Bucket List

I have been wondering why exactly it is that I love the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin so much.  They are, of course, part of every violinist's repertoire.  They are some of the most creative and complex works for a solo instrument.  And it's not to say that others haven't written some very creative and complex solo violin works, as well. What about the Bartok Solo Sonata?  That's on my bucket list to perform, too.  After I learn it, of course...  The Bach cycle is the kind of music that every time you come back to it, you discover something new.  The Sonatas and Partitas are fully academic, fully artistic, and fully emotive.  They require a smorgasbord of technique without being show-off pieces.  They are the kind of work that every performer can have radically different interpretations of, and there are still more ways to play them that can be dreamed up. 

People have asked me over the years for my favorite recordings, and I can't really answer that.  I grew up with Arthur Grumiaux on LP, and in the last decade I bought my first ever recording of the cycle, which is the Christian Tetzlaff.  It was my prize in a practice challenge I did with my students.  For the most part I have been rather skittish with recordings.  I have heard the Bach pieces live so much, I feel that they are living, breathing pieces, so it is impossible to set down in stone (or 0's and 1's these days) the (or even "a") perfect interpretation.  They are always, breathing, changing, evolving. 

Not to say I haven't heard them plenty.  From middle school through graduate school, I was almost never without a solo Bach work in my daily practice repertoire, and that was true of almost all of my student colleagues in Cleveland.  Twice I week I heard a smorgasbord of movements performed in studio class.  Plus all the encounters in the daily recitals during recital season, the playing for each other in practice rooms, and the snatches heard in the practice hallways, and not limited to the violin.  Certain movements are enjoyed by violists, bassists, and marimba players. 

I have studied all six of the works many times over the years, and performed all of them on multiple occasions.  In the spring of 2011 I performed them in a methodical way at our church in Huntsville - the first two one month, the next two two months later, and the next two yet two month later.  It was the first step in a build-up which has since halted its course due to moves, childbirth, and life craziness in general.  The build-up was meant to take me to a single day recital with all six.  That is still on my bucket list.  I am attracted to extreme events.  This is an extreme event I am dying to take on.  I may put a date on the calendar in the near future and work toward it.  Events of the next few weeks may dictate some of the details of that schedule.

This weekend I heard the fourth performance of the complete cycle all in a day. 

...First there was Christian Tetzlaff, many years ago in the beautifully acoustic Harris Concert Hall in Aspen, Colorado.  Then there was Sharon Roffman in the large Kulas Hall at Cleveland Institute of Music.  Then there was Johnny Gandelsman at Town Hall (the former First Church of Christ, Scientist) in downtown Seattle.  This time was Rachel Barton Pine in the Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya, a few blocks down the hill from Town Hall. 

Tetzlaff's music was a marathon.  A mathematician, he played Bach with precision and a stunning variety of tempos, including some of the fastest presti I have ever heard.  It was breathtaking and exhausting.  Sharon Roffman was a masters student when I was an undergrad, and in true Weilerstein-student fashion, she wanted to do something different, something artistically challenging and deep.  So one of her two masters recitals was the complete Bach program.  She was creative and bold.  Now she is a small-time soloist, freelance chamber musician, and part-time music educator, and I wonder if she has done this program again.  I loved her phrasing, her nuance, her articulation.  Last year I heard Johnny Gandelsman on the Town Hall Music series, which our old school friend Josh Roman runs.  Josh pulls in eclectic and often unknown talent.  Johnny's Bach was both boldly modern and daringly Baroque.  He is not a concerto-style player.  He took to the Bach as a chamber musician.  Rachel's Bach was the first complete cycle I heard on a period instrument with period bows.  She used one bow for everything but the 3rd Partita, for which she used a different bow.  I'm guessing that she used a French bow for that one.  She did not take any repeats, which made the marathon feel more manageable. She was at her most invincible in the C Major Fugue (the longest Bach ever wrote for any instrument.)  She was at her most creative in the Third Partita.  The Preludio was athletic and driving.  The dance movements were delicately ornamented in ways I had never heard before.  It was another breath of fresh air.  And this was the first complete cycle I heard with an encore!  She played a little suite of her own compilation of Scottish fiddle tunes from the same era as the Bach - an air, a march, a strathspey, and a reel.  Her grasp of Scottish ornamentation is stunning, and people were straining in their seats to figure out how she was making those perfect Highlands sounds.

