A kids "orchesta" (326/365a)

Things Theodore wanted for his 8th Birthday Party - that it was a surprise party for his guests, and that it included a treasure hunt, and that the treasure was an orchestra. Also a banana cake and kaesespaetzle.

Mama, that is to say, me, or I, made that happen. Felix helped in his own way of course, following me around and telling me all kinds of life wisdom that I wish I could remember all of.

They all did their homework.
The treasure hunt found all kinds of household objects like pots and lids and cookspoons and bottles and glass jars filled with nuts. All together assembled it created the loudest orchestra that ever was, and even included a bow that shot arrows (not quite the use i had in mind for the bow, which actually has quite a good amount of bass vibes when plucked correctly, but also apparently plenty of twang when used with arrow)

looks calm and quiet.
IS really really LOUD

They really played for a long time. Jackie and her youngest stayed as well. It was a little bit of an intense time for us moms trying to have a heart-to-heart while kids blockaded our ears with sound.

Clever Theodore asks: Who wants to blow out the candles?
And while everyone is reacting, he does.
"Too late"

Afterwards, when it was barely light the kids got the idea to go outside into the treehouse, and also to go shovel snow. It was very, very cold.

Fun run with a snow shovel.

The school kids were picked up one at a time, and we were left alone to do quieter things, like paint flowers from the new books we got from Manuela. Quite therapeutic.

i don't want to go to bed, i'd rather watercolor dahlias. 

Meh-nday (325/365a)

Mondays are so full right now. We seem to really pack things in. I feel the worst for Theodore who has to somehow fit normal things like homework and eating into the day where he has school, a lesson and chorus. His lesson was extra long, which meant we had nearly no time to get home and eat. And today it was even his birthday! Today I opted to go absolutely everywhere with him. His wallet with his busticket is still in Fritz's backpack from when they went up the Schoeckl. Better there than lost in the snow!

It was snowing so so so beautifully all day. I wished I had my camera with me. When can I find the right balance between all the times I have my camera with me and take no pictures and all the times I have no camera with me and something beautiful presents itself. Memory is the only way sometimes!

Andi couldn't watch our kids tonight, so I asked Manuela at the last minute and she saved the day... well, the evening! She brought presents for the kids, and stayed with them while they went unwillingly to sleep and we went out to a rather wonderful swing lesson. She took care of the bread and soup too, and didn't let it burn. We left earlier than we ever leave, and got there a few minutes late anyways because the buses were not at all running ontime. Our bus even spun its wheels a little getting out of a few of the bus stops. It's cold enough that the snow isn't melting even with salt.

When we got home the bread was all hot and fresh, the soup was still warmish. Brian said he wasn't hungry......

I'm not very hungry (the missing part of the half loaf has gone somewhere... who cut it off and ate it slice for slice?)

A birthday celebration a day early (324/365a)

Everyone wants to help blow out the candles, but only one of them gets a wish.

As a kid I somehow learned/understood that it was "traditional" to celebrate a birthday the day before the actual date. As I grew up, I slowly came to realize that this "tradition" was actually very strange. It's also traditional to put an extra candle on the cake, but that's a real thing, regionally.

But here I am, a few decades later, celebrating Theodore's 8th birthday on the day before.

It's also the last day of February vacation. I made a buckwheat and yogurt cake which was a great hit. We had it when we got back from our trip up and down the Schlossberg, where we followed a map of schlossberg trivia. It took way longer than I thought it would. We were a little bit distracted by sledding wherever we found a little bit of an incline. Even Brian and I went down a few times. Brian and the littler ones went home when we had only answered 3 out of 22 questions, but Theodore and I held out to the bitter end. It was very very very cold, -15C, and I got laughed at by Theodore because I couldn't write the numbers from 1-5. (1. my fingers were too cold to hold the pen 2.i was shivering 3.the ink was too cold to move)

Inside was yummy hot soup and cake and music. Theodore opened one of his presents, but we decided to save the rest for when he has his school friends over. That, and one of them hasn't arrived from online yet ;)

con fuoco (323/365a)

i did not take this photo(.

