To-do lists and resulting activities

Why is it that the most appealing thing to do in an afternoon is the one item not on your to-do list? I even have my to-do list prioritized so I can be most efficient in my time, and does that help me? Not a bit. Because when I have the urge to throw everything out of the back of my truck and organize it, that's what I'm going to do, by jingo!

This cleaning project turned out to be time-urgent task, actually, because some rainwater had gotten through the truck shell and were damaging some of Mom's books that were being stored there. I guess that's one way to make the decision making easy. But most of the books were fine, and Mom and I were able to distribute them in admirable fashion.

Then after the sorting, we went on a string of errands and deliveries, so that after the used-book store, Mom's work place, the plant nursery, the thrift store, the bank, and the library, I can tell you with pride that the back of the truck is as clean as a whistle!

So it wasn't on my to-do list. I can deal with that. It was a very fun, satisfying little project. Now if only I could check off items off my actual list!

Sweaters away!

Santa Barbara winter is so bizarre! Or perhaps we should say non-existent. Today I decided to pack away my 2 thick sweaters. I wasn't wearing them, so why have them taking room in my dresser?

At noon I had a picnic lunch with my friend Ruth on the beach. The wind off the sea was somewhat crisp, but nothing a good sweatshirt couldn't handle.

Of course we did have 'weather' last week: almost 5 days straight of rain. Now the sunshine and moist soil create the perfect conditions to work in the garden!

Welcome, Keara and Sierra!

Today we welcomed back Keara and Sierra into the Santa Barbara Rodkey/Rodarte fellowship. They had spent the year away in Colorado, where they had endured both the 'real winter' and the absence of their cousins. Now, however, their waiting was over and they are back among us, recieving both hugs and exclamations of 'how you've grown!'

As with last summer, Silvia will be heading up the care for these dear girls, with Mom as her exuberant scheuling coordinater. We'll be seeing a lot of them, I think...

One-year anniversary

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! 365 days ago, I was performing my senior recital. Now I am teaching music 3 days a week.

To celebrate, I decided to create a wacky music teaching costume using my senior recital dress. You can see the results below.




























Fun with flash cards!

Ski trip

This weekend I spent two complete days in 'June Lake' (that's in the Sierras, between Yosemite and the Nevada border). I went with 40 others from the 'Post-College, No-Kids' (abbreviated PCNK) group at my church. Overall, I was successful in my three goals: 1) meet new people, 2) deepen half-formed friendships, 3) spend the minimum amount of money.

Goal #2 and #3 happily collided on Friday when 5 others felt equally disgusted with the $60 ski lift fee and opted for cross-country skiing instead. I enjoyed the skiing (first time!), although it was hard to stop my habits from rollerblading. Most of my rollerblading techniques resulted in crossing my skis - ack! At one point, another girl and I went exploring off the main path, following a track from some previous ski-er. It started by paralleling the main path, but then it took a bend and before we knew it, we were going up the side of the mountain with a very steep slope to one side and rocks on the other side! We were already so committed by the time we realized it was no longer following the path, we just decided to stick it out and reach the top. It took us quite a while, but we finally made it. And then getting back was a trick, too! You can imagine our sense of accomplishment, though.


On the second day, I tried snow-shoeing with a group of 12 (as pictured above). This was an interesting experience, but overall I enjoyed the ski-ing better, although it was more difficult. Both on Friday and Saturday, we had amazing weather: it would be below freezing at night and then warm up into the 40's. The beautiful blue skies made for a wonderful contrast between the green of the evergreens and white of the snow.

I did get to experience the ski lift on Saturday night, as the final large group gathering took place in the ski lodge. Being the heights-lover that I am, I enjoyed being lifted up the mountainside about 20 feet above the ground. The ski-lift was a little chilly on the return trip, though. At both evening gatherings, we looked at the passage in II Cor 5, exploring the theme of 'courage'.

A good and worthwhile weekend. Hopefully yours was equally enjoyable!

A MacBeth Moment

In the fourth act of Macbeth, the Witches tell Macbeth that "Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him" before he loses his throne. Macbeth, in his false confidence, believes means his reign is secure, since he cannot conceive of a way that a tree could "unfix his earth-bound roots."

