My long weekend at home was lovely. I bought groceries, cooked, vacuumed, practiced, normal activities. I also had lunch with friends both Friday and Saturday, and dinner with one on Thursday. The choir sang beautifully Sunday. And Randy and I made progress in our preparations for e and her parents' arrival next Monday. Although our house has four bedrooms, only one is used daily for sleeping since our girls moved out. The biggest one (the green room) is our TV room, one is my sewing/scrapbook in room, and one (the blue room) has a twin bed and our horns/practice materials. Two daughters painted their rooms years ago, so now they are known by their colors instead of "Sarah's room" or "Emily's room," partly to help us all realize things change. K sleeps in the blue room when he comes up on business. We added a small crib and bed to that room; we moved the desk into the green room so E can work while e naps. I brought our old high chair into the house from the garage and cleaned it up so e will have a perch while I work in the kitchen.
Last night we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner to celebrate some good news K received at work, then we moved furniture to prepare for the carpet cleaners who came this morning. While the carpets are drying e and I are hanging out in the kitchen/dining room.
There may be another post later today, but right now e and I need to read a book.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Friday, May 15, 2015
Home mid-week
Rehearsal went smoothly. I enjoyed hearing the choir sing the music I'd been listening to on my iPad. Live music is indeed different! Five instrumentalists enhance the piano accompaniment: flute, oboe/English horn, clarinet, French horn and bassoon. I wish I could hear the choir from out in the pews, but I'll have to wait. One of the singers usually has her family video the special music presentations, then she posts them on her YouTube channel. (So if any of you want to hear us, let me know and I'll send you a link.)
Thursday I did some laundry, accidentally stepping on Randy's toes in the process because I kinda messed up his schedule. Oops! I'll have to be careful, pay attention to his routines. I practiced then went to the grocery store. It almost feels like I have forgotten how to plan meals. Randy said with a smile, "Imagine how I feel. It's been 37 years since I had to plan my meals. Your 3 months is nothing!" Dena joined us for sweet and spicy chicken, then Randy and I took a walk. Although I wore a heavy sweatshirt, I wished I had on long sleeves under it. The wind as we headed toward the bay was bracing!
K texted that e wasn't happy going to bed for a nap but did enjoy chilling in her swing. I know how that feels--to think I'm reading her signals but discover she doesn't mean it. Daddy and daughter time, priceless!
Today I will do more laundry, have lunch with Carol, practice the Requiem some more, and continue to work on setting up the blue room for E, K and e's arrival on Memorial Day.
Thursday I did some laundry, accidentally stepping on Randy's toes in the process because I kinda messed up his schedule. Oops! I'll have to be careful, pay attention to his routines. I practiced then went to the grocery store. It almost feels like I have forgotten how to plan meals. Randy said with a smile, "Imagine how I feel. It's been 37 years since I had to plan my meals. Your 3 months is nothing!" Dena joined us for sweet and spicy chicken, then Randy and I took a walk. Although I wore a heavy sweatshirt, I wished I had on long sleeves under it. The wind as we headed toward the bay was bracing!
K texted that e wasn't happy going to bed for a nap but did enjoy chilling in her swing. I know how that feels--to think I'm reading her signals but discover she doesn't mean it. Daddy and daughter time, priceless!
Today I will do more laundry, have lunch with Carol, practice the Requiem some more, and continue to work on setting up the blue room for E, K and e's arrival on Memorial Day.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
A short week
This past weekend was pretty normal. The worship and music committee met Saturday morning at 9, then I practiced. On the way home I stopped at Kohl's to spend the $10 Kohl's cash I had earned when I bought the capris. After lunch I cleaned up the old porta-crib we used when Emily was a baby. Why did I do that, you might ask. Because on Memorial Day E, K and e arrive for a 2-week working vacation! E will telecommute, K will take the ferry to his San Francisco office, and I will care for e in my home instead of hers. I will enjoy being in Alameda for an extended stay, Randy will get time with e, E and K will bask in the coolness (if one can bask in coolness). Everyone wins! More on this later.
Tomorrow I return home for the choir's dress rehearsal with instrumentalists for their performance Sunday of Mark Hayes' Requiem. I have loved working on this music, playing along with a professional recording of the piece to have some idea of how Julie will direct it, but this is not the same thing as following a live director with live singers. So E and K are covering child care for a couple of days to enable me to make the rehearsal. The 6 movements of the Requiem will be spread out through the service so listeners are not overwhelmed, though it seems to me that this music is very accessible even with some Latin mixed in with English.