This morning was the most chaotic nothingness that there ever could be. Theodore and Henry were going with Fritz for a "boys day" - up the gondela on the Schoekl and then down the mountain on sleds. It was a full 10 degrees celcius colder today than yesterday, and Fritz called late last night to make sure they would be dressed warmly enough. Brian ran 7 miles late last night to pick up a pair of slightly longer ski pants from willhaben (like austrian craigslist) ....

Then this morning I was going to get one or maybe both of them a new pair of snowboots, since Henry doesn't have a pair, and Theodore's fit him but not with 2 pairs of thick socks. Off I went, bright and early, to get to the thrift shop that google said opened at 9am. Buses slow, cold, etc. and of course, they were totally closed. 9:30, still closed. Off I went to the next one, no kids stuff. Off I went to the third one, which was not open on weekends. Headed home, and asked if maybe Jackie could lend a pair of Ronja's boots. Brian ran there and back to get them. In the meantime Fritz had come and gone and was waiting for us to call him, while we were waiting for him to get here..... Oh the wonders of modern communication. 

Anyways, off they went. A china cup of wonderful coffee on Fritz's dashboard. His statement was, I believe "We have all the time in the world."

I wish!

The time went by so fast. I practiced a few minutes. Made dinner with Brian and Felix, and already it was time for the first rehearsal ever with this new quartet formation. Raced there with my fancy clothes. We rehearsed for an hour, did a photoshoot for an hour, had tea and delicious chestnut cake that Paul had made while the baby slept, and then I raced home, just missing Fritz. Boohoo.

The photographer who took the pictures didn't want boring pictures. None of this sitting in a row as a quartet looking normal. After several iterations of that, including holding the camera at 30 and 45 degrees, he went and got a gigantic ladder, asked us to lay on the floor, placed our instruments on us  and leaned precariously over us. 

The evening was practicing and Pirates of Penzance. :)

snowy friday (322/365a)

Felix practicing first thing in the morning, before even getting dressed!

Still snowing, cold and wet. The big kids stayed home and Felix and I went to a little puppet show that we had signed up for weeks ago. The city of Graz does these events during the school vacation and they only have limited spots, so you have to sign up for ages early. Lots of people however didn't come today, because of all the snow. The buses were all running behind schedule, the sidewalks were all disgusting, the wind was blowing... Just the way winter is supposed to be! After an entire day of real winter I guess people here are ready for spring. 

The puppet show was very bureaucratically themed... appropriate for one being shown at the Amt Für Jugend und Familie. Kasperl has lost his passport, so he has to go to the government office to get one. They are not well organized and he has to talk to several different people and wait a long time to get his photo taken and his passport made. Then a robber steals his passport. To get it back they enlist the help of a sleepy hibernating kissing crocodile (the robber hates kisses) but by accident, in a kissing slobbering attempt, the passport gets eaten. Kasperl's friend tells him that he'll have to go back to the government office to get a new passport, but Kasperl declines, figuring his holidays will be long gone by the time he gets his passport. The 3-year-olds thought this was all very funny! The adults just groaned. That's maybe why we're called groan-ups... //groan

learning (321/365a)

slept extra because of the late night last night. that is, woke up extra double early, and then couldn't QUITE read through all of the Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher without falling asleep, so I switched places with Brian. Last day of kids dance. Brian saw the end of the "show" when he went to pick them up. All the kids got to show off new moves they had learned. Our two were apparently very happy.

Theodore came to his pre-poned lesson with Elke, and I was already there for mine. It was snowing like crazy outside. I waited for him to be done, and then we trudged to the bus stop together. He can be most sociable if you give him some alone-time.

At home we wrote letters (a long post-poned but very wonderful passtime) cooked dinner together and had bath night. That is to say, nothing earth-shattering but very calm. All three kids brought their beds up to the attic and made a kind of nest to sleep in together. they got read to sleep by the light of the globe. so nice.

i didn't take this.
i didn't take any photos today.
not one.
but the dance teacher had a cell phone.
theodore is in green with his hand up on the left
henry is curled up in red pants and a police man cap on the right

Dance Night (320/365a)

More kids dance in the morning, though this time kids were so excited to go they basically pulled us out of the house.

