real figs (137/365e)

Nice early morning walk with Brian

Talked to Kris, who is lonely and bitter alone in France. While talking to him I noticed that our fig tree has real life figs. They’re still easily countable on two hands but they’re THERE!

see??!

of course once i'm outside in the sun with my camera.... i gotta take some other shots

Papa, Labeeby, Edward, Centa, and Mary in one big Skype call that I participated in for a little while. I get so easily tired from screens. We started a new kobold game for chores at a family meeting and I wonder how long it will work this time.

For evening entertainment I took a long walk with Michi.

two new cold-storage possibilities (136/365e)

I awoke at 4:30 to the sound of pouring rain. It’s the perfect time to call California so I talked a bit to nick.

Asked the kids this morning about when they thought they would need to not be reminded anymore to take baths and brush their teeth... Felix said when he’s 8 (in a few weeks), Henry said when he’s 10 ½ (in a few months) and Theodore said when he’s 150 (in a “few” years). I guess that answers that question.

Not surprisingly I needed a morning nap before I had my lesson with Elke. Her accompanist Christian sight-read the Coates with me, and I missed Brigitta's musicality terribly.

Brian and I met up together in town afterwards and bought new refrigerators. The one downstairs stopped working this weekend right after it was filled with fish. Smelly. The one upstairs has been a bit weird for a while. I do have photos of the fridge-possibilities, but... I don't think I'm going to hold them hostage for posterity.

Took kids for ice cream. Well, the kids except Theodore, who was busy on his own. Got new watch batteries. One of them cost 15euros, one only 7. I don’t understand.

Maria came over and I cut her hair outside in the yard. She was overjoyed that she wouldn’t have to spend money on a barber, and overjoyed she could just stand out in the sun and have her hair cut spontaneously on her way home.

I spent way too much time deep frying celeriac and everyone complained for one reason or another. That should teach me.

Finished watching the night at the opera AND started watching go west. Lucky kids. Poor Brian worked late.

last minute procrastination (135/365e)

Theodore and 5 of his choir colleages sang so beautifully in the stadtpfarrkirche a few weeks ago that they got immediately invited to sing the same service again in church at st. veit.

We all went to listen and it was truly wonderful. We went the short distance up the hill to the waldkindergarten and hiked around in the woods for a bit, in the delightful weather and with perfect moods.

awww... terrible blurry cellphone photo with brian's broken cellphone camera
but adorable motive

Theodore and Felix and i had coffee outside in the sun with chocolate and repotted plants while Henry and Brian biked the several kilometers to Nadja’s for a lesson.

Gabriel came over and was difficult to deal with and my kids fed off that and were also difficult to deal with. We had dinner with Maria and Gabriel when she came to pick him up, and Centa and Edward also joined us. Henry gave his shark presentation one more time for everyone, and then stayed up till 10pm frantically writing cards for tomorrow.

congratulations to rick and maria (134/365e)

I couldn’t help it… When Pauli came over today, I raved about “bananas” and “the office” and he was so intrigued that we watched the entire movie again at 10am. That was a bit disorienting for Edward, waking up to the sounds of the movie we had just seen last night. Pauli and I rounded off our movie morning with a nice long walk.

We attended uncle Rick’s wedding to our new aunt Maria over zoom. Centa and Edward matched the food that Rick was having – blinis, and horseradish, lox and cream cheese and caviar. We didn’t go that route. We had a giant bowl of pasta and sauce and called it a day. We stayed on and watched for a long time. Sometimes people would talk to us, mostly we were (rightly) ignored. Some random strangers also joined in when we sang happy birthday to Mary. Centa also made a wedding/birthday cake and we sang to Henry a few days late for his birthday.

just married!

birthday cake

watching the wedding festivities unfold

bananas (133/365e)

Tired all day and it was a day off of school. Brigitta and I went on our Friday walk anyway, I took her up to falkenweg because we had more time than normal and we practiced the siegl sonata when we got back to her place.

Henry and his friend Niklas practiced giving their little referate presentations. Henry is finally preparing for that shark thing. They were so cute with their earnestness and nervous tics.

Another stattegg orchestra rehearsal over zoom for Theodore. Henry also had a rehearsal, but his was in real life(!), so Brian took him there. Felix went to the abenteuerspielplatz so I had a small amount of time on my own to try to edit my backlog of photos. I have photos I haven't looked at for months... I just today started a new folder for the month of May. Funny though, I can't stay concentrated even for that short amount of time. I'm completely out of practice staying focused at the computer.

Centa, Edward, Barbara and her husband Jure, Edward and I watched Woody Allen’s amazing movie Bananas. I have deemed it the Funniest Movie I Have Ever Seen.

happy birthday henry (132/365e)

Henry's birthday, and it happens to be a feiertag, which means no school! also high mass for choir singers.

Brian overslept and he had to do a last minute corona test on his way to rehearsal for mass. He ran there without the results and waited outside until I texted him he was negative. I took the kids to mass, and we listened to brian.

We attended Gabriel's birthday party and there were some (very!) badly behaved kids there. I was completely overwhelmed. I had had plans to help entertain the kids, all the other parents sat around and chatted calmly with each other while their kids locked other kids in the bathroom and stupid stuff like that. I was completely dead tired at home - not just me, actually, my kids too.

family zoom meeting to congratulate henry on his birthday - he arrived crying because of something, but soon changed his tune when he found he got a colonial wig, which he used right away to give a mini bach concert to grossmutter.

mama papa, henry irma felix, and peter

Brian and I watched a john oliver episode before bed but our heart wasn't really into it.

skype ping pong and ding-a-dong (131/365e)

Edward walked kids to school... After many days of “I’ll walk with you tomorrow” it finally worked out for all of them.

Henry has a consultation for braces. They took measurement and a cast of his teeth, none of which was fun for the poor little guy. We go back in a while and have them explain what he’ll need.

It was a rainy day and I suggested that Felix take the bus to chorus. Unfortunately he throws a tantrum when Brian meets him there and refuses to go into choir, and instead Brian carries him home.

I also rehearsed a short while with Brigitte, more of that Eric Coates piece. This time we played at her house and her family was actually a bit annoyed.

Talk to papa in the evening over skype while he and mama play ping pong in the driveway, which was just adorable. 

Klaus finished our ding-a-dong video and we all watched it several times. It’s stuck in all of our heads.

a gorge with no water is still beautiful (130/365e)

Very early in the morning, Henry got up and left for school to ask for extension on his shark project. All on his own. I was very proud of him. Of course the teacher was understanding and reasonable and said yes.

Maria came over early too, and we had coffee standing up in the kitchen. Brian and I continued work on the music arts homepage.

We went to Kesselfallklamm with Edward and the guitar and Brian and the kids. There was nearly no water in the klamm but it was absolutely gorgeous there. Anyway.

family photo under the big arch

henry and brian hiking

brian and felix picking stinging nettles for our supper

mach 'mal pause

For theodore’s school chorus there was a “required” info evening for parents, since there have been no rehearsals allowed this year so far. I attended that while Brian had zoom choir. The info-session lasted for THREE hours. I was completely beat, but I got a bit of energy back by talking to Bruno about his ideas for making music based on a Rubik's cube.

fish 1: Hai! fish 2: Wo? (129/365e)

One of papa’s projects for uncle rick’s wedding includes trying to rewrite words to a song by Purcell (“Man is for the woman made”). Brian and I attempted some creativity over tea and coffee, but we didn't have enough time to get very far before my lesson.

Elke helped me work on the Coates, putting in better fingerings and bowings.

Picking up and dropping off of kids, because no organ lessons because Maria is sick, and they have no cell phones which means we have to deliver the messages ourselves.

