One of my first celebrity crushes. I don't think I will ever stop loving Joshua Bell. He was in Houston on Friday playing a recital concert. After two hours of painting beautiful music with his violin, Bell sat in the lobby and signed autographs. He has a new CD out, so of course he was signing CDs, but he was also signing programs. Meaning the line was insane. Still, when we walked up he smiled. Shook our hands, asked Alex what her name was and if she enjoyed the concert. Like an idiot I was just smiling repeating, "Thank you for doing this, you are really wonderful" over and over again.
I was going to post a youtube video of him playing here, but I've spent the last hour watching videos. Now it is time for bed and I still can't decided which one to post. I'll leave it up to you to google him if you want. I hope you get lost in the music too.
Last night, in honor of Halloween Alex wanted to watch a scary movie. I don't own any horror slasher flicks, not that I think there is inherently wrong with them I just don't enjoy having the crap scared out of me and I don't find violence to be entertaining.
So we looked to see what was offered by way of streaming on Netflix. The answer to THAT was not much, but they did have Night of the Living Dead. A classic. We got to the part where the zombies chase the girl into the house and we had to turn it off. Alex was too scared. So we watched Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein instead. Spooky, but funny - my idea of a good time. And it got me thinking. What are my all time favorite Halloween movies. I came up with my top five - the order is subject to change.
5. Spaced Invaders - I haven't found this movie anywhere recently. It was made in the early 1990s about four aliens who crash land in a small town in Iowa on Halloween night. Hilarity ensues.
4. Arsenic and Old Lace - I'm not sure how many times that play has been made into a movie, but I love the version with Cary Grant. Fun, scary and the fact that Boris Karloff plays Jonathen - the mass murdering brother who "looks like Boris Karloff" makes it even better.
3. Meet Me in St. Louis - I know, it's not a classic Halloween film, but Halloween in is in it. I can still hear Margret O'Brian crying, chocking back tears... "HE TRIED TO KILL ME!"
2. It's the Great Pumkin Charlie Brown - needs no explanation.
1. The Mummy - with Boris Karloff. To me, this is the classic 1950s horror film. Karloff is scary beyond all reason and gives you all the suspense and none of the gore.
Today, 70 percent of American households will open their doors and offer candy to strangers, most of them children; 50 percent of Americans will take photographs of family or friends in costume; and the nation as a whole will spend more than seven billion dollars.* In terms of dollars spent, it is the second most popular holiday of the year in this country, after Christmas.
For the Celtic people of Northeastern Europe, November 1st was New Year's Day, and October 31 was the last night of the year. Celts believed it was the night that spirits, ghosts, fairies and goblins freely walked the earth. Archaeologists aren't entirely sure what all the traditions were, but they believe the holiday involved bonfires, dressing up in costumes to scare away evil spirits, and offering food and drink to the spirits of family members who had come back to visit the home.
It was Pope Gregory III in the eighth century A.D. who tried to turn Halloween into a Christian holiday to divert Northern Europeans from celebrating an old pagan ritual. He made November 1st All Saints Day, and October 31 became All Hallows Eve. Instead of providing food and drink to the spirits, Christians were encouraged to provide food and drink to the poor. And instead of dressing up like animals and ghosts, Christians were encouraged to dress up like their favorite saints.
In the United States, Puritans tried to outlaw Halloween, in part because of its association with Catholicism. So it was the Irish Catholics who brought Halloween to this country, when they immigrated here in great numbers after the potato famine in the 1840's. Since the Irish were largely poor and oppressed, Halloween became a holiday for them to let off steam by pulling pranks, hoisting wagons onto barn roofs, releasing cows from their pastures, and committing all kinds of mischief involving outhouses. Treats evolved as a way to bribe the vandals and protect homes.
But by the late 1800's, Victorian women's magazines began to offer suggestions for celebrating Halloween in wholesome ways, with barn dancing and apple bobbing. And by the early 20th Century, it became a holiday for children more than adults. In 1920, the Ladies' Home Journal made the first known reference to children going door to door for candy, and by the 1950's it was a universal practice in this country. By 1999, 92 percent of America's children were trick-or-treating.
