Childhood Memory: building things

I was stuck today for what to write, so I got this prompt from 5-Minute Daily Writing Prompts (a book): Write about your childhood experience with experimenting or building. Did you play with LEGO blocks, mix crazy concoctions in your kitchen, make bottle rockets, grow crystals from a kit, or build elaborate forts?

Well, there were no LEGOs when I was a kid. I did have science kits, which I enjoyed. I don't think I actually learned anything from doing the experiments. My sister and I would sometimes mix various liquids, all safe to drink but tasting horrible mixed together. But building things...

One year I made a castle for my little brother, out of cardboard boxes and oatmeal containers, the round ones. It had a drawbridge and the round towers. I don't remember much else about it except my brother loved it. We must have played with it quite a lot. Years later when our mother was doing triage (which she did regularly) she wanted to throw the old castle out. My brother protested and kept it. 

I don't know how long that castle lasted. Certainly when my parents sold the house in Connecticut and moved into a condo in Minnesota, the castle did not move with them. 

I asked my brother if he remembers the castle. If he responds, I'll add on to this post. 

What my daughter did to celebrate her birthday

 My daughter Jamie turned 34 last Saturday and she decided to celebrate by giving cake to homeless people. She told us this and we were naturally concerned about her safety. But, she assured us that she was taking three friends with her, including two young men, and that they would stay safe. [Spoiler: they were fine.]

She called us after the weekend to tell us about it. The four of them drove to places that they were pretty sure homeless people would be. The first place was deserted, but the second place, a park, had quite a few people. 

She said she walked over to people saying, "Would you like a piece of cake? It's my birthday." Nearly everyone said yes and some asked if they could have a second piece. She was happy to give them more. Her girl friend had decided to bring socks to give to the people they met and gave those out. 

The one man who turned down the cake told them that he has terminal cancer and no access to healthcare. He asked them to pray for him. From what Jamie told us, he seemed to be at peace with his life and future.

The four of them were so pleased with how successful the venture was that they decided to repeat on Sunday. So Jamie baked another cake, and they all went out again.

I know giving cake to a group of homeless people will not change the world, but maybe it cheered a few people for a little while. It makes my heart happy that she thinks to do things like this. 

Interactions with People

 We recently returned from a trip to New Mexico. My husband's friend (since 5th grade, they are now in their 70s) and his wife had been asking us to visit ever since their new house was finished. It was a lovely trip - they have a beautiful house and there's a lot to see in the Las Cruces area. Beautiful scenery, so different from Chicago, of course. 

The two of them had planned quite a few activities for us, which was wonderful. Besides beautiful scenery, good food, and interesting places (like White Sands National Park!) what struck me was how many friends they have made in their time so far in New Mexico. And even more than that, how easily they both interact with everyone. 

They picked us up from the El Paso airport and then we stopped at a grocery store there before driving to Las Cruces. In the parking lot of the grocery, Lura started a conversation with the people parked next to us. It started with "would you like this cart?" and ended with us being invited to go on a historical tour of the old section of La Mesilla with the woman's extended family later in the week. Yes, Lura and I went on the tour and had to keep explaining to the very friendly family members that we weren't part of their family, alas.

Meanwhile, the guys were at a men's breakfast. John put together a men's group after moving to Las Cruces that meets every week. 

Another day they took us to the lovely mountain town of Cloudcroft. It's a little touristy, but charming and with beautiful scenery. In a cute shop that sells wine, fancy vinegar and oil, we again made new friends while tasting various items. 

Yet another day we visited White Sands National Park, which was amazing. And there Lura started a conversation with a group of exchange students from Germany.

I'm an introvert. I like people, but I have a hard time beginning interactions with strangers. My super power is listening attentively to others. Is it possible for me to learn to initiate conversations? I think I would like that. I'll need to practice, I think. And have some sort of strategy to get started.

Here's to trying new things!

New Mexico adventure coming up!

 This has turned into our month for traveling! We had a great trip to Boston, which I wrote about last week. Tomorrow we fly to New Mexico to visit one of my husband's oldest friends. They have been friends since elementary school. We are all now retired and John and his wife have moved to Las Cruces. 

I have been to New Mexico only once before; that was to attend a conference of the National Association for Gifted Children. I think it was in Albuquerque. It was my first teacher conference. It was wonderful except for the hotel overbooking. They obviously didn't understand that teachers will show up! I ended up in a conference room on one of those fold up beds. It was bad. I ended up with back pain that sent me to my orthopedic doctor once I was back in Illinois. But the conference was great, eye-opening for for a first year teacher of gifted students.

John and his wife have planned a whole itinerary for our visit. They also inquired about our food preferences and sensitivities. And they are picking us up at the airport in El Paso and stopping at a grocery store on the way back to Las Cruces so we can get food that we like and can eat. It's clear they are great hosts. 

So my mind right now is on what I need to do before leaving tomorrow. Packing, laundry, watering plants, leaving notes for our son who is coming over to check on things, ordering an Uber to airport...

I'm always relieved when we make it to the airport, through security, and finally onto the plane. 

