Squeaking in under the wire of August, here are the books I read in July. At least I think these are the books I read in July. I’ve misplaced my book journal so I haven’t written anything down for weeks and weeks. Sometimes I think I should move to an online system of tracking my reading, but I do love the act of putting actual pen to actual paper.
Bookish link of the month: This interview with author Jason Reynolds. The Washington Post does a series where they take a peek at an author’s bookshelves and working environment, and I find it a fascinating look into authors and where they come from and their process. I love this quote, where Reynolds talks about a cookie jar that he keeps on his shelf: “If books are cabinets for stories, then my bookshelves hold a lot of things that are cabinets for stories that might not come in the form of what one might consider a book. Like that Ernie. To me, the story that exists in that clay is just as important as a story that is printed on the pages of some of these books. That image of my father, it’s not a book, but his life was, and therefore it gets to live on this shelf like everything else. In my life, all things with a story belong on a shelf.”
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley – Probably my favorite book I read last month, and one of my favorite I’ve read this year. A British civil servant works for a newly formed government ministry that pulls people from the past and transplants them in the present. She is assigned to work as a liaison for the time “expat”, explorer Graham Gore, pulled from a doomed 1845 Arctic expedition. This novel combines time travel, spy thriller, and romance novel with thoughtfulness and wit. I would say I’m not really into time travel novels (I thought The Time Traveler’s Wife a ridiculous novel.) or spy thrillers, so this novel was a nice gateway book into those genres. This book sucked me in, made me think about time and history, and was funny – I laughed out loud several times. The whole thriller/ spy plot wasn’t as interesting to me as the workplace comedy and the way Gore was a prism through which to look at our modern times. I particularly liked this exchange: [Gore] was introduced to the washing machines, the gas cooker, the radio, the vacuum cleaner. “Here are your maids,” he said. “You’re not wrong.” “Where are the thousand-league boots?” “We don’t have those yet.” “Invisibility cloak? Sun-resistant wings of Icarus?” “Likewise.” He smiled. “You have enslaved the power of lightning,” he said, “and you’ve used it to avoid the tedium of hiring help.”
To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer read by Imani Parks, Cassandra Morris, and others. This epistolatory novel starts as a series of emails between two twelve year olds whose fathers have fallen in love and decide to send the girls to the same summer camp in hopes that they will bond. The agree to dislike one another. Hijinks and disasters big and small ensue. I listened to this novel with the kids. The 7 year old was at first a little reluctant, but then got kind of invested. I like a good epistolary novel, but this book pushed that device to it’s limits. There was one part, when the girls were at camp, where they still didn’t talk since they were intent on not liking each other, so they were writing emails instead. Which supports the epistolatory form, but did make for some clunkiness. Overall, though, I enjoyed this book – the characters are quirky, the escapades are amusing, and a big portion of the story takes place in the theatre world, which is always fun for me to read about.
Oh Beautiful by Jung Yun, read by Catherine Ho – I picked up this audiobook after hearing about it on What Should I Read Next where the guest was a huge audiobook listener. The book is about Elinor, a half Korean, half White journalist who used to be a model. She is assigned a story about the oil boom in North Dakota, close to where she grew up. As she researches her story, she also is forced to confront her own past as well as the past and future of North Dakota. For some reason, I thought this book was about immigration to North Dakota in the 1800s. But it wasn’t. Anyhow, I didn’t love this book to start – the main character doesn’t always make good choices, there is rampant misandry – every male in this book is some kind of predator- and it felt like that book wanted to tackle too many issues at once. Occasionally there would be a character that would surprise me and almost redeem the book, but then the book would go back to being about unhappy, unkind people meandering through life. I thought the book was thoughtful about so many points – the realities of life in a boom town, feeling adrift from family and one’s roots, sexual harassment in academia – but ultimately, the his book just wasn’t for me.
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Tatly – This is a collection of short stories set in a Penobscot Indian Reservation in Maine. I picked this book up to read during our trip to Maine this summer. The stories center around David, a boy growing up on the reservation, and spans into his adulthood, back and forth in time. Some of the stories border on the absurd – like the one about running into a friend who has frozen his hair into the ground – to the heart wrenching, like the one about David’s sister who struggles with drug abuse. And throughout there runs a theme of intergenerational burdens and trying to make good choices but having none. I thought this book was grim and haunting, though surprisingly funny, and the writing is beautiful.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty– This was a fun book in a genre I don’t usually read (fantasy). Amina al-Sirafi is a middle-aged retired pirate who agrees to one last lucrative job in the hopes of earning a huge payout which would ensure a life of comfort for her and her daughter. I loved the Middle East/ African setting. I loved Amina, and her world weary, “I’m getting too old for this shit, but I’m still a bad ass” narrative voice. There is a colourful cast of characters and side kicks- the requisite “getting the team together” sequence had me grinning. It also has a tinge of “first in a series”, so that’s something to look forward too as well. Not sure I completely understood the world building and magic elements, but I had a good time anyway. There were some very funny/on point bits: “For while the pious claim money doesn’t buy happiness, I can attest from personal experience that poverty buys nothing.” or this exchange: “[Your wife] knows you are a pirate?” “I am no a pirate,” Majed huffed. “I am a cartographer with a checkered past.” “Yes, a checkered past of piracy.”
On my proverbial night stand:
Life is Hard by Kieran Setiya – I’ve finished the chapter on Injustice, the last two chapters are Absurdity and Hope.
The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors by Juliet Barker – so close to finishing this one! Elizabeth Gaskell is writing a biography on Charlotte. Her husband is trying to get her last novel published.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi – This book — every chapter rips my heart out and leaves me hanging. I love it and hate it at the same time.
You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue – the blurb calls this a “colonial revenge story”. It’s set in 1519 in what is today Mexico City. The writing is vivid and engrossing. I was looking for a historical novel in translation and this one popped up.
The History of Women in 101 Objects by Annabelle Hirsch – This my current audiobook, but I’m not commuting anymore so it’s been slow going, though fascinating. There was a delightful chapter on The Hatpin read by Helena Bonham Carter.
The kids have started school! Even the 4 year old starts a new pre-school class, so lots of new beginnings for everyone. Last week was pretty packed. As a last final adventure, I took the two little kids camping for two nights in Shenandoah National Park. The 12 year old declined to come, so she stayed at home. She did, however, have an adventure on her own in that she took public transportation on her own for the first time. She had walked to meet the Husband for lunch and then took the bus home. The ride was probably less than two miles, but it feels like a big milestone.
I had originally planned for a low key week at home this last week before school, but then I was feeling a little wistful that I hadn’t gone camping yet this year. So I looked at the campground and saw that there were still lots of camp sites available. After going back an forth- is it too much to go camping on such short notice? Shouldn’t we just lay low the week before school starts? Can I get everything ready in 24 hours?- I decided to go for it and booked two nights at Big Meadows Campground. I went on a big grocery run, pulled all the camping gear out of the crawl space, packed clothes and toothbrushes, made a road trip play list for the littles (by their request – Disney tunes, Hamilton, and Six), and then we were off.
It was a short camping trip, but it felt unhurried in that way that time expands when one is able to fully disconnect from life and from technology. I think for 36 hours, I was phone free, save for taking pictures and twenty minutes on the free wifi at the Lodge where we had stopped to use the bathroom. We left at 11:30am on Tuesday and were pulling into our camp site at 2:30pm, after having stopped briefly for a picnic lunch. In the past when we camped at Big Meadows, I’ve opted for a walk in site – by walk in, I mean a few hundred feet from the parking lot. I like that they are more secluded and surrounded by trees. However, since this trip was going to be so short, and also since it was just me and the two little kids, I chose a camp site nearer to the bathrooms with parking at the site. My reasoning was two fold – 1) I didn’t want to spend time hauling my gear from the car to the camp site and back since we were only spending two nights, and 2) I wanted to be close to the bathrooms so I wouldn’t have to walk too far if one of the kids needed to go.