Some of my readers may not be familiar with Rachel Barton Pine, which is a shame.  She is basically the Yo-Yo Ma of the violin, by which I mean she is generous in every way possible, and she plays every sort of style you can imagine at the highest level possible: concertos with major orchestras,  Bluegrass with the greats from Nashville, historically informed performance on Baroque instruments, she champions women and Black composers, she plays covers of hard rock, incredible master class teacher, Scottish fiddling, she composes...

Speaking of master classes.  Anne Rendle texted me in the wee hours of Friday morning to let me know that Rachel Barton Pine was giving another master class nearby on Friday (I couldn't attend the one on Thursday in Bellevue), and it was free and open to the public, and did I want to go with her.  Well, of course, I did.  And my Anne wanted to go, which I agreed to at the last minute with some trepidation.  I wasn't sure how I was going to keep her quiet for two hours while I tried to absorb everything.  But actually it was the PERFECT masterclass to take her to.  There is an amazing violinist by the name of Quintin Morris who grew up here in Renton, right about my age, and he is now assistant professor of violin at Seattle University.  That's his day job.  A year ago, he started an incredible non-profit in Renton which reaches low-income violin students and students of color ages 12-18 with very serious violin lessons.  The students give quarterly recitals, and they have masterclasses with big stars, and then get to attend their concerts.  These kids got almost three hours with Rachel.  She was generous and precise in working with them on their music at all levels - French Folk Song, Twinkle, Song of the Wind, the D Major Scale, a double stop etude, Lalo Symphonie espagnole, concerti by Vivaldi and Telemann.  After she worked with all the students, she took questions from them about how she became a professional and how she prepares for performances.  Then she pulled out a little tiny violin, and said, "Sophia, it's time to wash your hands."  One of the little girls Anne was playing quietly with off to the side came running up.  It was Rachel's six-year-old daughter, and the two of them gave us a special presentation they had prepared for the Chicago public school's Black History Month celebrations.  They performed eleven pieces by composers of African descent from around the world and across the centuries.  Afterward, when Sofia went back to playing with Anne and the other kids, Rachel showed us her "modern" violin and her Baroque violin and her different bows to explain their different set ups and sounds so the students would know what they were seeing on the Sunday concert.

I wanted to share a very few of the words Rachel wrote in her extensive program notes for Sunday's concert:

"You must practice Bach.  It is the music of Gott!"  Thus I was regularly instructed by the elderly German ladies at St. Pauls Church in Chicago, the church in which I was raised, during my earliest years as a violinist. 

I was fortunate to grow up at St. Pauls, a church with deep dedication to music.  The church has been a spiritual home to opera singers and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  My relationship with Bach's music began and matured within the St. Pauls sanctuary.  A work of Bach was the first piece I played, at the age of four, for a worship service.[...] 

The beautiful acoustic of St. Pauls sanctuary, reverberant yet clear, has continued to inform my interpretation of Bach's music.  It is my "emotional home" for his music, and no matter where I play Bach, the acoustical qualities of the sanctuary are always in my ear. 

Bach created all of his compositions, whether explicitly sacred or not, in service to the Creator from whom his gift came.  each is a celebration of his musical voice.  Bach's relationship to his music is a constant reminder of my role and responsibilities as an artist.  Every performance serves to honor the composer and the music as I strive to bring the notes on the page to life for the audience.  The Sonatas and Partitas are among the greatest human achievements and I have always viewed them with the deepest reverence.  however, remembering Bach's essential humility prevents these masterpieces from becoming overwhelming in their significance.  Instead, each time I play them, I feel as though I'm conversing with the very best of friends.