At some point last week I banged my thumb pretty well with a hammer making a nice blister under the nail. Today I got a blister on the pad of the same thumb while helping make wooden "spoons" with a whittling knife. It does not feel very nice!

I went for a gloriously long walk with Felix, separately, while Brian went with the other two kids and two pairs of binoculars. Felix took the lead and decided where we went. a few miles. he got back and pointed out that he didn't complain the whole time, nor did mama.

It's not often that Brian and i get to go out socially just the two of us, but Nina offered and we were only too thrilled to accept to go to Postgaragen cafe and do some lindy hopping! We of course found Kris at the dance and brought him home with us, for an evening with the highlight of blind honey testing on toothpicks. Some things must be done RIGHT NOW, even if we are all barely still standing from tiredness.

blurry people, blurry moment

snow day with nina (319/365a)

on our way back from dance class

Theodore and Henry both DID NOT want to go to dance class today. it is a 3 day course that they saw in a brochure and told me they wanted to do, but today, the first day, they were very clear that they had suddenly both changed their minds. luckily it was easy enough to get them interested once they saw that the other kids didn't have special shoes or clothes or equipment, that there were both boys and girls, and that the teacher was really nice.

Nina generously offered her time to come with me to pick them up, and we ended up at the market too. two (typically many more, even on a slow day) poor farmers were huddled in their respective tents, and they each had plenty of customers, i think. a snowy day like today doesn't keep the veggie lovers away. :)

we made dinner, and Phil came too. We hung out till late in the night. I even got to sneak down on my own to practice for a bit. Whenever we sat down all the kids seemed to want to sit on top of us. Felix even tried to keep Phil here by holding him by his shoes so he couldn't move, and then screaming like he was hurting when that didn't work, and he saw the door opening and Phil walking through it.

a pretty day in the snow
The Landesmuseum

some quintet time (318/365a)

final brushstrokes of our next recording

we got so see the final draft of our next video, and do some rehearsing for our next projects. brian worked all morning, and i was gone all afternoon doing this stuff. it was a very comfy rehearsal.

a short afternoon visit (317/365a)

haven't visited ingrid in this new year. someone's always been sick. and since she takes care of her elderly father, all those germs should stay home! but i managed to bring the three kids over this afternoon, on this lazy sunday and we got to play with the toy box. she gave them each a bit of money for showing her their report cards - tradition i guess.

the whole time we were there, and before and after, brian was out for a longer-than-normal run.

some bathroom chalk wall art that i'm so sad to get rid of... but i suppose it is time.
they say if you wan to keep it, capture the moment
balancing the weight of the world with your tears on a fulcrum made of graphite.
is there perchance a real artwork that will be born of this?
only time will tell.

the last orchid (316/365a)

the last bloom

Centa's orchids have been flowering one at a time since she left, and the last bud opened, I took several portraits of this little blossom for her. Hopefully they will mostly still be here and happy when she returns .....

Discovered that my favorite radio host from Boston was fired for creating a hostile work environment. i don't know why, but i was actually quite a bit sad about this!

First day of completely stress free holidays. Nobody wanted to get out of pajamas, in spite of the lovely weather. We just kind of hibernated. And that was fine too. ;)

Report Card Friday (315/365a)

They came home with all good grades and were so proud. Henry's teacher had written a really wonderful note to Henry, that he asked me to read to him several times, although he is quite capable of reading it on his own.

Ronja's parents left her here so they could go on a long walk, and time went by "swimmingly" (I had wanted to go swimming, but then didn't) ... lots of block towers and songs...

Theodore was supposed to make his potato soup, but we still had some in our freezer, and Theodore didn't seem interested in being interrupted. 

In their games, time went by so fast. They slept, had breakfast, made dinner/cookies, went back to sleep, celebrated easter, celebrated christmas, went back to sleep, made more breakfast, etc.

Also, Felix had a recipe for long life.

- Mama will you live to be a million? 

- Hmm... I don't know about that...

- You just have to be careful. Brush your teeth, maybe 8 times a day, and don't get sick.

Worth a try.

Then I went to visit a new friend, and had soup and read poetry with Isabella, and it was "voll fein" ... 