What's interesting about Halloween is that it has no real connection to the majority religion of this country, it does not celebrate an event in our nation's past, it does not involve traveling to visit family, and it doesn't even give us a day off work. But it gives us the chance to try out other identities. For one day, people can feel free to dress as the opposite gender, as criminals, as superheroes, celebrities, animals, or even inanimate objects. But Halloween retailers report that the most popular costumes remain some variation on witches, ghosts, and devils.
*according to an article I say on yahoo this morning.. and the 92 percent thing is something I read a while ago, it may not actually be 92 percent, but it was 90 something.
School has started for both me and Alex. I wish I could say that the business of it all has kept me from posting, but it something way worse. My computer is dead. I used to brag on my Dell Notebook. I bought it wne I xtarted undergrade and it's been like the little engine that could ever since.... until it wasn't. I'm going to get a new one this weekend. I suppose a new computer every ten years isn't so bad.
Of course Alex wanted me to get a Mac until I pointd out that I could possibly get to PCs for the price of one Mac. Not that I'm geting two.... I was just pointing that out.
Still tonight we are off to the mall. Alex has been asking to be dropped off at the mall with a friend of hers. I don't think we are quite at that level yet. I'm just going to let them go to the Apple store by themseleves while I'll be at the Apple store looking at laptops and tring to figure out what all the fuss is about. Yes, we will be in the same store. No, we will not be together. No, it's not what Alex had in mind. And just for the record - I'm the meanest mom in America. Don't beliveme? Just asm Alex. She totally back me up on that one.
Saturday was one of those perfect summer days. Where by the early evening you feel happy, tired, but at the same time refreshed. If that makes any sense. We had gone to the local science museum, seen exhibits of ancient Ukraine, dinosaur bones and fossils, and then gone for ice cream. One of those days where no one rolled their eyes at me, or at least not much, this is reality after all, and things just seemed easy.
It was one of the days that I wish mothering was solely made up of.
We got home and were sitting on the couch. I felt like we could be in one of those Country Time Lemonade commercials. Sticky with ice cream, smiling, colored in sepia tones.
The day Alex was scheduled to return home she missed her flight. I love how the people who heard this wanted to know how that happened. It seems like the premise of epic tale of struggle and woe. And I guess it could have been if you think about the guy who recently died from playing is Xbox because that was what she was doing with her father two hours before her plane was scheduled to be in the air. In their defense, her father likes to point out that the airline moved the departure time up by 15 minutes.
Whatever the true cause, she missed the last flight out of Small Town California so I was just going to have to wait to see my baby. I had to WAIT. This waiting went on for DAYS. Ok - Hours. Many, many hours. As many hours as there are between 12 PM Saturday and 3 PM Sunday, which doesn't seem like many right now, but at the time, as the minutes were amplified by my baby's absence and the thought that she would miss the next flight as well, it seemed like all of the hours that ever were, a collection of time so vast that I could have witnessed the Colorado River carve out the Grand Canyon, one layer of dirt at a time.
When she finally arrived home her eyes were glued to her new iTouch. Curse you Steve Jobs and all your fancy products and seductive marketing. I guess on the bright side of things she wasn't all that bothered when I left her a few days later to attend a gathering of Exploring Candidates. It was interesting and refreshing to meet other people who are heeding the call to ordained ministry. And the fact that the Candidates got to take the written portion of the psychological test assessment together made the three hour ordeal just a little bit easier because not so secretly everyone knows we're bat-shit-crazy. Why else would we be there?
As fun as that was - the best part of the weekend had to Sunday after noon when we went to see Smurfs. I'm not saying that you should rush to your nearest theater so see this one. Its cheesy ball and predictable and just plan dumb in parts, but as a person who was raised by Smurfs and Doogie Howser, M.D. it was an opportunity to relive the best parts of childhood for 90 minutes. The day they remake He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra Princese of Power my life will have come full circle.
This man. This wonderful man, Peter Falk, died yesterday afternoon. I just got off the phone with my sister. I had to call her as soon as I heard. Peter Falk and the characters his played, Sam Diamond in Murder by Death is one that jumps out at me, and of course, the role that will forever define his career, Colombo were a constent presence in my childhood. My mother loved to watch detective stores and Colombo was one of our favorites.