Research Booth

Five summers ago, I was talking to a dear friend on the phone during our last weeks in Birmingham.  I was standing with my little, beat-up silver flip phone in the bedroom we used as an office in our quiet upstairs condo in the woods, when she mentioned that some Christian friends of hers were going camping for the Festival of Tabernacles.  That resonated with me, and I filed it away in the back of my mind.

Shortly before Anne turned one, I joined a Bible study group in Kent, and that fall we dove into a year-long exploration of Moses and all the events connected with his life.  We dipped into Genesis, read every word in Exodus through Deuteronomy, and touched on the opening of Joshua.  The story of the Israelites' escape from Egypt and their long wanderings in the wilderness, filled with their rebellion and God's faithfulness, came alive in full color.  Again I took out that idea of camping for Tabernacles and turned it over in my mind.  I remembered reading about Judaism as a teenager, inspired by my first foray into the literature of the Holocaust - the Diary of Anne Frank.  I remembered reading a lot about Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Hannukah, and Pesach, but I had very little stored away on Sukkoth (Tabernacles, or Booths, depending on your translation) and Shavuoth (Pentecost).  In the autumns back in Cleveland I saw Orthodox neighbors building their sukkahs.

Not my picture, but the sort of thing I saw

...I sat imagining late evenings in front of a fireplace, watching the embers dying, curled up in sleeping bags with a teenage Anne, reading chapters of the dramatic story of Exodus....  Then daily life came back in full force, and the idea was filed again for another year.

This last school year, Anne and Lazarus and I had moved over to a different Bible study group in Federal Way, and we plumbed the depths of the Gospel of John.  And there came Tabernacles again.  Two of the big chapters - the one about Jesus being the Living Water, and the one about Jesus being the Light of Life, were deeply entwined with the Feast.  To understand Jesus' words, we had to understand the setting.  The ancient feast had come full circle and centered on the person of Jesus.  I pulled out those mental files and promised myself to do some research on Tabernacles over the summer.

And I did.  As soon as we were done with John I dove headfirst into a study of Tabernacles, reading fifteen or twenty minutes a day, and taking notes.  I was surprised to find that if one knows where to look, that feast is woven into the whole fabric of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  I read many parts of the Bible, with the aid of a concordance, as well as some Bible commentaries, and  I enjoyed several chapters from two beautiful devotional books by Ellen White, titled Patriarchs and Prophets and The Desire of Ages.

To start with the basics in this post, there was God's very thorough, but not particularly detailed in terms of the "how," command (in the command-filled book of Leviticus), to the Israelites to celebrate Tabernacles:

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the people of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, and lasting seven days, there shall be the festival of booths to the LORD.  The first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations.  Seven days you shall present the LORD's offerings by fire; on the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation and present the LORD's offerings by fire; it is a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations." 

"These are the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you shall celebrate as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD offerings by fire - burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day - apart from the sabbaths of the LORD, and apart from your gifts, and apart from all your votive offerings, and apart from all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD." 

"Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the LORD, lasting seven days; a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day.  On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.  You shall keep it as a festival to the LORD seven days in the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute forever throughout your generations.  You shall live in booths for seven days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."
~Leviticus 23:33-43

There were more details in the book of Numbers as to what the aforementioned offerings were to be: quite bloody and quite mathematical.  I wonder if the families celebrating the festival had any inkling of the connection between the horror of their sin and its illustration though all the blood of the innocent animals, or the bloody sacrifice that their perfect God Himself would one day make on their broken behalf?

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations.  You shall celebrate a festival to the LORD seven days.  You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old.  They shall be without blemish.  Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of a ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams, and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs; also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering. 

On the second day: twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; also one male goat for a sin offering, and their drink offerings. 

