"what we did in the month of May"

1) Finished the concert series with South Sound Classical Choir. Yes, the sound tech came to the final concert and he made a good recording. I'm too lazy to go find one of those players right now to put on my blog sidebar so you can hear me-n-Kari playing.

2) Had a great visit with Grandma K from Michigan. We went to the Woodland Park Zoo with her and as part of a school field trip. We also planned to go whale watching up in the San Juan Islands, but alas, one of the Victoria Clipper ferries was having mechanical difficulties, so they had to cancel the whale trip. We got a refund, but that's not as satisfying as seeing orcas up close and personal.

3) I had a battle with boiling caramel for my popcorn, and the caramel won. My middle finger of my left hand will have a lovely, inch-long burn scar on it. The bandage made playing the piano rather interesting for a week or so.

4) Celebrated my 38th birthday and my 17th anniversary! Still deciding how to spend the birthday booty, but pretty sure it involves kitchen gadgetry, or bike things.

5) Snapped a photo with my cell phone at the outrageous price of gasoline on May 9, 2008: $3.79 a gallon! Decided then and there that it was high time to pull out the bikes and leave the car for long trips, or trips up to South Hill. (Price of gasoline yesterday, May 29? $4.19. Now even more determined to make bicycling a way of life.)

6) Spent a lot of time trying to get school completed. Still working toward this end. I told the kids yesterday we could finish school in ten days, IF we do 3 math lessons a day, etc... They are motivated, because we've left long division in the dust (or in S's case, set it aside) - and we've moved on to fractions and decimals (they love these!), and next up is geometry: rays, line segments, angles, graph coordinates, etc. Very visual, very geared to their learning style. Things are looking up.

7) Neglected this blog and all yours as well. I will snoop around and catch up with your postings sometime over the next day or so.



Is anyone out there a serious cyclist? I'm looking at acquiring gear to make it possible to transport groceries via bicycle. I could very easily go to Safeway, and even Fred Meyer or K Mart if I needed to - it's all here in the valley. (Don't think I could make it up South Hill!!) Richard, if you're out there... are you still in to this? Where's a good place to get saddlebags? or panniers or whatever they're called? I don't quite fit into this bicycle subculture I'm just starting to learn about. I just have a cheap, purchased-from-Target bicycle that's functional and fits me. Is there a niche for peeps like me? I'm daunted by these racing people.

grasshoppers, 2; sensei, 1

Ooh, hot off the camera. Two grasshoppers (left and right, above) played a duet tonight - Mozart's Sonata in Bb. The sensei (center) was in the audience, and the grasshoppers were jittery. We pulled it off, though of course we know exactly where the problems were. 98% of the audience, however, did NOT know we flogged a few of Mozart's carefully penned chords at the last, especially since we ended it with a flourish, completely unified. Sensei, not one to waste compliments, was pleased with our performance.

The rest of the South Sound Classical Choir concert went rawther well, also. We listen so much better now, and we don't oversing. Peter, our new director, is extremely good about the human instrument, making sure we don't sing outside our "box of beauty."

I was hoping to be able to post a video/audio of our group, but alas, we were stood up by the sound technician!! He's got two more chances to get this concert, so I hope he gets there tomorrow or next Saturday to do his job! I might have to get irritated with him to get him there, and I dislike doing that.