Well, I'm all equipped to bring Birnam Wood to Dunsinane hill, or at least to supply a large theatrical production of MacBeth with all the bushes they need! The time has finally come for overgrown hedge in our front yard to be 'taken care of'. I've been clipping it down to its very stumps (don't worry, it will grow back the healthier for it). But some of the 'branches' I trim off are big enough to be trees themselves! This one, for example. Would you believe it, I clipped it at my head level, and even so the branch is taller than me!

The hedge is high enough to make it climbable, as you can see. The stumps in the foreground show my progress: I'm almost all the way done! The project, starting back in the beginning of January, should be finished within the next week!

Meanwhile... Birnam Wood, anybody?

Wintertime flowers

As a consequence of Santa Barbara's combined winter/spring planting season, our front yard received it's new spring garb over the Christmas break. Elissa and I planted 24 medium-sized flowers in the front flower box, and scattered seeds in hopes that some would fall on good soil. In the following weeks, I have tended the flowers, and am pleased to report that they have adjusted well to their new home.

My devotion to the flower box stands in stark contrast to my neglect of the vegetable garden. Elissa, during her post-college living-at-home days, established a delightful herb and vegetable garden on the side of the house. However, neither my parents or I share her vision or dedication, and so the garden has fallen into disrepair since Elissa left for grad school.

Knowing my love for the practical, it may seem odd at my choice of attention. Are not vegetables more practical than flowers? Can flowers claim any usefulness at all?

I think I can indeed make a case for the importance of flowers. When my sisters and I take walks together (as we are wont to do), frequently we discuss the appearance of the houses where we are walking. The front yards are praised or scorned, but in either case, I feel like we are examining a speck while lugging around a two-by-four! If we, mere strangers, judge people by the appearance of their yards, how must others regard our own neglected, out-of-hand yard! For me, the evaluation of other yards must translates into practical action to our yard. Hence, for me, flowers in the flowerbed are a practical application of a long-cherished vision: a respectable, maybe even classy, yard in front our home.

To that end, I am starting a new 10-minute campaign. I will attempt to spend 10 minutes a day on some outdoor chore. Even if I can't complete the task in 10 minutes, I will have gotten more accomplished than if I save all gardening to some non-existent free weekend. And you'd be surprised what you can do in ten minutes! Today I trimmed the overgrown bush near the mailbox. Slowly but surely I will make progress and will see the fruits, or more appropriately, the flowers of my labor!

Page-turning and other musical duties

This weekend was full of musical events for me. That's fairly atypical since I've been back from college, although it probably can be explained by the season we are entering.

1. Friday evening: Page-turning for Camerada Pacifica
Camerada Pacifica is a top-notch performing group based in LA. From what I've picked up, chamber music seems to be their specialty. I was to page-turn for the pianist, and it was a bit nerve-wrecking: I'd never heard or seen the music before, it was high-level music, and some of the movements went lickty-split! I managed to get all the way through without causing much havoc, but I almost forgot a 1st ending/2nd ending, almost turned the page too early twice. But I'll give myself grace, as it was rather difficult.

Watching the interactions backstage was an interesting experience, as I got a peek into the life of a professional performing musician. I witnessed the familiarity (and slight boredom) with the performance progress, the opinions voiced on this or that piece of music, the amazing technique with the ease of Hot Cross Buns. But I also saw the slight nervousness before performance and the exhilaration afterward, and I could hear true excitement when discussing certain musical pieces. I was glad to see this genuine love of music, despite all the practices and performances that might drain the joy of music dry.

2. Saturday afternoon: Accompanying at a memorial service
I had my first paid accompaniment gig! I was accompanying an elderly singer with two pieces, a Schubert Lieder and a Scarlatti piece. They were just the right level of difficulty for me to master with still a bit of challenge... Unfortunately, the rehearsal we had Friday afternoon went better than actual performance, but the singer was still pleased with my playing. I know I've learned from this experience, and am improving on my accompanying skills!