I made millet balls for dinner, and for whatever reason everyone liked them. Loved them even. sometimes i'm surprised by positive reactions…. i hated making them though, standing there and frying them, and they always STICK

felix didn't want to go for a walk with me and Edward, so Edward went on his own to pauli's to help him hang a pull-up bar in the doorway and they ended up on a very long walk all around the city

Henry threw a big tantrum about his referat (school presentation) about sharks until I calmed him down. He said he would rather never go to school again than have to give a short presentation about sharks. He said he knew nothing about sharks. He said he couldn’t think of a single sentence. we calmly watched some shark videos and made some notes for what he can talk about. I told him if he wanted more time on his project he would have to ask for it himself.

worked on the musicarts website frantically with brian until midnight.

Epically bad Mother’s Day (128/365e)

I couldn’t see Mary and Agnes off on the train this morning because I had a gig. A real gig in real life, playing a mass at church by Christopher Tambling. There were not many people present at the service. At least I made 60 euros.

Henry gave me a present he made in school, a cloth bag he had decorated. That reminded Felix that he had wanted to finish a present for me in school, but had been in quarantine and didn’t get it finished in time. This escalated into a full-fledged tantrum that overshadowed Edward’s so-literally-sweet offer to go for a walk together and buy me ice cream Took a lot of effort to get people to go. In the end everyone went except me and Felix who was completely flipped out.

There was some nice stuff though. Henry and I made a gouache painting together following pretty bad directions on the gouache box.  Edward captured us in time lapse.

Then we played the most epic game ever of “dkt” – that is “Das kaufmännische Talent” – which is Austrian knockoff monopoly. How epic? We set the timer to 30 minutes, and that was going to be the end of the game. The timer went off. Everyone got one more round. Edward was the second to last. He bought houses for his color group. He could only afford 2.He used nearly all his possible money and he laughed at him for wasting his time, since no one could land on it. Brian was the last player and he was on the other side of the board. Brian rolled, he got chance, and the card instructed him to go to Mirabellplatz, which is exactly where Edward had just put a house. Edward had no idea there even was such a card. He shouted and screamed and yelled and laughed we all laughed, and he still was the complete loser of the game, but he still said it was the best game he ever played.

Also I made an epic chocolate cake which were shared in the last minutes of the day with Jacky and Andy. We sat outdoors in the clear warm night eating cake out of the plastic tuperware. We didn’t stay long, they are tired, and their dog Ruby is doing very badly, which keeps them up late at night.

nature and painting - an award winning combination (127/365e)

Added one more string color to our canvas today with Agnes, very early in the morning and then Brian and I headed to the farmer's market with Brian

Pauli came over told us incorrectly about a plant market in our area, so I got everyone ready to go to that, and then found out on our way out that it was not to be. Since the kids were all ready to GO … we WENT. We called it Adventure Day.

the ideal picnic, as chosen by the children

The other adults said they would join us but they never did. It was just Brian and me and the 4 kids and we had so much fun all on a hike that turned into a picnic. Meanwhile Pauli admired Mary’s new painting so much that ended up owning it by buying it with compliments.

Brian picked up Henry’s cello from home and took Henry to his lesson. Theodore and Felix went to the abenteuerspielplatz and Agnes practiced roller skating with me for the first time, as Mary looked on with a mixture of worry, pride, and curiosity.

Centa was a bit annoyed with all of us because she had decided today was Fancy Saturday but nobody was around when she expected us to be. Everything was so pretty and nicely laid out, with the tea-pots matching the table cloth (thank you aunt frieda) and little broetchen that she had made carefully.

Mary and I discovered “guache” for the first time – her birthday present for Henry. It was quite addictive to use. 

awash in gouache!

I’m sad that it’s Mary’s last day, there are so many more things we would want to do together. As it was, we just had a little evening of Night at the opera, and Bath time for everyone. My hair was full of leaves.

I walked Nina home with her painting, each of us holding one handle of a huge plastic bag that was still too small for the canvas. She told me about the Romanian bear that’s been in the news for a few weeks (I don’t really read the local news so I was out of the loop.)

everyone wants to paint! (126/365e)

I went shopping with Agnes. She made us a shopping list of both things we wanted to buy and things I told her I was not buying.

The kids had Stategg for the first time in months.

Meanwhile, I went to the piano house, “streif”, where Brigitta is teaching now. She had an hour teaching-gap that we filled with a rehearsal for Coate’s “First Meeting”… It’s such a special piece and we feel so good after playing it. Then it’s stuck in my head for hours/days afterwards.

I did an epic amount of cooking today... Made Soups and breads and stuff just to have them, and use up stuff in the fridge, and to stave off needing to cook so much for the next couple days (optimistic and unlikely)

Nina came over to paint another bob ross. I was busy running around fetching and carrying paint brushes and holding the lamp and pausing the video to give her more time. She was using a huge canvas this time, so she needed a LOT of extra time and a LOT of extra paint. It turned out pretty great. It also inspired a lot of other little mini painting projects. Agnes and I finished our canvas, made with strings. Mary painted a small canvas on the theme of the four seasons in a spiral shape.

henry helping mary

irma helping nina

In the end we made a kind-of good-by party for Mary and we celebrated Brian's first full week of work with his new company.

agnes day (125/365e)

Felix was cranky all day, starting as soon as he woke up this morning. Sadly crankiness is contagious, and it didn't pass me by! But he went off to school, so other people could deal with it. I had plenty of Agnes time. We all did. Brian and I bought eggs with Agnes at the farmer's market and then she cooked with Edward and me. She and I painted the start of a canvas painting: we just did the background and set it to dry. It was very very cold for this time of year, so there were a lot of indoor activities. Agnes also took crane-making to the next level by making a gigantic crane using for large pieces taped together.

late night kitchen clean up with Brian, while Centa rearranged furniture with Edward, so the living room looks completely different now. I want to move the piano downstairs again.

Mary and I tried to record a piece for viola and cello by Otto Siegl… First we couldn’t really play it properly, then I couldn’t get my microphone to record it properly, then the kids came home and need attention, and then … we just said, “forget it,” because the last straw was finding out that  it’s already on Spotify recorded properly by professionals.

felix's quarantine comes to an end (124/365e)

I woke up pretty late. Sometimes I just need more sleep!

Dinner was käse spätzle that we ate outside. I had some help making it and everyone helped eating it. it was nice to sit all together for dinner

To celebrate the end of Felix’s quarantine, and because we had an ice-cream fund from them children’s frieda “auction” we went to get icecream in the middle of the day as soon as Felix got his negative corona test. We sent him on to chorus and piano and all the rest of his normal activites. 

We finished watching singing in the rain after getting caught and soaked in the rain/wind storm

Agnes has her favorite stuffed animal fox and the nose has been kissed off, so I fixed it with sharpie and kraft glue.

nature cures all ills (123/365e)

Emotions were still running high. I guess people didn't sleep well, and were up too late. the morning was rude, and way too angry. The day improved after that though.

Agnes and Felix and I made rhubarb cake, and then I read them Gina farina. Nina came over with croissants, so we had a lovely little outdoor picnic in the garden.

I went to picked up glass to replace the broken bookshelf door with Agnes, then it took a little extra Brian and Irma patience to screw the door on the hinges correctly. But now it works.

On the way out the door, a mercury thermometer fell off the wall and broke. That was bad. We cleaned it up carefully, it looked like the mercury stayed in the glass tube so we were lucky. I took Mary and Edward to Vogelschutzgebiet with the kids except Felix. We took photos and videos of birds and relaxed in the sun. We didn't stay long. Mary was nervous about getting to the studio on time, to record her part video. 