As those of you with children may recall, just when you think you have a routine established the baby says, "Gotcha!" And so it is with e. She seems to be waking a bit earlier each day, perhaps as the sun lights the room earlier. Black-out curtains are being discussed!
Tomorrow I return home for the choir's dress rehearsal with instrumentalists for their performance Sunday of Mark Hayes' Requiem. I have loved working on this music, playing along with a professional recording of the piece to have some idea of how Julie will direct it, but this is not the same thing as following a live director with live singers. So E and K are covering child care for a couple of days to enable me to make the rehearsal. The 6 movements of the Requiem will be spread out through the service so listeners are not overwhelmed, though it seems to me that this music is very accessible even with some Latin mixed in with English.
As those of you with children may recall, just when you think you have a routine established the baby says, "Gotcha!" And so it is with e. She seems to be waking a bit earlier each day, perhaps as the sun lights the room earlier. Black-out curtains are being discussed!
Friday, May 8, 2015
Connections
Last Saturday our son-in-law who's in the Army was on assignment in the Phoenix area and stopped by to see E, K, and of course little e. His older brother has two children, so S has some experience with little ones. I was happy he made the effort to spend time with his wife's sister and her family, and I was sorry to miss him.
K went to the Bay Area on Wednesday for 3 days of work. He stayed at our house and each morning walked down to the ferry terminal to ride the ferry over to the City. It turned out his sister was also in San Francisco on business, so last night their brother (who is finishing his doctorate at UCDavis) and Randy met them for dinner at the Ferry Building. I know Randy enjoyed the evening with these young people.
These are just two recent examples of new family ties.
Connections...because of our daughters, Randy and I have met new people, not only their in-laws but also some of their family friends as we have been invited to dinners and parties, people we probably wouldn't have met otherwise but with whom we can converse and expand our views.
K went to the Bay Area on Wednesday for 3 days of work. He stayed at our house and each morning walked down to the ferry terminal to ride the ferry over to the City. It turned out his sister was also in San Francisco on business, so last night their brother (who is finishing his doctorate at UCDavis) and Randy met them for dinner at the Ferry Building. I know Randy enjoyed the evening with these young people.
These are just two recent examples of new family ties.
Connections...because of our daughters, Randy and I have met new people, not only their in-laws but also some of their family friends as we have been invited to dinners and parties, people we probably wouldn't have met otherwise but with whom we can converse and expand our views.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
20 years
Twenty years ago today my mother died of leukemia, only three months after her diagnosis. She spent one month in the hospital undergoing chemo, but the doctor didn't give us much hope. Then she went home, with regular visits from hospice caregivers until her last day when she returned to the hospital and died surrounded by family singing the old hymns. Not me, though. I had visited the previous week, and though we could tell she was slipping away we didn't know how long it might be. So on Friday Randy and I returned to Alameda, where our girls were staying with friends; Mom did not want them to see her and then remember her as sick. Then on Sunday Mom died. I went back to Illinois for the funeral and returned home on Mother's Day. As you can imagine, this time of year evokes introspection. (Both of Randy's paternal grandparents and Mom died within a six-week span that spring.)
Did we have a smooth relationship? It was OK, not perfect. What child doesn't have an issue or two with her mother? There was one thing in particular I wanted to talk to her about, but I kept putting it off, and once she was sick I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So regret lives in my soul.
Our daughters were 13, 11 and 7 at the time. Randy's mom had already died, in 1985, of cancer; neither older girl remembered her. Our parents all lived in the same town (more or less) which was convenient, but because we lived some 2200 miles away the girls didn't see their grandparents often. Generally we'd fly out every couple of years, and grandparents would come here in alternate years. But it was not at all the same as when we were growing up, just a short distance from grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.
This is one reason I am here in Phoenix. I want to interact with e, with her parents. Mom died at 65; I will turn 65 in September, if nothing unexpected happens. She had just retired and had plans for her free time. I know that nothing is certain. This sentence from Elizabeth Strout's The Burgess Boys struck me: "No one wants to believe something is too late, but it is always becoming too late, and then it is." From another book I've read this spring: "Life is never as long as we want it to be, and wasted time can never be recovered."
Carpe diem.
Did we have a smooth relationship? It was OK, not perfect. What child doesn't have an issue or two with her mother? There was one thing in particular I wanted to talk to her about, but I kept putting it off, and once she was sick I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So regret lives in my soul.
