This Is Gallifrey

My brother and his wife are both ridiculously intelligent. It follows, therefore, that their children would most likely turn out to be ridiculously intelligent, as well. And they all are, as well as utterly adorable.

This is Emily, my niece, my brother's and sister-in-law's oldest daughter. She has been composing music since she was little (the music genes run strong in my family), and she's developed into quite an accomplished cellist and pianist. Emily and Elannah are just a couple months apart in age, so Emily is also a senior in high school.

I just couldn't be more proud of her and how she's developed her talents.

Haircut

I cut my hair off.

Here's before:

Here's after:

Why I tend to chop off my hair mid-winter is a mystery even to myself. But despite how cold my neck now is, I really like it. I always like it at this length, so I'm not sure why I let it grow out.

Note to self: get a trim every six to eight weeks, girl!

Ich Habe Meine Neues Lieblingsbuch Gefunden!

There must be a German word for the feeling of finding the latest addition to one of your favorite series by one of your favorite authors sitting on the new arrivals shelf at your local public library. The Germans have some good words for these kinds of things. If you know of this one, please tell me because it needs to get into my lexicon.

As it is, one of the very friendly and indulgent librarians had to put up with me dancing around a bit with the book in my hands.

The book to which I am referring is Alan Bradley's newest Flavia de Luce novel, The Golden Tresses of the Dead.

I tried to read it slowly. I really did. I savored it and made myself wait until bedtime each day before picking it up, but I was still done in three evenings. Too fast. Too fast.

My Next Concert (a virtual experience)

I've had some people ask me what my choir is singing this season. No, really, I have! So I thought I'd put together a virtual concert for those who like that sort of thing. My father-in-law is not in love with the diverse pieces we do. I think he prefers things he's familiar with, but I would find that infinitely bo-o-o-o-oring.

I don't have any recordings of my actual choir, but I've tried to find some really good recordings of the pieces we're doing, and I've listed them in the order in which we're doing them.

Let me set the scene for you:

The lights dim in the mostly concrete Episcopalian sanctuary where we perform. The choir walks in from the back and greets members of the audience, as per our tradition. A tenor walks up and stands on the dais, facing the audience. He begins the call, and the choir members respond wherever they're standing.

(Bonse Aba, a traditional Zambian song, arranged by Andrew Fischer)



The choir is now all gathered on the stand. One of our members greets the audience, cracks a joke or two, and then announces the next two pieces: All Creatures of our God and King, arr. by Mark Hayes; and All That Hath Life and Breath Praise Ye the Lord!, arr. by Rene Clausen.





It's time to change gears. Another choir members announces the next two songs: And So It Goes, by Billy Joel, arr. by Bob Chilcott; and the women will sing The Pink Panther, by Henry Mancini, arr. by Jay Althouse (whether or not we'll be sporting pink boas is yet to be determined).



I couldn't find a YouTube performance with just women that I liked, but this one fits the spirit of it the best.



The choir comes together again for Animal Crackers, Vol. 1, text by Ogden Nash, music by Eric Whitacre (one of my absolute favoritist choral composers. We'll hear his stuff again a bit later in the concert.).

Here are the lyrics:
i. The Panther
The panther is like a leopard
Except it hasn't been peppered.
If you behold a panther crouch
Prepare to say "ouch."
Better yet, if called by a panther
Don't anther.

ii. The Cow
The cow is of the Bovine ilk
One end is moo, the other milk

iii. The Firefly
The firefly's flame is something for which science has no name.
I can think of nothing eerier
than flying around with an unidentified glow
on a person's posterior.



It's time for the men to sing something, and they give us a rousing rendition of Tamure I Tahiti Nei.



It's still time for fun, fast music, so the entire choir gets back together for Fiddlin' Jamboree, by Linda Spevacek. One of our choir members is our fiddler. We do not have cool Aussie accents like these guys, though.



Let's take the mood to a quieter place with our next three pieces. Eric Whitacre wrote a triptych called "Three Songs of Faith." We are singing the first two in that triptych here. The text for all three pieces is based on poems by e.e. cummings. The first two follow each other with no break.

i will wade out, text by e.e. cummings, music by Eric Whitacre.

Find the text here. It's also visual, so I don't want to ruin it.



hope, faith, life, love, text based on a poem by e.e. cummings, music by Eric Whitacre.



While we are not singing the third part of that triptych, we are singing another song based on one of e.e. cummings' poems: i carry your heart with me, text by e.e. cummings, music by David C. Dickau.



It's been quiet and sweet for a while, so it's time to bring it up a notch. Our last two pieces are rousing: Soon-ah Will Be Done, by William L. Dawson; and the impossibly fast Indian tongue-twister Balleilakka, by A.R. Rahman, arr. by Ethan Sperry.





Thank you, thank you for the applause. We're so glad you came! Please enjoy refreshments in the parish hall, and be sure to come to our Christmas concert in December.

Funny How My Family Always Sneaks In

Guess what! I was completely surprised to be named the school district's Outstanding Bus Driver of the Year for 2018-2019. 