Our campsite. I originally wanted to leave the rainfly off the tent, but then at the last minute I was worried it might rain, so I put it back on.
The first evening, we (really, I) set up the campsite. Then I made a fire in the fire pit and cooked dinner while the kids played. They swung in the hammock, and played with their trucks (I brought two toy trucks with us), poked the fire, watched leaves burn, and pretty much amused themselves while I got dinner going. After dinner we had some more time around the campfire and then I made a batch of hot chocolate. Once we were done the hot chocolate and the fire had died, we brushed teeth and went to bed. I slept okay the first night. The first night was was pretty miserable, to be honest, and I couldn’t figure out why. Somehow I couldn’t curl up for warmth or stretch out fully for comfort so I just tossed and turned all night. When I woke up at 6:30am, I finally realized why the sleeping bag I was in was so uncomfortable – I was sleeping in the 7 year old’s sleeping bag and he ended up with mine. After an early morning trip to the bathroom, I switched our sleeping bags back and managed to snag another hour and half of much more comfortable sleep.
The next day was our only full day in Shenandoah. I didn’t want to spend time driving, so I decided on a hike that we could walk to from the campsite, Lewis Falls Trail. Part of the trail to Lewis Falls is along the Appalachian Trail, which I find kind of neat. The Falls themselves were a little disappointing because there wasn’t really a good view of them, and you couldn’t go to the base of the falls, but we still had a nice hike and there were plenty of rocky scrambles and breathtaking views to enjoy. Perhaps not the most interesting hike in Shenandoah, but it’s close to the campsite, and not having to get back in the car at all that day was a huge plus.
We ended up hiking all day – we left at 10:30am and didn’t get home until 4:30pm, hiking about 7 miles total. The hike went surprisingly well with a 4 (almost 5) year old and a 7 year old. Even though it wasn’t the most difficult or unique hike, it was definitely a good ramble in the woods. I even got to play the rainbow game – it’s amazing how, even though the trail looks to be the same greens and browns, we could still find all the colours of the rainbow if we just looked:
Things that I think made this all day hike a success: 1) The weather was beautiful. It wasn’t too hot. In fact, when we started it was a little on the chilly side. Nothing makes my kids crankier than having to trudge somewhere in blazing hot weather. 2) Snacks. I packed lots of snacks, plus lunch. Granola bars, trail mix (mixed nuts, dried cherries, pretzels and m&ms), carrots, apples. Lunch was salami, Triscuits, cucumbers. When the kids started flagging, we would just sit and have a snack. 3) Going at the kids’ pace. I largely let them dictate how fast we went. If they wanted to stop and scramble on a rocky outcrop, I let them. If they wanted to gather armfuls of sticks, I let them. If they just wanted to sit on a log for a bit, cool. 4) While we’re on the subject – sticks. OMG the amount of stick collecting that happened! Small sticks in their backpack to take back to put in the camp fire that night. Large sticks that became walking sticks. Sticks that were swords and pistols. One humungous stick that was so large they carried it together for a good mile. 5) Walkie talkies and binoculars. Sometimes my kids find hiking boring – it doesn’t always last too long, but periodically they will get punchy with each other on a hike. Walkie talkies provided an excellent amusement for them on the hike – they insisted that one person walk in front of me and one person walk behind me so that they could talk to each other on the walkie talkies. The binoculars also got a lot of use, though, I should really get a second pair – there was a fair bit of fighting over sharing the one pair.
All the sticks!
After that hike, we came back to the campground. I got to spend 30 minutes reading in the hammock, which was divine. Eventually, I got up and made a fire and started dinner. Half way through boiling the water for the mac and cheese, though, I ran out of butane. I usually travel with two butane canisters, but for whatever reason I only had one with me on this trip – it was whatever cannister was in the bottom of the camping bin and I foolishly thought it had enough butane in it to get me through 36 hours. It didn’t. And there I was with a pot of half cooked pasta. There was a deflated sense of panic. But then I put the pot of water over the campfire grill and, doing things the old fashioned way, I managed to cook the pasta and make the mac n cheese. I was actually surprised that the water boiled over the fire. After dinner we had smores then went to bed. I slept much better than the night before, though I did rotate my sleeping bag around mid way through the night because I think I was sleeping on an incline with my head lower than my feet, and I can’t sleep comfortably that way.
S’mores – I like my chocolate gooey too, so I put my S’more on the grill for an extra moment.
The next morning, before breakfast we took an impromptu stroll. I wanted to explore the campgrounds and scout out which campsites I might want to book next time. Well, before I knew it, we had wandered onto the Appalachian Trail, the part of the trail that goes around the campground. We weren’t prepared for another hike – I was wearing Crocs! – but we figured why not. We ended up hiking for about 45 minutes, the kid found some rocky scrambles and nice views.
Eventually we found a path from the trail back to the campsite where we had cold breakfast, and I mourned the inability to have a cup of hot tea since I had no more butane. Then I started packing everything up so we could leave. The kids amused themselves by playing in the hammock. In a stroke of brilliance, I rigged up a rope so that they could swing themselves in the hammock by pulling on the rope. I need to remember that for next time because they are always asking me to swing them in the hammock, which I find eventually gets tedious.
It took me about an hour to pack up the campsite, and bundle everything into the car. We headed home, stopping for lunch as a diner in Warrenton, where I had the liver and onions. After I ordered, a lady sat down next to us at the counter and started talking about how much she hated liver and onions, which I thought was funny. We ended up talking as she waited for her to go order, and she explained to me that when she was pregnant with her now grown daughter, she worked in an office above the cafeteria, and when they made liver and onions, the smell wafted up into her office and made her feel sick. Fair enough. Liver an onions is one of those dishes I like to order at diners because it’s something I never would cook myself at home.
Anyhow, there was a lot of traffic around the DC area when I got home, so it took much longer to get home than I thought it would. I ended up having to call into a work meeting from the car – I had originally expected to be home well before the meeting, but I ended up getting home twenty minutes after the meeting started. Thank goodness for Teams and the flexibility it allows me. All in all, a successful camping trip! I can’t wait to go again.
Notes to myself for the next camp trip: – must get some camp mugs so that the kids can drink the hot chocolate. I ended up giving them my travel mug, but then it meant I couldn’t have tea. – If I’m going to go on six hour hikes, I need to invest in a trowel. Both kids at some point told me they had to go #2. Peeing in the woods is one thing, but I didn’t really feel comfortable letting them #2 in the woods unless I could properly bury it. So next time, I’ll bring a trowel. -pack dishwashing gloves. I did a serious number aggravating the eczema on my hands with all the dishwashing I did over the 36 hours. My hands were so cracked that I could barely make a fist. So note for next time – pack dishwashing gloves. -the kids don’t like Provolone cheese. I had wanted a hard cheese that could stand up to not being kept in the cooler, so I bought a block of Provolone. The kids refused to eat it. Next time, just bring cheddar and parmesan. Camping is not the time to try new flavors. -The thinner flour sack kitchen towels dry faster, so bring those rather than the terrycloth kitchen towels. – bring smaller trash bags. I brought 13 gallon trash bags, like I normally do, but I ended up taking the trash to the dumpster twice a day because I didn’t want to store it in the car (my site didn’t have a bear box.). It seemed wasteful to use a 13 gallon trash bag for half a days’ worth of garbage so next time I should bring smaller trash bags. -Bring more long sleeved outfits. The weather was much colder than I had anticipated – I had even looked at the weather before I left and for some reason, seeing that the weather would be in the low 70s/mid 60s didn’t register as cold. After all, the weather was high 80s in DC. Welp, once we got to the mountains, we were cold. The only long sleeved outfits that I had packed for the kids were their pajamas and a sweatshirt or hoodie. Though of course the 7 year old’s sweatshirt was a size too small. Oh well, we managed. We all did wear the same clothes for the entire 36 hours, since it was the only long sleeved clothes that we had. We were going to get grimy from camping anyway, so I figured this was fine. -Re-listen to this podcast episode from The Art of Manliness podcast. All about camping and camping gear. You kind of have to get past the bro tone of the podcast (what else could you expect with that title?) but I found some really helpful advice here about how to take care of gear. -Good move – I unpacked and aired out all the camping equipment as soon as I got to the house and the majority of the camping gear was packed away within a few hours of our arrival home. I don’t always have the energy to air out all the camping gear right away, but I now see that it really pays off to make the effort to get it done right away. We got home at 3:20pm, and everything was aired and packed up by 6:00pm. (The kids’ sleeping bags, I had hung up to air out in the morning before we left for that impromptu hike, so I didn’t have to do that again at home.) If I don’t get the gear aired out and packed away right away, it tends to linger in the basement for days, even weeks. So yay me for getting it done right off the bat. I also started making lists in Notes of what was in each bin , including what items I will need to replenish in the bin next time we go camping. Sometimes these things are a little tedious, but are for sure gifts to future me. (In cast you are wondering, I like using this list from REI as my camping packing list.)