Stayed up late again with the siblings and the chatting.

either the world's stupidest pen or the world's most cursed pen (122/365e)

today was labeeby's birthday, so we made an extra effort to group-zoom call her.

another corona test for felix, so we hope he's out of quarantine early, but probably he doesn't get the test result early enough.

agnes and i make origami box together. she loved making it, and then she got the bug and started making new ones. she cut her own teeny-tiny square pieces (which weren't quite squares) and colored them individually, and it was a bit heartbreaking that it didn't quite fit together.

the strangest part of the day was the moment when we opened aunt frieda's (probably cursed, let's be honest) jewelry box of not very valuable things and doled them out to the people who were interested. it turns out that felix wanted most a pin and agnes wanted a magnifying glass. we know because mary's idea was to hold a silent auction. we thought for sure it was going the other way around. but the biggest surprise was a stupid old fountain-pen which sparked an unexpected battle between everyone. everyone went nuts about it. we tried making a writing test, but that hurt everyone's feelings. 

we soothed some hurt-feelings by watching singin in the rain, a perennial favorite, and the kids went right to sleep while i stayed up late talking to bruno and manuela.

strike (121/365e)

second day of video shoot. we were all a bit beat today, and nobody wanted to put their shoes back on, or the dresses. my ribs hurt from the whale boning. but we did, and attempted to recreate a big disco party with just the five of us. it was fun, although, again, we have absolutely no sense of time down in the basement in the extreme lighting. halfway though filming irmtraud showed me a video on facebook, bruno had posted the bach video that edward helped film. cool.

we did our strike pretty efficiently. and edward and i walked home at a relaxed pace together. mary went home ahead with irmtraud and a car full of equipment instruments and STUFF. 

the four of us siblings played a game of wizard which mary won, but claimed to not understand at all.

while we were out filming, felix lost his first tooth, although he didn't tell anyone, and refused to show his smile to anybody. i think he wants to figure out if the tooth fairy is real or not.

first day of filming for ding-a-dong (120/365e)

i left earlier than mary and edward to go bring the last of the lights and set things up. then makeup and dressing took a few hours, and we started shooting a bit before noon which was just in time to order pizza. going to pick up the pizza was a bit fun in unbelievably heavy makeup and fancy dresses and sneakers (our feet were already hurting with our high-heels, that we haven't worn for any reason since last year). we got some stares for sure. 

we got into the groove of filming close to when we had to leave. we did most of the scenes were all five of us are playing. but we had to stop by 8pm because of strict corona regulations.

that gave us siblings time to call up matt c for his 50th(!) birthday in worcester, and sing to him as he stood in the parking lot outside a sushi restaurant. 

forgetful prop master (119/365e)

went out to buy disco lights from willhaben for the video shoot this weekend to replace the ones that broke. when i talked to klaus he had also bought some. that means we will have PLENTY. i also bought some clothes from carla and humana for costuming purposes. 

mary arrived from slovenia with agnes. barbara picked her up from maribor. it was a long day of travelling for them, and they were pretty tired, but we were all so excited to see each other after such a long time. we started costuming mary, trying on clothes only to realize that tomorrow is a holiday and there will be no shopping. nina saved the day, by inviting us for an evening of drinks and lending us some perfectly disco-colored pants that fit terrifically. 

we are looking forward to an early morning of filming, so it might not have been so smart to stay up late. but while we were drinking i suddenly remembered i was in charge of another prop - a bell that was supposed to smash. mary pointed out that she thought the original ding - a - dong eurovision tape from 1975 used a big christmas ornament filled with glitter, so we spent lots of time trying to recreate one. we ended up making our own shiny glitter confetti out of wrapping paper and stuffing it into christmas ornaments, and then making little bell-skirts. it was more fun than it sounds.

a day of recovery from stupidity (118/365e)

I didn't really wake up this morning.... because I never actually slept, horrible hospital night. I shared the room with three ladies: a scream-y lady, a silent lady and a woman my age who just discovered she had glaucoma. Glaucoma lady called her husband at 7am to remind him to order take-out for dinner at 12:30. I was discharged completely normal. Hooray. Everything's fine, and I am exhausted. Celebrated a bit by walking home. Tired all day because of lack of sleep.

Edward and I took a light and lovely walk up the Schlossberg together. At home, Centa made up a new card game she called recycling rummy - where you separate the discard piles into black and red. It was early bedtime for everyone. I think I conked out around 8:30pm.

paying the stupid-tax. figuratively and literally (117/365e)

Brian and I had doctor's apt for our yearly checkup (that we haven't had in 5 years) in the the morning while Felix had online school for a few hours. Poor kid.

Corona test for Felix and then I went shopping at libro for more video prop stuff. Like tape. I finished making kind of a good-ish prop mirror. 

Then aunt Frieda's stuff arrived. We had to pay 400 euros!

Barbara dropped me and my gigantic cardboard aluminum foil mirrors off with Klaus at the domino and we tried to set everything up for this weekend. One set of lights broke and I took apart the thing and drove to griesplatz and bought a fuse and came back and installed it and it worked for another couple minutes. Then it stopped working again. After a few dis-assemblies and re-assemblies I got a bit sloppy and gave myself a powerful electric shock with 220v ac. It hurt. I felt bad. I kept feeling worse. The lights still didn't work, and I felt nauseous and anxious. On the way home I called a hotline and they told me to get myself an ekg to be sure. I got picked up and driven to the hospital where I felt guilty waiting with people who seemed to have actually serious problems. They told me everything would be fine, the ekg was normal, but they would keep me all night to double check. I was sure glad to have a book to read.

dreams of mirrors mirroring dreams (116/365e)

Niko and I went for a walk .. He showed me the shrine-columns for the old pilgrim way from the center of Graz to Kalvarienberg, 14 stops in all. In the old days, he says, you could essentially see from one to the next, and now there are so many buildings that have taken over fields that they are hidden away in backyards and inset into fences and such. Although it was beautiful and sunny, it was cold!  

Felix came home with the news that he is contact person 1, which means a 10 day quarantine for him, but only for him. The rest of us can act normal. 

I went with Henry to practice organ, and I called Pauli and convinced him to join us to try playing organ too. I think he thought it would be simpler, but adding pedals is difficult! He had fun though.

Today Henry wasn't particularly snuggly like yesterday, but Theodore was instead particularly affectionate. He helped me a bit making a prop for our next video. I need a very very large mirror. It's not working out at all. I tried aluminum foil, but it wasn't sticking flat enough, or staying put the way I needed. Went out and bought shiny silver wrapping paper and was pretty disappointed to find out it was actually clear see-though-plastic. It LOOKED silver. 

day flies by without daylight (115/365e)

I had my lesson with Elke while Brian slept in. Sometimes he really does need some extra sleep when he wakes up so early and let me sleep so often.

Mary finished making the music/video for the prime-number pachelbel piece. it was really cool to listen to. 

Henry was really snuggly

I spent most of the day/afternoon/early evening doing lighting with Klaus in the basement of the church for our next video. he's been there for 3 days rerunning cables to lights that were installed there that "didn't work" aka weren't properly plugged in. it was easy to lose track of time since there is no outside light and no working clock.

Centa and Edward crept up the stairs and hung out with us on our kitchen floor in the evening and we had a little chatting party.

touch typing plus think method (114/365e)

Brian sang at church with his choir and I made rhubarb cake with the kids and we played a pitch game on the floor by the stove. 

Clean up frenzy for a while. taking out the trash I ran into Ingrid from next door and we stood in the doorway talkin for a while, and Centa found us, at which point Ingrid invited her (and me) over for coffee. We did crossword puzzles and had ice cream.

Rushed directly back home to where Barbara and I met up at wrote some possible scripts for quintet shorts, and then we rushed to a meeting to discuss those scripts. Barbara was very entertained by how fast I can think and type at the same time. 

in which everyone stops by at once (113/365e)

kids at rettennachklamm all day with the abenteuerspielplatz so Brian and I went for hike of our own. We left a bit later, because first we dropped off the kids (they left at 8:30 to catch a 9am bus five minutes away which meant waiting at the bus stop for a while) ... went to the farmers market alone together, then Nina came over and had coffee in the garden, then I gave Gabriel a piano lesson and finally we could leave to go to Schloss st martin. We combed the ground for morels but found none. We hiked to the top of whatever the official name of that kogel is, and then biked back timing our return exactly with the kids. 

Just at that moment, everyone stopped by... Pauli with a hangover. Nina stopped by for Felix-made croissants, which were finally done, Jacky brought us a bottle of wine. 