On my way out the door, some friendly kids were making my bed for me (technically they were demolishing their "house" ;) )

team work.

Last performance (314/365a)

Poet in action

Cake in inaction

Theodore's last performance of Eine Nacht in Venedig. There's one more show without him, that we might go see with him if we can beg tickets, but it's all over. Sorry to come to the end of the run, it was fun.

I got to go pick him up from singschule and spend the two hours break with him. We bought new violin strings, and visited a thrift store, went out for pizza v(the luxury!) and wrote poetry. I wrote one, and one we wrote together.

Then I watched from the standing-room, and was glad to see it was the best night of all I had been to. The audience was jazzed, the performers were on point.

Took Theodore across the street to visit Barbara and Irmtraud, and we had a quick idea-discussion and then drove Theodore home. He fell asleep in the car at the end of our street.

A coffee bag hangs there

There are tables everywhere

It seems that one of people’s games

Is to carve into table tops their names

Stick stickers onto all the walls

The light in soft beige shadows falls

There is a wall-width mirror here

Though with i watch and see

As people drink a sip of beer

-irma and theodore together 15feb 2018

Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday (313/365a)

Fasting food

My love, Dust thou art and unto Dust thou shalt return.

While I was out, Brian reorganized the shelves, specifically putting grains and pulses into pretty glass jars so we can actually see what we have. It was a nice little surprise.

At the end of the day I said "I'm kind of disappointed you didn't say "Happy Valentine's Day" today" and he said "well, you didn't wish me a happy ash wednesday either." truth.

Played in the Dom again, a really really really weird mass, lots of horrible creepy harmonies, and spooky organ solos, then went to lindy at Mangold's, where I danced with lots of fun people, and one creepy guy. Nice-looking, great smile, and already creepy at 25.

Fasching Dienstag (312/365a)

from L to R: The Great LESLIE and Caracatus Potts, Inventor

Got to go to school in costume, which is always exciting. Felix didn't really want to dress up, so we didn't.
After school I thought it would be fun to take them to the parade. I don't know why I thought that. The abenteuerspielplatz was going, so we rushed out of the house after school and got there right as they should have been leaving, except that they had the wrong start time online, and had left a half hour earlier. We found friend of the kids there too, confused, so I walked 5 kids to the parade by myself. Well, I wasn't personally tall enough to see me, and my kids are not taller than I am (yet)... so mostly it was loud and crowded and kind of... (I don't say this a lot) ... boring. We waited until the mom of the other kids arrived, and we left. 

Three kids at a parade. Noone knows where to look.

Streamers

Fine thing was, as soon as we got back we made Krapfen, and Manuela brought Krapfen, and we had a kind of sad dinner party, which was only good because Manuela was there. My Krapfen were hot and greasy like they should be, but also hard and crumbly like they shouldn't be. Deepfrying once a year is not exactly well-practiced. ;)

Brian went to watch J&A's kids tonight, and I got to stay home and get to sleep early. 

What a Day! (311/365a)

What did I do today??

More accurately, the question should be what *didn't* I do today?

lesson, rehearsal, recording, concert, dance-class, dinner alone, dinner with beer, cleaning, running through snow, early, late, on-time, organizing, forgetting, and so much more. 

On my way out the door to Elke, I vacuumed, and took out the compost (barefoot through the snow for the first time since last year, I guess) and hurridly wrote a "homework" for Felix. He can't read yet, but he really likes writing letters and words. AT CAT BAT FAT SAT ... next step is reading which is which. For now, though, he begs me to "write lines" for him. His idea, not mine!

The bus was inexcusably late. That is, the first bus never came, the second was full to bursting, and therefore excruciatingly slow. Somehow I managed to get in the door only 2 or 3 minutes behind, though I like to be there 15 min early to warm up.

Theodore had his lesson, including with the composer who wrote a piece for him, called Ein Penguin in Afrika. Super cute, lots of effects like bow-scratching, whispering while playing, col legno and syncopations.

Meanwhile Henry and I enjoyed some alone time. I finished the last of the wool from Mary's christmas hat into the worlds smallest and skinniest headband for the world's smallest head. Better luck next time. I can't really think of what to do with such a small amount of wool!

