Travels

Normally I don't announce that we're away because that's perhaps not the safest thing for a blogger to do.  But it's not like we've left the girls and the house unattended!  I'm sure things are being well taken care of in our absence.  And we will be eternally grateful!

Pictures so far....

What a great way to travel!  It's smooth and comfortable and who cares if the snow is swirling outside?  We're not driving in it.  And we won't be driving for five days. 

I've got more time on  my hands now than ever, so I'll keep blogging while I'm here. 

Updated "made by ev" site

I was doing so well here for the last two weeks.  Now I've been a bit busier with the "made by ev" site.  I'm trying to get some stock together for the upcoming sale in April and hoping to be able to sell some things through the site as well. 

Check it out if you're interested. 

And here's a review of our concert on the weekend.  I'm hoping to get a copy of the video and audio recording of it.  The pieces have been running through my head all week, driving me crazy.  Somehow it's less annoying when it's actually audible.  It leaves room in my head for all of the other voices. 

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Carmina Burana.  Better than chocolate, but chocolate has never made my feet so sore.

Carmina Burana

Besides singing for years with church choirs, I have really only sung with two other choirs.  The first was the Da Camera Singers just after I married.  It's the only choir I've ever had to audition for and I can still sing most of my audition piece by memory because I sang it so often, fearing I wouldn't make it into the choir. 

I knew the conductor and he had suggested I audition, so it really wasn't something I should have feared, but I simply don't do solos.  They freak me out and make my voice all shaky and quavery.  Why do they make choristers sing solos to audition?  I would think they want a voice that blends well.

Anyway, I got in and sang with them for two years, quitting when we moved overseas.  I still have my black folder and some original music (shhh!!) because I left the group sort of suddenly and didn't find the time to return it before moving. 

That folder haunts me, actually.  It's a useful thing to own a black music folder, but not if it is stamped in gold with the name of the choir from whom you stole it.  I can't use it in public.  Ever.  It brings all of the guilt right back.  It doesn't matter that they all have a new style folder now and wouldn't care.  I care and the guilt runs deep. 

The other choir was in Melbourne.  A university choir with talented singers and immature minds.   I dragged a Canadian friend to join with me so that I wouldn't be the only "old" member of the choir.   Two concerts stand out in my mind. 

Carmina Burana and Handel's Messiah.  Two very different pieces, to be sure.

Because of the bawdy lyrics of Carmina Burana, a lot of time was spent translating the Latin into the rowdy pub songs that they are (or that some are).  Only to truly understand the emotion we were supposed to be expressing.  Yeah, right.  That's were the immature university minds came in.  Anyway, it was lots of fun to sing and I'm doing it again this weekend.

Da Camera is very different than my university choir.  The concentration is on the correct pronunciation of the German Latin versus Italian Latin (versus Pig Latin) and not one actual translation has been mentioned in our practices. Interesting.  And having read the translation again, they aren't as giggle-causing as I remember.   

The occasion?  I haven't joined Da Camera again.  Partly because of the fear of rejection after another audition, but also because of time.  No, they are celebrating their 50th Anniversary and welcomed alumni back in for a joint concert.  Without any auditions!  So I'm back. 

The concert is on Sunday afternoon and should be really good.  Much different that my first singing of this work because there are sooo many people involved.  Around 90 choristers (including the current Da Camera Singers and the willing & able alumni), plus two grand pianos, 45-member children's choir and a percussion group.  And everyone I've spoken to or sung beside is amazingly good!   I can't wait to hear it with the percussion during tomorrow's practice.

I don't have any tickets for the concert, but you can get them at the door (and get more info here). 

Now, what folder am I going to use?  I think I'll bring my church choir folder instead of admitting any guilty crimes.  I don't want them to kick me out now!

Da Camera Singers  and Ev present

Carmina Burana

Sunday, 3:00 pm, First Presbyterian Church

When an 11 yr old cooks

I didn't have time to cook anything and asked Laura and her friend if they could prepare supper while we were at piano lessons.  It could be anything.  Forget about gluten-free, it could even be just dessert as long as some fruit were involved. 

This is what we came home to. 

Menus and flowers.  And a waitress to take our orders.

We were treated to smoothies of our choice, an appetizer of a fresh chocolate cookie, ginger ale or water in fancy glasses. 

Gluten-free brownies and an open-face smore.

And finished with a sundae of our choice as well.  I chose saskatoon with smarties.

