Moving to website

I'll be trying out a new website with blog page via Weebly. Not sure how it'll work out in the long run, but thought I'd try it for the duration of our Sabbatical to see. I'll probably stop posting here for the interim; don't think I can manage 2 blogs; ~)
check in at:
http://downunderandover.weebly.com/blog.html


"Ta ta," for now!

A long weekend

I've been so looking forward to this long weekend!
  Co-hosted a very sweet cello/violin recital yesterday (with my dear friend/colleague, Charlotte) and said goodbye to my private students and families. I will truly miss them in the coming year. 
  It's off to our last LA Phil concert today (the"dude" won't be there, though).

And then a nice quiet Monday at home...

Time just keeps slippin', slippin, slippin...

The sabbatical crunch is upon us and the days are just not long enough. We're making new connections in NZ as fast as we're trying to wrap up things here. Geoff needs to see his mom in Montana before we leave the US which also means he can't be here to help with pre-prep plans for a week. And, of course, school is still not out here or nor started up over there. I'm really starting to feel like I'm in Limbo Land at this point!

Here's a cute little 2-bedroom in Christchurch; wonder if it'll still be there when we arrive ;~)

Been busy

Wow, almost a week's gone by!

Went on the last field trip of the season yesterday to Knott's Berry Farm with Xandie's orchestra  (never been in the 20 something years I've lived in SoCal). The kids played for 1/2 hour and then got to run wild until closing; they had a terrific time and it wasn't too crowded, which was good by me.

Now we're on to end of the year string parties, Xandie's final performances and award certificates. By mid-June I should also be done with all teaching/program coordinator duties.

Last concert ...

"Hip, hip, hooray! 

Today's the last day!"

( At least as far as my performance responsibilities go. )

Looking forward to a great concert and lots of smiling faces tonight :~)

  

Tenant hunting

The search has begun for one-year-only tenants who will be considerate neighbors and also take care of our cats. (It would also help if they can pay the rent on time ...) We're getting a few bites, including one from Spain, and so I'm starting to feeling a little more relaxed about all the pre-sabattical preparations. One step at a time and before we know it we'll be off to the airport with tickets in hand to begin a new adventure in New Zealand!

Multi-tasking

Juggling tasks this week...

   Concert Prep: 
Last week of instructional teaching and the kids are sounding very good. However, we're also running into end of the year field trips, games, and other activities which are affecting attendance. We'll be missing quite a few at orchestra today, I bet.
   House Prep:
Paint estimates (not cheap!) and garden maintenance (sprinkler tune-up).
  General business:
Looking into new cell phones for overseas, navigating new laptop, cats and kid appointments (shots), selling car, packing the house estimates.
   Music business:
Cello student recital, EIMP files, $ accounting for 2010 tax year (U.S.)

Sickie at home; much work to do

I have a sick child at home today and much work to do on the music front. It's the last week of string classes before the district concerts and I have mega-details to take care of before they hit (the string concert is next week and then one for band the week after that). I'm treading water at this point, but still afloat.

Life preserver anyone?

New tech

(Hope I wouldn't have to wear one of these to class!)

I think I might need to go join the BigMac class at the senior center to learn about all the cool things my new laptop can/should do. At the moment I'm devouring as many tutorials I can find online but I still haven't managed to set up an ichat account which is one of the reasons I wanted this thing before we take off this summer! If all else fails, I'll have to ask Geoff.

Social networking

I'm getting a little gun-shy of this social networking trend when people who I have always thought of as being very reasonable and good human beings start to spout off their very strong/biased political and religious beliefs. It can get ugly and it makes me want to go away for a few days. I suppose I can just "hide" them but then that seems to defeat the whole purpose of having an open forum...sigh:~(

Laptop shopping

Huntley Bookstore

As the time for packing everything up in boxes draws closer, I realized I must have my own laptop for our sabbatical this time round.(In Germany we all shared Geoff's, which sort of worked...) I'm hoping we can carve out some time this week for Geoff to go with me to ask all the important computer-geek questions and I can doodle with the built-in mouse. He also gets a discount; not much, but every little bit helps. It might just cover the cost of an extra suitcase :~)

Fine finale

(CCO past performance)