On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering. 

On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering. 

On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, with the grain offering and drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering. 

On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. 

On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. 

On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.  You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish, and the grain offering and drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering. 

These you shall offer to the LORD at your appointed festivals, in addition to your votive offerings and your freewill offerings, as your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, your drink offerings, and your offerings of well-being. 

So Moses told the Israelites everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 

~Numbers 29:12-40 

In his final sermons to the assembled wilderness wanderers on the brink of the Promised Land before his appointed day of death, Moses injected great joy into the commands for the festival, along with the solemnity of their duty to celebrate Tabernacles:

You shall keep the festival of booths for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your wine press.  Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns.  Seven days you shall keep the festival to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose; for the LORD you God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate. 

Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD you God at the place that he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths.  They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed; all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the LORD you God that he has given you.
~Deuteronomy 16:13-17

And there is one more bit Moses added to the festival (albeit only every seven years) about public reading.  I imagine a crowd coming and going, listening to a solemn speaker:

Then Moses wrote down this law, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the leaders of Israel.  Moses commanded them: "Every seventh year, in the scheduled year of remission, during the festival of booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.  Assemble the people - men, women, and children, as well as the aliens residing in your towns - so that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God and to observe diligently all the the words of this law, and so that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess."
~Deuteronomy 31: 9-13

To be continued...

True Confessions of a Dumpster Diver

*ahem*

My first dumpster dive was at a summer program in Colorado when I was 16-ish.  Looking out the window of my dorm room, I saw a man carefully place a small television in the dumpster.  As soon as he left, I went and picked it out.  My roommates and I plugged it in and found that it worked just fine.  The only thing missing was the knob to tune the station.  However, the little sprig which the  knob attached to was still there, and with the forcible use of scissors it could be adjusted.  So anyway, there was a bit of late-night TV viewed now and then in our room.  I have to say, there was pretty much nothing on...  After the summer was over, the TV was donated to my brother for use as spare parts.

That was the preamble to today's spectacular dumpster dive.  Now I have to say, a lot of people in our apartment complex throw away some pretty nice things, and I've inspected several of them since we've lived here to consider bringing them in.  I hate to see useful things thrown away.  Why don't these people use Craigslist or Freecycle?  Anyway, this one was in very good condition and too good to pass up.  And also very large.  I measured it with my arms, returned to the apartment to see if I could find a place for it, and sure, enough, success.  I went out with the intention of hauling it the 30yards or so home on my own - no easy feat, but just as I started, our wonderful neighbor Luis saw me, and I asked if he'd help.  He and his wife were happy to, and let's just say that tomorrow I'm baking them some cookies.  We left the object in our hallway, and then I had to get Anne occupied to finish my work on the relocation project.  I set her up in her high chair with a banana (it was lunch time) and her favorite YouTube video of Corelli's Christmas Concerto, and checked on her every three minutes or so.  First I had to put the box spring back under our mattress, which I could now do, because Anne is big enough to get off the higher bed safely now.  And I had to move the random things (e.g. laundry basket) which were sitting where this thing would go.  Then I had to vacuum.  And I had to take some things off the wall.  Then I personally moved the thing into the spot, which took a little ingenuity and a lot of brute force.  Then I found new spots for the junk off the floor and rehung the wall decorations.  I'll mention that all of this occurred while Jared was at work, so he came home to a completely new bedroom.  Here's the result:

Two other dumpster finds of the past...

The upper-right black and white print of Ansel Adams' Mt. McKinley picture was found in Cleveland:

The bookshelf was found in Birmingham:

Friday ramblings

Baby was back to sleeping five-plus hours stretches last night, so I was up and cheerful earlier than usual this morning.  She's still asleep.  Cutting her four top teeth this week made her a bit cranky for a while.