We watched 7 brides for 7 brothers that evening, but after that much excitement, we only made it part of the way through. i opened ducks, newburyport, and there, right where i had left off reading was a 2.5 page description of 7 brides for 7 brothers. that book is incredible.

good mood/bad mood (112/365e)

i picked up my fixed bike, on a beautiful day, which would have improved my mood quite a bit, but i was also busy finishing paperwork for the dhl/customs bureaucracy with edward, so much garbage for nothing, took so much time to do all the writing and scanning and screenshots. plus it didn't make my mood any better.

license to bike (111/365e)

Biking back and forth all day like the world's most useless chauffeur. Won't be so bad much longer. Henry had his bicycle license test today and he passed with flying colors. Now we just have to wait until his 10th birthday and he's on his own in traffic. (i try not to think too hard about that)

Stayed up super stupid late doing Frieda inventory... I have to send screen shots of comparable items to every single item listed on the customs form. They went through everything and told me what was in the box. If I send a screenshot of something that costs too much I have to pay customs. If it is not similar enough they dispute it. I am annoyed. One of the delights is that a used candle somehow accidentally ended up in the shipment. It's not even a nice candle, just a random one that got grabbed by mistake. How do you assess the value (and then have to pay 25%import fee) of something that is completely valueless that you can't even BUY online if you want to, and then if you do it's some specific "antique" priceless thing. in terms of the candle, i almost sent a screenshot of a brandnew amazon candle of the middle finger, that was 26 dollars, but everyone agreed that, although hilarious, the joke was not worth $6.50 in customs taxes, plus an annoyed customs officer. Everyone helped, Brian, Mary, Edward, Centa, everyone was sending screenshots of things they found. There are over 100 things in the stupid box.

alone time configurations (110/365e)

centa was gone all day, taking care of a new baby of a friend of hers.

pauli came by for a short time, until i had to take felix this his lesson with brigitta. i also got some brigitta opportunity - we played through the first movement of the siegl viola sonata while edward took care of the kids for a while. she's not completely convinced by the piece yet, but i think she'll get there. i hope so!

started croissant dough with felix ... he won himself a youtube tutorial of his choosing by doing chores this week, and he chose making croissants. a 2 day process. it was pretty fun to work with him. 

garbage in garbage out (109/365e)

a whole day of stupid stuff. spent nearly all morning on the phone/email with the customs agent, on the run-around talking to all kinds of different people. the last customs agent i talked to said it would probably be smartest to just have the box destroyed because it would be cheapest and easiest. "you can buy a lot of new underpants with the money you're gonna spend to save these ones."

i recorded mary's prime-tuplet version of pachelbel's canon, and i must have recorded it over 50 times, inaccurately each time. i sat in front of the heater the entire day with my violin until my legs fell asleep and my shoulders and back ached and still i didn't play perfectly in time *with myself* which is a bit of a ego come-down.

i barely saw anything of my kids who were at school, did homework, played cards with edward in the garden, and went to the asp. 

brian found the movie monkey business (not the marx brothers movie) for me, and we watched it with centa and edward. 

relatively relaxing monday. (108/365e)

My first Monday lesson since finishing my exam. Officially the start of the "repertoire year" which means i brought lots of new music to look into. We made a plan and worked hard on 4 and a half measures of bach. I almost threw a mini tantrum out of frustration.

I took Felix to the glass place to get a replacement glass door for the one that broke when *somebody* pushed *somebody* into it and it broke

I had a delightfully long talk with mama, which usually doesn't work because neither of us like talking online, and usually some microphone or technical thing doesn't work, but today we were lucky and we talked about bread and inheritance and such things. As soon as everyone finished practicing, Papa set off firecrackers on the wine porch for us to watch. Entertainment.

I took off for a walk with nina in the evening, leaving edward in charge of bedtime. a walk turned into a glass of wine, which turned into snacks, which turned into 11:30. brian picked me up on his run and we walked home together, where centa and edward were still up, recording some video for mary's project that she wants to use as a tribute to doug weeks for his retirement after 40 years at wpi.

 

terrible way to start the day (107/365e)

Super bad headache in the morning... i kept waking up all night, in fact, each time i woke up a read a few more pages of "lucky jim" and finished reading the book in the morning. My head hurt so much i just went back to bed and watched "lucky jim" at half-volume and minimum screen brightness. just as i was starting te feel a bit better there were tantrums and fights about who was allowed to make and flip palatschinken. that resolved, everyone was happier. i felt better, and got ready to leave. sometimes the day flies by so fast.

i did a quick photo shoot for a student singing group for andrea and then went right on to a planning meeting for quintet at night … planning our next video with mary and some other plans are in progress. our meeting was not that productive, but it was still necessary, and better than nothing.

edward has RETURNED (106/365e)

Brian and I went for a long walk this morning just to be together while we did some errands, and mostly struck out on those but we had fun anyways. The kids stayed home to read. 

Brian cooked... Spinach sauce on pasta with garden herbs and we ate outside.

Then I saw a message that Edward had actually gotten to the airport in Amsterdam so we started a cleanup mission to get ready for his arrival.

I had the luxury of some alone time and updated my blog a little. i am so behind on posts, and even more behind on editing and posting photos. maybe one day i'll catch up.

I've suggested new music for music4viola enough times that they asked if i wanted to be allowed to post as a member/administrator. why not? what else do I have to do?

We all drove to pick up Edward at the train station in Jacky's car. So excited to see him. We had fun inspecting suitcases, trying out new scarves and doilies some old useless keys and other random things. 

a real live gig (105/365e)

Still no Edward - poor guy, he's been sleeping on the floor in an empty house for 2 weeks now. 

Went for a short walk with Brigitta and then to interspar for 300euros worth of groceries, mostly pantry staples. (because we had a ridiculous coupon) Interspar was overwhelming and didn't have much of a better selection. then we biked home with all that stuff on our back. 

When we returned, all our kids were quietly doing homework on their own. I was amazed. Everyone helped put things away, and everyone did their chores before going to asp. 

I had a real gig in the evening. It was so nice. There was no audience, really, there were speeches and a guy to video it for a anniversary celebration for some verein. the people that were done speaking could have left if they wanted to but they stayed and were in awe of the music and just sat still and listened. occasionally we heard a whispered "man can they ever play" and "isn't it nice to have live music again?" They had real food. 5 course dinner, but we could not mingle or sit down. we stayed at our table and enjoyed our first real dinner "out" since last august.

Jacky helped me at night with an email for customs.... A big box is coming from aunt frieda's estate. the things are worth nothing and have already cost about 10 times their value to ship. Now I am afraid it will cost that much again to accept the shipment. 

no edward today :( (104/365e)

We were so disappointed. Edward did not arrive - he didn't even leave england. The rules changed and amsterdam required a different test just to transfer planes.

I was excessively thirsty all day and gave myself hypochondria by googling that.

I gave Gabriel a piano lesson and we read aloud together and built with kapla blocks. I had to leave quickly for my quintet rehearsal because we have a real live gig tomorrow. olena can't play so we had to practice with iva, as a replacement. we got done fast enough so that barbara and i could record our parts for our next project. the question was still who should play cello on this next project. then we thought how great it would be if we could capture mary from slovenia for the project, and i called and asked and she said yes! 

recovery day ii (103/365e)

i guess one day of recovery was not enough. i did more googling and music research. plus i played a lot of viola just for me. 

Briefly saw Brigitta when i was dropping off Felix for his lesson. We were a half hour too early by accident so we stopped by the the foresters for an extremely brief visit.

Got an sms confirming that Henry got a spot with the cool cello teacher! yay!

Edward is arriving tomorrow. He has taken care of all the Frieda stuff and is all done with legalities and is really ready to leave.

We tried to create a chore game and made up rules at night - we'll see if this motivates some houswork and teamwork.

recovery day (102/365e)

i needed a day of recovery from yesterday. i just researched music... did nearly nothing else. i paid for membership for a pretty sketchy Russian site full of random sheet music. 

