Saturday, July 21, 2012

Reading

  Today my dear husband and I get to perform together onstage.  This is a rare occurrence.  I think it has only happened twice before.  He is usually onstage or directing and I am usually costuming the show.  It is a nice treat to be able to do this.  We are doing a directed reading of The real Thing today at 2 at the Franklin Stage Company.  It is free, so come join us.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Structure

  Sometimes we forget the basic "rule" that goes along with raising a child with autism.  Structure is important.  Not that we adhere to this religiously - by no means.  When our son was young, he loved to line up his matchbox cars in specific rows - we would mess them up.  We never ate (eat) dinner at the same time.  Never had "Tuesdays we eat this, Fridays we eat that" dinner menus. We have always thought this was setting up a false set of expectations.  The world is not ordered and structured and always on time, so we never were, and never allowed our son that option.
   School has its own structure.  Summer, however, is decidedly unstructured - to the point of being detrimental to his behavior.  He only has horse back riding once a week, and swim lessons once a week. So today is the first day of a schedule - albeit a loose one - but a schedule nonetheless.
    First off, exercise.  He woke me at 6:45 to go bike riding.  Then we went grocery shopping.  Three times a week he has to help with the laundry.  He has fun outings twice a week with his helper.  Normally he is in charge of mowing the lawn, but it has been so dry here, we have little or no growth.  In the afternoons, we are going to start heading to the Y for some swimming practice. In the evenings - several nights a week, the boys go fishing with Daddy.
   There is still a lot of free time with nothing to do - because, let's face it, he is a teenager and hanging out in your room playing on your iPad seems the norm.  If all goes well, the rest of the summer should be a little less stressful. 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Morning in the garden

     Temperatures are predicted to be 95 today, so I was up early to water before the plants were stressed and limp.  This is some of what I saw as I drank my coffee.
Not one of my bees, but welcome nonetheless.

This butterfly has been working the echinacea for over two hours.


Visitors are always welcome

Lemon lilies from my husband's grandmother's garden.


All pollinators welcome

Monday, July 16, 2012

Open and open

   The show which has been with me for months is finally open.  Separation Rapid at Chenango River Theatre is open and you can still get tickets for some of the later shows.  Opening night was Friday, but I also had rehearsal for a directed reading of The Real Thing at Franklin Stage Company.  They are doing a 5 play series "On Love"  and we performed Saturday, and this coming Sat. we do it again.  So Friday I was up early doing finishing touches on the show, then off to rehearsal for  The Real Thing, then out to Chenango River Theatre for final ironing, painting and such on the costumes, and home.  I rarely go to opening nights because I have spent much of the week away from the kids, and I miss them.
      Now we are slowing down a little for a couple weeks - I may be able to turn my dining room back into a place to eat - it is currently a giant pile of fabric, sewing notions and two sewing machines.