rainer's birthday (192/365c)

brian leaves on a trip to genf for a job interview, and it's rainer's birthday

brian really laid back about leaving. he walked kids to school, i walked with him to the hauptbahnhof at a relaxed pace. nina and i had coffee. pauli and i sat at parks and had coffee too.

i put out bio muell one day early... oops... i don't know why that's something important i had to remember, but i made a note about it.

centa helped me finish a flyer. we skyped rainer for his birthday. edward showed us snippets of recently digitized home movies from 1988 - 1991, which broke us into a wave of nostalgia.

Brian took this from the plane... we'll miss him!

Brian took this from the plane... we'll miss him!

chocolate gateaux mit schlag (191/365c)

chocolate gateaux mit schlag (a trilingual dessert) and drinks late while brian at choir. he wasn't sad about missing the chocolate. sometimes chocolate is the most important answer to unimportant questions. 

these late chorus days are also perfect times to video chat across time zones with nick.

more enthusiastic than i look

happiness regardless of perspective (190/365c)

today just a photo without context...... 

happy regardless of perspective

 

skipped a day yesterday, oops (189/365c)

hanging out before the concert

Quintet played a wonderful All-Robert-Stolz concert, and it was well attended (it was a small room) and we had a great time. I brought a large a large set of people - my whole family, Nina's family, and some extra friends. 

small audience subset

afterwards we went out for pizza and beer and sat outside, since it was balmy enough although october is nearing an end.

 

more art, more science (188/365c)

art gallery called <rotor> with manuela and then coffee.

waiting for coffee at "das gramm"

revolution in art:
write directly on the wall

first playthrough for theodore dubois flute trio, without harp. very silent all of us... all too shy to really talk ... 

brian and i took theodore to the so-called "bildungsmesse" - a big conference center with all kinds of schools to look at and decide between, although we are pretty sure where he's going to go.

and in the evening, so exciiting! we had tickets to the very first opening of graz's new science center, the COSA, for kids at the main museum. there was a talk, magic tricks, tesla lightning, space-age music and of course we could walk around the exhibit and be the first ones to try things out. it was entertaining to be there so very late, way past everyone's bedtime.

to linz and back (187/365c)

linz. lots of driving.... quintet played for a several hour reception at an art gallery. the art was all photographs variously enhanced with photoshop. some really nice pieces. more than one with a musical theme, where the models in question were obviously holding a violin for the first time. the organizer told us she wanted "soft" background music, but eventually we became the stars of the show, and people were making requests, gathering round, and taking cell phone videos.

barbara even posed for her own art shot. 

absolutely perfect posture

forgotten day (186/365c)

judo, kerstin not there. i went to the asp instead and hung watching felix and socializing with other moms. ... and that's sadly all i know.

eine freundin, eine gute freundin (185/365c)

the song: ein freund, ein guter freund

tonight nina and i watched die drei von der tankstelle with sushi and wine. brian missed out because he was at chorus, but there was plenty of food for him when he got home. 

Dear Monday: Please Calm Down! (184/365c)

poor brian is sick, and cough-y and headache-y.
had a lesson with elke this morning after a coffee with michi. in my lesson i was maybe a little overly emotional because of intonation.

theodore had so many things to do today, and i went with him to practice organ

looks so grown up
and he can reach the pedals!

felix invited his new choir friend, ali over after chorus. he lives in st.peter, pretty far, and brian brought him all the way back home. when he got back, the kids were nearly asleep, and we had a nice evening with sturm.

women played by women at the kunstgarten (183/365c)

united intonations probe in the morning .. nearly late, with terrible time getting there with graz marathon taking over the entire city.
because of rehearsal i missed theodore and henry and felix singing together at the stadpfarrkirche for the first time in the same choir - it'll happen again though.

