the composer Maurice Ravel, the famed composer of Bolero. I made my notes and was getting into it when the phone rang around 10 pm Tuesday evening and a friend of a friend of a friend, agreed to deliver the lesson. What a brave soul, as she had never previously participated in the FAME program. This would be her initiation, and I surely didn't want to discourage her. I quickly dispatched my music notes on Ravel to her.

The lessons went just fine today. I had a chance to go on about Helen Frankenthaler and Abstract Expressionism, the New York School and her technique of stain painting. I spoke about the rebellious nature of these artists, who in the 1950's broke with tradition and rules and created paintings by throwing, dripping and staining huge canvases, so that the very act of creating the painting became almost as important as the final design. Frankenthaler considers herself a "finder of paintings" rather than a "maker of paintings." She approached her raw canvases without preconceived ideas and let the way the paint rolled across the canvas determine the direction of the piece she was creating. I showed the kids pictures of macrophotography of cyrstals, flowers and even a toothbrush, so that they could appreciate the abstract beauty of something that they can not identify. Beauty can be found in the ordinary object if we choose to look at it in a new way.

The Ravel lesson went well too. All I can think of when I hear Bolero is the 80's movie "10" with Bo Derek and her beaded braids. Not too helpful when you are putting together lesson plans for elementary age kids, mind you! Not surprisingly, I learned a lot more than I knew before about Ravel and his Bolero. For instance, the Bolero is the national dance of spain, and Ravel's piece is composed in a "merry-go-round" style with the melody repeating over and over, 17 times. The only thing that keeps it from being monotonous is the crescendo and the changing of the instruments and the dramatic finale as the instruments continue to grow dynamically.

I am getting a handle on this whole FAME thing. I found a new docent who wants to participate next year and realized that teaching the music lesson isn't beyond the scope of my capabilities. Yep, that's me. Everyday pushing the envelope, going where no woman has gone before, being all that I can be...okay I'll stop now.

The force is with us....again

We are now well into the month of May, and I feel as if I am just landing on smooth tarmac after a very bumpy airplane ride.

In the past few weeks we have celebrated two birthdays, one on May fifth (yes, I have a cinco da mayo baby!) and one on May 10th. Grandpa has been out from Chicago for a ten day visit. Baseball, swimming and soccer are at an all time feavered pitch. End of school year activities are crowding the calendar and work continues to flow in through the cable line in my office. Throw into the mix a new computer and a car that was in the shop for four days and there you have it - one very busy agenda! All you can do is grab the reigns and hold on for dear life!

But, we are all smiling and keeping our sense of humor. Lately, and I don't know how this all came about, our family has this silly little quippy, smart-alecky banter thing going on. Anytime, anyone makes an inane comment about anything, someone will pick up on the comment and turn it around in a very nonsensical way. For instance, tonight I made salmon for dinner. The kids arrive in the kitchen, "What's that?", they ask. I reply, "I'm broiling salmon." Then someone will say, "YOU'RE a salmon". Or, "That looks like a mighty, fine peach your eating". Hold your breath, count a few beats and inevitably you will hear someone pipe up with, "YOU'RE a peach." I don't know why, but it has become part of our weird family lingo, that we all find so very, terribly funny. (I guess you have to be here...)

Anyway, now that the birthday parties are over, the computer is humming along and the car is operational again, life can resume its normal brisk pace. We are left with a couple pieces of cake in the cake pan and a pile of birthday presents to be sorted through and enjoyed. And, yes, judging by the boys' haul this year, Star Wars is definitely upon us again. Between the two of them, they have received the motherload of Star Wars toys. We can't wait to go and see the movie that is due out later this month and to keep us in the busy until it does, we have two new laser swords, a talking Darth Vader helmut, three, count them three, lego star wars naboo fighter jets, a Tie Fighter and a X-wing, not to mention a whole slew of obi-wan kenobi action figures.

In fact, at the moment, all three of my kids are out on the back patio reinacting a star wars duel with their very cool new laser swords. Laser swords so cool, that they light up blue and red and make very theatrical light-sabery noises. They are giggling and laughing. One of them calls out to the other, "You know what? There are a lot of Wookies in the new movie". Silence. And, then the inevitable response. "YOU'RE a wookie!"

May the force be with us!

Well, she went and bought a new computer.

and it is grrrrrrrrreat! I have a new Mac with the new Tiger operating system and I'm loving it. In fact, it is 2:50 in the morning and I just had to get out of bed to come stare at my great big beautiful new monitor and play with my new computer. The entire family is in a festive mood and it feels a bit like Christmas, with enormous boxes and packaging materials strewn around the hallway outside of my office. I am breathing in the new computer "smell", kind of like the aroma of a brand new car, and it is very exciting. Those folks at Apple have things pretty much all figured out and I had an amazing buy experience. The personal attention I received, from setting up the new machinge to transfering data from my old mac, made for a seamless transition between old and new. My new system is "uber" fast, as my son likes to put it, and I am enjoying lightening speeds and amazing responsiveness to my every command. Well, I should go back to bed...but, boy, I can't wait to go to work in the morning!

To upgrade...or not to upgrade...

Apple's new Tiger operating system is out and causing me to seriously contemplate upgrading my operating system. All my computing devices, printers, email and internet appear to be functioning well (at least for the last past week) and now I have to go and mess around with my system again and potentially bring new frustration and havic into my computing world. I must be nuts! I invite my own pain I believe. But, the prospect of new and better is soooo appealing. The new operating system even has a built in language translator. How cool is that! I am so tempted. To upgrade or not to upgrade. What will she do????