We got done so late, I put Theodore and Henry on the bus home alone, and headed directly to the city center to grab a quick bite to eat and get ready for the next thing.

Funny thing was, I really wanted soup and dessert, and asked for only soup, but when I got done with the soup they gave me a main course too, and I didn't feel like saying no, but then, finished with the dinner, I didn't want dessert anymore, and regretted it for the rest of the day.

I met Alice to get her signature on the contract that I should have gotten the day of the opera ball. I had forgotten it then, forgotten it yesterday (she also played in the Dom) and today it was icy cold, and the pen didn't want to write, but that was done! Met Barbara and Sophia and headed to record Charade, which was very very difficult for me, since a lot of it is very viola heavy, and everyone (including me) was very critical. We were also tuned lower than normal to accommodate some of the percussion instruments (glockenspiel and melodica) Also we got to watch our nearly completely finished video! We laughed until we wept and our sides ached.

I took two gigantic bags of black backdrop cloth to resew to the proper size, and since we left so late, I borrowed Barbara's 2-sizes-too-big black shoes for my 6:30 concert that I got to at 6:28. I was playing 4th, but two of the people before me were sick, and so I was actually on right away. I had just slipped into my shoes, and taken my instrument out when Elke popped her head through the door and asked if I was ready to go... I guess so! I sounded strange to myself in the big, mostly empty hall, but I think it was good, and I learned a lot somehow between this morning and this evening.

I tried to be clever and go the wrong way to get to dance class so I could be on the same bus as Brian, but my gigantic extra bags, backpack, music, camera, viola, etc. slowed me down (because I couldn't pass the stopped person on the escalator!) and the doors shut right before me and the bus left without me. Awww... No matter, I got there, danced the night away with various partners, and ended up with Brian at the very end. 

At home, Andi was relaxed and working on the couch. We shared some beer and bread (Austrian supper) and I tried to eat some leftover soup that I think one of my kids (probably Felix) had poured about a half a pound of salt into. Changed my mind on that one.

Found our first issue of the economist just before bedtime, and couldn't wait to read about the discovery (in the 40's) of what could of been Amelia Earhart's skeleton (talk about current events... only 80 years later!) 

The economist with my economist (doing bed-construction yoga)

1.2 masses per person (310/365a)

Theodore and Henry sang for a carnival mass, in costume, this morning, with their choir. this meant dressing up. and that meant finding costumes. Brian took a well-deserved later morning than usual.
I was playing in the Dom at the same time. I wore ski pants and attracted plenty of comment with thta. Made some collegue friends at the brunch afterwards. Collected someone else's honorarium envelope (I guess a last minute bow-out is responsible for me being asked)

Then with one hour free-time I headed home in time for pizza that Felix had baked (his favorite, spinach and feta) and then back into my ski pants to head out for Unterlamm to sing another mass in a cold cold church. It's a long long drive over very windy narrow roads.... Eventually you get to a little town, where everyone has the same address. Unterlamm.

Still light out.

By candlelight several hours later

But in this little tiny forgotten corner of the steiermark every single spot was full, very attentively listening to the 40minute sermon (a short one, we were told!) and even getting there 20 minutes early. Two hours later, we were all ready to fall apart, and were told the choir could go home, but the believers would stay "for a long time still" .... We were tired enough we didn't go to get any snacks or wine before heading home. We listened to the radio on our way back, and my recent konservatorium concert was on... kind of cool, i think!

it *was* a free day (309/365a)

It should have been a completely free Saturday for all five of us. Who went and messed it up? I did... ... I accepted a gig *yesterday* for today and tomorrow, and right in the middle of the afternoon too. No calm at home day today... although Brian and I got to sleep in a little while the kids took care of breakfast and morning things on their own. Good thing too. I think Brian might be coming down with a cold or something.

The gig was in the Dom, the big church in the heart of Graz, and I got to sight-read the Puccini mass in front of a lot of opera people. in the middle of a phrase, the conductor stopped, and said "And I would like to take this opportunity to introduce a new player... " then he struggles for my name "maa.. merr.. mara..." "Irma" ... "ah yes! Irma! Welcome"

On the way home, I tried to get Nina to brave the damp drizzly cold outside and come visit, but she convinced me her house was warmer... ;) Eventually I called Brian to ask if he reaaally needed me to come home right away or if I could maaybe have some champagne here. He said to go for it. Of course I can't drink without food, so dinner!