I took kids to and from organ at their teacher Maria's house.... She owns a very cool organ! with digital stops and adjustable ... stuff. It was very cold and very rainy and it was a bit sleety/snowy. Yuck. I read  Das verlorene Herz to Felix, and then entered it as a new book on goodreads. 

Talked to Labeeby for a long time in the evening, and that was very nice. Unfortunately that means I also stayed up way too late

mit auszeichnung (101/365e)

i got a shoulder massage in the morning finished reading magellan, as cool as a cucumber. Then warming up and waaaaiting.... and a short warm up walk with Brigitta. Then my knees started shaking and then I played.... i kept reminding myself not to look at the audience, just kept my eyes closed. when Brigitta finally joined me on stage for the Clarke I knew we were home free. success. The told me I passed "with distinction" Elke brought me a flower and a tiny mini bottle of prosecco which we enjoyed on a bench in the park. A drunk homeless guy walked by with a beer in his hand and said "prost" to us ladies.

It was a rainy day - when the kids came back from singschule they were soaked to the bone.

brian gave official notice at his company at the exact same moment that nina came over for snack night so celebrate my high-school-diploma-in-music. everyone in the house helped prepare the snack night. 

brian and i walked nina home at night, the rain had stopped and brian jogged beside me, and we found a free umbrella in the street.

full fledged diva (100/365e)

Getting ready for tomorrow's exam, so I went all out just doing only things I really needed and wanted to do. 

A short delightful hike up Rettebachklamm in the morning with everyone. We borrowed a car to get there and back. Calm and relaxed. While we were hiking along the stream, Felix, Henry and Theodore were way up high on the ledge above us and another family came along.... There were 3 kids in a group there too... One said pointing way up high: "look, there are kids up there, why are they up there?" To which another one answered "maybe they have no parents"

Made dinner very fast and ate very voraciously when we got back. We were all hungry, and I staved off the hanger.

Henry went roller blading while brian ran, and together they picked up new new shoes for him from willhaben.

I spent most of my afternoon doing a bit of practicing and some time wasting.

The evening was just a bit of beer and reading Magellan and another early bed time in the hopes I can sleep well and be cheery the next day.

early to bed early to rise (99/365e)

When I awoke at 6 Brian was already reading downstairs. I joined him with Magellan.... Now I only have 2 chapters left!

After our reading date we went to the farmers market. I saw some people I recognized but they didn't seem to recognize me. I was dressed sloppily and thus also didn't make any additional attempt to say hi

Theodore and I went for a walk to get knives sharpened and the store was already closed because it was Saturday. Our walk was nice anyways.

Brian made chinese-style scallion pancakes in the meanwhile and a great success they were too!

Brigitte and I played Clarke at her house one more time before Monday. Mostly we just talked and she gave me a bit of a pep talk.

Up the Schlossberg with everyone and ice cream in the way down. 3 more Hans brinker chapters and then Centa took over bedtime while we went and spent the evening with j&a.... Lovely. Home again by 10:40 for "early" bedtime

long walk is the best start to any day (98/365e)

Walk with Brigitta to waaaay far past augarten. we were a bit deep in discussions and didn't notice how far we had walked. i was in a rush to get back because i had an appointment to teach gabriel, and got back just in time.

with leftover tomato sauce i cracked some eggs into it and we had Shakshuka for dinner that everyone really liked!

Centa really wanted to do her fancy Friday, even though she didn't feel so well, so she prepared fancy snacks, and we all dressed up and had a little tea-party for "dinner".. Papa was pretty surprised when we were all dressed up for his zoom meeting to read Hans Brinker - He read 3 chapters to celebrate the arrival of the weekend.

I finished Little house in the big woods with felix as he went to sleep. He said he LOVES this book. On my own I finished the "history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters" which was ok, and i read more Magellan

Late at night I was inspired to practice, and it's useful to be able to play late at night and not apparently bother anyone. Starting to get nervous about my exam on Monday, but I know cramming won't do any good....

least favorite kind of dream (97/365e)

got everything ready in the morning, went to a rehearsal, got extremely insulted there, only to wake up and find that 'twas but a dream... in reality brian was in his mastermind, henry was still asleep it was 7:15 and felix was making henry's lunch and going out the door to school. oops!

needed two cups of coffee before brigitta picked me up before 9 for our clarke dress rehearsal

i picked up felix from his opera choir and he came back with tummy ache. as soon as he felt better off to asp, which coincided with michi and her kids coming over to borrow some books. her son wanted only 3 investigator books and she was trying to convince him to take something - anything - else. meh

theodore played awesome brahms hungarian dance and haydn concerto with me accompanying on piano, but his chores and practicing were waaay too late, and he complained that no-one told him what time it was.

papa read hans brinker for the first time in a long time, and it was soooo nice! and brian had some more interviews

reading time is never wasted time (96/365e)

Such a lazy day... Woke up very late. Did nothing really but read a lot, cook a lot and eat a little. Took Felix to his lesson with Brigitta (where I did more reading) and picked them up from *choir*.... First choir since the last lockdown. Very cold and very very windy... My gloves didn't keep me warm while biking. 

Early bedtime for me late for kids... 10pm after end of Marx brothers and I was exhausted.

Brian gave notice to his boss at his job and experienced a little bittersweet feelings. I think he's happy to be moving on and getting ready to finalize his decision about where to go next.

missing morals (95/365e)

First day of school again, although Theodore's group has today online. I gave Theodore a preliminary body book to read after his homework was done, so that he can have a head start on some upcoming life changes.

Pauli wanted to go for a walk, so I could show him where morels grow. I don't really know though, and i'm not sure if it's the wrong weather, the wrong time, the wrong spots or if i'm just not seeing them. anything is possible. We went up and down falkenweg, and he was rushed for time at the end but i had problems biking because my pedal seized up and i could not really use it properly.

We had a family meeting and then watched half of a Marx brothers movie, much to everyone's delight.

Attended a zoom meeting about Kerouac's creative process (from umass lowell) with Brian. We tried to get through the readings in the hour before the meeting (as true typical style)... i loved the idea of kerouac's scroll books.

alas the holidays are ending (94/365e)

Brian took Henry to Nadja's. Felix and Theodore gave me space and quiet to work, and I really tried to do stuff but couldn't stay focused. When Henry came home he needed a lot of help with a school presentation. We spent at least 2 hours drawing sharks, and another few hours looking up facts about sharks in various books on archive.org. I know a LOT about sharks now. 

Ingrid cz came by, out on a bike-ride. She was upset by vaccines and mask wearing, and we shared easter bread and tea. It was really nice to have drop-in company with no pressure and no preparation.

I was in the mood for a terrible movie, and brian found me a really truly terrible one... "Coming to America" ... i wish i had stayed up late and read magellan instead.

shaky start but then ok (93/365e)

Honestly, I only want to remember the good parts, not the cranky horrible tantrum bits which essentially ruined most of the morning.

The good parts were very good. Nice walk to kalvarienberg and everyone helped with table setting.... Twice. We had to move inside after 10 minutes of breakfast because it was too too cold to eat outside.

Egg hunt was fun and actually challenging. There were still quite a few eggs left to find in the evening.

I played in the Dom which was my first gig in a very long time. We had no conductor and we had a replacement organist and the rehearsal was disorganized, and the pieces badly chosen, but it was still very nice to play in public.

More evening tantrums but we sorted everything back out before bed time.

wonderful preparations (92/365e)

We had simply wonderful Easter preparations. Brian and I went to the farmers market all alone together. 

We all biked to Vogelschutzgebiet with Centa (but only found two more morels) and had our mini cookie-breakfast in the sun before seriously starting egg coloring and crazy easter bread. Easter egg coloring was fun and colorful, but we were a bit distracted because we found out on a big zoom call that Labeeby and vitalyi are getting married! super exciting!

