Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Category Archives: fun stuff


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Is it hard to play a violin if you're Cookie Monster?

Last night I attended the Halloween Concert put on by the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. As usual a wonderful time was had by all. The musicians were dressed in costumes; the percussion section were crash dummies, the violas were Crayola crayons, each a different color. Oboe players dressed as characters in Alice in Wonderland. There was a butterfly and a bee, ghosts and devils, a couple of rabbits, one with a tire print up the front of his white teeshirt. A few farmers played violins, a male geisha girl played the cello, and five assorted princesses played the piccolo part of the Sousa march “Stars and Stripes.”

In the audience were costumed people as well. Adults as well as children of all ages were dressed for trick or treat. The couple who sponsored this concert were dressed as bacon and eggs; he was the bacon, she was the eggs. Just down our row of seats was the most adorable baby skunk, and up ahead of us was a child dressed as a remote control. Really. Throughout the concert parents dressed as witches and pirates carried sleeping monkeys and princesses out of the auditorium. It was a delightful scene.

And I wondered absently as I watched the performance if it was more difficult to play a violin if you’re in a giant cookie monster costume. One of the first chair violinists was ensconced in a bright blue furry suit, with the giant bulbous eyes of cookie monster lodged above her forehead. It had to be hot. And certainly not as easy to hold the violin under your chin. I saw other members of the orchestra adjust costumes as they played. I wondered if they had practiced at home in their outfits, just to make sure it all worked together. Probably not!

But my wonderings came to an end during the last piece, “The Great Gate of Kiev” by Modeste Mussorgsky. The cookie monster played a beautiful solo, low and deep and melodic at the beginning of the piece, answered in kind by the Mad Hatter’s oboe. Apparently it doesn’t matter what a person looks like on the outside. It’s what’s on the inside that counts.


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Can you do yoga with a broken foot? And other unrelated thoughts.

I went to my last physical therapy session this morning for that annoying crick in my neck. I haven’t had neck pain since I started PT, plus they gave me lots of exercises to do to keep the neck muscles stronger. And they reminded me about the importance of posture. In fact it feels good to be doing anything remotely athletic given I can’t run at the moment. Which makes me wonder just what I can do with a broken foot. I’m thinking maybe I can do some simple yoga? Do you think? I’ve got a few yoga dvds…I think I”ll dig some out and see what might work with a broken foot.

On another front I have two interviews scheduled for this coming week. One is tomorrow for holiday temp work at a bookstore. Another is later in the week for part-time library work. Wish me well, I’d like to try to do them both. Even with a broken foot.

Thirdly, Katie graduated from intermediate dog obedience this past week. She wasn’t particularly well behaved on our last day of class, probably because I didn’t work with her as much, and we only went to the park to practice our homework once during the week. But she still graduated. So next week we move on to advanced obedience. We considered for a moment not enrolling her, as a cost saving measure, but she loves school so much. And it certainly works out some of her energy on school nights, which works for me. Especially with a broken foot.


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I've been junco'd!

This morning I noticed what looked like a dark-eyed junco sitting on my brand new deck railing. Upon closer observation I realized there was a whole flock of juncos around the deck and under the bird feeder. OH NO! Juncos are only around during winter, and their arrival confirms that the summer is truly over. Even if I ignore the 40 degree morning I can’t ignore this flock of dark little birds. Guess it’s time to take down the humming bird feeder – ey? For a look at what a junco looks like check out this link. Bet if you live around here you’ll find out you’ve been junco’d too!

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Dark-eyed_Junco.html


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Favorite toy

A sheltie friend posted about his favorite toy, so Katie wanted to mention her favorite:

What you say? You’re not sure what this is? It’s a Mr. Froggy! Poor froggy has been sewn up a couple of times, lost his eyes (purposefully, we took them off for safety reasons) and his squeaker squeaks no more. But she loves him anyway.

She’s also fond of:

Mr. Squeaky who makes a loud shrill noise that Katie finds very useful early in the morning or late at night when she feels she isn’t getting enough play time. Sometimes Mr. Squeaky has to be put on a high shelf by Katie’s parents just because. And…

tennis balls! Any tennis ball will do but the smaller ones are especially good for playing fetch. Or dropping near a neglectful parent for a more subtle reminder that it’s PLAYTIME!