The rest of the week/weekend was pretty full. On Friday, I had lunch with a friend and her 5 year old before going to the open house for the 7 year old’s school. We were supposed to meet his teacher, but she had been in a minor car accident the day before so couldn’t come to the open house. We dropped of school supplies and the 7 year old still got to see his new classroom. Then in the evening we went to the pool, probably one of the last pool visits this summer as our pool closes after labor day. It was a little cool in the evening so we only stayed for an hour before coming home for pizza and Glee.
Saturday, we went out to visit my friend who lives in southeastern Maryland. It was a great visit – we swam in her pool, she made us the tastiest meal (burger and roasted vegetables), we got to visit with her neighbor’s sheep, she showed us her dock, and she taught the kids how to make Brazilian cheese bread. These tender little balls of doughy cheesy goodness were so tasty. She’s shared the recipe and I can’t wait to make them myself.
Saturday evening, my mother and aunt flew in for a visit, and we went from my friend’s house directly to the airport. We got to the airport a little early, so instead of going to the cellphone waiting lot, we went to a nearby park where you can watch the airplanes take off and land. I’ve always wanted to bring the kids to this park, but there is never any parking because it’s a pretty popular park. We were able to find parking and sat and watched planes take off while the kids played on the playground. Planes are so loud! I could feel deep visceral vibrations every time a plane went by.
On Sunday, we took my mom and aunt down to the Mall to see the monuments. It was actually quite hot and there was no small amount of whining from the kids about having to do so much walking. I feel like there is a lot to see in D.C., but unless you are on the Mall, it’s not always a very pleasant city to walk around in. Nonetheless, I think we covered a lot of ground. In four hours we saw: -The outside of the White House (and the buildings around it) – The Old Post Office Tower. This is one of those hidden gems of D.C., I think. The Old Post Office Tower is located in the Waldorf Astoria and is operated by the National Park Service. You can go up the Tower and get an amazing view of Washington, D.C. The view is not as spectacular as the Washington Monument, but tickets for the Washington Monument are really hard to come by, and I think the Old Post Office Tower is an easier alternative. -Washington Monument -MLK Memorial -FDR Memorial -WWII Memorial And of course in the distance we saw (because on the Mall you can’t avoid seeing) the Capitol building, the Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial. We also walked by the WWI Memorial, which I didn’t actually know existed. I’ll have to go back and check that one out. All told, I think we walked about seven miles, and it definitely felt like a typical touristy DC day.
Grateful for (the camping edition) -The friend who, four or five years ago called us from the REI garage sale and said, “There’s a really nice tent here for sale. I think it will be perfect for you guys. I’m going to buy it and you can pay me back.” Every time I go camping, and set up the tent that is just the right amount of space for us (currently), I am so grateful that our friend M. saw this tent and thought of us. -The same friend lending me marshmallow sticks and an extra camp chair. -The kids being old enough to go to the bathroom together on their own. One of the trickiest things about camping with the two little kids is that someone always needs to go pee. Well, this trip, because our campsite was just two sites down from the bathroom, I felt pretty comfortable sending them to the bathroom together. In past years, I’ve brought a potty, or I’ve told them they can’t go to the bathroom until we put out the fire, or they’ve just peed in the woods. I love that now I can stay sitting by the fire and send the kids together to the bathroom. -Dry weather. Because camping in the rain would have sucked. -National Parks. I’m glad that there are National Parks, and that they provide so many opportunities to experience awe.
Looking Forward To: -The kids being back in school. I have not been for a run or done any yoga since being home with the kids. I love my kids, but I also like it when they go to school and I have time to run and do things without having to referee an argument or feed someone or open a package or or or or… -September house decluttering. September has been declared the month where we finally purge and declutter. I do not look forward to doing this, but I just have to think about how much nicer it will be when there is more open space in the house, and I no longer feel the burden of all the stuff in the attic waiting to be used. -Reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Earlier this year, when I posted plans of reading down my TBR, so many people said I needed to move Homegoing to the top of the pile. You all were right. I’m only four chapters in, and it’s beautiful. Hard and sad, too.
What We Ate: With detailed camping notes. Monday: Black Bean Tacos with Mango Slaw. Sort of based on this recipe from Love and Lemons. This was a super easy no-cook meal. (Well, I did warm up the tortillas.) Vegan for me. The kids ate theirs with feta cheese.
My meal planning notes and shopping list for camping.
Tuesday (Camping Day One): –Lunch Picnic – Chicken Salad Sandwiches, carrots and cucumbers, apple slices. – Dinner: Curry Ramen. I prepped most of this at home; I tossed sliced onions and carrots in a container with olive oil and curry powder. Chopped up some cabbage in a separate bag (I would have put this with the onions and carrots, but that container was already full.) At the campsite: Sauteed the onion/carrot/curry mixture until barely tender. Add water, ramen, frozen shrimp and cook until the noodles were done. I also impulsively prepped a freeze dried camp meal that had been in my camping box for a few years. It was really salty and pretty terrible. I don’t often throw out food, but I threw that camp meal out.
Wednesday (Camping Day Two) –Breakfast – Bacon and egg burritos and fruit (strawberries and blueberries). Bacon is a “must have” camping food for me. For the eggs, at home I cracked them into a container and brought the container so I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking the eggs in transport. I always cook the bacon first and then fry the eggs in the bacon fat, that way I don’t have to bring extra oil on the trip. The kids did not really like this. I’m told it’s the Provolone’s fault because they could taste it on the eggs. Oh well. Typically they love this kind of thing. –Lunch – eaten on the trail – Salami, Triscuits, carrots and cucumbers. (I had planned to bring the Provolone, but that was quickly squashed.) For snacks I brought trail mix, peanut butter crackers, and more carrots and apple slices. –Dinner – Mac and cheese with hot dogs and corn cooked on the grill. This was the night I ran out of butane. For camping, I bring the mac n cheese where the cheese sauce is include . It’s easier to mix at the campsite if the mac and cheese comes with a cheese sauce already and not the powder. And I don’t have to bring butter that way. We cooked the hot dogs and the corn over the fire. The corn I prepped at home by rubbing it with olive oil, salt, and lots of pepper, then wrapping it tightly in foil. Once we got the fire going at the campsite, i just tossed the corn onto the hot embers and let it cook. For dessert we had s’mores. I’m not a fan of the Hersey chocolate so I always buy a bar of nice chocolate to use in s’mores. The 7 year old had picked out a dark chocolate raspberry bar, and it proved to be delicious in a s’more. Wil try that again.
