Thursday thoughts

    I do not know why I thought that, with teaching three classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it  was a good idea to move my Girl Scout meetings to Thursday nights!  Whew!
    Of course, after a first meeting tonight,  I have to miss next week's meeting due to the final dress rehearsal for Of Mice And Men at CRT.   Such is my schedule these days.
    Tickets are going fast for the show, so get them sooner rather than later.
    Below are a couple of images from another CRT show I did this summer, The Last of the Boys.

       The cast of this show was amazingly sweet to work with, especially Steven Patterson, who played Jeeter, and who is as talented as he is nice. I am a fan!
     Here are a couple from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) - also a CRT production (I am the costume designer, so I do all the shows).

Titus Andronicus as a cooking show

Romeo shying away from the sword swinging Tybalt

     Lots still to do to get ready for the opening next week, but, as Scarlett O'Hara might say, "Tomorrow is another day."

Happy Birthday, Leonard Cohen - a day late!

Yesterday was this amazing song writer's birthday. Leonard Cohen  was born  9/21/1934 and the music he has given the world  seems to be his gift to us. Thanks, Mr. Cohen!

Hops, harvests, and happy boys

   The hops are in.  We are new to this, so we think we did well - but who knows.  We got several ounces (when dried) of the Casceade, and the Nugget is still downstairs in a room with the dehumidifier, drying on a screen.

The hops, close up and personal

hubby and his hops

      I must say, as a non-beer drinker, I think they smell disgusting - a cross between marijuana and cat pee - but my husband assures me they smell citrus-y and piney - just as they should.

    After the drying the next step is brewing - I will let him do that project.  I'll stick to making wine!

    One of the nice things about living near Cooperstown, NY - aside from the baseball Hall of Fame - is the Farmer's Museum.  Every year they offer classes - my beekeeping classes were taken there, have fun family events like the Sugaring Off Sundays in March celebrating the maple harvest, and we have the Fall Harvest Festival.  This year I worked at the Harvest Festival as a volunteer.  What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!  My assignment was to be traffic control inside the grounds.  Basically, I kept folks from walking in front of the horse drawn hay wagons.  I was amazed at how many people were willing to risk their safety by crossing in front of a pair of Percherons!  These are BIG horses, no Shetland ponies, yet people would race across the lane, rather than wait 30 seconds for the wagons to pass.  Hmm...

      I had lost the chord to my camera so forgot to download shots of the last day before school.  My youngest had a friend over and the highlight of the morning was wrapping themselves in a cocoon of hammock and swinging each other the extreme angles.  Even my daughter got into the fun!

getting ready

extreme hammock swinging!

big sister's turn!

   

Weekend

  Another dear friend passed away this week.  I am really quite ready for 2010 to be over, thank you. The weekend plans changed as hubby went down to be with the family and help in whatever way he can.  So I will be on deck as the parental taxi - getting son #1 to a cross country meet and then throwing clothes at him so he can change in the back of the car as we drive an hour to a new horse back riding stable. The directions given by the lady in charge do not sync with anything I map quested or mapped on Google.  I just hope my dying cell phone has enough juice to save me if I get lost and need new directions!  I think tomorrow night will be a movie night with pizza and sundaes on tray tables in the living room! It has been a long week.
   Nice news for winter is our pellet stove arrived and was installed today.  Nice to know we will be able to sit in the living room this winter without getting chill blains!

School Days

   Wow! This year each of our children is in a different school!  Everyone began class today - the eldest in high school (gulp!), the next in middle school, and the last in kindergarten (double gulp!).
     What is it about the first day of school excitement that gets them up and ready at least ten minutes BEFORE the bus arrives, and the rest of the year we are shoving them out the door, jacket in one hand and a piece of toast in the other??  I wish we could bottle some of the energy from the first day and  sprinkle it on them throughout the year!
    Our youngest was ready for school - washed, dressed, fed and brushed - at 7:40 a.m.   His bus arrived at 8:25!  He jumped onto the bus and raced to the back looking for a seat - even though the bus driver reserves the front two for the little ones.  He finally got turned around and seated, and I managed to get a photo - not of him, but of the bus driver!!

my baby, heading out to join the world

waiting for the school bus

   Getting through this week with sanity intact is our goal.   A sample day.

Yesterday:
8:30 am - husband drives eldest to HS to get his locker and lock
9:00 - I drive daughter to swim team  (at the HS) meet hubby and eldest and go to store  as hubby heads to work.
10:30 - pick up daughter from swim practice.
11:00 - head to work, teach three classes between noon and 5:15
2 pm - hubby cancels office hours and head home to children
3:30 - hubby takes eldest to Cross country practice
5 pm - hubby picks up eldest child from practice and races home telling son to shower quickly.
5:30 - I return home
5:45 - husband and eldest son (who somehow never made it to the shower) go to doctor for the school physical
6:30 - start fire in backyard fire pit for a last night of vacation hotdog roast and s'mores dinner (fight mosquitoes most of the event)
7:30 extinguish fire, start supervising bathing/showering all three children
9:00 finish filling out all forms and emergency contact sheet for school, try to find lunch boxes and beverage bottles - get them set for morning.
10:30 - collapse in a heap knowing that 5:50 am will come all too soon!

Last Weekend of Summer

   Just kicking back, enjoying the kids for this last weekend before school events take over our lives.  Cross country meets, rehearsals, Girl Scouts, and swim meets will fill the spare time left over after homework! So we relaxed yesterday. In the morning we watched a version of Peter Pan I had never seen with Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook. It was sweet and the kids loved it!
     The town had a balloon event in the park behind our house  this weekend - we saw a couple balloon ascents on Friday night, and Saturday evening was supposed to be a "balloon glow."  We went down to the park and watched the balloonists shoot flames into the sky from their gondolas - it was way too windy to put the balloons up.  However, seeing some friends and eating cotton candy (yuck!)  seemed to make it okay for the kids!

the balloon flames from across the pond

 

 We went on a ramble today in the Audubon Bird Sanctuary near us.  This is a taste of the walk.

Let's not get wet before the hike begins!

Dad and his boy

A feather found on the mountain

the spider was too quick for me to catch (on film!)

A caterpillar which will become a Monarch butterfly, hanging out on a milkweed pod

Hornets and their incredible nest

       It was a gorgeous day with a breeze and plenty of sunshine.  The kids and the dog all got some exercise and fresh air, and we all got to hang out together.  A good day.

Cotton Blossoms!

   My cotton has blossoms!  My cotton has blossoms!  Yeah, so far the great northern cotton experiment is sort of working!    Granted, the only plants with flowers are those in the pots on the patio - the ones in the ground are at least 6" shorter, with thinner stems.  Even so,  I am thrilled the experiment has succeeded as well as it has.

blossom from my largest plant

Hard to see, but the flower is edged in pink.

I  have such a mess in the tomato patch, but the cukes are thriving.  Beans have been turning out a wonderful crop this summer as well. Below is a shot of some of the green tomatoes I am trying to save, as well as a few other items.  I am thrilled with the pineapple tomatillos - they are really delicious!  

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   A week and the children are all back in school.  This week is the major juggling feat with classes (hubby and me) and practices - Kid 1 and Kid 2, and orientations - Kid 1 and Kid 3 and getting ready for the school year with shopping yet to be done!  Wish me luck!!