Filed under: Family
My family celebrated Mom’s 70th birthday this weekend. Everyone got together on Friday (except me) to watch my oldest niece play in a basketball game. My high school choir sings the National Anthem at all our home games so I had to stay here for that. My nieces came back that night with Mom and my brother. I started food preparation around eight Saturday morning. My nieces came over a couple of hours later and helped with the cooking and housecleaning. We had so much fun!
Family members dropped in and out at my house throughout the day. My brother and brother-in-law were cutting wood for Mom at her house. We all managed to listen to the Razorback’s disappointing loss to Auburn. My oldest niece left to help haul the wood and Hannah, my youngest niece, and I kept on cooking.
We all got together at my house in the early evening for our feast of pork loin roast, stuffed baked potatoes, green beans, yeast rolls, coconut cream pie and strawberry shortcake. Delicious, if I say so myself! After Mom opened her gifts, we watched “The Gods Must Be Crazy.” And we missed Dad. He loved movies full of slapstick comedy. And he loved all of us.
My brother recorded the pre-inauguration concert and we watched that later in the evening. We finally stopped ‘partying’ around eleven. I was so tired, in a good way, that I left all the clean up until this afternoon after church. Mom loved her weekend-long birthday celebration!! May she have many more!
Filed under: Odds and Ends
Anyone surprised that The Dark Knight didn’t receive more Oscar nominations than it did? I didn’t like the movie. Not at all. It was too depressing. The “there is no hope” type of depressing. Yes, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger did wonderful jobs portraying Batman and the Joker, but knowing it was Heath Ledger’s final role made the movie even sadder. And even more depressing. My brother, Mom and I watched The Dark Knight together. None of us liked it.
I love teaching music. There is something so intrinsically satisfying about coaxing the perfect sound from a group of young singers. It’s magical. Otherworldly. Eternal. Made all the better when their faces light up with the recognition that they are creating something beautiful and intensely personal with each other. A precious gift for anyone who is fortunate enough to be listening. A gift for themselves that will stay with them long after their tenure in choir is over.
I have sixty-two singers in my senior high choir this semester. By far the largest high school choir I’ve ever worked with. And they are an excellent group. Not perfect, but really good kids that I enjoy working with so much. Six of them will be auditioning for membership in the Arkansas All State Choir on February 6. What a joy if all of them make it!