Back to my knitting hobby after a year's hiatus.  After my fourth attempt and the use of youtube tutorials, I made Anne a pair of thumbless mittens in a toddler size so she can still wear them next winter.  I'm about to start on a new metronome case for Jared.  Also, if I get super ambitious, I might knit Anne a Christmas dress.  I found a free pattern for a really cute one...  I'm pretty sure I'll need a lot of youtube tutorials to figure it out.

My latest and greatest musical plan is to take some Suzuki piano training.  It won't be hard to make the audition video since I've played the required music before.  Will be harder to find a book 1 class which is remotely convenient to take....  That might not happen this coming summer.

November 17th we (Jared and our co-teacher and I) are having two joint studio recitals.  Working on getting students distributed and orders made.  That's one of the parts of being your own secretary.  Also, this coming week is my last week covering for maternity leave way up north.  I'll miss the kids, and I've enjoyed the group classes (a whole group class of just book 4 students????  A first for me!)  But the first week of November I'll be covering some of our co-teacher's lessons when she is gone for a few days.  That will be fun.  It's mostly kids I already know from group class, and we'll be working on their recital pieces.  And also, two of my students who had been doing very little practicing (literally like 20 mins. a week) have bumped it up to more like 200 minutes a week thanks to my handy-dandy little practice chart I passed out.  Why did I not do this sooner????  It's not like I haven't found this to be the case in the past!  (Yes, I did have an article published recommending passing out practice charts.  Take your own advice, lady!)  Anyway, expect some super-Jedi progress.

It's not super foggy today, which is unusual this week.  By super foggy, we're talking, you can't see that there is a traffic light until you're right up to it.  It's been very interesting and very localized.  Like on Tuesday, it was shockingly foggy at home.  When I drove down the hill it was only very foggy.  When I got downtown it was brilliantly sunny.  And when I got to where I was teaching I could see the fog sitting just to the north and west of us.

Also, for the first time in my life, I found a dentist I like.  If anyone is looking for a dentist, I can make a recommendation to you.  Even if you're from out of town, but occasionally visit Seattle, I'd tell you to go to this guy!  I learned that Seattle is considered the best city in the world for dental care.  In my consultation appointment, I learned more about teeth than I had learned in my entire previous life.  And I was treated like an actual human being and a partner in my personal tooth care and was not talked down to or chastised.  And unfortunately I'm going to have to have all the rest of my fillings done in Alabama replaced, since they actually were sub-par (by which we mean that either they weren't properly bonded or the batch of filling material was contaminated or both).  Apparently this is not uncommon for fillings done in the South.  Hooray.  Their badness is not a result of my lack of care of them as the previous dentist I visited in Kent intimated.

And lastly before I stop rambling, I'll mention that one of my violin buddies in Huntsville has decided to memorize the Sermon on the Mount, and I'm going to join her.  She's working on a timeline for the project this weekend.  I think this project will take a while.

Ok, I should go take a shower before baby wakes up and then do some housecleaning before my cat-allergic student arrives for her lesson in two hours.

International layover

Before there was Roy there was Ran.  If you don't recall, Ran is from Beijing and lived with us during his first semester of college in Alabama.  He was here in Seattle on Friday on a layover between his Beijing > Seattle flight and his Seattle > Atlanta flight.  A bit jet lagged, 'tis true, but we had fun nonetheless.  We picked him up at the airport mid-morning and drove downtown.  We did some sight-seeing at the Pike Place Market, the Seattle Art Museum Sculpture Park, and the City Center.  He got to order some Chinese dumplings in Chinese.  He said they were quite delicious.  We got to see cheese being made, view guys tossing fish, and watch all kinds of musical performances including a guy playing a violin like a cello, South American panpipes, a bluegrass with homemade percussion, and a dude playing dijereedoo.  After we had exhausted our downtown viewing and our parking payment, we drove over to Alki beach and walked quite a ways along the path by the water, viewing water, houses, mountains, islands, and downtown.  Ran mentioned that he thought all cities should have a beach, because it was so nice.  Afterward we popped by my brother's since Ran was hoping to say hello to Jeff and Linda.  And then he came home and visited his three kitty friends (especially Black Bean).  When he lived with us in Alabama, I couldn't figure out how he'd made such good friends with BB until one day I saw him sharing his hotdog with the little guy.  BB was very glad to see him, although we hadn't laid in a supply of hotdogs before he arrived.  After dinner (spaghetti, not hotdogs, alas) we hauled him back to the airport for his next red-eye.  Ran was eager to meet Anne, and I think due to the China one-child policy he's had very little opportunity to meet any babies before.  I suggested he sort of play with her like she was a cat, and it worked pretty well.  He brought her a couple of little wooden toys from home which she will enjoy.  We already got one out for her and got it started.