Thursday: (Day Three Camping and home) Breakfast – Yogurt, fruit, cereal. Even before we ran out of butane, I wanted breakfast on the departure day to be cold and simple so that we didn’t have to dirty anymore dishes. Lunch – stopped at Frost Diner on the way home. Dinner – (and we’re home.) – The family had burritos since they had gone to get haircuts at a salon next to the Taco Restaurant. I ate the leftovers they brought home since I stayed behind to pack up the camping gear.
Friday: Pizza (take out) and Glee.
Saturday: Eat out, after our airport pick up: Japanese (I had the ramen and a spicy scallop roll)
Sunday: Burmese food take-out, picked up on our way home from walking the monuments. It was very tasty.
Hope you have a lovely last week of August. How are you planning on spending it?
Prop table. I love me a well-labelled prop table. I did something a little different this time and labelled the prop table by character rather than by object.
I’m enjoying the tail end of another weekend alone. The Husband has again taken the kids away on a road trip, this time to Indiana. They are going to visit friends, go to the Indiana State Fair, visit my in-law’s grave sites, and go to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. Is he an awesome dad or what?
I am at home by myself because I have to work so I couldn’t go along. I’ve had a nice few days, though. Even though the husband is the one who went away, I’m pretty sure I had the more restorative few days. Things I’ve done:
-Dinner with some friends whom I haven’t seen in ages.
– Drove up to Philadelphia to see the Mary Cassatt exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum. I had really wanted to see this exhibit, and sort of vaguely thought about going, but never made plans. When I saw the exhibit was closing in September, I was a little sad that I was going to miss it, but then I thought, “Why can’t I go see it?” No reason whatsoever! So I bought tickets and drove up. I think I would have taken the kids if I had had them this weekend, but being able to go by myself felt super indulgent. It was a beautiful exhibit, featuring a variety of Cassatt’s works – paintings, prints, pastels, sketches. I particularly loved seeing the sketches, and getting a sense of Cassatt’s process, how she captures a scene with a certain economy of line, and then whittles the scene down even further to the final painting.
I loved this series of paintings of women reading.
I also took in the Asian art exhibits. How intricate and practical many of the items were. It made me think of how skillfully beautiful every day objects were in centuries past. The amount of craftsmanship that it takes to paint a vase or carve figurines on a column is jaw dropping.
Mythical Guardian Lion
Carved columns from temples in India.
As an added bonus, I met up with a friend in Philadelphia whom I hadn’t seen in seven or eight years. We had both been baby stage managers together, learnin the trade from the same stage manager before going off to our respective careers. It was great to catch up and reflect on where life has taken us and what we’ve learned along the way.
-Watched some feel good rom coms – Finding You (struggling violinist goes to Ireland to find herself, meets cute movie star. Pretty Irish scenery, accents, Irish music, Vanessa Redgrave!) and About Fate (Girl needs a date for her sister’s wedding, coincidences throw a very nice boy in her way). Sweet and predictable and just what I wanted. Though, About Fate really annoyed me because it had the trope of sweet and capable guy meeting failure to launch girl. I get annoyed when protagonists are terrible at adulting. I mean a little bit of struggle is fine, but when they’re just incompetent at being decent humans I just feel uninvested in them getting a happy ending.
-Read. I finished three books and made good progress in two others, including I Capture the Castle for Cool Blogger’s Book Club. I might even get this weeks reading assignment done on time!
-Laundry lots of laundry. I had thought to get some other decluttering projects done, but that didn’t happen. I did purge a bunch of paper, though. The 7 year old insists on keeping every scarp of paper that comes home from school, so I took this opportunity to weed that out a little bit. I’m a little disappointed in myself to not declutter more, but on the other hand, we are at laundry basket zero, which never happens. Just in time for the rest of the family to come back with four days worth of laundry.
-Baked brownies. This recipe. It’s a super fudgy brownie, maybe too fudgy for my tastes. I have to say, my perfect brownie is the Ghirardelli mix from Costco. Maybe I should stop trying to find a perfect “from scratch” brownie recipe and just accept that what I want is the Ghirardelli. I also made peach muffins, since I picked up three boxes of peaches from this weekend’s Peach Truck run, the last of the season.
-Went on a hike with a friend K and her friend W. (I’ve managed to get a hike and a museum in this month after all!). We went on a short hike up to a spectacular view of the Potomac River and sat among rocks and talked about life while birds swooped around us. It’s so nice to talk with people who offer thoughtful conversation. I totally have a girl crush on W now and want to hang out with her again.
View from the top of the hike.
Soaring birds.
Afterwards we went to the nearby cute small town, got refreshing beverages – mine was a Sakura Lychee drink – and had lunch. What a nice ladies’ afternoon.
Fancy drink.
– Had my closing performance on Saturday. How I will miss this show. I like to make a list of the indelible moments of shows that I work on – live performance is so ephemeral and I think it is sometimes easy to let the experience flit away. Yet, I don’t want to take for granted how lucky I am to be part of a creative process, so even while running around backstage and checking props and people, I want to make sure I take time to savor moments, these singular fleeting moments that is live theatre. So here are some from this show: – The tenor singing to the body of his dead brother, as he cradles it. Breaks my heart every night. Actually everything this singer does. -The baritone who sings the priest, with his beautiful velvet voice. Wrap me in his voice forever, please. -The baritone, who always shows me his handkerchief before he goes onstage because he knows I will ask to make sure he has it. (Because it would make for an awkward truce scene if he goes onstage without his white handkerchief) -The bag pipes. Did I mention there are bagpipes in this show? How awesome is that? Definitely one to savor because how often will I get to hear bagpipes in such close proximity. -The harp, which is directly behind me for most of the show. The harp part in this show is so delicate yet steady, each pluck of the strings resonates in me. -The Sleep Chorus, a moment in the first act when the soldiers are singing about how they long for sleep and home. So beautiful it gives me chills every night. -The percussion, timpani, and brass section, also behind me – those moments where they play so loud that I cover my ears yet still can feel the music through my soles, vibrating the floor. -The baritone (there are a lot of baritones in this show) who plays the Aide-de-campe – his thoughtful, endearing, funny performance while he juggles a million props, and his ad libs in French. (That section on prop table with the white crate- that’s all him.) -The insanity of the battle sequence, the backstage traffic of which felt like utter chaos until the third performance, when suddenly, magically, it began to run like clockwork and we could all just pretend that it’s utter chaos. All in all I loved the past six weeks working on this show – one of the top career highlights, I would say.
Other Fun things this week: -I make “clean out the produce drawer” muffins. I found this muffin recipe, and it seemed pretty versatile, so I looked in my produce drawer and found lots of languishing produce to put into a muffin. I added – apples, pears (that I had forgotten/didn’t realize we had), two wrinkled beets, a huge pattypan squash that had been given to use by our neighbors, but which confounded me so has been languishing in the produce drawer. I might have also added carrots too, but I can’t keep track. I reduced the sugar and used whole wheat flour. I think they turned out great. They were moist and just the right sweetness. The kids were decidedly lukewarm – no raves, but they did each eat several muffins so they couldn’t have been that bad. It was so satisfying to finally find a use for those two sad wrinkled beets in our produce fridge.
-Going to the park with the 7 year old to read. He didn’t have camp this week since it’s a lighter week for me, and he said he wanted to sit outside and read, so we brought our books to the park and read on a park bench together. He’s reading one of the Wings of Fire graphic novels. I’m reading I Capture the Castle.
-Going shoe shopping and school supply shopping. It was tax-free week in Maryland, so I figured it was a good week to get things done. The 12 year old didn’t have a school supply list, per se. I asked her what school supplies she needed and shed said, “I don’t need school supplies, I just use the Chromebook.” Well that made me a little sad. We bought her a binder and some paper and pencils and folders anyway. And then the two little kids got new shoes. They wanted the exact same shoes as they had last year, so that made for a quick and easy trip to the shoe store!