For years, he starred on TV as Lieutenant Columbo, the shabby detective whose apparent absentmindedness hid a razor-sharp brain.
He had this "awe shuks" way about him that always lulled his targets into believing they could pull the wool over his eye. The Lieutenant would arrive at the murder sceen in his old car and beat up trench coat, holding his smoldering cigar and simply ask, "What I don't understand is..." We always knew the case had been solved when we heard the words, "Oh, and one more thing..."
Peter had been ill for a number of years. My thoughts are with his close friends and family. I hope he is resting peacefully. There will be pulling out my copy of Murder by Death and heading to my sister's to watch the first three seasons of Colombo.
Theater Arts is Alex's elective during her first year of middle school. She has been learning about the art and history of the dramatic arts, from theater to radio and beyond. Alex's favorite actress at the moment is Julie Andrews. She loves the way she sang in movies like Mary Poppins, Sound of Music and Thoroughly Modern Millie. She loves the way she can balance an air of respectability and comedic timing.
But when it came time for the kids in her class to write a report on a well known person in American theater history they simply drew names out of a hat. So while the boy sitting next to Alex drew the name, Julie Andrews, Alex was stuck with some random person named Adolph Green.
The funny thing is that I was raised on classic movies and back in the early days of movies, right through the 1960s actually there was a lot of cross over of talent between Broadway and Hollywood. I was surprised that I was unfamiliar with this choice. Alex was disappointed, but today was took a trip to the library to do some research. What we found there was a treasure trove of information and now I am ashamed to think that I had been ignorant of the great lyricists and writers, Adolph Green and Betty Comden.
Adolph Green was born in the Bronx, New York on December 2, 1915 into a family of Hungarian immigrants. He graduated high school in 1934 and worked at assorted jobs including as a runner on Wall Street. In 1937, at a summer camp, he met the young Leonard Bernstein who was the music counselor, and they became life-long friends. In 1938, another decisive meeting occurred while making the rounds of theatrical agents he met Betty Comden. Together with Judy Holiday, the two formed the act The Revuers, which performed in the legendary Greenwich Village nightclub, The Village Vanguard. They lacked the funds to pay royalties and so began writing and performing their own satirical and musical comedic materials.
They went onto collaborate with Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins on what was the first show for all of them, "On The Town." Also with Mr. Bernstein they did the score for "Wonderful Town." With Jule Styne they wrote the book and/or lyrics for "Bells Are Ringing," "Hallelujah, Baby," "Do Re Mi," "Subways Are For Sleeping," "Peter Pan," and others, wrote the book for "Applause," and book and lyrics for "on The Twentieth Century" and "A Doll's Life." Four of these, "Applause," "Hallelujah, Baby," "Wonderful Town," and "On The Twentieth Century," won them five Tony Awards, and "A Doll's Life," a Tony nomination.
Comden and Green are considered to have the longest running creative partnership in theater history, but some of their best known work was for film. Their film musicals include "Singin' In The Rain," "The Band Wagon," "On The Town," "Bells Are Ringing," "It's Always Fair Weather," "Good News," and "The Barkleys Of Broadway." Two of these, "The Band Wagon" and "It's Always Fair Weather," received Academy Award Nominations, and those two plus "On The Town" won the Screen Writer's Award. "Singin' In The Rain" was recently voted one of the ten best American films ever made and, by a vote of international film critics conducted by the prestigious magazine "Sight and Sound," it was chosen as Number Three of the ten best films of all time.
I think the best source that Alex and I enjoyed reading together was Art of the American Musical: Conversations with the Creators edited by Jackson R. Bryer and Richard N. Davison. This included an interview with the team that was conducted in 1992 and the thing that impressed me most about them was how much fun they seemed to be having, even when they were talking about what seemed to be soar subject, "Singin' In the Rain." That script was written for MGM under the old studio system so while it as their greatest screenplay and lyrics, they don't own any of the rights. When asked how their partnership lasted so long Green gave a simple, yet wonderful answer, "We have basic respect for each other." To me that sums up the greatness of career. They have wonderful sense of timing and a great skill for writing, but what really started and sustained their careers was the relationships they formed both in film and stage industries. People had great respect for not only their work, but who they are/were as people.