Our daughters were 13, 11 and 7 at the time. Randy's mom had already died, in 1985, of cancer; neither older girl remembered her. Our parents all lived in the same town (more or less) which was convenient, but because we lived some 2200 miles away the girls didn't see their grandparents often. Generally we'd fly out every couple of years, and grandparents would come here in alternate years. But it was not at all the same as when we were growing up, just a short distance from grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.
This is one reason I am here in Phoenix. I want to interact with e, with her parents. Mom died at 65; I will turn 65 in September, if nothing unexpected happens. She had just retired and had plans for her free time. I know that nothing is certain. This sentence from Elizabeth Strout's The Burgess Boys struck me: "No one wants to believe something is too late, but it is always becoming too late, and then it is." From another book I've read this spring: "Life is never as long as we want it to be, and wasted time can never be recovered."
Carpe diem.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Afternoon slugs
One thing I've noticed is after E's 3rd nap of the day, usually sometime between 2:30 and 4, both of us are tired. The eating goes well when she wakes up, but the play time...not so much. It's almost like I'm out of fresh ideas on what to do, and e is not quite as cheerful. So I'm always glad when E takes over. And e brightens up when her parents are here.
E and K left about 6:30 last night for the movie. Little e took a bottle, in 2 courses with a brief nap between, and was asleep by shortly after 7. I then worked on my current quilt project, the one I call my Legos quilt. Cut entirely from scraps, each piece is cut 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches, sewn end to end then sewn in a spiral (angular, not round) effect around the center. I finished row 16 last night but it was almost 10 and E and K came home, so I turned off the sewing machine.
This morning is cloudy and in the 60's. When we took our walk, I didn't need to put up the top/shade on the stroller at all. Normally the shade goes up and down as we move in and out of the sunlight. It was pleasant.
E and K left about 6:30 last night for the movie. Little e took a bottle, in 2 courses with a brief nap between, and was asleep by shortly after 7. I then worked on my current quilt project, the one I call my Legos quilt. Cut entirely from scraps, each piece is cut 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches, sewn end to end then sewn in a spiral (angular, not round) effect around the center. I finished row 16 last night but it was almost 10 and E and K came home, so I turned off the sewing machine.
This morning is cloudy and in the 60's. When we took our walk, I didn't need to put up the top/shade on the stroller at all. Normally the shade goes up and down as we move in and out of the sunlight. It was pleasant.
Monday, May 4, 2015
A new week
Today is E and K's second anniversary. K has a mantra to help him remember the date because he knows how important that is. Ready? "May the fourth be with you." As you might guess, he's a Star Wars fan. Randy and I were married the day after my birthday; he figured it would be easier to recall both dates that way. And he does! I will put e to bed tonight so her parents can go to the new Avengers movie.
My weekend at home was pleasant. I went to church earlier than usual to practice because I was invited by Linda to her birthday breakfast at Crab Cove beach. What a lovely time that was, sun, breezes, delicious food and meeting new women, with lots of laughing and cheerful conversation. On the way home I stopped at Kohl's to buy another pair of capris; I have 2 pairs here, but one doesn't have pockets and I need to keep my phone with me to ensure I hear the alarm reminding me it's time for e's medicine. (That would sound odd to anyone without a cell phone; I set alarms on mine daily.) I found denim capris as well as a couple of shirts.
Sunday afternoon Randy attended the installation service of a friend at First Pres, so Dena came over for a game of Scrabble before she took me to the airport. Yes, we felt the earthquake, just a little bump.
Last night we had a thunderstorm. I didn't hear much rain, but when e and I took our morning walk we saw some large puddles. One even had a couple of ducks swimming in it. The air felt fresh and a bit cooler. I now see e beginning to stir via the monitor, so it's time to feed her.
My weekend at home was pleasant. I went to church earlier than usual to practice because I was invited by Linda to her birthday breakfast at Crab Cove beach. What a lovely time that was, sun, breezes, delicious food and meeting new women, with lots of laughing and cheerful conversation. On the way home I stopped at Kohl's to buy another pair of capris; I have 2 pairs here, but one doesn't have pockets and I need to keep my phone with me to ensure I hear the alarm reminding me it's time for e's medicine. (That would sound odd to anyone without a cell phone; I set alarms on mine daily.) I found denim capris as well as a couple of shirts.
Sunday afternoon Randy attended the installation service of a friend at First Pres, so Dena came over for a game of Scrabble before she took me to the airport. Yes, we felt the earthquake, just a little bump.
Last night we had a thunderstorm. I didn't hear much rain, but when e and I took our morning walk we saw some large puddles. One even had a couple of ducks swimming in it. The air felt fresh and a bit cooler. I now see e beginning to stir via the monitor, so it's time to feed her.
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