Greetings from Arcata, CA! We have been up here for a mere 4 days and I am already exhausted. The first few days are always the busiest though, and at least this weekend we get about 24 hours in a row off. I think the plan is to go out to one of the local breweries in Eureka (no beer for me, naturally only french fries!) and the go see Nacho Libre. The silly weekend movie is sort of a tradition of ours up here.
Yesterday as we were enjoying some time off in the music library, where the coaches congregate between rehearsals, I decided to listen to an NPR story online that Brian had told me about. It’s all about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and the kids who love them. There are some pretty priceless interviews with some fifth graders at the beginning and end of the story-check it out here. Be sure to listen to the end, I promise it’s worth it.
June 22nd, 2006
First of all, congratulations to Susan on an awesome San Diego Marathon and even better pictures of drinking Tequila in Tijuana! That girl knows how to run a race.
Work is finally winding down a bit around here. My orchestra’s season ends this week (hooray!)-last concert this afternoon and although I still have other bits of work here and there, the remainder of the summer should be nice and mellow.
EXCEPT, for Sequoia.
Yes, Sequoia. Sequoia is a two week chamber music workshop for kids in Arcata, CA that Brian and I have taught at for the past few summers. It is run by one of our very best friends, Dave , and co-run by his wife Courtney (who married into the life of Sequoia and thus has no true escape). The toughest part of Sequoia is that our hours are usually from about 8:30 in the morning to about 10:30 at night, with small breaks to eat at the nasty, nasty cafeteria. The best part of Sequoia is that we get to see Dave, Courtney and another very close friend Charlie, a great bear of a man who lives in Sweden so we appreciate any time we get with him. This madness will begin in about a week which means we have to live it up until then.
That’s why we’re having a party this weekend! We try to have one big bash a year, I think mostly because it forces us to clean up the house and take care of things we have been putting off since after last year’s shindig. Unfortunately, most of that cleaning has to happen today. We’re starting with the outside-I am in charge of picking up dog poop (lovely) and puling weeds and Brian is in charge of collecting leaves, a big job considering all the trees on our lot. Then we’ll move indoors and deal with the mountain of animal hair that carpets our lives and I will sneeze until the sun sets.
I will try and remember to take some pictures tomorrow and post them here, including some of my incresaingly pregnant appearance. It should be easier to stay organized this year dring the party since I won’t be able to get drunk. Wait, why are we having this party again?
June 10th, 2006