Adolph Green passed away in December of 2002. He as honored by a memorial on Broadway that was attended by some of the greatest legends that have had the honor to preform their work over the years. I'm glad Alex pulled his name. I might never have known the story of Comden and Green otherwise.
Apparently one can suffer from a massive cold and yet live to tell the tale. I was feverish and snot filled, but thanks to God, NyQuil and triple layered lotion filled Kleenex I am slowly on the mend. My brain is unstuffing.
I spent the weekend in the Texas hill country. I spent the weekend drunk and freezing like a bunch of hobos. It was a glorious country Thanksgiving compete with a small town hayride past the county court house decked out in Christmas lights. all rides end at the bar, the one place in town where a family can get warm. Meed and cider on tap for all the freezing hobos.
And now I'm back in the city and, as stated, I have started my new job. Its the kind of thing I really wanted for now. Something where I can come to work and leave and the whole thing is relatively stress free. That's not say that I don't think it will all be easy, I just know that it stuff that I can do, or learn to do and the people I am working with really want to work with me and not against me, which is refreshingly nice. Did I mention that I get to wear jeans on Fridays? And that there is an option for a "compressed work schedule"? Yes my friends, life is an option at this new place of business.
So the day after Thanksgiving we packed up and headed for the hill country. We saw friends. We roasted marshmallows. We huddled around the campfire like a bunch of homeless people to stay warm.
We had a lot of fun despite the cold, but now we are home. Tomorrow is back to school for Alex and the first day at a new job for me. Did I mention that I'm sick? Yeah, tomorrow should be interesting. I just hope this bit of cold magically goes away during the night.
Oh, yeah Thankfulness... I'll get back to that later.
When worms, minnows and tacos start cashing checks you know you there is a Renaissances Festival near by.
Or you might be leaving one, as I was went I took this picture. Thank God for traffic jams on old country farm roads. My sister, the yuppie lawyer, had tickets to the fair and so invited us along.
Here is Alex posing as a night. If you look closely you can see her new pet dragon, Max, peeking out from under her helmet. Besides the shopping and the great food we saw some fabulous shows.
There were the Mud Pit guys... we were on the side of the Trojans!
Here is the judge that had to eat mud... GROSS!!! I don't know how much money they make each year from touring this show around the country, but I do hope its enough to buy medical insurance.
Who can go to the Renaissance and not see a good joust? We were on the side of the German - who died of course because England always wins. It was fun anyway.
This is a picture of my favorite looking shop. Because I'm in love with all things fairy and I think its a good representation of why people care to go to these things anyway.
And here is a fun shot of what the sky looked like just before the sun was setting.
Quote of the Weekend: "I've always dreamed about sleeping til noon!" ~ said by Alex Sunday morning when she discovered that I had indeed let her sleep til noon.
That was really the high point. Friday afternoon I received word that my Uncle Jack had died. He's been sick for a long time and had gone into the hospital earlier in the week, but no one expected him to die quite that fast.
By now the whole weekend seems like a blur. A mix of trying to carry on with regular life and keep my aunt and her family feed with lots of food and moral support. Saturday morning was beautiful. Thirty five thousand people came out to walk and run in support for a cure for breast cancer. Fifty of Becky's Angels were a part of the crowd. We were all decked out in our pink to walk with her family and to carry on her memory. It was beautiful to see the feel of solidarity among the survivors and their family members, and unlike most October mornings in Texas, the weather was actually beautiful. We have been having cold fronts that are usually reserved for December. It was 57 degrees this morning! No humidity! Of course, with all this clear air my body is freaking out and I've been sneezing like I'm Sneezy the dwarf.
After dinner with my Aunt and cousins, Alex's Aunt Bea spent the night at our house. She turned the big 14 last week and to celebrate her entrance into adult hood we watched "scary movies" like Disney's Hocus Pocus and Neil Patrick Harris' Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long. I'm not sure what time we finally got to bed, but I wasn't able to pull myself out of the soda and junk food stooper until well after 9:00 the next morning.