...In baby chronicles, she cut her first two teeth (lower front) this past week and discovered the joys of playing peek-a-boo.  Also she discovered that she can move the sun canopy on her car seat, although not in a way to help block the sun.  It's just fun to move it.  And then she gets upset if the sun gets in her eyes.

IKEA haze

I looked up some authoritative info about introducing solid foods last night.  She's not ready yet, but I wanted to know what we should be looking for and how to do it.  I feel informed now.

Feathers is afraid of all rain.  It is barely drizzling right now, and she is hiding under the table.  She may have been traumatized by the thunderstorms we used to have in Alabama.  I, for one, am SO glad to be out of tornado/thunderstorm country.  We've had exactly three thunderstorms here in a whole year.  And they've all been pretty mild.

Today I am finishing switching out all of Anne's clothes to the next size - I already started a few weeks ago.  I don't like doing it, because I get sad about her outgrowing everything, even though it's so fun to see what new things she is learning and doing.  I'm about 99% sure that she has some new t-shirts made for her by one of our group class kids with musical puns on them, and she's going to be wearing one of them to class tonight.  The t-shirt maker will be so delighted.

I finished Paul Tough's book How Children Succeed yesterday.  It is in particular of interest to educators and public policy sorts.  You might want to read it if you have interest in one of those categories.

I think I finally have my fall schedule for my up-north teaching sorted out.  Not quite as much work as I wanted, but it will be good none-the-less.  Hard to believe I only have two more months after August up there and then I'm back to only teaching at home.  Praying for a few more students!

I've been dreaming about our current apartment, our condo in Bhm, and our apartment in Hsv after looking at my IKEA catalogue.  Sort of an IKEA haze.  I like how compact all their design pictures look, because those are the sort of places I have lived and will likely continue to live.  In particular, I enjoyed a couple of bedrooms shared by multiple people which were divided with a hanging curtain.  I like!  ...In Hsv and Bhm we had intended to stay something on the order of five years, but each ended up being just one year.  In April of both years I suddenly got everything organized the way I wanted it (I was feeling slightly sentimental) so I could have it "for real" for a bit before I left.  As it was getting on toward summer this time I was feeling the itch to move - I don't live in a place for two years in a row, do I?  But then I got the IKEA catalogue and was thinking about fun reorganizing schemes and how things will change with our evolving child needs around here, and then I got all sentimental and decided I wasn't in a hurry to move, because this is the only home that Anne has ever known... Anyway, who knows what will happen?  Our lease will be up at the end of June and then we'll either stay for another term or move somewhere else.

I also dreamed about my sister-in-law Sara last night.  I think we were about to do something fun like visit the chocolate factory, but I'm not quite sure, because I was woken up at that moment by a hungry little someone.

And, I was mulling over props for a little photo in honor of my sister, the UT Longhorn fan.  She gave Anne a UT cheerleading outfit to be worn this fall, and there's going to have to be a picture or two or three.   I think I'm having too much fun playing dress-up with my kid.

In case you (e.g. Edith) aren't on FB, here are a couple of the latest and greatest:

(Anne finally outweighs this cat, but the other two still have pounds on her.)