Onward!

Boston! A brief travelogue

 We just got back from 4 days in Boston yesterday. I had only been to Boston once, when I was 17. My parents and I went to look at Boston University. I don't remember seeing much of the city. I don't even remember much about BU. (I did get accepted, but didn't go there.)

This trip was with my husband. We are engaged in a quest to see and hear as many major orchestras in their home hall (that is, not on tour), with their music director (not a guest conductor). And so, we saw and heard Gustav Mahler's Symphony #8, which calls for a large orchestra, a large chorus, plus a children's choir, and 8 vocal soloists, conducted by music director Andris Nelsons. It is nicknamed the "Symphony of a Thousand." The concert hall, Symphony Hall, was built in 1900, though it has been modernized since then. It was a lovely evening.

But there's way more in Boston than the Symphony! We ate really well - I'm not going to weigh myself for awhile! Wonderful seafood, not surprising. If you go to Boston and want a wonderful meal, I recommend the Atlantic Fish Company. We also ate a superb Italian restaurant, recommended by an Uber driver, Limoncello, in the North End. 

The best part of the trip, though, turned out to be our walking tour of historic sites. We had a wonderful guide and saw so many historic sites, including the cemeteries where many of the founding fathers are buried. After teaching Colonial history and the Revolutionary War for years to 4th graders, it was so cool to see the buildings, the Boston Common, the harbor, etc. It was a long walk, but a beautiful day to be outside. My husband, who is not as invested in Colonial history as I am, also loved the tour. 

Now we have about a week at home before traveling to New Mexico for something completely different!

Afternoon at the opera: Fidelio

 Beethoven wrote a single opera, Fidelio. When I took a class in music of the Classical Era (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and other less known composers) the professor told us that he hoped we would be able to see Fidelio sometime and he hoped it would be in a language we didn't understand. We all chuckled. I took that to mean that it wasn't a good opera and assumed also from his statement that there were very few stagings of it. 

I might have been wrong, or he might just have been opinionated. He was a wonderful teacher with a good sense of humor who sadly died way too young, though.

Anyway, Fidelio is being performed at Lyric Opera of Chicago right now and we went to see it on Sunday. 

The main idea in the story is that Leonora's husband, Florestan, is being held as a political prisoner; Leonora disguises herself as a young man, Fidelio, and takes a job at the prison where she believes he is being held. He is indeed at the prison, held alone in the deepest dungeon, not treated at all well.  Fidelio/Leonora talks the head jailer, who is a decent person, into taking him/her down to that level to help with some tasks. She finds Florestan there, not in good shape, but has no way to free him. Pizarro is the villain in this story, the governor of the prison. He suddenly appears and wants to shoot Florestan. Leonora aims a pistol at Pizarro. Just then trumpets sound, announcing the arrival of the minister of prisons, who frees all the political prisoners, including Florestan.

Beethoven was a brilliant composer of orchestral and chamber music. He had already lost a lot of his hearing when he wrote Fidelio, which took him 11 years. The orchestral parts are amazing -- there are several extended duets for the two (French) horn players that are wonderful, in addition to the rest of the instrumental writing. (Full disclosure: I am a horn player.) The vocal writing is not bad, but not brilliant. And there isn't much action. I looked up articles on what various people think is wrong with Fidelio and basically found that most think it just doesn't work very well as a story, and also that Beethoven didn't write that well for the singers. Some also blame the combination of never having worked in opera and his hearing loss. 

Lyric Opera put on a wonderful production. They set it in the present and had a very cool revolving set showing different parts of the prison. A highlight for my husband and me was the orchestra, which was superb. And the theme of political prisoners is as relevant today as it was at its premiere in 1805 in Vienna.

Fidelio has challenging aspects, but the music is worth it. 

The Black Hole: Refrigerator Cleaning Time

My husband is a retired high school band director. Successful school band directors need to be organized. Think about the scheduling of events, the music library, grading, field trips, fundraising, etc. 

I am not disorganized, but I would call myself more organically organized. It's in my head for the most part, though I have started making more lists and calendars as I've gotten older. 

Anyway, it was definitely time to clean out the fridge. He also loves cleaning. I know, I'm lucky! 

So cleaning and organization came together yesterday when he decided he would create a database of everything in our refrigerator. So I continued with the triage, throwing the expired items and things we're never going to use, while he started the list of everything that is staying in the fridge, with its assigned shelf or drawer. (I'm guessing other people also buy an ingredient for a particular recipe and then that thing stays in the fridge, getting pushed more and more to the back.) I'm not sure how that database is going to work considering how often things move in and out of the refrigerator, but I'm game to try.

He did this with the freezer last week, but we just have the freezer that's connected to the fridge, so there's not a lot in there compared to the refrigerator. The list of items in the freezer is posted on the door and we cross things off as we use them up, and write them in as I add things. That's working so far. I do love looking in the freezer and not seeing a packed and frosty ice cave. I'm hoping for a similar result in the fridge section. 

Then it's the challenge of keeping it that way!