I had to get the girls up at noon, I had the best treat in store for the birthday girl. Aunt Bea plays the violin, and has for years, but she hasn't had the chance to see great soloist at work. By luck, my favorite violinist ever was in town so we head to the symphony to see the matinee performance of Joshua Bell playing Mendelssohn. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that concerto. Its one violinist love to play because its flashy, but it also has a lot of lyricism. I guess that's why audiences love to hear it, and I don't think the fact that Josh has that baby cute face hurts him any. Aunt Bea was as excited to dress up and walk around downtown as she was to see Bell play, but his performance kept both girls captivated.
Oh yeah, and somewhere in there Alex got a new fish. The old fish (that she never officially named) died last weekend. He had been looking rather tired. Alex tried to declare him dead several times only for me to double check and find that he was still swimming, be it slowly. She had a friend over when I finally declared the poor thing officially gone and both girls cheered as they took him out and buried him by the creek that runs behind the park.
Okay, now you have a full account of my weekend, or at least I've hit the highest and lowest points...
Its been a lazy Sunday which isn't something that happens too often around here. It feels nice. Alex's theater group at school had a movie night last night. They dressed up in 50s clothes and watched Hair Spray. I helped chaperoned and judge the fashion show. It was a lot of fun.
Right now we are experiencing an unseasonable cold front. Its only 85 right now with the week looking to top out with highs around 87. I'm loving this. Something about colder weather makes everything else seem a little less trying. Still for whatever reason I have had a sense of collective exhaustion for the past few weeks. I don't feel over worked or over extended. I'm not taxed, I'm just tired. Which is why our Do Nothing Day has come at just the right time.
many moons ago Alex and I went to the zoo with her Aunt Bea.
Every zoo trip must start with a visit to Toby the red panda.
And Timon, the meerkat - "What was that?"
The baby Giraffe, Miles was out and looking to party.
Meanwhile, Jonathan the lion was taking his afternoon nap.
While Mattie kept watch over the pride.
This summer the zoo featured an exhibit of Dinosaurs...
My sister the yuppie didn't want to go. She felt the extra $2 admission fee was an insane amount to pay for a ten minute diversion. I guess she has forgotten the time our parents threw us in the car and drove 90 miles north to Moscow, Texas where we walked through woods filled with paper mache dinosaurs. To me, these were cooler... and closer to home.
I thought of this trip when I saw that the Houston Zoo has won Top Honors in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums International Conservation Award for their amphibian conservation efforts in Panama. According to their website, the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center began in 2005 to safeguard endangered amphibians. In recent years, conservation biologists have drawn attention to a phenomenon that has come to be called the Global Amphibian Crisis.
While habitat loss is still considered the most serious threat to the majority of species, especially in the humid tropical forest regions of the world, a fungal disease known as chytrid has been identified as being exceptionally deadly to amphibians.
Humans have come a long way in just the last 100, 200 years. Our technology has advanced at such a rate that its almost hard to believe that we don't have all the answers. Its easy for us to think that someone out there knows what to do about these kinds of things. That if we just raise enough money, pass the right laws we can reverse the consequences of our actions. Reverse the environmental destruction that has not only deprived these frogs of their home, but also of their health.
Alex and I arrived at our church parking lot on Saturday morning and walked into the almost cliched crowed of kids standing around in clusters, about to board the white church school bus, their luggage piled in a near by van, this is a large Life Event. Kids from nice homes are being abandoned by their parents in broad day light and sent off to church camp in the hopes that it will jump start the process of the confirmation of their Christian faith.
Most Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, like us United Methodist, have some means of forcing their twelve year olds, to take an oath of confirmation so that they can become, "full members" of the church. For us, this is a slow and life defining process. There is more drama in this parking lot than the most dramatic pictures on the silver screen. At twelve most kids are struggling to decided who they are and where they fit and now we add on the question of Who You Are In Christ. Its a loaded question that know sane twelve year old who takes it seriously can answer.