But mostly it’s Mr. Froggy who wins the popularity contest among Katie’s massive basket of toys.


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Weekend Paradise

I spent the weekend in Northern Michigan where the fall colors were peaking, the sun was shining, the air was warm and sweet and Lake Michigan was gorgeous. And to top it off, I got to stay with a good friend in her wonderful home complete with a loving dog-cat. Well. A cat that sort of acts like a dog, you know what I mean. We wandered quaint little towns, poking our heads into art galleries and book stores and hiked through beautiful sun drenched forests listening to woodpeckers and the silence. We walked the beach and waded into the gentle waves, kayaked the turquoise still waters of Lake Michigan, and sat in warm sand drinking wine and drawing with pastels. We contemplated in silence the wide, ever changing lake, and talked incessantly; stories about the past and hopes for the future. We read and napped and laughed a lot.

It would have been easier to leave, both the lake as well as the friend and her cat if the day had been dreary, cold, misty or rainy. But it was perfect; in the 70’s, sunshine, the lake a cobalt blue. The trees glowed against the sky. I drove away with the car windows rolled down, listening to the crunch of brilliant leaves beneath the tires, memorizing the sights, sounds and smells of lake living in the fall, trying to impress the image onto my eyelids so that later, when I closed my eyes, I could bring it all back. Listening to the radio on my drive through the brilliant colors of mid-Michigan I heard “True colors shining through…I see your true colors shining through and that’s why I love you, that’s why I love you…” (Fredro Starr) It seemed appropriate and I hummed along with the music.

We took a last walk on the beach before I left, me dressed in jeans and running shoes, intent on keeping my feet dry given the long drive ahead. As we returned to the house I became less vigilant about avoiding the gently swelling water, and a rogue wave quickly slapped me in the ankle, pouring into my shoe. I laughed; it was as if Lake Michigan was grabbing for my foot, trying to keep me from leaving. In my heart I told the lake that it didn’t have to try so hard…it had me at hello. When I saw it again this trip I knew I was falling in love all over again.

PS: The images actually look better if you click on each of them v.s. making them into a slide show…


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Homework

Today was a beautiful day, and with no rain forecast for tomorrow I spent almost 7 hours on my homework – – staining more railing on our new deck. I now have the big deck finished! I still have the smaller one to do. Maybe tomorrow morning. Maybe not. I finished the big deck with about an hour of sunlight to spare, so Katie and I went to the park to work on her homework. The image above is our shadows at the park this evening with her sitting dutifully in front of me waiting for a reward. If you look carefully you can see her little ears tipped forward in anticipation.

When we got to the park it was very windy…

…but that didn’t keep Katie from chasing a phantom rabbit that she heard in the tall grass. That’s me you don’t see, running right along with her to get the picture.

She did really well as we practiced all her obedience skills, and she didn’t want to come back home when we were done exploring and practicing. I did though. I’m exhausted! Tomorrow I am driving up toward Traverse City to visit a friend for the weekend. No deck staining. Can’t beat that!


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SURPRISE!! New toy!

Katie got a gift from the UPS man this morning. The box was addressed to her, and neither I nor my husband had purchased anything for her. So it was with a sense of mystery that we opened the box. Katie was excited, how she knew is beyond me. Turned out to be a gift from her Uncle P in North Carolina, a bright pink and green Soft Bite Dog Disc to play Frisbee with! She instantly grabbed it and ran around the house shaking her head in an attempt to kill it.

Eventually we got it away from her, took off the tag and tossed it. Turns out we are not expert at tossing, but we will get better. She actually caught several of them, though I didn’t get good pictures of her. She loves it.

Thanks Uncle P! This evening she is napping, exhausted from all the fun. Probably dreaming of becoming a famous frisbee dog. Maybe she can support us in our old age.

We need more practice!


