Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Hello from... home!

Starting last Thursday, I have been off from work. In a great big blowout of vacation time, I decided to use all my accrued time and take off for a week. A week plus one day. It has been, in a word, awesome. I miss not one thing related to work at all.

Last Thursday night was the flute choir concert. Fun night! My favorite piece was called Songs of the Ocean, by a Japanese composer named Hirose. I was lucky enough to get the flute 1 part alone, and I have to say, that flute 1 part and I were kind of made for each other (when I've been practicing). Hey, I have to say it: I know what I'm good at, and it's stuff that's romantic and floaty and possibly Japanese-sounding. It was a lot of fun to play.

I'm still looking for a good recording of it; for now, you can read a thrilling (?) description, here. Depending on how in tune we were, I might post a recording later. Check back at http://ccfcinfo.blogspot.com later. I'm sure I will mention it if/when that happens.

We also played Schubert (fun!), something called Mock Morris (with two piccolos! Me and Paula kicked butt on that one!), and a totally dorky arrangement of "Baby Elephant Walk." Guess which one my dad loved the best? Still, I love that he's been coming to these concerts lately; my sister and mom babysat the baby for me, and he chose to come to the concert instead of staying home to play with him. And the fun part of Baby Elephant was my friend Carol played the drums (abandoning her flute temporarily). Inside every flutist is a drummer, I guess!

After the concert I got to visit with some old friends, and since Patrick and his band were at a gig in Bakersfield and wouldn't be home until late, JP and I stayed overnight in Culver City. That was pretty cool, too. I miss you, Culver City!

Oh, and at some point on Thursday night, I dropped my iPhone on the hard cement floor in the girls' room at Farragut, but we won't be talking about that right now.

Saturday, we went to a graduation party for my niece, who kicked butt at her K-8 Catholic school and has been promoted to one of the local Catholic High Schools. Man, I can't believe she's growing up. Her mom was pregnant with her at my bridal shower!

Dude, I've been married for a long time!

Sunday I spent with my friends at a recital. I played a trio with Megan and Patrick, two recent high school graduates, students of my (former) flute teacher. They did a great job, as did all the other performers. I had the easiest stuff to play, and I have to say, I was pretty awestruck by all the performances. Megan played a gorgeous solo that I can't remember the name of (but I loved the piece), and she played a duet with my friend Marilyn that knocked me out.

Everybody sounded so grown up and so good that I was totally inspired. I think I need some more flute playing in my life. I like that I can recognize that. I have no idea how I'm going to make more time for it, but I will try.

On Monday we went to the beach with our friends Sean and Teresa, and their little daughter, who will soon be 1. It was JP's first trip to the beach, but after discovering that that beach is one of the most polluted beaches in all of Southern California, we all decided to stay on the sand. And thus, eye and ear infections were avoided by all. Still, we had a great time. Patrick and Sean got sunburned (kind of everywhere), I got a weird patch of redness on my left thigh only, and the kids, who were better protected, had no redness whatsoever. It was a beautiful day.

Yesterday I relaxed, slept in (8:30! Just think: two years ago, if I had to get up at 8:30 I would've been all, WTF!? This is not sleeping in!), rode my bike around town, and generally enjoyed myself immensely. Today has pretty much been a repeat of same. I wanted to ride my bike, and I'm so glad I have. I didn't go on any long rides (I rode about 8 miles total each day, which is nothing), but I did have fun running my errands on the bike instead of using the car.

My car sits, unused and dirty, in the exact same place I parked it Sunday. Or maybe it was Saturday. I can't remember. I like that so much.

Last night we visited with my brother-in-law and his wife and kids. It was my nephew's birthday, so we had cupcakes and ice cream. JP played with my niece pretty hard, and fell asleep on the way home, even through a trip to WalMart for kitty food (he and I waited in the car). Then, some kind of miracle happened, because in spite of a 3 hour nap at daycare, he then proceeded to sleep in his crib without waking up until 2 a.m.

That's kind of amazing. And, when he woke up at 2, all that I needed to do was nurse him a little bit, and he went right back to sleep, in his crib, until 6 a.m.

Fingers crossed that it wasn't a fluke!

Tomorrow night Patrick has another gig (not so far away this time, though), and we're starting summer flute choir... so I am considering another Culver City sleepover at my mom and dad's with the baby. He had a good time, and it worked out so nicely last time (the only bad thing: the bed in the spare room at my mom and dad's house has a mattress harder than the back seat of some cars I've been in. No, not lately. Do with that information what you will).

Anyway, I've done a lot of exactly what I wanted to do: ride my bike, read, talk to my friends, play my flute, and eat good food. I cleaned the kitchen this morning, and now it's time for me to straighten up the living room and vaccuum. I'm in the middle of laundry. One thing I haven't done, and I'm kind of proud of myself, is watch a bunch of TV.

I may or may not check in again before I go back to work, so adios for now!

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