In moments like these I am reminded that my childhood is not far removed from Alex's. Five years separate the moment I was confirmed in the church and her birth. That is insane when I think about that way. I like to think that my involvement in these things do a lot to remind the other parents that no matter what they do, no matter where they live, these defenseless, clueless, helpless children will grow up all too soon. Parents are defenseless when it comes to protecting their children from perhaps that one bad choice that will forever alter the course of their lives.
When I was that twelve year old kid ready to launch into the world of campfire songs and wacky messy games and rope course team buildings, I had imagined that I would grow up to be musician who lived in the streets of New York City and had the power to magically changed the world. But life didn't happen that way. Instead I turned sixteen and had a baby. I eventually broke up with my baby's father and graduated from college with a degree that would allow me to work in law firm and assit in the defense of billion dollar corporations. Instead of moving to New York City I have stayed close to my neighborhood and my family. Instead of questioning my faith in God for all eternity (as I was sure I was distended to do when I almost entirely refused to be confirmed at twelve) my faith has become the one thing of which I am certain.
Some people believe that God has revealed His Truth to us and not other - the barbarians - and it is His will that we Train our children to know his Truth that they might grow to vanquish the others and be protected when death and destruction rain down from Heaven. Others believe that our understanding of God is incomplete but that He has bestowed Grace and this beautiful world on us, and other gifts, which should be shared, and we should walk softly and give thanks and praise His Name.
I'm not sure how we did on the softly part, but this weekend we tought the children to do a lot of walking, and sharing and appreciating of beauty - even those ants... and the roach in the cabin. While I came away from the weekend exhausted and I sit here Monday afternoon with a body that is reminding me rock climbing was never meant to be my calling, I give thanks for this day and the weekend, which was perfect.
Every once and awhile you find the perfect book at the perfect moment. Everything about it from the cover and title to the pictures and story just scream that eternal YES! into the universe.
This weekend I went to the library with my sister - not the yuppie lawyer sister, the ditsy pre-school teacher sister*. We were selecting picture books for her classroom when I stumbled on this jewel of a book.
Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don't) is the perfect illustration of what it must be like for a book hater (named Alex) to be tortured by a book loving nut (named mom).
Really I could go on about it, but I think the title and the cover says it all. I spent the summer trying to cram every childhood classic, every new young adult fiction book into Alex's hands only to hear her say, "I don't like boy detective stories" and "I don't like books about girls who are age 8 or live on the prairie, or in Green Gables." And "No, I don't want to read about dragons or Egypt or museums or runaways or pirates or outsiders or cats or tree houses or fairies or goosebumps or box car children." If a book has been printed in English, I'm pretty sure Alex has turned her nose up at it.
Alex isn't me. I know this. Alex isn't a reader. I have gotten the hint. I guess I should be glade that she has found two series that she loves. She loves for me to read her Harry Potter, which is great because I love to read Harry Potter. She also loves Meg Cabott's Allie Finkle series, which tells me the kid has good taste. I guess I'm just sad that her love of books, so far has not extended beyond those two collections of characters. That there are whole worlds of people out there that she just refuses, for whatever reason, to even THINK about finding out about.
If I were smart, and I'm not, I would have learned to stop suggesting books. I'm pretty sure Alex's hatred of any one book directly correlates to the number of times I have sung its praises. If I were smart, and I'm not, I would just shut up about it all ready. At the end of Miss Brooks the girl does find that perfect book, just like when Alex FINALLY picked a book off her summer reading list (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) she loved it, and flew through it, and then begged for the rest of the series.
Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don't) was such the perfect "Alex and me" story that did a little jig inside as I checked it. "Alex is going to hate this book!" I told my pre-school teaching sister. But I was still excited to read it to Alex. I was excited to share this perfect book I had found. And true to form, when I had read the last page, I looked at Alex and she didn't say a word. She gave me her classic, "what-did-I-do-to-deserve-this-torture" look. While I'm still sad that she didn't like it, or the other thousands of books I wish she would just look at, it was still a great "yep-I-know-my-daughter" moment.
* I think I should note, that when I describe my sisters as "ditsy" or "yuppie" I do so with love.
(and hat-tip to Goodreads.com for the image of the book)
Today I am determined to clean out Alex's room. I was determined to do this yesterday, but then, well... there was a marathon of House on TV.