"ran into" pauli on way home, and had coffee at harrach with somebody named lara, who is the very definition of an emo 19year old.

and then i got to play my clarke sonata for an awesome kunstgarten audience. total success. centa and nina read la nuit de mai by musset, and everything worked perfectly, except that neither the guy recording the thing, nor my zoom actually recorded any sound. oh sadness.

before the concert

playing

very happy evening with a full house, and it was quite charming afterwards to have soup with centa and bettina and the horns at their very eclectic house.

best not to let the crankiness wear off on me (182/365c)

kunstgarten rehearsal in the "morning" - 11-1  - i feel so prepared for my first recital in ages tomorrow. better prepared than ever, actually. relaxed, and all the extra stuff already done.

seen walking around town

at the kunstgarten.
irmi horn showed us around her wonderful garden
presented us with kale
and took this photo of brigitta and me

when i got back everyone was so cranky at home we didn't go to the tramway museum. we didn't do anything at all actually, other than be cranky. waaaaah.

one quick united intonations rehearsal this evening, i didn't stay out too late, and i collected klaus' zoom microphone to use tomorrow.

a day free to practice (181/365c)

No scheduled things for me, and Brian took over all the scheduled things for everyone else. I had a free day to practice and clean and relax - a complete luxury. And while everyone was still in Stadtegg (at orchestra practice, Theodore for his first time) Nina came over and we had some tea. Nina read bedtime stories.. "one chapter" which turned into "two chapters" - one of which was very long)

fireside chat

magical piano lessons (180/365c)

Biked in, and found the entire center essentially closed because two trams had collided at an intersection with a main thoroughfare. Our several hour Clarke rehearsal was very silent stadtpfarrkirche, no traffic noise whatsoever! - too bad we didn't record!

then in the evening there was stopped trams from one end of herrengasse to the other ...... i was glad i took a camera with me this time, because every time i bring a book to felix's lesson and want to read i get so distracted because watching brigitta teach is so magical.
Henry found us in the hof after singschule, and he was very happy.

We looked for the address of a friend of Felix's to put the letter in, but either Felix remembered wrong, or didn't hear correctly the address, because there was no such place. That was very annoying to Felix.

duet with brigitta

brigitta working magic

ok, google (179/365c)

oatmeal breakfast by the heater.

too early, and yet still deep in thought

this was some of the conversation...

me: "if you could ask google one question, what would it be?"
henry: "i would ask him how old god is."
felix: "we know how old god is, more than a thousand."
henry: "more than TWO thousand, because jesus is two thousand years old"
felix: "no, unendlich. he was born before the world."
henry: "unendlich is more than a thousand."
felix: "that's what i said, more than a thousand."
me: "you don't need google."

i had a great rehearsal with brigitta, and then the kids went to their judo, to which we officially signed up...  i walked around the stadtpark a bit with kerstin and thea, and then set theodore off to youth choir (with the big kids and teenagers because he's going on a weekend trip with them!) and accompanied henry to the playground where we found brian and felix.

how should i have fun?? (178/365c)

brigitta rehearsal this morning, that ended with felix arriving home happy from school.

lots of happy homework doing - they were all helping each other and being so sweet. got done in time to go playgrounding at the asp with jackie and andi. ronja was very sad ... "whaaat should i do, i don't understand, how should i have fun?" ... i think they are going to end up changing schools....

we went to buy halwa at the turkish market on the way there, and he told us not to get the one we were buying, and insted get this other one... the "best" one... it was pretty good, and we ate it all.
quiet evening with brian at choir, and i chatted with amanda.