-Making lemonade. I’ve been craving lemonade lately, so I bought a bag of lemons and the 12 year old and I made mint lemonade base one afternoon. Perfect for drinking mixed with fizzy water. I had so much lemonade base that I stuck some in the blender with some strawberries that were a touch past their prime and poured the result into popsicle molds, making strawberry lemonade popsicles.
-When the kids steal my phone and take group selfies when I’m not looking. I get annoyed that they take my phone, but who can stay irked forever at these faces:
Reflections and Aspirations: I finally had a moment to write down my July reflections and August Aspirations. Why do I always seem to get to this when the month is already half over? Anyhow, here they are: July 2024 Highlights: -Writing guest blog posts for Elisabeth and Engie. So flattered to have been asked. Those posts were so fun to write. -Swim Team Season. Summer Swim Team is exhausting, but I loved watching the 12 year old swim and seeing her have fun being on swim team. Also the 7 year old sort of figuring out how to swim. And taking showers on his own. Those felt like milestones. – Going skating and duckpin bowling with the family. Small adventures. -The 12 year old going to NYC with her theatre camp and her end of camp showcase. – Watching the Olympics. -Getting a new haircut. Also well woman exam, and mammogram. Still have not scheduled that eye appointment yet. -Visit from my cousin and her daughter. So good to see them and hang out.
July Lowlights: -The oppressively hot weather. Ick. So much ick. It made me not want to run or leave the house or do anything. -The circus that is American politics. I try not to let the news get to me, but July 2024 was a lot and it made me just feel so angry and annoyed. -Having to manage three drop offs and pick ups since all three kids were at different camps/schools. I felt like our mornings were a constant scramble. The moment we got in the car, someone would always ask, “Are we late?” and the answer was always, “No one is on time until Mom is on time to work.” -Some hard parenting moments. Makes me want to throw up my hands and give up some days. When does it become less of a struggle to get kids to be responsible humans?
August Aspirations: LIFE/FAMILY/FUN: -Start school! Buy school supplies [DONE!], double check if the kids need any new clothes. -Activity sign ups for the fall. I think I know what these are – pretty much the same as last year, but I just have to spend a few hours at my computer and knock it all out. (I’m really thankful that these things can be done online now. I think when I was a child it all involved postage and physical forms and writing checks. Some activities I still write checks for, though.) – Planning a trip for the long weekend in September where there is no school. Perhaps. Need to really think about this and book things. -Plan the Malaysia leg of our Asia trip. This has been on the list for several months now, but I think it really needs to be done this month or next. -Renaissance Faire!!! Figure out when to go. -Plan birthday party for 4 year old in September.
HOME: -Window treatments (Still.) Make an appointment with the company that my friend recommended for them to come out and do a consult. -Declutter one area. Desk? Sewing corner? Pantry? -Get rid of my car. (Still.) -Get the front door painted. Choose a paint colour. Paint colours are hard – I thought I’d make it easy on myself and only give myself two options, but what looks good in the morning always looks meh at night and vice versa. So which do I pick?
On the left – No more Drama. on the right, Morocco Red. Which would you pick for a front door?
ME/SOCIAL/FUN: – Mom’s group lunch (already planned) -Seeing my friend K. (Already did this) -Mom and aunt’s visit. Reminder to myself to not revert to teen bratty-ness with my mom. – Eye Doctor Appointment. -Paint more pictures. For the sake of having a concrete goal: paint and send two cards. -Do the NYTimes 9 minute strength workout at least four times a week. -recommit to journaling daily. -buy a new purse. My purse is literally in tatters. I’ve been thinking of this one from Quince, or this Sportsac one? I’ve usually had Sportsac purses, but my last one was a little on the small size, so I could stand to get something a little bigger.
WORK: -Titles for September vocal recital. -Update stage management handbook for work. (This can spill over into September) -Finish/archive paperwork from my summer show.
Some of these will probably rollover to be September Aspirations, though, given that it’s almost the end of August.
Grateful for: -Cooler weather. The weather has been glorious this week! The muggy humidity has left the air, the heat is not as oppressive as it has been, and there is a breeze in the air.
-Getting to dog sit. Every so often, I think, “Maybe I want a dog.” Then I think, “No, actually I don’t think I can fit that in my life.” So I’m grateful when my friends go out of town and I get to dog sit this cutie for them:
A couple weeks with Max is the perfect amount of time to scratch my dog itch (while I scratch his), and make me realize, that I don’t really want a dog 24/7. But I have been enjoying long walks and doggie snuggles and licks these past few weeks.
-My uterus is fine. Or more specifically my uteri are fine. This week started with an ultrasound that involved squirting water into my uterus to get a better look at things. Fun times. No, not at all – it was deeply uncomfortable. But in the spirit of “let’s all acknowledge how different yet normal everyone’s body is”, I’m reporting it here. So I’d been having really wacked periods – like unending light bleeding for months and then really long (like 3 week long) periods, and then weeks of nothing. At my last well woman visit, my doctor said, let’s check that out. When I was pregnant with my first kid, they thought I had a fibroid that was pushing the fetus and would interfere with a vaginal birth. So I had a c-section with her. (A whole other story – maybe I’ll write it here some day.) Then somewhere along the way they said, you have two uteruses. (I think this was after my second miscarriage after that first kid, it came up when they were trying to figure out why the miscarriages.) Anyhow, we tucked that information somewhere and people seemed generally unconcerned because I got pregnant again. I had two more kids, managed to VBAC them (because the babies seemed like they weren’t going to wait for that scheduled c-section.) Then went on with life and maybe still having a fibroid and two uteri, but not really doing anything about it. So fast forward to a couple weeks ago – odd periods, let’s get that checked out, vaginal ultrasound, squirt with water. Guess what? No fibroid! Yay! Just two perfectly healthy uteri. (And just one cervix. The real term they used bicornuate uterus – it’s pretty normal, though rare.) The inconsistent periods? “Well,” my doctor said, “Your uterus is fine, so it’s just you being in your mid forties. I can put you on hormones or birth control pills if you want to try to regulate your periods more.” I don’t really need another thing to keep track of, so I said, “Thank you, but I’ll just make sure to always travel with a back-up pad in my purse.” So that is the story of my uteri. After years of thinking I had a fibroid that I would have to deal with, it’s a huge relief to know that I don’t. Also grateful for my gynecologist because she is pretty awesome and I hope she never retires.
Looking Forward To: – More peaches from the peach truck! I got three boxes this time since last time I got two and the kids went through them in four days.
-The last week before school starts. I’m contemplating taking the kids camping this coming week. On the one hand, I haven’t been camping yet this summer and could really use the extended time in nature. On the other hand, it seems a lot to cram into the last week before school starts, and maybe I want a more low-key week. We’ll see.
-Time with friends – I have a visit with a friend planned and also lunch with my mom’s group this coming week. Sometimes I feel like there isn’t a lot of interest from the moms in my mom’s group to get together, but I figure I don’t actually like hanging out in big groups, so even if it’s just one or two people coming to lunch, that feels pretty satisfying and makes it worth asking if anyone wants to gather.
What We Ate – I’m not feeling great about our dinner game these past few weeks. There hasn’t been a lot of meal planning, and I’ve just been eating whatever I can scrounge up or throw together. But at least, I’m eating down the fridge…: Saturday: Pizza leftovers and Newsies (The proshot of the Broadway musical. Loved the dance numbers, the new musical numbers were pretty meh, though. Not sure if I feel the urge to see this in the theatre.)
Sunday: Pizza leftovers (again.)
Monday: Pork and Eggplant stir fry, eaten with noodles.
Tuesday: Salmon and potatoes, cooked on the grill. On the side we had cut up veggies, and I also made a pico de gallo and a mango salsa to eat with the salmon.