If you are like my mother you might wonder why I am cleaning Alex's room. The truth is Alex is a pack rat. She is a keeper of things. If it were up to her she would hold on to all things everywhere forever and always until the end of time. Sadly, at this point her room is much to small and holds much to much. She has moved on from a lot of her toys and grown out of a lot her clothes and with the approaching start of school it seems to be time to clear it all out. This new year brings a new grade and a new school. Middle School. Its seems appropriate then that one should have a fresh, clean room in recognition of the largeness of the passage.
We live, Alex and I about 100 feet from the freeway. The city sings to us all day long, all night as well, never the same music. Wind, temperature, where the neighbors are, when the moon is tugging or shoving - all these things matter. People running out of the building, the door closing swiftly, the disinclination to give pause leaves growling in the rush of the day. Coming in is more playful. Joyful laughter of home echos in the halls. Every day my walk along the city streets grants me a second waking. My feet are nimble, now my ears wake and give thanks for the song of passing cars mixed in with chirping birds and protective dogs.
This enormity, this cauldron of changing greens and blues is the greatest palace of the earth. Everything in it - monsters, jewels, angels, soft-eyed strangers that unhesitatingly exchange looks with us as we pass them in the park; the quietly inviting library that asks us to explore the artifacts of past decades of centuries; heartfelt stories of the here and now - the remembered and faithfully repeated recitations of language - the acknowledgment of the multitude of self. How can we not always know that we already live in paradise?
This last weekend I was blessed to be able to spend time with friends. This meant that I saw the third instalment of the Twilight film series. I haven't seen the first two, but I have be honest and say that the third film wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The fact that movies tell stories through pictures and not words made this one of the few times I came away thinking the movie was better than the book. As it turns out, if you take out all of Bella's pathetic inner monologue, the story isn't that bad. Its bad... its just bad in a way that made me giggle instead of roll my eyes and throw the book across the room. (Yes, when I was reading the fourth book, the book I was promised would make the torture of the first three books "worth it" I threw the thing across the room, twice. It was THAT bad. Awful, Awful, Awful! I still resent having been suckered into reading it. ARGGG. )
Sorry... okay, moving on...
On Saturday I had a real treat. I got to see the Houston Symphony perform Holt's master piece the Planets. It was an interesting mix of music and images that were a combination NASA and CGI. It was also an interesting mix of people. People who don't normally go to the symphony. People who were unsure of why we were applauding the concert master. People who clapped between movements. And the fun thing was? I was close enough to the stage that I could see the musicians faces when the audience exploded in a rock concert style yell of applause at the end. Holt's music is one that I played a lot of back in the day when my life was just one long orchestra rehearsal. Movements I and V, Mars and Jupiter, were crowd pleasers that conductors liked to through in at the end of a slow performance, just to get the crowd in the palm of their hands for the big finish. I have always had a soft spot for Neptune. Neptune is an odd planet in that its so far away, we didn't really know it was there until after planets had lost their god power. Neptune was discovered by science, not astrology. It doesn't have rings, a giant red spot or promise of aliens. Its just there. Its just blue with all of its strange weather patterns. And yet, Neptune, the Roman god of the sea the planet was named for and the Holt piece was written to capture, seems to fit the blue ball so very well.
Humans are used to conquering things. We cut down the forest and made open fields. We poured concrete over dirt so we could drive our cars around. We went to the moon and stuck a flag in her rock. We have not conquered the sea. To be out at sea in the middle of a storm is to surrender all control of your life to the force of wind and water. To look at Neptune and all her strange weather patterns is to admit that we have little answers to her inner workings. Mystery is the stuff of great life. When I surrender my want for certainty, my quest to conquer to the truth of mystery I find that life is experienced in a much richer way.
****A Youtube Clip of Holt's Neptune would go here if I wasn't writing this at work, but I am so... you have to got to Youtube on your own, but its worth it.******
I'm back, but I do not come barring pictures. I'm a dork who brought my camera, but left the battery sitting in its charger back at home.