3. Saturday evening: Westmont's Christmas Festival
Mom, Dad and I attended the Christmas concert, which was amazing! All the choirs and the orchestra did splendidly. Erik was especially busy, being a part of both College Choir and Chamber Singers. He even had a substantial solo, in which he made his family proud. The concert was themed 'Lo, how a Rose', and had different arrangements of the pieces, tying the concert together into a unified whole. The concert made me very happy because of the great music, but a little sad for Wheaton's Christmas Festival. Was that this weekend, as well?

4. Sunday evening: Performing for the MCC Christmas pageant
This shouldn't even count; it was such a come-down musically from the Christmas Festival. But it is true: I played 'I wonder as I wander' (unaccompanied oboe) as the opening for the Christmas pageant. I also accompanied the children on the carols during the morning rehearsal, and I discovered that I really must work on reading off of lead sheets. Bah! And then, for all the practicing, you still couldn't hear the children singing, even when mic-ed, because the worship team and the congregation was singing at the same time. So what was the point, I ask you?

I have now picked out 10 lovely choral pieces for my choirs, and am working on learning them!

That's the musical report from your friendly correspondent!
From the Archives: Dec. 8th, 2008

Gangsters and Flappers and Murders - oh my!

This Friday, Halloween to be exact, I attended a Mystery Murder dinner, set in the 1920's.

The party was hosted by Philip Vegdahl and Mary Patterson, some post-college kids that I've gotten to know at church. (Mary, who is a fabulous pianist, has started working on the Poulenc Sonata with me - hurray!). They used a kit with pre-made characters, plot twists, and pieces of 'evidence'. Each of the party-goers (there were 22 total) got a booklet in advance that told about their character.

I was a young flapper who'd recently married the lead Chicago gangster, thereby affending his ex-wife, my mother, and my mother-in-law. I was also secretly seeing (get this) Al Capone. I find dangerous men so attractive! I recently got a black eye from slipping when coming down from the stage.

I spent a good chunk of time Friday afternoon watching Youtube clips on how to Charleston. But I didn't get much of a chance to use my newly-acquired knowledge, because at the beginning of the evening my role turned tragic as my husband was shot dead! How could a grieving widow possible dance the Charleston? But my widow-status didn't keep me from being pursued by Al Capone, who wanted to know who had really given me that black eye!



All-in-all, it was an excellent evening, with magnificent costumes, dramatic moments, and good practice at imaginative play. You could tell that some of the guests hadn't played dress-up in a very long time... imaginative play takes work and should be maintained by frequent use. I challenge you all to do at least one imaginative thing this week!
From the Archives: Nov. 2, 2008

News flash

I have some rather large news to report. It is sad, exciting, and scary all at the same time.

Jean Kawiecki (director of Artios Academies, the homeschooler fine arts program) called today and told me that yesterday the board of the Santa Barbara Children's Chorus decided that it was no longer possible to run the Chorus. Oh sorrow! Oh sadness! My first experience into top-notch music! The beginning of my love for choral music! Three years of wonderful memories and great musical growth! (Only three? It seems much more.)

Then Jean continued. Foreseeing this collapse, she had been planning to purchase the sheet music and uniforms from the Chorus for use in the Artios' choir. But she also grieved the loss of a classically-based choral program for the youth of Santa Barbara. Combining these desires, she came up with this plan: not only to take over the Chorus' music and uniforms but to take its name, philosophy, and role in the community. This newly re-formed SB Children's Chorus would be loosely connected to Artios Academies – the same location, the same day – but would be open to the community, not just home-schoolers. She would take any of the former SBCC choristers into the new one at no additional cost.

And at last Jean came to my involvement. This new program would need an Artistic Director to guide and direct the artistic goals of the choir; would I be interested?

I should mention here that earlier in the week, I had received my mid-semester teacher evaluation from Jean. In it, she expressed her high satisfaction with my teaching, including choir. On my choir rehearsals, she had received feedback from my accompanist, who had said that he was impressed with my methodology – that I had a good way of breaking things done to fix problems. I was especially happy to hear this from him, as he has sung and rehearsed under Mrs. Hodson. I do feel more hopeful about my choir than the first dismal weeks of rehearsal, which gives me the confidence to say yes!

