Tonight was such a great evening for the family (minus John) that I can't resist writing it down for memory's sake...
This afternoon, our violin and viola teacher, Debbie Trudeau, held a master class at our house for 14 students. I can hear the groans already from the boys, remembering how much work goes into cleaning our house prior to any event. This was beyond the normal cleaning, however. While I was gone on Wednesday, the boys moved most of the living room furniture out of the living room and into the garage. Then, Ethan oh-so-stealthily (and under the cover of night) removed 24 chairs from the church and brought them home last night. They were set up within minutes in our then empty living room. Seriously, I challenge anyone to find a better hall with better acoustics and with better ambiance than our living room!
Add to all of this John's new purchase. Yes, a brand-spanking new KYOTI tractor! Mowing any part of the lawn has normally taken us hours. Mow a few feet, look back, see that the mower has disconnected. Stop the tractor. Get off the tractor. Try and reattach the mower. Ooops, not quite close enough. Get back on the tractor. Restart the tractor. Move it a bit. Turn it off. Get off. Try again. Ooops, no luck again. The only thing that old tractor was good for was NOTHING (okay, it might have come in handy for the 2007 Kennedy Christmas card but that's it!). Yeah, the front lawn was mowed within 20 minutes in the RAIN with the new one. And should I even mention MULCH??? I know the very word sends shivers up and down our spines. Shovel the mulch into the wheelbarrow. Move the wheelbarrow. Dump the mulch. Head back for more. How many hours of our lives have we lost moving mulch? NO MORE!! With the new front loader, what took 6 of us a full morning in the past was done in 15 minutes. Thank heavens for 0% financing! I have included photos of Mark from both lives, and notice that even Cherry is exhausted in the second pic--she has found the only piece of shade in our entire back yard :-)
So, today, Mrs. Trudeau was THRILLED when she arrived. The best part for me however was accompanying all 14 students. I had practiced all week (amidst throbbing pain in my back) and felt I was ready, although as I have stated before, there always seems to be some wild card in my performances. Today, everything went so smoothly, and it was so nice to have all of the kids in the house. This arena was much more my style than any concert hall, and for the second time in my life, I got to perform on MY piano :-) Yeah! All of this in preparation for the recital tomorrow.
An hour after the masterclass was over, the five of us headed off to Glo's elementary school for a contradance. We had no idea what to expect, and we seriously wondered if we would be the only ones to show up. 300 people later.... My kids are the best! Totally participating.... no sullenness or unwillingness to participate....being completely entertaining. What fun! Mark was by far the funniest, keeping all the little kids laughing at his antics. For a while, I wondered if Ethan would have to wear his BOOT again after the high kicking antics I saw :-)
Now, let's keep our fingers crossed that the cantaloupe seeds come up, or it's out to the garden again.
If I had to pick a favorite part of yesterday, it would be the contra dancing. The school had invited 4 performers whose names escape me at the moment, to the school. They were amazing. They played violin, or the fiddle, the banjo, and the piano. The dances were so much fun. We had to circle dances. The 2nd grade and below kids had to find someone older to dance with. I couldn't find someone and then I saw this little girl. Her hair was black and cut down to the middle of her neck. It was curled at the ends. Her smile was gigantic. She walked quietly over to me and grabbed my hand. She was one of the cutest little girls I have ever met.
ReplyDeleteI loved doing the contradancing. It was really exciting and fun to hang out with the kids and share my dancing skills and enthusiasm(not to sound arrogant). I loved being one of the two stars of the show(Ethan was the other one) and I can't imagine what it's going to be like without Ethan there. It's going to be so sad:(
ReplyDelete