Maybe not the healthiest of suppers, but it contained fruit and dairy, and if you count the chickpeas in the brownie, even some veggies and protein.  And does this look like an unhappy face?

That's what I thought. 

Needs vs. Wants

I think that's what this post is about.  There are a lot of posts about this scattered around blogland, particularly on the frugal or sustainability or frugal sustainability blogs.  Do we really need a new sweater or do we just want one?  Do we need to replace our stained stove or does it work just fine?  Do we need electricity or could we find ways to do things more manually?  (I need electricity, but that's perhaps just because I've had it all of my life and it would take a major lifestyle change and knowledge to change that).

I find that when friends come to visit, the conversation often turns to what's new in our lives.  New stuff usually.   I have a newly painted bedroom, a quilt started, a bunch of things in progress for our sale in April, but really no new stuff. 

When I hear conversation like that, my tendency is to want new stuff.  Is that just me?  It's pretty immature and the jealousy fades quickly.   I hope my kids don't feel that way all the time.  I hope that we're raising them to just work harder for things and to question whether they need it at all.  I could be justifying our lifestyle choices here, but I don't want our children to grow up feeling deprived.  I've chosen not to work for these years when they are young for many reasons and I'm having a fairly good time.  Are they?  Or would they rather we had a bit of disposable income? 

Wants or desires shouldn't be totally forgotten though either.  The other conversation that comes up is travel.  Partly because those are the big things that take place when we're all apart from each other.  I used to be more jealous of that too.  We can't travel to exotic places.  We can't afford it, and it's not the same travel experience to do it with children anyway.

I still really enjoy the travel that we can afford.  We drive around our province camping and seeing new things. 

I missed my annual trip to the Okanagan this year and I should have gone.  It's my only travel without the family and it's a retreat that my brain and body need (or just want?).  Time for adult conversation, silliness, no set bedtimes or wakeup calls, we eat when we're hungry, walk when we're restless, swim when the water beckons. 

The garden was much slower to mature this year, so in early September I was still in the middle of canning and processing and felt a bit like it really couldn't be abandoned for the luxury of this trip. 

I won't let that happen again.  I didn't feel like I needed the holiday at the time, but now I'm feeling it. It's not a luxury, it's Therapy.  And that's an awesome vineyard, by the way, Therapy Vineyards.
   

 And if my fellow travellers are reading this post, thanks for the postcard!  I'll be joining you this year for sure and adding to our chocolatey, cheesey, winey memories. 

Yvon and I haven't been away together without kids since Beth was born almost 13 years ago.  But we are going now!  In two weeks we'll get five days in the mountains with no children.  I'm mostly looking forward to the train ride, but the whole experience should be awesome.  Our kids aren't tough to be with, but it's just different to be alone with your spouse.  Hopefully we'll get sun and exercise and relaxation and come home ready to jump back into life as we know it. 

So, is travel a want or a need?  And is alone-time a want or a need?  Maybe it depends on each individual or on our life situation.  Right now I'd just call it a strong desire for me.  And postcards written in the heat of Okanagan just intensify it.  :-)

Food and Community

Every month I help coordinate a potluck dinner at our community league, followed by some activity that is usually physical.  I'm not sure why this monthly event is attended by so few people, but those who come always have a good time.  We may just have to move it into rotating homes for the three regular families.  It's much cosier in our houses.

However, we soldier on.

Last night we had four families there and it was tough to get some of us to leave the hall at 8:00 to get the kids to bed.

The food is always fabulous, but I go for the people.  The kids all play with each other, and it's one of my only interactions with little kids.  The one girl so proudly can now pronounce my name that she comes to talk with me all the time.  It's really cute. 

And the activities vary a lot.  Last night wasn't so "active" and I wasn't even that thrilled with the idea.  Making cards?  I really don't like scrapbooking and stamping. 

Or maybe I think I don't like it, because I was far from done by 8:00 and we planned a Saturday to get together and continue where we left off. 

Here's my work. 

I wasn't allowed to look at what the girls did but I should see a couple of cards on my birthday this year! 

If you want to read an article about our event, last month an interviewer from a student newsite came to eat with us and report on the evening.  I thought some of my comments were taken a bit out of context, but it's not terrible.  Read it here:  West Edmonton Local 

Next month we are making Psanky (Ukranian Easter Eggs).  After that I hope we can get outside for a bike ride or playing badminton on the tennis court.  The idea is to do something active, but we're a crafty group of attendees.