spontaneous plabutsch! (297/365b)

it tastes a little  bit like water when i drink it but when i stop drinking it tastes like tea. -felix

went to a concert this morning with isabella (in lieu of not going to salome with her on wednesday because i was afraid of the modern set and weird extra stuff that the opera likes to throw in there) ... it was a concert called the "organ brunch" and it was just organ music, some vocal music, and a brunch afterwards. the performances were by students, and some were quite nice. the brunch was ok, but there was no space so isabella and i sat in a tiny corner and balanced our plates and cups on our laps. i found out she had never been hiking so i suggested today, since it was such a nice day, and plabutsch, the closest "mountain" is so very close.

the view from the overlook

oh mann, genießen ist sooo schön!

meanwhile theodore and henry were on the plabutsch and then to an outdoor lichtermesse (fritz dropped them off there, then dropped off their wet outside clothes here and brian brought them new clothes to wear there), brian and felix were at the theater, and we got some bookshelves on willhaben very early in the morning. they are just particle board, and at 25euros for 3 of them we got exactly what we paid for. their redeeming quality is their size - just small enough for our weird slaty walls. let's see if we continue to have books spilling out everywhere.

successful exam (296/365b)

I can't believe January is gone and that February has rolled around so quickly.

Henry with his new Phileas Fogg hat
his friend finn's mom andrea heard he needed a hat for his costume
so she got him one
and gave it to him in school
"i didn't say anything, she left so quickly.
and i didn't understand.
is it for me to keep?
or do i have to give it back?
do you really think i can keep it?"

in the evening bettina and i had our jury exam for chamber music, where we played the bridge lamento, and it went fine. i wasn't even the oldest one there. not even close. normally at the conservatory there are a bunch of young kids and today for the exam people of all ages who came out of the woodwork. we probably did just fine. we definitely played it well, and it was better than anything else that everyone else played. so that was nice. plus unlike normal "concerts" the exam was at 5 so i got home nice and early, and got to read stories for bedtime.

brian's birthday (295/365b)

for brian's birthday we celebrated by having as many tantrums as we could fit in the day.

also visiting the dentist. brian and i both went for checkups and we switched off staying with (very very cranky) felix.

also by finding out that henry's cello has "patentwirbeln" (that is, plastic pegs) that they don't make anymore and that they can no longer be fitted. so she would have to close up the enlarged holes, replace it with a wooden one and she "would *never*" just replace one, so it would *have to* be all 4 and that would cost nearly 900euros. hm. maybe not. let's see what the kunst uni says and how the insurance works on that.

and also by baking him a cake.

38!

tiniest candle in the world, henry made it with leftover beeswax.

my headache came back as soon as i finished my glass of champagne. i stayed up waiting for the oven to cook our banana muffins for tomorrow morning and they took over an hour... i think our oven is starting to die (or may be dead already.... :( )

oops! (294/365b)

in a great amount of efficiency i met with nadja at the university library to renew henry's cello. on the way there i was jostled getting out of the bus and dropped it and was worried i had knocked something apart, but i quickly checked it in the street, the sound post was up and the strings were all tense. the people in charge of the instrument library checked everything out gave it a good bill of health and i spent some time at the library before picking up theodore for his vorsingen.

he sang his solo well, each boy sang for 3 minutes, and then it was all over. i just listened through the door. it is unlikely that he is chosen, he would have needed to spend some time the last few weeks practicing projecting his voice in a larger hall.

Theodore went on to the abenteuerspielplatz, and I traded all the stuff I was carrying for Felix and Henry who were at  chorus. We showed Henry the downtown history museum for the last 20 minutes before it closed. At home Henry went to practice and noticed one of the pegs was broken clear off. Funny that not one of us had noticed before!

oops! can't save everything!

Mensch ärgere Dich nicht (293/365b)

Cold rainy days and long, dark, wet winter evenings means lots of indoor things like cards and board games and books. 

Mensch ärgere Dich nicht... i just wish my family would not fight with each other over the playing of this game...

no! you're not allowed to *say* you're sending me home!

popvox (292/365b)

kindergarten takes the month of february off, but i couldn't wait to be alone with my boy, so i took him out of kindergarten starting today. except that it was a monday full of monday stuff, and brian and i kept having to switch out who went where with whom.

i was supposed to leave for ingrid cz's pop-vox concert to get there at 7pm, but i was having so much fun reading with the kids that i ended up leaving at 6:55 and i squeaked into my seat right at 7:01. nina and centa and kris were in the row ahead of me and i got to watch them giggle and roll the backs of the heads as the guy in charge of the choir tried to get the crowd to stand up and clap along to the gospel music. he is a very entertaining character. ingrid's son stefan sang two solos very well. we opted out of the uncomfortable foyer champagne in favor of living room champagne.

relaxing after a very entertaining evening

opernredoute hangover (291/365b)

we only had to be up before 2pm to get theodore and henry back to the opera house for "alles tanzt" ... for the ball at the opera they remove all the seats in the house and cover the entire first floor with a gigantic dance floor, which we dance on all night, and the opera house likes to use it one more time for their yearly dancing family concert which always includes a very hungover orchestra and kids choir. i don't know how it is. last year we tried to get in but couldn't because we didn't feel like paying full price (for the four of us, 100euros for 45 minutes to see theodore sing two songs)... this year we didn't go, brian just dropped them off, barely awake.

the ball was fun but we (maybe just me) were low energy most of the night so i didn't dance as much as would have wanted to. we spent quite a bit of time in the greenroom for salonorchester, chatting and having snacks between sets which also happens to be the times where the other band is playing their set which is the swing/latin songs we normally dance to. still great fun.

at the beginning:

early in the evening right when they opened the doors

and at the end:

at 4:30am ready for the last dance set