Wednesday: Chicken salad sandwiches
Thursday: The family was gone. I had dinner out with friends. I had a tomato, corn, burrata salad with shrimp and French fries.
Friday: Family still gone. I had congee with kimchi and two fried eggs.
Saturday: I had a late lunch, so I didn’t have dinner. When I got home after my show, I had left over Peruvian chicken with black beans, rice, plantains and the leftover salsa from Tuesday.
How is your August going? Is your summer winding down too?
We opened our show. Hooray! It’s been a doozy of a tech week. The first day in the theatre, there was a power outage an hour before we were supposed to start rehearsal and we didn’t know until the last minute whether or not we would be able to proceed. As our Production Manager said, “Either the power will come on or it won’t. There is no third option.” Luckily the power came back on about ten minutes after we were supposed to start rehearsal, and we were off to the races. The the second day of tech, we had some last minute staffing adjustments and were severely shorthanded for that rehearsal. It was an exhausting few days. But we got through the show, and
Picture from backstage:
The orchestra is onstage for this show, upstage of the set. That is my music stand on the right, where I stand for much of the show. Behind me is the harp, the brass section, the timpani, and the entire percussion section. (The strings are on the other side of the set up..) The percussion section is three players and takes up a lot of space, and spills into the wings – that’s that white line marked out on the floor. This show is very loud. Last week, I posted about being grateful for a strong downbeat from the conductor. Once we got with the orchestra, I was even more thankful. Most of the time, I can’t hear the singers because the percussion and brass is so loud right next to me. So you bet I’m watching the conductor and counting downbeats. And actually, there is so little space backstage that half the time I can’t have my music stand with me, so I just have to memorize entrance cues and count downbeats and trust that I’m sending people on at the right time.
Also – this alarming moment, when I looked down at my hand and saw:
Job casualty.
You know when you have that moment where you can’t remember hurting yourself, but you obviously did because you’re bleeding? Well, this wasn’t that. It’s fake blood. There’s a battle scene in the show and in the 15 seconds people are off stage the make-up team bloodies them. It’s a super chaotic moment backstage – the orchestra is wailing away (did I mention this show is loud?), there are people running on and offstage with (fake) rifles, there are people getting (fake) stabbed onstage, there’s smoke, there’s very loud bomb sound effects, there are wardrobe people trying to fix costumes that have come apart during the action, there are prop people ready to put (fake) dead bodies onstage, there are make-up people standing by to make everyone bloody, and I’m trying to push people in the right direction – onstage, down one wing, towards the make-up station. All within a very small corner of backstage space. Anyhow, no wonder I looked at my hand and panicked for half a second. Then I realized I must have had a brush with the make-up crew. It made for a nice badge to wear though, evidence of a tough rehearsal.
Things that got me through this tech week: – Planning out my wardrobe for the week. As always, it’s great when I don’t have to think about what I’m going to wear.
-Making sure I brought food to eat. I barely had time to eat meals what with all that was going on, so I’m glad I brought a lot of food with me. The typical daily food pack this tech:
Ready to go into the lunch box.
From left to right: apple, cut up strawberries and cucumbers, marinated beans with cucumber and cherry tomatoes, beef stick, yogurt with bluberries and walnut (pink lid Thermos), congee (Blue thermos), banana, string cheese, rice crackers with avocado, trail mix (mixed nuts and dried cherries), tamarind balls, Korean spiced almonds. This is all the food I brought to get me through the day. There’s no food option close to work, so this is pretty much what I eat. If I don’t pack enough food, then I go hungry, or I have to get in my car and drive 10-15 minutes to the closest retail/restaurant strip.
-Taking a walk outside, even if it was just ten minutes.
-Watching the Olympics. It has proved a perfect way for me to turn my brain off and relax when I’m not at work. This past week, I’ve been very much into watching the Sport Climbing. It’s so inspirational to watch the climbers – their strength and ability to puzzle out a climb is jaw dropping. It makes me want to go to the climbing gym more often.
The bummer thing – The four year old (really she’ll be five in six weeks), won’t be going to kindergarten this year. Our appeal for her Early Entrance to Kindergarten denial was rejected. The whole thing is so confounding and frustrating. The report listed all the things that she did well and all the glowing comments from her school administer and from me, but just said that she didn’t meet criteria. I go back to the fact that her only insufficient scores were for reading skills, but she would have gone to a French Immersion program where we were specifically told not to teach our kids to read – and I feel like even though she didn’t check all the boxes, there is additional context that was not accounted for. Or maybe there is a bigger picture in terms of school numbers/funds, etc. that we don’t know about. Humph. Oh well. It really stings right now, especially since her preschool tuition is going up this year. I’m trying to look on the bright side – -she’ll have the new experience of being the oldest in her class, after spending her whole life being the youngest, so that will be a new dynamic for her. -We actually do really like her preschool, so it’s not as if we wanted to find a different place for her because of that. -I guess we will only have to pay for two kids in college for one year rather than two (I mean anything can happen on this though…) -I won’t have to figure out summer camp for her next summer… Even still – I don’t know that those points out weigh 1) not having to pay another year of tuition, and 2) having to do only one drop off/pick up.
Highlights of the week: -The 7 year old’s theatre camp performance. They did a play called Wing It, about baby birds who don’t want to leave the nest. The 7 year old played a bird appropriately named Baby Orville, who is the first bird to leave the nest and fly. It was delightful. And afterwards, we went for a Carousel ride since the carousel is in the same park as the theatre camp. That was fun. It’s still just $2/ ride or $5 to ride all day – one of the best deals for entertainment in the area.
-Broccolini and sun dried tomato sandwich from The Sandwich Shop. My favorite sandwich, but I only get to eat it when I work this summer job. The bitterness of the broccolini and arugula, combined with the meaty sweet sundried tomatoes, make for a really satisfying vegetarian sandwich. I don’t usually buy lunch or dinner, but I decided to indulge one day when I didn’t have time to pack dinner and then the day of the final dress, the 12 year old came to the show and we picked up sandwiches and boba tea for dinner. It was nice to share some of tasty food.
-Playing the Disney playlist in the car at top volume and listening to the kids singing along from the back seat.
-Finding a new snack at Costco:
Chocolate covered quinoa crisps
Nestle Crunch was one of my favorite chocolate bars growing up, but I always felt as if there were too much chocolate and not enough crunch. Also I prefer dark chocolate. This little snack rectifies all that, lovely bite size, crunchy, dark chocolate combination. . Gluten-free, vegan, so you know, I feel virtuous eating them.
-Giant umbrellas to protect us from much needed rain.
-Going on a hike. After dropping the 7 year old at camp one day, I went to a local trail. I was thinking I would go for a run but it was drizzling and the trail was slippery, so I went for a walk/hike instead. It was wet and grey, but it somehow gave the hike a misty, solitary quality that I really needed.
-Dog-sitting. I’m not a pet person. I have no desire ever to have a dog. But I do enjoy dog-sitting for my friend once or twice a year. It’s just enough to scratch my “Maybe I want a dog..?” itch, and then I get to give the dog back. I imagine grandchildren might be the same way. Anyhow we’ve been dog-sitting for a week and and I love the cuddles, the long walks, and the big brown eyes.
-This impulse buy at Target:
I had a hand held Tetris game when I was growing up, and I LOVED that game, would play for hours and hours. It’s the perfect brain break for me. Sure, I can play on my phone, but I love how whimsical this is. And I don’t feel the temptation to scroll when on it. I might have shut myself in the bathroom last night with this game when I should have been doing responsible parenting things. The kids are fascinated too, though I have to constantly explain to the kids that the game is not a building game since they love to pile the bricks high.