Procrastination

I'm supposed to be working on getting my new health insurance.  You thought that was over?  Well, I got subsidized health insurance which lasts until 2 months after the baby was born.  So now I need to apply for a different health insurance not tied to maternity. And since I love fooling with health insurance so much, it suddenly struck me that it was time to write a new post.

The post I've been composing in my head for the last week and a half was supposed to be about running.  Here's the bullet point version:

• I remember an afternoon in about 4th grade spent running in my front yard with my friend Margie.  It involved finding things in the garage to make hurdles to jump.  I was sore and exhausted after about four hours.  And it was really fun.
• I got a super amount of exercise in the sixth through eleventh grades when I took ballet.  It wasn't one of those little pink tutus kind of place.  No it was really, really intense, and I don't remember working that hard in my life consistently before or after.  And it was really fun.  I've long needed to replace it with something, since I was really upset when I quit.
• Jared and I went on a 21 mile hike in the Adirondaks one Sunday in 2010 while an Ironman race was happening in the town nearby.  We had to run the last four miles after we were pretty tired in order to get out of the woods before it was too dark to see.  And by run I mean leap over streams, wade through mud puddles, climb boulders, and scramble over fallen logs at panic speed.  Experienced a definite runner's high, and decided it would be fun to run a marathon some day.
• Birmingham - I was sick, sick, sick.  Ended up being diagnosed and having surgery.  But in between sick days, I'd have a day where I felt amazing, and had so much energy I didn't know what to do with it, so I'd go out and run and run around our circle and then go swimming.  These little runs turned out to be about three miles, and I read that if you could run three miles comfortably several days a week, you could train for a half marathon in twelve weeks.  So I did.  Ran the race in about two hours and ten minutes.
• Tried to run some during pregnancy, but the first trimester was a bust.  Felt too tired and sick.  Even walking was a drag.  But I did it, because Jared dragged me off the couch.  Second trimester went pretty well, although I was slower than ever before and my legs felt less than athletic.  Third trimester - could not run.  But did LOTS of walking, hiking, and snowshoeing.
• Annie and I have been on two runs so far, curtousy of the amazing jogging stroller my parents and grandmother gave us.  3.1 miles and 4.4 miles.  We might go again tomorrow.  I'm signed up for a half marathon in October.

In other news... I've had five students inform me of moving/taking time off/quitting this week.  Not good when you've only got twelve.  Also, we went to Oregon for the weekend, and Anne was an absolute dream baby in the car.  Literally.  She slept the whole way there and the whole way back.  Amazing!  Here's a picture of four generations:

Great weekend with Jared's family.  It's so peaceful and quiet at his folk's house - a good way to relax!   

I'll also mention that if you see me and I'm not a NewMomZombie, it's because my baby actually likes to sleep at night.  Usually between four and six hours for her first sleep, and then three or four hours for her second sleep.  So I sleep in with her in the morning, and I am actually well rested.  My life would be a lot harder if not for this amazing fact.  Good girl, Anne!  

One of her newest developments involves looking cross-eyed at her fist while sticking out her tongue.  I wish I could get a picture of it, because I would save it for blackmail material when she gets a little older.  ;-)  Also, her range of vision has recently jumped, so she can see much further.  This means that she really likes riding in her stroller with the hood down so that she can stare at trees as we pass under them.  The girl is quite the arborist - other things don't intrigue her quite as much.  And, she has become quite conversational.  I don't know what all she is saying, but one of her favorite times to tell me things is right after I change her diaper and have sung her the Diaper Cover Song*.  Then she likes to grin and kick around and chatter away.

*Diaper Cover Song, sung to the tune of Indiana Jones Theme Song:

Diaper Cover, you're the one!
Diaper Cover, you're so fun, fun, fun!
Diaper Cover, you're the one...
Diaper Cover, Cover, Cover, it's on!

Singing this song is one of the most fun parts of cloth diapering, I swear.