Kris still had some cool cheese to share.
Also, this presentation was apparently the best we could do, much to Nina's chagrin. :-/

Kris had downloaded Pretty in Pink for us ages ago, so we decided to finally see that.... with pink wine. and not-pink popcorn.

Pretty in Pink

strange day with strangers (308/365a)

new people

Got a phone call a few days ago asking if I wanted to do a carnival concert. "Easy music" ... Sure. Turns out it is more than easy music, it's little kids music. Poor audience had to listen to 2 straight hours of kids playing mic amplified in a very echoy concert hall. The nice lady who invited me also asked me to stay for her very interesting dinner-time meeting with her newborn son, her cool guy, and some musicians and a writer. I didn't know anyone really. The whole experience was very trancelike - leaving home at 2, coming back at midnight, spending quite an intense time with perfect strangers. Walking out the door was a good time to try on wigs, so I snuck out my camera.

pottery with felix (307/365a)

pottery wheel lesson with selma at da loam

Sometimes you just have to chose pottery over rehearsal....

centering

The entire morning playing with clay (Remember Irma! It's the OPPOSITE of bread dough!)

When I arrived for my 6:30 rehearsal at 6:15 I discovered they had decided to pre-pone it to 6:00 during the morning rehearsal (that I was clayplaying during).... So I was both early and late at the same time. The charming tenor with the loud public warmup in the hall literally waved me away with his hand. very courteous. eventually someone unlocked the door and showed me how to sneak on stage. I decided glasses were a good idea for the second half. something about the bright lights and tiredness made focusing on the music difficulty. I promised Amanda a picture of me in glasses. Bonus, carnival head-decoration.

glasses face

when life gives you snow, build an igloo (306/365a)

Beautiful snow-fall this whole day. The streets were so quiet, noises dampened by the snow, fewer cars because of the weather, a quiet day in general. Felix let me sleep in a bit, and went out alone to play in the snow. It's a very very wet snow, so we had to hang up everything to dry. I went out and built a snowman with him, and he demanded to go to the farmer's market to get a carrot (They always give kids a carrot to eat there) but I refused and he sulked for a while. The snowman was not to have a long life though...

I convinced Brian to take the afternoon off so we could do something with the white fluffy stuff. Before that happened, the kids were outside alone, and we suddenly heard a very different-from-normal scream, and Theodore yelled Papa Come Quick! ... Henry had thrown his little plastic sled onto the roof, tried to get it by climbing the ladder. The ladder was on uneven ground and had fallen down, and Henry was hanging by his ice-cold fingers by the gutter (not terribly high, but still). Brian was out faster than lightning in his socks, and got him down safely. Henry was trembling with fright, but all was well. Phew!
We decided to build a small igloo, and we worked quite hard, disassembling my snowman (in the meantime Theodore built his own that was taller than he was, and he would not sacrifice that one for the igloo) ... as we built the snow turned wetter and the snow was harder to pack, but we finished just in time for tea-time. We had tea and cookies, the kids served it to us through the window. 

I was nice and sore from all the shoveling and packing action, and ran straight to my rehearsal at the konservatorium. It was still chaos there, who plays when and where etc. It was supposed to go until 9, and instead, we had a break at 9, and rehearsal went till past 10. "One last time" was an oft-repeated phrase. I was nearly asleep on the bus-ride home. I tried to do some lindy-hopping with Brian but decided i was too tired, but found a way to waste time till midnight on my computer. funny how that can happen.

my four boys

 Serving tea.

theodore's snowman, just the right height.

i'm going out my dear to breath an atmosphere that (305/365a)

Herrengasse double-exposure in the soft snow-fall

I got to take kids to another birthday party, lend Mary's cello to Andrea, and play through my Bach in a big room for fun. I got to take Felix to the bookstore, and go see a concert with Manuela. They played Mozart's Mauerishe, followed, without pause (or applause) by Also Sprach Zarathustra, which was rather cool! .... We went out for pizza, noting it was foggy and cold, and came out a few hours later to find snow and even colder. Stopped in the middle of the street to put my camera down into the damp.

cranky monday (304/365a)

strange... a monday where people don't want to wake up and everyone's cranky? strange...

felix was fascinated by the locksmith. i wasn't. he was angry and cranky too, arrived right at 8:15am, and swore and drilled and swore and drilled until he was done. the door looked a little worse for the wear but now it opens and closes again. i was struggling with watching/listening to the material destruction and reconstruction. for some reason it was like they were drilling into my soul.