I'll fast forward through the drive that involved a lot of Taylor Swift and Johnas Brothers, but also included some Joni Mitchell after Alex fell asleep, and get right to the part where we had gone through Austin and Dripping Springs and Johnson City and turned off the main highway. You know when you are in the middle of nowhere when your directions include the phrase... "Turn off the dirt road." That's right folks. We not only turned onto a dirt road that took us up a hill at a seventy degree angle, but once we reached the gate to the property (marked by a large Texas flag) and turned off the road and onto a path. A path our friends have made by way of old chunks of brick and rock arranged in such a way that allows you to drive a vehicle across them in dry weather. From there it was less than a mile to the main "house".
Its an unfinished house. My friend is building it himself. It has walls and a roof and most importantly a flushing toilet behind a screen, but the civilized amenities stop there. We were not going to be sleeping here. This is where we were to park our car, meet up with the rest of the gang and load up the four wheelers that would take us to our sleeping quarters. This is also where Alex locked the car keys in my trunk. Yeah.
Keys in trunk. I have a new respect for car thief's. There is definitely an art to breaking into a car without just smashing a window. An art that none of my friends have mastered apparently. We had to call in a professional. One willing to drive out to the middle of nowhere at 11:30 at night on July 3. We were lucky to find at wrecker driver out of Marble Falls who did the job for a cool $100.
We were off to a great start having just completely drained my bank account before the weekend had begun. Did I mention I had to buy four new tires before we left home? No? Another time then.
I'll fast forward through the rest of the night that included a luxurious barn apartment that felt like we were sleeping in the cover of Architectural Digest, complete with soft beds and air conditioning, and get right to the wineries we visited the next day.
Oh, I'm also skipping over the next morning when the six of us sat around in the great outdoors reading. Camping with us nerds would probably drive any real outdoors man crazy. Around 1:00 we decided to close our books and make the most of our time at camp by piling into a truck and hitting the local wine tasting rooms. Some vineyards left much to be desired, but there were a couple that were quite good. One had a nearby restaurant that served the best handmade pasta I have ever eaten.
By the time darkness fell on July 4, Alex was ready to do something camp like so we made a fire and roasted marshmallows while we tried to remember scary stories of our youth. Most of them went something like this...
Remember the one about the hook? Yes.. the couple driving and then they find the hook on the handle? Yeah, that one.
Remember the one about the golden arm? Yes... how does it go again? I don't really remember...
Okay that just looks pathetic now that I see it in writing, but if you drink a bottle of wine and sit around a campfire... its really funny.... I promise.
At the end of the trip I can honestly say that a good time was had by all. Even though I'm left with only $16 to my name (and I did not pay for any food or wine), I would still do it all again. (That's a lie. I would totally skip the $100 set of keys).
Or you might be leaving one, as I was went I took this picture. Thank God for traffic jams on old country farm roads. My sister, the yuppie lawyer, had tickets to the fair and so invited us along.
Here is Alex posing as a night. If you look closely you can see her new pet dragon, Max, peeking out from under her helmet. Besides the shopping and the great food we saw some fabulous shows.
There were the Mud Pit guys... we were on the side of the Trojans!
Here is the judge that had to eat mud... GROSS!!! I don't know how much money they make each year from touring this show around the country, but I do hope its enough to buy medical insurance.
This is a picture of my favorite looking shop. Because I'm in love with all things fairy and I think its a good representation of why people care to go to these things anyway.
And here is a fun shot of what the sky looked like just before the sun was setting. 
Every zoo trip must start with a visit to Toby the red panda..jpg)
And Timon, the meerkat - "What was that?"
The baby Giraffe, Miles was out and looking to party.
While Mattie kept watch over the pride.
This summer the zoo featured an exhibit of Dinosaurs...
Humans have come a long way in just the last 100, 200 years. Our technology has advanced at such a rate that its almost hard to believe that we don't have all the answers. Its easy for us to think that someone out there knows what to do about these kinds of things. That if we just raise enough money, pass the right laws we can reverse the consequences of our actions. Reverse the environmental destruction that has not only deprived these frogs of their home, but also of their health.
Every once and awhile you find the perfect book at the perfect moment. Everything about it from the cover and title to the pictures and story just scream that eternal YES! into the universe.