We made our Easter fire and tried to sing. the miserere didn't work (not surprising since we hadn't practiced) but managed a passable dona nobis pacem. 

Late bedtime for everyone, even later for me... baking and egg hiding from 10pm till 1am. 

uggg I'm tired

Good Friday (91/365e)

Woke up a bit groggy but went for a two and a half hour walk with Brigitta and felt much better. Unfortunately that meant I missed Nina dropping by, t drop off some absolutely gorgeous onion-dyed easter eggs.

Kids went to asp and I went to pick up my repaired bicycle and then over to Pauli to play my recital program for him. Riding back I happened upon Felix coming back from the spar on his own. He and I met centa at the front door and all three of us went to akdag nominally for some Za'atar (because I had missed is so much yesterday). 

Henry was flipping palatschinken when we got back. He had taken the initiative to cook for himself and his brothers. 

We read the Passion, in illustrations by Thöny

Cents and I discovered what a Crotalusis... Wooden clappers in church for use when bells are not allowed, like between thursday and saturday before easter...Apparently there is an absolutely gigantic one in malta that they use instead of church bells

Also got news that our quintet project was rejected for steirischer herbst. waaah

cajoling and begging and pleading (90/365e)

I had to beg and plead and cajole, but I got everyone to go to Hilmteich in the morning. A little bit of woods for me, a little bit of roller-skating around the pond for Henry, a little bit of reading Laura Ingalls Wilder in a hammock in the sun for Felix. Brian had to leave early to get to another interview. He ran all the way home in 12 minutes, or something crazy like that.

I read a lot more Magellan but that book is so very slow. Michi was singing at church (oh delight, chorus, although in incredible minimal form, only 4 female singers in this case, is starting up again a little bit at a time) and at the last minute i begged and cajoled and plead that everyone should come along with me to the last supper service. They did and I was so happy to bring a bit of normalcy to this otherwise unprepared easter-holiday.

We had our last supper bread and wine prepared and Michi joined us for that and ended up staying till 1am(!) when Brian and Centa had already long gone to bed.

Bullerbü day (89/365e)

According to Bullerbü, the Wednesday before easter is a day to write mean-ish notes and stick them on people's back... Our kids had been so excited about this since they read it, and they were READY for it today. Nina brought croissants over, and even that could not distract them from their efforts to write funny signs in secret. Henry came out and gave me a surprisingly affectionate snuggle and a hug attack, after which I had "I am stooopid" written on my back. I transferred it to Centa who brought it over to the neighbors where it apparently ended up on a birthday present for Sylvia. Haha, oops. 

First I hiked to Jacobsleiter with Henry and Theodore, and then I roller skated all the way to Vogelschutzgebiet with Henry and Theodore and we found morels in the sand and the sun. We were so excited to see them, and brought them home and shared a little panful of them. There are never enough, we need to find more!

While we were at Vogelschutzgebiet, we opened a delightful envelope full of letters to everyone from grandpapa (sent in february) and read them together in the sun. So wonderful.

3x the charm (88/365e)

Brigitte and I went out to the conservatory to play through Clarke and Elke convinced me to run my *entire* program through three times. I was exhausted! I could kind of not even believe how tired I was after that!

There was nobody at home when I got back, because they had finished the go cart and taken it for its first ride - with roller blades across the street with Maria and Gabriel. Then they proudly paraded it to the abenteuerspielplatz together. So adorable.

Brian bought me pectin sugar so that I could finish making the jam, and we had cornmuffins and jam (just to test to make sure it was good - and it really was!) 

Brian had two interviews late at night. He's taking the job hunt very seriously, with nearly 10 companies in the mix.

when life gives you free strawberries you make jam (87/365e)

They spent the day building their go cart. It is coming along very well. They are almost done with it and I am very impressed with their (mostly peaceable) teamwork.

I needed to get my bicycle fixed. On the way home, the people at AKDAG gave Felix and me a box of 10boxes of strawberries for free that they were throwing out. As a family we all cut strawberries started making jam. Everyone decided the jam would be just right for easter. Good start to the holiday week, I have to say. 

holidays pass us by (86/365e)

Kind of "missed" palm Sunday. Didn't do any palm-sunday kind of stuff. Instead we had brunch with the foresters. Henry and Brian didn't stay long because Henry had a cello lesson and then his last skating class. 

While Henry was still out, Theodore and Felix disappeared for a few minutes. I went out to look for them and found them out in the street with saws... They were heading down to the trash to cut the wheels off a stroller. They want to make a go-cart, based on some plans in the dangerous book for boys.

I took the bus to Irmtraud's with Barbara and we worked on the website (saw Phil the fiddler on my way there with a newborn... That's how long it's been since I last saw him)

Came home and found absolutely everyone asleep.

reading books in the sun (85/365e)

Super incredibly gorgeous day. We took a few picnic foods and some books and had lunch and reading at Vogelschutzgebiet. It was very nice. When we got back, I planted grass with felix. We were back first, and locked out, so after the grass planting I helped him through a first floor window so he could unlock the door for me. About 3 minutes later, everyone else came home. So it goes.

Henry had his roller skating course again and was super tired again. He loves it though. 

We had chore-reward movie time. This time the inspector general. Centa wasn't around to watch it with us though, since she was out with friends (a rare occasion indeed in these corona times)

stealth confession (84/365e)

Took a wonderful morning walk with Brigitta up and down the Mur, into vogelschutzgebiet and beyond. another gorgeous spring day. I was a bit lazy at home. The patented Bath-and-Books time-sink. This time with lots more Magellan... but i read soooo slowly in German. I get impatient! It's really very good.

Felix came home from school having had his versöhnungsfest, which is kind of the first confession, which they don't do like they do in the us. the last two kids did it and there was really a kind of mini celebration breakfast at school and parents were told things. this time, because everything is weird in these corona times, i didn't even really know about it in advance.

I had signed up Henry for a 3-day rollerskating class i took him there and sat in the grass and read Mr. Bowditch. The instructor was very impressed with Henry's skating skills, even more so when he found out neither parent skates, he never took a class, and he's only had skates for a little less than a year. his skates came unglued during the course of the class so i glued them at home as best as i could.

As soon as we got home there was Hans Brinker. Everyone was beat. Felix even fell asleep before we had finished a chapter, and Henry almost did, and asked to be carried upstaires.

Talked to Manuela late in the evening, mostly about books and such, and it was very nice to catch up.

burnt beans (83/365e)

today was officially "kobold day" for chores, where we try to do as many chores from other people as possible. this one was a bit of a bust, people didn't seem as excited about this one as they have before.

brian and i walked to the farmers market together. i don't like being there with a mask, it feels a little silly.

i made a score-video for the "corona canon" with centa, so that we could post it online publicly, so that she could use it as a proof of concept for other groups who perhaps would want to sing it.

the day was so lovely i took felix out of ice-cream after his singschule stimmbildung. as i arrived at home so did both pauli and maria, randomly. we stood in the doorway discussing literature for a while, and then pauli and i went for a walk along the mur.

in the evening i chatted online with papa for a little while, every once in a while sniffing.... kind of catching occasional whiffs of burning. my thoughts said "good! the kids are making themselves something, possible making pancakes or something" but no, it was actually me cooking and forgetting. i had left lentils on the stove, the water burned off, the beans burned all the way, and the smell was bad enough with the lid on the pot that i could smell little whiffs of it downstairs. upstairs in the attic the smell was really atrocious, so we opened up all the windows and theodore brought his stuff downstairs to sleep in our room.