Grateful For: -Wonderful, patient colleagues. With all the roadblocks thrown in front of us during this tech period, I think things could have gotten really stressful and miserable. I mean things were stressful, but it always felt as if we were all in this together and there was no anger or bitterness or demeaning behavior. Everyone just really worked well together with the goal of creating a beautiful show and being kind to each other. Sometimes at the end of a tough rehearsal, I just feel deflated, but I never felt that way with this show.
-Not having to commute during rush hour any more. I really like the opera company I work for during the summer, but I don’t like that I have to go around the beltway to get there and that there is always construction on the way. But now that we have moved on to tech and performances, I no longer have to commute during rush hour anymore since I’m mostly working later now.
-That I had a safe commute so far this summer. There have been some pretty bad accidents on the beltway, causing lots of traffic delays. There was one day where the accident had happened at 3am, and still wasn’t cleared by 9:30am and they had to bring in cranes to clear the big rig that was tilted over on the side of the road. Every time I turn on the traffic report and hear of yet another accident, I would get annoyed at the delay it was causing me. But at some point in the summer, I started to re-frame my thinking – instead of being angry at the traffic and the drivers causing the delay, I told myself that I should be thankful that I’m not the cause of the delay, and that I continue to get back and forth to work safely.
-A nice place outside to eat my lunch. during tech, I spend most of my days in the theatre, so I try to go outside on my meal breaks so I get a change of scenery. The theatre I’m working at backs out a grassy and woodsy area, and there is a patio and tables where I can sit and each my lunch while looking out on the grass and trees. It is so soothing.
Looking Forward To: – Catching my breath and getting some sleep. Tech week always makes sleeping and adulting hard. I’m looking forwards to going to bed earlier and having time to do all those tasks I’ve been putting off for two weeks. These last few weeks before school starts also feature just ONE child that needs to be dropped off, and no camps. I’m looking forward to the time and margin in the schedule.
-Back to school shopping. Two weeks until the start of school. Eeep! It’s tax-free shopping week this week in Maryland – perfect timing because the kids need new shoes. And I love shopping for school supplies. It’s always kind of a mad house and the kids don’t have the patience for it, but I love wandering through Staples
-Cooking dinner and eating vegetables. We went to the Farmer’s market this past weekend. I bought lots of fruit, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, carrots and potatoes. I’m looking forward to making dinner.
-This audiobook:
The title pretty much says it all. Each chapter is read by a different person – artists, journalists, thinkers, politicians, it’s quite a cast of readers. I’m only on object 12, and it’s so fascinating. The first object is a “Healed Femur c. 30 000 BC” – and it is pointed out that while animals with a broken bone would die, the amazing thing about humans is that when humans get injured someone (usually women) will care for them, and so we can survive. I had never thought about care work in that context before.
What We Ate – another tech week menu: Saturday: Pizza and The Hunt for Red October for the family. I packed dinner and ate at work.
Sunday: Dumplings and green beans for the family. They saved me two. I had a broccolini and sun dried tomato sandwich from The Sandwich Shop.
Monday: Pasta w/ red sauce and sausage. I ate leftovers when I got home from work.
Tuesday: The family ordered Banh mi sandwiches. I ate my packed leftovers at work.
Wednesday: Sandwiches from The Sandwich Shop for the 12 year old and me before she came to see my dress rehearsal- broccolini and Sun dried tomato sandwich for me, Italian Cold Cut for the 12 year old. And we each got a boba. The Husband took the kids out to eat as a special treat since they weren’t coming to the show.
Thursday: Eggplant and pork stir fry eaten with noodles. The Husband cooked.
Friday: Pizza and Hamilton (the proshot on Disney+)for the kids. I had leftovers at work. I think the Husband also had pizza – he came to see my show after dealing with a water crisis.
Hope you are having a sun-filled week as summer hurtles towards the finish line! Or perhaps you are already there?
It’s August! I guess we’re rounding the finish line of summer. Friday was my day off before tech week when we move into the theatre. I’m trying to have a combination of production and relaxing with the free day. So to that end, I: -dropped one kid off at camp and one off at daycare (along with a blender because it’s smoothie Friday.) (The morning was actually kind of a shit show – the Husband had taken the kids to a live Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me! show the night before – a bucket list item for him – and they didn’t get back until 11pm, so of course they were holy terrors in the morning because they were over-tired. But they all had a lot of fun at the show, so I do feel like a little morning crankiness is worth it.) – had a mammogram and a thyroid ultrasound (this latter to try to figure out why I’m having very light non-ending periods) -dropped off a box of poop at the UPS store -picked up a library hold -mowed the lawn.
This last one almost defeated me – it was 90+ degrees out there. I put on my rash guard to mow because the sun’s rays were beaming something fierce.
Then, to reward myself, I did this:
Black raspberry chocolate gelato and Men’s trampoline. And a mountain of laundry.
Relaxed on the couch eating ice cream for lunch, while talking to my sister-in-law, watching the Olympics, and folding laundry. We’re dog sitting for the next week and there was a cute dog joining me in a few minutes to watch the Men’s Badminton Quarter Finals. I do need to do some meal planning since the next couple of days will be tech, and there is no tech friendly food in the fridge right now.
In the evening, we went to the pool after pick up. We haven’t been since swim team ended almost two weeks ago. Going to the pool on such a hot day was lovely. Also – our pool tends to be pretty empty on Friday nights because so many families at our pool go home for Shabbat dinner, so it wasn’t as much of a zoo as it usually is. Then it was home for Pizza and Glee.
Okay – things this week. Let’s back up to the poop shipment. As much as I want to be in the Cool Blogger Colonoscopy club, when my doctor offered me the option of “pooping in a box” (literally her words) colon cancer screening, I said, “Sign me up!” A few days later, a box appeared in the mail. Basically you poop into a plastic bucket, swab your poop, pour a preservative over it, close the bucket back up, and then ship everything to a lab where they will screen it. It’s not as accurate as a colonoscopy, but for low risk people, my doctor said it’s a more appealing alternative. It felt really weird to hand a box with my poop in it to the guy at the UPS store, but maybe we just need to be less squeamish as a society about these things. Also – the test is only good for three years, so who knows, maybe in three years I will do the full on colonoscopy?
I hope this box doens’t get lost in the mail…
Last weekend, I enjoyed my family-free time. Well, it was really only one day because Sunday I had to work. But on Saturday, I slept, read, did laundry. I ran errands. I picked up peaches from The Peach Truck:
I used to go peach picking, but then I realized that peach season here always falls on the the hottest month of the year. Plus, the peaches are not any cheaper if I pick them myself. So I started just buying them at the Farmers Market. I had heard about the Peach Truck, a company that brings peaches from the south to our area. My friend was going to go in on buying Peach Truck peaches with me, but then she went away on vacation, and yet I still impulsively ordered 2 boxes of peaches anyway. That’s 24 lbs of peaches (there was a discount if you bought more than one box.) Which at first, I thought was a bonkers amount of peaches and when I brought it home I worried that I had had a terrible idea. t was a great idea. I took about ten to work, but other than, that the kids and I have finished almost all 24 lbs. of peaches in a week. The next Peach Truck delivery is in two weeks. Maybe I’ll order THREE boxes? So much easier to get my peach fix this way than actually going to pick them.
Saturday afternoon, my friend K and I went to Glenstone Museum – We couldn’t get tickets to the exhibits, but we were able to get tickets to the grounds, and they had special Summer hours so were open until 8pm. We took the outdoor sculpture tour:
Then we had lunch on the patio, and wandered the grounds some more. I think it actually turned out fine that we didn’t get to go to the galleries – I’ve been to Glenstone three or four times and I always get sucked into the galleries and then run out of time to walk the grounds.
Afterwards, we went to a Cuban restaurant for dessert. We ended up hanging out for six hours – which was a lovely time.