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Like I promised

I know you don’t need three posts from me in one day, but I’m so excited that I can’t wait to show you! Remember in a previous post when I described running (almost literally) into a pair of sandhill cranes while training and how I wished I had my camera? I vowed to go back to the park someday and walk around until I found them again. Well, today being such a sad day, missing the opportunity to run the half marathon, I went to a place that always makes me smile: Kensington Metro Park. I wasn’t really expecting to find the cranes as I had seen a flock of over twenty of them this week in a field near my home and I figured they were getting ready to fly away for the winter. I thought that the ones at the park would probably be gone. But I went out there anyway, to find some solace. After a couple of hours I had given up finding them, and was headed for home when I caught a glimpse of these two by the road. If I had been walking I wouldn’t have seen them; they were in a section of the park where the bike path had been taken up and moved. I had to park about a mile away and walk back and I was glad they were still there when I finally arrived. This picture shows their size; the split rail fence is about two and a half feet tall, maybe three feet at most.

But I also know I promised to get you an up close and personal picture of these beautiful birds. So, though they were more skittish today than the time I ran by them a couple of weeks ago, they did let me get pretty close, and you can see their rust feathers in a couple of these pictures.

I can say that the day turned out not to be a total waste. Finding these birds and them allowing me to get so close makes up for missing the race. 🙂


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OK, I'm awake

The Brooksie Way half marathon is this morning. It starts at 8, I’ve been awake since 4. Not that unusual for race morning, to be awake early like this. I have my morning routine figured out, what to eat, what to wear. Did I mention it’s 36 degrees out? And I’m wearing shorts and a long sleeved technical shirt, designed to wick away sweat? What sweat? Wish me luck…

More later.


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Just a bunch of thoughts

To borrow a theme from a few blogger friends here are some unrelated thoughts, in no particular order:

Today I attended a half day seminar on oral histories put on by the Michigan Historical Society. It’s a concept I’m very interested in, and I thought the $10.00 fee to attend was reasonable for an unemployed librarian. I learned a lot, and am somewhat overwhelmed. Now I need to figure out what to do with the information and how to get more involved. I hope that, aside from enjoying working with oral histories, this may be a step to differentiate me from other library candidates when a position opens up somewhere near home. Plus it was fun to be in a library (it was held at a library not to far away) and be sitting with librarians!

**

Last night was week five of intermediate obedience. Katie and I had a good time, and we got to practice heeling OFF LEASH for the very first time! Good thing we were indoors! Still, it was stressful for me to think I didn’t have total control over her. But to be honest she did pretty darn good, except when she’d find a fallen treat along the way and stop to gobble it down. For a dog that initially wasn’t interested in treats while we were in school, she has certainly come out of her shell! I don’t think she even realized she wasn’t on the leash most of the time. And to top off our evening the instructor actually used her as a demonstration about a new skill because she knew that Katie already knew how to do a right finish (walking around me and sitting on my left side). So I got to watch Katie work from a ways away, which was enlightening. When I’m not concentrating so hard on getting her to do stuff, and when she isn’t sitting right next to me, with me looking down at her, I can see that she is a very pretty little girl! Rather than thinking how irritating she is when she won’t sit, or won’t stay, or won’t…well you know. And I know I’m still her favorite; when she got her treat from the instructor for doing the right finish, she glanced over, realized I wasn’t next to her and ran at top speed back to me. I could she in her face that she was saying “MAMA! MAMA! I got a TREAT!”

**

I haven’t finished staining the deck. It’s been too rainy. Oh darn.

**

I have started picking up “stuff” around the house. There is so much stuff it’s been overwhelming. So I decided to just work on one little part each night. Tonight while cleaning up a part of the closet I found a photograph of Bonnie, our previous sheltie, taken before she was so old. Gosh she was a cute dog! I showed the picture to Katie but I don’t think she cared.

**

I also found some lyrics to a song that I wrote down while I was in Alabama. The first evening I was there I sat at my mother’s piano. Randomly I opened a song book (Alfred’s Basic Adult All-Time Favorites) that she used to use when she went to senior housing to play for sing-a-longs. I slowly picked the melody out, then tried to play it with the chords. (I had piano lessons when I was ten, for one very long year.) I could sort of play this simple song. Then I went back and read the lyrics and wondered how I had come to open this particular book to this particular song out of all the music piled on her piano:

There’s a Long Long Trail, by Stoddard King, music by Zo Elliot

Theres a long, long trail awinding into the land of my dreams,

Where the nightingales are singing and a white moon beams

There’s a long long night of waiting

Until my dreams all come true,

Till the day when I’ll be going

Down that long, long trail to you.

I wonder how I came to play this piece, because sometimes I think it’s a long long time until I get to see her again.