Stayed up late with centa, drinking beer and whiskey. nothing to celebrate. just because.

procrastination does not pay off (82/365e)

finally finished my introduction for pater hartmann - it took all day... i am very out of practice with staying focused at the computer, and i had put it off literally for months, which is just ridiculous.

went to the piano lesson with felix, and "read" ... i got no further than 3 pages magellan. a) it's tough german reading and b) i like to listen through the door to the lesson and hear the music and progress and laughter.

it was a totally gorgeous really nice day with wonderful weather. when we came back inside we called edward for his birthday.

later in the evening i chatted with amanda for a while and we discussed childhood development and what "normal" even means....

two twos (81/365e)

Spent a large part of the day researching and writing about a very strange composer named Pater Hartmann von An der Lan Hochbrunn, or some version of about 20 different versions of that name. I have spent way too long procrastinating on this task and decided to just finally DO it today. I didn't get all the way done. There was still practicing with the kids to do, and cooking, and light cleaning, and practicing on my own. I didn't get up till late, because i wanted to be absolutely sure my headache was gone from yesterday.

Both of the two older kids brought home their first 2 (letter grade b) ever... both on a german exam. little tiny detail mistakes add up. i was a bit disappointed, only because i know they can do better!

The kids spent the afternoon at the abenteuerspielplatz, and i did more composer writing, but not enough yet. 

headache day again (80/365e)

ugg, what a headache. it didn't stop me from my normal monday-ing [a few ibuprofens throughout the day kept me on track] but i was a bit miserable now and then. i was late for my lesson with elke - both my bikes are getting repaired and i took henry's. i'm always so very impressed with elke and how she can find something to improve and a way to tell me a new idea no matter how "finished" i think i am with a given work, and no matter how unmotivated or deenergized i am.

i brought renate some soup and bread and we had lunch together in the sun overlooking the stadtpark. that was very lovely. i felt ready to go back to sleep. i lay in bed and read, and felix brought me warm rice-bags. somehow i finished reading 300+ pages of "hunt gather parent" in 2 days and am only on page 80 of magellan after several days. i wonder if one of them is denser than the other....?

the kids were so helpful and considerate to me all day, and we even did a lot of music making - slowly and not too loudly. henry practiced even though "he didn't want to at all" and was happy afterwards.

silent tea party (79/365e)

what a wonderful day. i was up again way too early, and took time to read alone and have some coffee. brian slept in and the kids played dune. 

then there was crocheting, and reading, and music playing. I spent several hours untangling a skein of yarn that the kids had tried to "find the end" of and failed. It really was a challenge to roll it onto a ball, but I came to the conclusion that the puzzle had the same effect on my psyche as a bunch of sudokus, with a little bit more to show for it at the end. i finished the very last at the very end of the day, after bath night, as henry finished his practicing. 

henry told me that 2021 has not been a bad year so far. three good things have happened. he got a scooter, he made an emoji pillow (the best thing!) and finding the key to the old puch bicycle lock that belonged to mama and was actually just hanging on a hook in the kitchen this whole time.

Centa got her chore reward from several weeks ago - a silent tea party. felix and i made scones together: we carefully cut them out with a pretty little cookie cutter but after their stint in the oven they just kind of looked like random mishhapen blobs. tasty though. centa made tangram cookies and we had a tangram game/tournament with voting and everything ... everything except speech. then we had silent roses and thorns time. definitely a wonderful day.

weird gig (79/365e)

Weird gig

Ok, so here's the story. I got asked to do a gig of some kind about 2 weeks ago. I have nothing to do these days, so I said yes. I found out last week it's not a music gig, it's a photo/video gig, with klaus. he's none to pleased with it himself. until yesterday it was supposed to be in judendorf. this morning i heard i found out it was in kroisbach. still don't know what will be happening or what i shold be doing. irmtraud and klaus pick me up at home at 8:15, ewww. we get there slightly before 9 (which is start time) nobody is there. nobody at all. finally some people arrive, and ask who we are. the film people. oh, we're filming? they ask. oje.

so we go in start setting things up. normally i would ask "where will you be speaking" and "what do you want in the shot" but this time they were asking *me* "where should i stand?" and "should we move anything?" ummm, i don't know. i asked whether they would be speaking at the same time and they asked if i thought they should. by the end, i found out that one of them was actually the writer of the script and the organizer of the project which is really weird.

so the project is interesting, the passion story told in styrian poetry. "where are the musicians" they ask ... umm, i don't know. irmtraud says they'll be there later, one of the musicians is her brother. they seem surprised when i say we will just record the text first. how long is the whole piece supposed to be? "with music maybe 20 minutes" is the answer. ok. we are set.

we start recording. 20 minutes in, the first speaker hasn't finished their part yet. they are speaking perfectly, it's really great, but this work is not going to clock in under 40 minutes, for sure not under 20. we are running low on storage space, too.

The speakers finish, and they say they brought us some dinner - hard boiled eggs and a loaf of strietzl, but no knife. the church is freezing. i'm shivering.

musicians arrive. they seem very happy to see each other. "we haven't seen each other in 35 years!" "it's so cool to play together again!" "what are we playing" "where should we set up?" they ask the organizer. she looks at me... quizzically.

i set that up, klaus is running back and forth on cameras, and now lights, it's gotten super dark suddenly, when it was super bright before. turns out there is a raging snowstorm outside. we start recording. the musicians are sight reading. they are doing a fine job. at some point, the guitarist asks, "wait, what is d-minor again" and i laugh, and he says (i'm not joking) "hey, don't laugh, i'm actually a bass player"

we clean up super fast. the organizer gives us thank you gifts of homemade jam and a calendar. on my way out i grab my mask and drop the jelly. glass everywhere. i pick up the glass, and cut myself. she very kindly and thoughtfully gives me another glass of jelly, which i much more carefully take home with me. they were all such nice people, but what a WEIRD gig ... Outside the snow lay thick.

At home, our kobold/chore reward was Francis the talking mule which was MUCH weirder than I remember... A little much war and soldier talk. The kids liked it anyways. Oops

its NOT saturday (78/365e)

All day I kept thinking it was Saturday. I took no photos. Austrian holidays are weird. The kids have the day off but nobody else does. Nina came over even though she didn't have the day off... Just for a quick coffee and a chat. Everyone was in a pretty decent mood today, and I had some time to myself even.

I dared to use the pressure cooker (they are scary) to cook some kidney beans which have been around for too long here. Last time I made them I boiled and boiled and they never got soft. Internet answer? Our water is too hard, and we should either use distilled water (haha) or baking soda (ugg! - one time i tried that in wilmington and had to throw everything away because they were inedible) or a pressure cooker. That did the trick, but it was still scary. I then made a huge pot of chili and it was a huge hit with everyone. I thought after all the work I did I would have dinner for 2 days, but it was completely gone. Surprised but not complaining!

I went shopping alone while the kids were abenteurspielplazing again and bought grapefruit for felix so he can finally try one (again) and searched for a while to find useful things to buy with some 25% off stickers I had. I haven't been shopping in so long I think I'm completely out of practice.

new skills (77/365e)

Woke up super crazy super early. I was long up when Brian started his mastermind at 6am. I then woke the kids up singing. .... and went back to sleep after the kids left for school.

Music theory class meant that Henry and Theo didn't get to go to the abenteuerspielplatz, but Felix went on his own, and he was very happy to leave by himself. so happy that he didn't tell me he was leaving, and i chased him down the street and carried him back so that i could remind him gently that we aaaallllwaaays have to say where we are going. he did not like that, but it was necessary, i think.

After he agreed that I was right, we happily walked along together, I dropped him off at the playground and then I dropped my bike off for repairs and stopped at Carla and bought random stuff err don't need, including an amazing top. it started SNOWING suddenly and very strongly. the wind was blisteringly strong when I was returning with my purchases, which i was clutching in my fingers because, why would I be wearing gloves or proper winter clothes when it is sunny and not snowing when I left ?