'tis passing chilly (177/365c)

turned on the heat for the first time this season
rainy this morning.

monday of logistial horrors, especially for theodore. it barely works out: school, theater, organ practice, organ lesson, violin lesson, ensemble, homework, choir, home.

sang canons in evening and had sturm

plastic bottle of sturm and hanging out on the floor

henry and felix colored so nicely together all evening.

forests are really magical places (176/365c)

today we chose 10 songs that we would be able to sing together as family buskers in vienna for advent. perhaps we can make the money for train and museum expenses back. felix takes this very seriously. he wants to do it in graz, but i refuse to stand in a tiny city that i live in, and beg for pocket change - not even once, not even for fun. in vienna we can be anonymous (i hope) .... also, felix wants to play the drum in at least one piece, and he has been practicing non stop. ta teetee ta teetee

waiting for the bus

maria's party - she turned 50, and we celebrated on rosenhain, the kids in the woods doing who knows what, and the adults lazing about on the hill.

kids took my camera and took pictures like this.
well, mostly worse than this.

my view.

after the party we went to a parking garage to watch a concert where they performed the carnival of the animals. again, it was part of the hauskultur series, but the problem with this one was that they had chairs set up, and mostly it was people who can reserved seats and they were older music-interested people. the people from the apartment complex themselves, many with strollers and little kids, ended up standing in the back. during the concert many got frustrated and either left, or stopped paying attention and just ran around.

entrance to the concert

museum date at midnight (175/365c)

rehearsed with brigitta in the morning at konservatory... we are feeling ready for next weeks kunstgarten concert.

concert in rottenman with nina and manfred. the audience looked to be the entire population of rottenman, except for the mayer and the bishop, who both sent their regrets. it took me forever to get home.

somebody (probably a violinist) wrote the names of every note into our ave verum part
sometimes even incorrectly ... oops.

lange nacht der museen. i missed all the normal museum stuff, but the lock and key museum was open till one, and so brian and i went back out together and looked at the exhibition there while munching pretzels and sipping champagne until it closed.

nice to meet you, can you please direct our choir for rehearsal? (174/365c)

ausflug with theodore's class. all classes were there. kind of unexciting st.francis day celebration, but kids liked it

does this horn belong to a unicorn?
no says theodore. it's obviously not a horn, it's a tooth
and it's from a narwhal. duh.

awesome fast impromptu choir "rehearsal" at kunstgarten, where i was picking up flyers, and they needed me to sing with them for half an hour.

ui rehearsal at night, then barbara and olena and i went to watch some guitar playing at wine bar, where we paid for no drinks because men who wanted to hit on us paid for them, but we pretty much ignored them anyways. one guy asked olena to dance, and she said she would if the band played "unter donner und blitz" ... he asked her to please ask the band to play that, and she said he had to ask. he finally did, and for some reason the band said they couldn't.

no time to say goodbye (173/365c)

after my making lots of white bread for what they had said would be a fun together jazz band breakfast, they suddenly realized they had to take a taxi to the train RIGHT NOW, and didn't actually ask for a taxi that could fit a bass. oops. i talked to the taxi driver for them, and he helped get a different driver, and they were gone quicker than a wink.

rehearsed with brigitta at stadtpf. with elke making suggestions. we are sounding good! at least the clarke is...

completely missed agnes' birthday! i was so sad.

bedtime stories with brian.

some new things to do (172/365c)

judo schnuppern, like we need more stuff to do....... of course the kids loved trying out judo, and they all want to do it. henry especially.
nice to see kerstin, erik's mom, who suggested the judo. we hung out in the park.

concert with nina, nice spanish renaissance music rethought for recorder, cello and amazing singer with guitar. part of the series of concerts that turn common spaces in apartment complexes into performance spaces for a night.

lindy cats dancing afterwards, supporting the jazz band who stayed with us.

lying makes me sad (171/365c)

lying day. "i did my homework" "i already brushed my teeth" "i didn't break that" "good night" . we're hosting a jazz band, and when they showed up i helped them get situated, and later, at about midnight i found theodore still reading in his bed, AAAAAh

funny time though, felix and henry were hiding under a blanket and i grabbed an end to pull it away and the whole blanket fell apart. there are feathers EVERYWHERE. reminds me of that story of ginger rogers and fred astaire.

recreation