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Showing posts from December, 2008

Holiday Concert Follow-Up

Because it received so much airtime, here's a rundown on the concerts we saw this season: 1. Berlioz Symphony Fantastique: it was everything you hoped for--witches, a beheading, percussionists running around like little Mii-people being chased by aliens, and twelve-foot chimes with a stepladder. There were also the symphonic dances from West Side Story and a piece by Samuel Barber (I only know his adagio for strings, so it was nice to hear another one by him). Rob was impressed with the mute for a tuba -- looked like a 12-gallon garbage can. Our neighbor Maestro K is the best kind of conductor, and the philharmonic really rose to the occasion. 2. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Delius's Cuckoo, and Haydn's Surprise symphony. I wanted to take the kids to see this because they were familiar with the first and last pieces (Little Einsteins comes through for us) and I thought it would help their violin practice to see an orchestra live. Maestro K did another great job of explaining

Will-O's Baptismo

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While in Spain, I had a great companion who could not pronounce baptism in Spanish. I tried and tried to work on this one word with her, thinking it was perhaps crucial to her proselyting efforts, but I don't think it made one whit of a difference. Last Saturday Will-O got baptized. He had grandparents and great grandparents and aunts, uncles, cousins and friends in attendance. Maddie Lou gave the talk on baptism and was very polished. Our friends sang a beautiful song. There were six kids getting baptized and it was a much larger affair than we remember Maddie's having been. Evidently the floor was a lot more slippery in the changing room too. But I wouldn't know, because I didn't have to do much of anything but remember the clothes. Afterward, we came home and had a nice lunch that everyone but me put on (the whole thing went well into Joss's naptime) and Will ran around with friends. I asked him if he wanted to open a present and he said "I know, I know , my

Trying On Black

It has been a little while since I've been able to post, but I did want to report that I attended my first ever doorbusters on the day after Thanksgiving (I went out of altruism for the economy -- gotta do my part, you know?). Rob's sisters took me, and they are seasoned black Friday professionals. They read the circulars and circle what they want. They plan a route from store to store based on sale items, opening times and proximity. Then they split up. One goes for the circled items, and the other stands immediately in line. They are masterful. I was just going to see the sights, and I think I ended up spending more than either of them. We went to the Waldemort first. I knew I was way out of my depth when I saw that the parking lot was entirely full and there was not a cart to be had. But unlike other Waldemorts, everyone at ours was pretty jolly and we had no problems there. Of course the first thing I found on my list was huge and bulky, and I had no cart. I hoisted it thro