Also bought big crochet hooks for learning. By the evening, while listening to Hans Brinker, I was binding off a blanket for heartbear that Felix had half crocheted (of course i had started it, but he did several rows all on his own)

cross generational intercontinental pitch tournament (76/365e)

today i woke up way late, after very many way-too-detailed dreams

kudos to rick and papa for organizing an awesome evening for st. patrick's day.

it was super fun to play with my aunt and uncles and father and siblings in america, my brother in england, my sister in slovenia, and my kids, husband and sister in austria. i never got to play that far. I won only the first game, and then we had smelly cards for the rest of it - no chance to win again. theodore and henry and felix started out as a team called the "three stooges" but after a fight with felix, felix joined my team and the other two renamed themselves to "2 cool" They ended up being second place in the entire gigantic family, first place was Uncle Ed. The rest of us were "bozos" ... It was super fun, and the technical glitches were hilarious and didn't bother us, and we all enjoyed ourselves, and then there was a zoom after session that we only slightly participated in before bedtime and my phone date with bruno. the zoom session outlasted me though!

imagine forgetting grapefruits (75/365e)

A real cleaning spree this morning. I was up early enough to spend hours on the house. We even read more arabian nights before they left for school at 7am. - Makes sense, of course. Scheherezade always starts her tales at dawn, and then can put off her early morning execution till the next day. 

Theodore and Brian watched the Holland episode together. It's nice to be able to have such shared experiences. We tried to share the experience of a Thai cooking class over zoom that mama was attending but it was not made for us. 

Biked to and from town twice without stopping except for running back inside to put on long pants because it's very cold! It doesn't feel so cold, but the wind is very aggressive and almost knocked us off our bikes a couple time. the abenteuerspielplatz is finally open again - with very exact visiting restrictions. Our kids were the first ones there when they opened. I was happy to have a few hours of rest time. I hadn't been home for more than a few minutes when Pauli stopped by for a coffee, cutting into my alone time.

Today, Felix told me that he has never had a grapefruit. In fact, he told me, he doesn't even know what that is. I am heartbroken. It's that age where young child-hood memories fade, but he used to be a fruit-monster, and grapefruits were no exception. I guess we didn't have any recently. I'm going to go buy all the weird citrus fruit now!

a single-cup-of-coffee kind of day - and it shows (74/365e)

Woke up so late that I just had one cup of coffee before my 10am lesson. I biked home and straight back out again to get Henry's cello, and picked him up from school so that he could play for Thomas Pl. at the conservatory, to see if perhaps he was a good match as a new student. He was told he should audition - which is good! He played really well!

Henry and I went into town together, and I hung out reading have spacesuit will travel while he had his organ lesson and theodore practiced on the other organ. 

Although Theodore was screened-out, Henry, Felix and I watched a national geographic from the 70s that papa remembere seeing in 6th grade about Holland to go with Hans brinker, while Theodore had his lesson with Elke.

We didn't read with papa though, its both his busy day and ours, plus Theodore had way to much screen time today. Instead, we started reading the Arabian nights nights, the Rene Bull version, 

screen-time sunday (73/365e)

took theodore to prima la musica today, and dropped him off, double checking that his paperwork that showed his positive corona test from a few weeks ago was enough to allow him to perform. I had had so much anxiety because of that, and the fact that we had intended to - but had forgotten to - get him tested before today and now today there was nothing open to test him, that i had taken some testing kits from irmtraud yesterday, and then had barely slept all night. but in fact, all the worry was for nothing, the paperwork was fine, and all that annoyed them was that i was there at all, because RULES.

I pedaled home and turned on the live-feed for the competition, and saw theodore compete, and then watched the rest of the vocal competitors. theodore did very well, and his group won a first-prize. they might have been asked to go on to the national level, but i think that was not done because one of the kids is just obviously beginning to have his voice break and is also clearly uncomfortable with his new growth spurt.

We had a 2 hour or so zoom meeting to sing Puk happy birthday, and it was so nice to see the big family, and hear about puk's progress on screen writing, and her story ideas. 

more zoom to read swiss family robinson, and then when agnes joined, hans brinker and the silver skates, which is the new book after light princess. it's very fun to see them get involved in these wonderful stories. we chose new chores and cleaned up a bit and cooked together, and had early bedtime, which i was especially grateful for because i had had such a terrible night last night.

revisiting fields of gold (72/365e)

We played with yarn all morning. Trying to learn to crochet with a hook, frustrating Felix, and difficult for Henry - even after watching a rather unhelpful youtube video of a 7 year old girl showing how to do the basics. Then I rushed out, biking to the quintet's practice room, with only one gear (the shifter is broken) and got a bit winded on the last hill. I got there and helped set up the green screen, and rewatched all the footage we made at burg finstergruen last year(!)

Lots of filming for our sting video with quintet. our cellist has a hurt hand and couldn't come, so it was just the four of us, and we filmed all the scenes that we had without her. Celebrated the end of the shoot with a glass of really good red wine. After holding the light in the right place at the end of a long pole for several takes, everything felt curiously light.

surprise day (71/365e)

I had no plans for the morning, and Jackie came by unannounced and we had breakfast. As we were finishing breakfast, Nina also came over, with croissants, and who am I to say no to second breakfast? Brian worked through our mega double spontaneous party. 

After a spontaneous call I had received earlier in the morning, I went to show Graz's Urwald to Renate. We wandered around for a few hours, hugging trees and breathing the fresh air on the absolutely gorgeous day. We met nearly no other people. 

weird self portrait of me, looking up at the amazing ceiling which is not pictured....

Sadly there was a pushing fighting shoving tantrum fight about lego that resulted in some broken glass, which wasn't a great way to start the game night with Ingrid, who came quite a bit later than she had planned. Centa played too, and shared neighbor's grand-kids twin birthday cake. We had a great game evening, the kids were happy playing and also sometimes chose not to play and just watch, which I think is a good thing to learn.

another day, another museum (70/365e)

while theodore did his early morning online-school work, brian and i talked about how to teach children things in general. since we are total experts in child psychology and pedagogy we of course know all the answers and take great pleasure in explaining the arts to one another, although each of already know everything the other expert has to say. today i decided that although everything in nature takes the path of least resistance, the best learning takes the path of most resistance, or at least a lot of resistance. googling an answer will not make you remember the answer as well as looking it up, and that in turn won't help you as much as, say, trying it yourself. 

then i felt like another museum. this time, theodore and i picked up felix and henry from school, and we went to the history museum. I brought along some christmas fruit-cake for a snack, and then we spent a few hours there. Felix said it was his favorite museum ever. 

it was exceptionally cold today. i was wearing my winter hat and coat in the sun and still freezing. 

brian cooked us dinner while we were out, and we made turks-head-knot bracelets all afternoon. Theodore cried when it got too confusing, and we had to start over several times. very often. at the end of the day, after swiss family robinson reading, i finally got the first one finished. learning new things is hard! 

finished "mysteries" and started reading "have space-suit, will travel" and also started really reading zweig's "magellan" (my 3rd or 4th time starting it, and 40 pages in, i finally have arrived at magellan, so perhaps i will stay on track now)

a visit to a museum is like seeing a long lost friend again (69/365e)

Lay in bed a bit late and then took a video for Pauli of me playing (all the way through!) Bach's 25th goldberg variation (which Pauli and I are learning in parallel and started together during my quarantine on Bruno's suggestion)

Perfect day for museums. And Theodore had no online conferences, and he had no homework due today, so off we went this morning, to visit the art gallery - showing, currently, only art by styrian women. - pretty cool! On the way home, I felt a bit low-blood-sugar-y so I sent Theodore to buy us each an apple to tide us over for the rest of the walk. 

There was a lot to do today... Music lessons, and practicing, and reading, and shopping, and singing. I walked Felix to his lesson with Brigitta and read Mysteries (which I've almost finished). 

Then I biked all three boys to a singing practice with Andrea, and heard them through the door singing four part harmony. I could not bribe them at home to repeat that with me. While they were singing I went shopping, and struck out everywhere I went. Somehow I still found some things to buy. I hate shopping.

We almost finished Light Princess tonight - but we stopped one chapter before the end because Papa had to drive bill hamilton to the barber. Them's the breaks. At bedtime Henry still had to do homework. Theodore still had to practice violin. Felix still wanted to read the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and I found a way to catch up with Manuela.

what work looks like

what catching up with friends looks like
(also what the new bookshelves look like)