Month: May 2011

Let’s see, aside from curing incurable diseases and fighting world hunger one meal at a time, which I like to do in my spare time, I’ve been working, recording, attending parties and other very important schtuff.

I can see the handwriting  on the wall – er, typing on the screen, this is going to be a Ketchup Blog. Yep, ladies and gents, here we go…

When last we met our heroine (that’s me, btw, not the drug) she was engaged in yet another bout of Human Tetris.  For any of you uninitiated out there, that means I was doing the ticketing for 2 concerts. 1 venue, 2 days, 1440 eager parents to seat. That’s Human Tetris. I’m happy to report that we only had one singer topple over during the first performance of 4, but she was ok. Let this be a lesson to anyone that has to sing an 8 minute song under hot lights. You must eat more than a glazed doughnut before going on stage. I carry magic apple juice for a sugar boost for just this reason, but you are only rewarded with the juice if you have either fallen or you sat down in the middle of a song. Either way, I don’t think the juice makes up for the wooziness and embarrassment of going THUD in the middle of rapturous music.

Luckily, we made it through the rest of the performances without any event other than leaving thousands of flower petals in our wake when the smallest members of our chorus delivered blooms to audience members during ” May Day Carol”.

Our middle group took a trip into DC, a place we don’t perform very often, and worked with a group called WomenSing from the San Francisco Bay Area. It was really nice to have an event for this group and they all did very well.  We sang a piece called “Wit and Fright”, a poem written by a 10 year old that was later adapted into song.

After two more performances and no more singers dropping, we had a small break before a group of our oldest singers recorded a piece with  Peabody Wind Ensemble called, Symphony # 3, “Planet Earth”, by Johan de Meij.  The chorus doesn’t start singing until 6:30 or so, and our group had a different sound, since it came from children, but they did a fantastic job. Can’t wait to get a copy of that CD.

And now that  we’ve finished THAT, it’s time for progress reports and vocal checks and… what am I forgetting… oh yeah, ITALY in 35 days.

That is a huge YIKES right there! I have over 800 T-shirts to sort this weekend and deliver next week at our first rehearsal. If I could just get a good technical itinerary, I’d be a happy camper. Then I could dissect it and give the stuff the chaperons need to them and let the others who are “shadowing” our tour know a bit more of when they’ll be seeing what!

In the middle of all of this, and certainly not to diminish it in any way, my daughter (#4) graduated from COLLEGE!! Cum Laude, btw.

I know, I know, you aren’t the only way thinking that you remember the blogs I had written when she went away and started working at the beach that first year, and if not, explain to me why you haven’t read back through the archives and gotten to that yet. I’ll be here waiting for you when you finish… lol     Hubby and I are so proud of her. She’s worked hard and deserves all the kudos she’s gotten.

And how do you celebrate college graduation? You go to a place called Dead Freddies and have lunch and follow that up with a rousing game of mini golf and then go get some ice cream.

And all of that you follow up with a cook out so that all your friends can help celebrate how proud you are of her.

So, now that you’ve been relatively caught up on what’s been going on, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Two of my grandchildren will be coming next week! Yep! W and H are back with me for their yearly visit. I’m excited to see them. I’ll bet they’ve grown so much. I should start wrapping my head around what we can go do this year.

And I’d better make a reservation or two for somewhere to sleep while I’m in Germany…. hmm… what am I doing writing a blog, then?

When I’m gone no need to wonder
If I ever think of you
The same moon shines
The same wind blows for both of us
And time is but a paper moon
Be not gone

Though I’m gone it’s as though
I hold the flower that touches you
A new life grows
The blossom knows there’s no one else
Could warm my heart as much as you
Be not gone

Hear my song still think of me
The way you’ve come to think of me
The nights grow long
But dreams live on
Just close your pretty eyes
And you can be with me
Dream on

When I’m gone they’ll say we were all fools
And we don’t understand
Oh be strong don’t turn your heart
We’re all you’re all we’re all for all for always

Let us cling together as the years go by
Oh my love my love
In the quiet of the night
Let our candle always burn
Let us never lose the lessons we have learned

~ excerpts from Teo Torriate by Brian May

I’d like to write about something that has nothing to do with my work .

I’d like to.

Work is busy. Lots of odds and ends going on now. It would be nice to feel like more gets caught by the sieve than passes through.

I need some sleep. It’ll be nice to wake up tomorrow with a fresh approach and some great music.

About three weeks ago I busted my baby toe. The swelling is gone and the bruising has cleared up, but I still can’t get a freaking shoe on my foot. The pressure against the toe is just too much.

Sometimes I’m too stubborn. I get one idea of how something should be done and then stagnate when something gets in the way. Working on that problem.

Today I couldn’t stand not going for a walk. I’ve been home and using some hand weights since I can’t be in the gym without a shoe on, but moving more than that hasn’t really happened. Well, duh!! I have a basement with tons of dance dvds and some flip-flops, so today I walked a mile in my flip-flops. Someone mentioned that maybe I should get those Vibram 5 Finger shoes, which look incredibly odd to me, but I’d try since I prefer to be barefoot above all else.

I’m not sure why this thought hadn’t occurred to me before this, but now that it has, I feel positive that I’ll be able to meet my goals in quick order.  And maybe I’ll remember that if it’s important enough to you, you can always find a way to do what you want.

Silly me.

I went to a Faerie Festival in Pennsylvania.  I had fun and it was… different. Don’t take that to mean bad; it was exactly what I said it was. It was different.

This was the 20th year of the Spoutwood Farm May Day Faerie Festival in Shrewsbury, Pa. The farm is a working farm that is community sponsored. You can join the farm, work some and reap the rewards of the harvest. Nice way to get some fresh veggies if you ask me.

Hubby and I went with friends to enjoy the sunshine, sights, belly dancers, music, food and crafts. Since I still can’t fit my busted toe into real shoes, I was in flip-flops, which isn’t the best footwear for the terrain, but with the helping arm of Hubby, I was fine.

One of the things I wanted to see was the music group Telesma.  I knew of them from a friend who was trying to work with them on a touring project that, unfortunately didn’t pan out, but I always thought they must be interesting if he was working with them. I was right. They are interesting. We stuck around specifically because I’d wanted to hear this band. Just before they began, I found a nice sunny patch of grass and sat down with Hubby. My companions decided to stand on the hill. After two songs, I felt that the group was different enough that some were not going to like it and I didn’t want to subject my friends to anything more experimental than I had, so I got up to say we could leave.

Duh. They were jammin’.  Who knew?

It was time to go anyway, because there is always work to be done and part of the reason I’d gone so far north was to get some help with Italy paperwork and finish up ticketing (aka Human Tetris) for the upcoming concerts. Happy to report that all the work was completed and we still had a great time. As always, thanks to N and R for their hospitality.

We didn’t get photos of every “different” thing we saw, but I figured I’d give you some highlights so you could call me a hippie later.

Curly wood is interesting. They had some neat furniture. Cool to look at, but never really useful, in my opinion.

Does anyone remember Wishniks? I’m going to bet that duct tape might take some skin with it.

Who wears it better? Hubby on the left, or R on the right? I’m not sure, but I think R might be rockin’ this fashion statement.

Llamas and Alpacas – CUTE!

Under the guise of being helpful, R tries to sneak a peek. (In all honesty, she was trying to put the ladder up, upside down!)

Telesma and their fans.