:(

i took theodore out for an extra lesson with some fancy guy from klagenfurt. the guy wasn't terribly inspired today either, and seemed a little in a bad mood too, but actually Theodore had a good time, and even learned some things. Henry walked himself home though, practiced on his own, and did his own homework. he's such an independent kid sometimes!

i didn't go to the lindy hop class tonight, because i didn't make the requisite child-care phone call due to my slightly vengeful nature. instead i got to talk to nick about my slightly vengeful nature, and that made things lots better.

Breakfast, Austrian style (303/365a)

breakfast with my name on it 

9am off I went to spend the day filming for our upcoming video for our promo-recording of a certain strauss waltz that involves roses. lots of roses. makeup and behind-the-scenes antics, and of course breakfast and dancing and then... OF COURSE playing and rehearsing. hours and hours of laughter until our abs hurt....

I don't know what happened at home today, except that I got a text message while I was at Irmtraud's that our front door (our only door to the outside world) didn't work, and i would have to climb a ladder and go in through the window. well then, that's how i got into our house. tomorrow morning, bright and early we call a locksmith.

it was the best of saturdays it was the ... (302/365a)

poor brian had the evil sickness this morning. instead of lasting three days though it was only a few hours of discomfort and nausea. i being the super-over-scheduled-crazy-lady i had saturday filled with music lessons for the kids and for myself, the afternoon with me at rehearsal, theodore at a birthday party, and ended up calling jackie from rehearsal to see if she could take the other kids off brian's hands. it worked at the last minute.

rehearsal was chaotic. it was for the kons. orchestra, and i am supposed to be part of it as part of my studies, but it's really meant for very inexperienced orchestral players, and i don't really fall into that category. i however never understand austrian logistics, so i'm not sure if i was supposed to sign up before, sign in at all, or have to sign anything in general. i sent a text to the director, and he said i should just come, so i did, but i'm not sure he is sure who i am or why i'm there. no matter. rehearsal was chaotic, and i'm not even sure i have all the music yet, or what order the pieces will be in.

when i got home, brian was already mostly functional.... hooray!

one more thing before bed.... i have to take a picture... blech

more cooking with friends (301/365a)

one picture, then they told me i had to leave

Theodore brought a friend home from school today, ostensibly to help him cook but really just for fun, which is all well by me. Felix is home since yesterday for the mornings, since kindergarten is closed for the month of February. Fine by me: we get to enjoy a little extra sleep and he likes doing "school" with me. I'm still not feeling all the way perfectly well, but good enough for now.

Clara's mom came and picked her up and stayed for tea. Then I went off alone and stayed with Jackie and Andi's kids while they went off alone. The younguns stayed up till forever late. 15 minutes before their parents walked in the door I was still reading upstairs in the dark. Got home exhausted.

a happy birthday to Brian (300/365a)

Time for cake. Lots of cake. Kris and Brian jointly celebrated at dinnertime, with a little help from the rest of us plus Nina and Phil.

Somehow in there I also got to bake a tart with Amanda. I didn't exactly follow a recipe....

And Ro was here most of the daytime.

Baking with Ronja

Baking with Amanda

It was quite loud with skype, with kids, with vacuuming. :) But Nina has so much patience with us. With preparations complete we could commence.

What more does one need than Food, Friends

food and friends

and a little Art

art

and a little Music (not pictured)

DONT FORGET THE BIRTHDAY CAKES and CANDLES and WISHES!

On the second lighting I managed to get at least one photo that wasn't completely blurry!

we did get confused at the end, with Felix and Henry deciding they were Nina and Phil...

it's hard to tell the difference! ;)