That is, I told her that I loved the Chorus and believed in its vision, and I would do anything to support Jean in keeping that vision alive. If she choose to put me in a position of leadership, fully knowing that I have just barely gotten my feet wet in conducting, then I would do my best to deserve such a position.

I'm rather on pins and needles to see what will happen. I'm sure you can see how this potential position would be both exciting and scary.

Oh, that this good news were not so strongly linked to the bad news, that I might fully rejoice!

From the Archives: Oct. 28, 2008

Happy day

Today was one of those rare days: happy, productive, well-balanced, nicely paced - that is to say, practically perfect. And as it often happens that no-good, very-bad days are reported, I see no reason why an all-good, very-nice day shouldn't be equally represented.

What made this day so good? Here's a brief sketch:
- 'getting stuff done', even before going off to work at Starbucks at 8am
- Starbucks was busy, but not stressful
- back home for a quiet lunch (enjoyed together with my friend, Jane Austin)
- an hour of yardwork and house clean-up, with good progress made
- a piano lesson with my happy-go-lucky eight-year-old
- working on and completing (!) a project that had been hanging over my head
- going for a pleasant run
- all this in addition to some piano practice, oboe practice, and reed-making!

The only down-er was that my second piano student for the day didn't show up, due to a misunderstanding on his mother's part. But now that it's been cleared up, I have hope for next week.

And two cheerful pieces of oboe-related news: I've been invited to be a part of a woodwind quintet! From what I understand, the other members are well-experienced, though not professional, musicians. The man in charge has had 20+ years of playing woodwind quintets, and already owns a plethora of music. Also, I've either been having a streak of good luck, or I seem to be improving with my reed-making abilities! (Perhaps a little of both.) It makes me hopeful that I will indeed become 'reed independent' in the near(ish) future.

I wonder if it's too much to hope that my day will be as beautiful tomorrow...
From the Archives: Oct. 15, 2008

First day of teaching

Grand summary: I was pleased with my music classes, drama club was exciting but a bit hectic at times, and I was least satisfied with choir but it was ok.

Now, a paragraph on each:
In my music classes, I gave a grand overview of the entire period by putting up things on the time line and listening to little music samples. The kids were very excited to participate with putting things on the time line, and they were also good listeners to the music. It was especially fun to see their reaction to my madrigal sample! They thought the 'fa la la's were hilarious! The first class I had was rather challenging - 17 kids, with a high percentage of boys. But the other classes were more manageable - one of 9 kids and one with 11.

In the drama club, I told them the story of the Light Princess, then, to get the idea of weightlessness, I had them play with balloons, and then we read a portion of the script aloud. A couple problems I came across: I had the idea of carefully observing the balloons and then trying to imitate that as a 'light' princess, but the combination of kids with balloons was anything but 'careful' and 'observing'. I dunno, maybe they absorbed somethings unconsciously, but on the surface it looked like mass chaos, even when I tried to impose some order. Hm. Another problem I encountered with reading the script: three of the kids needed the lines read aloud to them because of low reading abilities. So a practice recording will be really necessary, I think. But the biggest 'problem' is that I got two extra kids! This isn't a problem per se, but it means I need to a) readjust the script for 8 parts, or b) double-cast it, or c) some combination of the two. Sigh.

I also got one other kids in choir, which brings the total to 5. I really had hoped to do more singing and less talking, but alas, I'm not skilled enough to explain what I want in few words. When introducing a piece, where's the balance between learning by rote (unhealthy) and learning through modeling (healthy)? I wish I knew. Also, I don''t think it helps to have it at the end of a teaching day: the youngest little boy started complaining of tiredness during drama club, and so was draggy through all of choir.

So there you have it! One highlight before I go: at lunch, a little eight-year-old ran up to me and said, "Don't tell any of the other teachers, but," whispering in my ear, "you're my favorite teacher at Artios!"

From the Archives: Sept. 7th, 2008