Sadly, it seems I have forgotten to take a picture of my shiny, new, magnetic plaque, which is now hanging in my bus, so you'll just have to look at a picture of Sophia reading to kids at the library instead. I think that's much more entertaining anyway.

Little girls love sparkly crowns. Big girls also love sparkly crowns.

Quick (ha!) news shorts:

Elannah snagged the plum casting she wanted as Anita in the high school's production of West Side Story. Anita is an alto and Maria is a soprano, and Elannah has no illusions that she can belt high enough up the register to do Maria's part, so she was thrilled to be cast as Anita as her last big hurrah in her senior year (plus, her beautiful best friend, who has a lovely soprano voice, got cast as Maria, so they get to work together). She's also the dance captain for the drama department, so she's been working hard to teach her choreography, which (in my humble mom opinion) is really good. She tells me about her experiences in trying to herd a group of dramatic and mostly uncoordinated kids through the steps, and I've been thrilled with the leadership skills she's had to learn.

Here's a short video of Elannah dancing with her ex-boyfriend (who was also her ex at the time, although they've been able to establish a good post-breakup friendship) dancing at the last Christmas concert. Elannah had to choreograph some moves for this, and I only remembered to record the last little bit because I was so engrossed in watching the concert without a phone in front of my face.



Sian, Nathan, and grandson Tyler are all doing well. Nathan just interviewed for a well-paid intern position writing software for a military contractor, and it looks like he'll get hired on in early March. Tyler is sitting up all by himself and is a happy, contented baby who is the light of his Nanna's eyes (in case you weren't quite sure yet how much I adore my grandson). And Sian has not gone insane while taking care of an infant and living in a very small apartment when it's too cold to go outside a lot and she doesn't always have a car. Seriously, when you're a mom to infants, not going insane can be a big win, even if you love your baby more than life itself.

He's old enough to start grabbing his parents' glasses off their faces.

Sophia and Gabrielle are both rising stars at their work (they work in the same place). Each of them has different strengths, and they're being given leadership positions in different departments, where their individual strengths shine. Gabrielle, for instance, saw a need in the training department and wrote training manuals that now allow them to effectively train far more people in a much quicker time-frame than before. Sophia is heading into customer relations, where she and a couple other kids are shaping the new and growing customer relations department. They plan on getting Elannah an interview there after she graduates, as there are no objections from the higher-ups about hiring multiple members of the same family--although they warn that Elannah will have to live up to some high expectations set by her sisters. I'm sure Elannah is up to the task.

While Gabrielle has developed a good group of friends where she lives, Sophia still comes up here every weekend. Her boyfriend lives and works up here, for one thing (he's the head trainer at our local VASA gym. He's a really good guy), and she often has to do things in her Miss [Our City] capacity. Plus, she and Elannah are very, very close, and I know they miss each other so much when they're not together. I would love for Sophia to make more friends where she lives, but at least we get to see her on the regular, while Gabrielle doesn't often travel up here, and I miss her.

Husband created a mantel around our previously boring and unremarkable gas fireplace. The trim was a gift from his parents for Christmas, and he did the tiling with laminate wood flooring samples arranged in a random pattern. 

Joseph just got approved for the homebound program with his high school, where a teacher is assigned to him and visits him on a regular basis in our home. His social anxiety has been a huge obstacle for him in attending traditional school, so I'm glad there are options. One thing he's doing that he has found very helpful is to play online games with other people. He knows not to share personal information, but he plays with people from all over the world. He has to talk to them one-on-one, and that forces him to develop his conversational skills while giving him the relief of not being face-to-face. This experience is helping him reduce the stress he feels in social interactions, which is mostly caused because he has an inflated sense of worry about making a mistake and being found out as a total loser. His anxiety and depression have been a very difficult thing for him and for us, as his parents, to deal with, and it's been heart-breaking in many ways. But Joseph also found a way to earn money for himself as a survey-taker. It doesn't pay much, but it's money he makes on his own, and he's really proud of getting checks for that work. It builds his self-esteem. He used some of his money to create a printed calendar that includes some hilariously terrible photographs of internet memes. My kids have a very specific sense of humor. I think it's very dry and British, and Joseph's calendar is an example of it. We spent quite a while laughing over it.

Here, Joseph and I discuss bird anatomy while I have Mrs. Puff, his albino parakeet, sitting on my shoulder.



Little Gary is shooting up like he wants to go buy new trousers and shirts every week because he's growing out of them so fast. He hates shopping, of course, but he refuses to stop growing, so that's a conflict that won't be resolved for the next five or six years at least. He's still best friends with our neighbor, Molly, who is growing up to be a darling young woman. The fact that she puts up with Little Gary and some of his more annoying youngest-child quirks makes me love her even more. Little Gary is developing a real talent for writing and drawing. Gabrielle has been encouraging him in his art, which makes him really happy because he deeply admires her drawing abilities, and his dad and I have been encouraging him to write, write, write.

Me and Little Gary, who is not so little anymore.[

I was going to write something else entirely, but my family just snuck in there, as usual. It's been a while, so I guess it's good that I chronicle our adventures in case anyone is interested. Me. I'm interested. Maybe my kids will see this in the future and have fond memories.