-I’ve been watching the Olympics, like most people. Of course I’ve been watching swimming and gymnastics, but I’ve also been really into table tennis and badminton. Fun fact, I played varsity doubles badminton in high school and I was texting with my high school friend who played varsity singles on how cool it was to watch Olympic badminton. (Also – side note – I’ve always said bad-MIN-ton, but I’ve also heard people say ba-Mitten. Which do you say?) One evening, I wanted to paint a card for my friend who had to put her cat to sleep, and I found watching table tennis and badminton a nice soothing activity to do while I painted.
Random Olympic Thoughts: -One thing I like about table tennis is that the athletes look so .. average. They are all sorts of ages and varying degrees of body types. They look like they could be IT consultants. Regardless, though, they all have this athletic glow that just makes everyone look so attractive. What is it about athletes that makes them all look so shiny and pretty? – On a similar note most of these people must have regular lives and jobs and things like that, right? How wild is it to be an Olympic athlete and also an mechanical engineer or something. -I was watching the sailing and a lot of the competitors are in their early 20s. How does one become an Olympic sailor at such a young age? That’s not a cheap sport. I’m kind of fascinated by the economic pathways of being an Olympic athlete. And just their pathways in general. Some of these sports are so very niche. -It wasn’t until I watched the replays of entire competitions (as opposed to just the highlights) that I appreciated how much time is spent just … waiting. The sailing race, there is a countdown clock until the start of the race and the first race I watched, the start was delayed 30 minutes. Then it was finally time to get started so everyone started working their way to the start line. There’s a countdown clock, tension is building. And then 30 seconds before the start – another delay because the wind wasn’t blowing the right way. And there was another 30 minute delay. Can you imagine, getting lined up to start and then with 30 seconds until you can take off, a delay is called. Back to waiting. So much waiting. I think you have to be really mentally tough to be able to wait like that and still perform. -Apparently handball is the one sport without Americans competing. It made me want to watch handball. It looks like a really fun game. -I loved this article in the NYTimes about how table tennis players get no respect. No, You Can’t Beat an Olympic Table Tennis Player. -What’s with all those AI commercials? It makes me feel like something is really off with the world when people don’t want to summarize their own to do lists or write fan letters without help. Or maybe I’m just an old fuddy duddy. -I love how they start each competition with the three knocks of a stick, usually by a former Olympian. The three knocks is a French theatre tradition. I wish we would do that at theatres here in the U.S. Much better than playing the “Welcome to the show. Please turn off your cell phones” announcement that is so prevalent. -This list in McSweeney’s “Olympic Gymnast or Me, a Middle Age Woman?” Made me laugh so hard. Especially #7 and #15.
Grateful For: -A strong downbeat. This is one of those in the weeds work things, but … the show I’m currently working on – there are parts of the score where it’s hard to follow the written music. The melody crosses bar lines, and the rhythms are not what one would expect, and the piano reduction of the orchestra is sinewy. I find it easy to get lost if I blink. BUT… our conductor has a really strong downbeat. For those who don’t read music/follow conductors – conductors move their hands in a certain patterns which correspond the to the number of beats in a bar. A downward stroke is the first beat of a meaure. When I get lost – particularly in large orchestral passages, if I watch for the downbeat, I can usually find my place in the music. Not all conductors have good downbeats. Some conduct as if they are stirring a pot of soup. This conductor has a clear and strong downbeat. Thank goodness. There are many many places in this show where if I try to follow the notes, I’ll get lost. So I just count the downbeats. This is an example – you’ll see, I have an entrance cue marked, and I just number the measures until that entrance.
When I cue this entrance, I don’t look at the music, I just look at the conductor and count the number of times he makes that downward stroke. On the 8th downbeat, I send the singer. This conductor’s downbeat has been my saving grace many times in this opera.
-Reciprocal library privileges. I have a D.C. library card, which I also use for the Montgomery County, MD libraries since that is where I now live. Last week, I realized that close to my work is a library in the Fairfax County, VA system. I looked them up, and they have reciprocal library privileges with Montgomery County and D.C. So on my dinner break one day, I went and got a library card for the Fairfax County system. I know that I won’t likely borrow physical books from a Fairfax County library, but now I have an additional library to use on my Libby account. (For the record, I already had four libraries on my Libby account – Washington D.C Public Library, Montgomery County, MD, Maryland/Baltimore, and Los Angles County, where I grew up. Is this excessive????) One thing I found exciting about this new library is that you can borrow jigsaw puzzles. I thought that was pretty cool.
-Shade on hot hot hot hot days. Even though I’ve brought my running clothes to work, it’s been much too hot for me to go running on my dinner break, so I’ve just gone on a few walks instead.
-A new door! Our old door was old and drafty and sometimes wouldn’t open. I had dragged my feet on getting a new door because I loved my old door so much – it was red and had all sorts of lovely details in the hardware, and three elegant windows. So the Husband found a company that said it could just transfer the windows and the hardware from the old door to new door, as well as the lock so we wouldn’t have to re-key the door. The new door looks like this right now, but we are going to paint it. It wasn’t cheap, but I feel like we’re going to be in this house for a long time, so it’s okay to have a door I love.
-That I get to work on the show I’m working on. I love the show so so so much. It’s such a beautiful show. At least once a day, I have to tell myself not to cry in rehearsal. Crying in a good “this scene is so devastatingly beautiful and the music makes me feel like my heart is getting all the feelings squeezed out of it” kind of way.
Looking Forward to: -Not having a different drop off/ pick up routine every week. I guess it’s my own fault for signing the kids up for five different camps over the course of six weeks. Luckily, this past week, the 12 year old could just walk to and from camp on her own. But it does feel like every week there was a new drop off/ pick up pattern to figure out. After this week of camp, we’ll be done with camp for the rest of the summer. Yay! The kids will be doing “mommy camp”. I read in an article one parent said their philosophy for these wide open summer days is that the kids have to do at least one thing for their mind and one thing for their body every day before they can have screens. I like that framework.
-Sewing classes starting in September for the 7 year old. And… guess what? They are offering Mommy and Me classes, so I signed up the 7 year old to take sewing classes with the Husband. I can’t wait to see what they make. I guess I need to start looking at activity sign ups for the fall soon.
-watching more Olympics. The next week will be pretty busy at work, so I’m glad that I can stream what I want when I get a minute. I don’t have any one sport I’m interested in – I just like to scroll through and find something I’ve never seen before.
-These books, picked up at the Library:
What We Ate: I ate a lot of dinners at work, and then grazed a bunch when I got home afterwards. The Husband did all the at home cooking this week. Saturday: My Friend and I had dinner at the Glenstone patio cafe – we split a black bean quinoa salad and shrimp.
Sunday: Leftover pizza and Cobb Salad that the Husband brought home from their trip.
Monday: Eggplant pasta. The Husband cooked. This was really tasty – he sauteed eggplants and the cooked it in a tomato sauce and added lots of basil. Vegan.
Tuesday: Zucchini salad, eaten at work. The Husband made Zucchini boats at home for dinner. I had some when I got home and they were really tasty. He sauteed beef with seasonings, used that to fill hollowed out zucchini halves, tops with cheese and then bakes. It’s one of our easy go-to recipes where we can get the kids to eat vegetables.
Wednesday: Popcorn chicken and Taiwanese sausage from the Boba Tea place. I had brought something to eat for dinner since I had an evening rehearsal, but then decided that I wanted to treat myself a little. I think the kids had Mac n’ Cheese from the box at home.
Thursday: I worked through my official dinner break because we were getting ready for the final room run through. I don’t usually skip meal breaks, but I had meetings scheduled in the late afternoon. Anyhow, I managed to eat a yogurt and berries that I had packed. (The Husband and kids ate out before going to see Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me.)
Friday: Pizza (Take out) and Glee.
This weekend will be the start of tech week at work, so I’ll be at the theatre. Exiting, but it will also be exhausting. What are you up to this weekend?