Today was Claremont Concert Orchestra's last concert for the term, which was also our fine conductor of many years, Maestro Michael Lamkin's last concert before retiring. This afternoon's performance of Strauss, Schubert, and Brahms was a fine 'send-off' for him and the orchestra was in exceptionally good form. It's a bitter-sweet moment for all of us in that we wish him all the best in retirement, but will miss him terribly on the podium. He is truly 'one-of -a-kind' and so many of us, students and community players alike, were touched by his humble nature and extraordinary musical leadership. I'm really going to miss his composer stories ;~)

May day, May day

One of my favorite childhood memories was going with my family to watch the maypole dance at Magic Meadow in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.  There was always a group of very well prepared dancers (children) in beautiful costumes and wreaths who performed the elaborate ribbon winding around the tallest pole we could ever imagine. I always dreamed of being able to join in with them someday. . . 

Ren~Faire Maypole

meetings and end-of-the-year business

Okay, today I'm assuming that we''ll have quite a long meeting with our music staff. Much business needs to be discussed; rehearsals, concerts, programs, certificates, inventory, repairs, and on and on... Then there will be start of discussion re: summer and next year. I'm hoping to have my new (yet to be purchased because Geoff needs to do it to get the discount) laptop up and running for inventory-intake purposes and to make my year-away transition easier for all involved. I'm down counting the weeks and the end is too near!

Cubic yards

May Flowers in April : by Xandie

Spring is the time to mulch. Last week I ordered 1-1/3 cu. yds. of pea gravel to cover the spa-fill site and the bare ground under the biggest of our avocado trees. This week I ordered 1-1/2 yds. of shredded bark/wood chips to replenish the front garden mulch that after a year and a half has mostly worked its way back into the soil. I'm hoping this treatment will both simplify maintenance and conserve water for the year we're to be away. If nothing else, it sure looks a lot better than it used to :~)

A good time was had by all

(HRH the Queen / Ren Faire 2010)

photo by Xandie

We don't go to the Faire every year but Xandie really wanted to go and since we won't be here next summer we found the best online discount and made the trip. (In recent years the Ren Faire has moved to Irwindale; it's a lot closer and much more convenient for us now.) The "girls" in the family wore costumes, of course, but Geoff went as a photographer.

His photos probably came out better than ours, but then we were too busy having fun to care!

photo by Pat

unicycle run

The annual Donut Man HMC unicycle club ride took place this a.m. and I was there to witness the end of the three hour, 8.7 mile ride from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont to the Donut Man shop, Glendora. (The owner provides free, fresh strawberry donuts for riders and support team members). Here's a link to the finish footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0HvQoxpn3I

Inspired by stone

Even though I plan to do something, eventually, with the old spa site there was a big empty space looking at me where it used to be. I initially thought I might find an inexpensive kinetic sculpture to install before we leave for sabbatical. Then while browsing rock garden images I stumbled across rock stacks and "voila" that was exactly what I needed; Zen-like, minimal, fun and free!

Here today, gone today

We first noticed cracks in the spa last summer. Repair: expensive! Replace: more expensive!! Remove: most logical solution; especially since the heater blew out a few weeks ago. And so today, bright and early, the pool-demo-guys came and took it away. Now I have an empty slate to ponder and come up with a Zen garden, rockery planting, or other low-water solution. In the mean time, we have a new fire-bowl patio ;~)

April showers

Irises

1890 ; Oil on canvas (36 1/4 x 29 in)

Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam 

We're getting a nice round of rain and the garden is responding with new growth and lots of blossoms. I'm especially enjoying the irises I see not only in my garden but all around Claremont; and the many different varieties. Even Van Gogh was captivated by their beauty; maybe I could take some time out to do a little artwork this week...

Home stretch

I'm approaching the "home stretch" in more ways than one. The first is only 4 weeks of teaching the after school string program and the final spring concert (ready or not, but I think we will be). Then of course there's the aftermath of parties, instrument intake, follow-up staff meetings and finishing up with the jr. high strings coaching assignment.

The second, and more labor intensive, is sabbatical prep; now only 3 months away! We have hung the ceiling to floor lists in the hallway marked 3, 2, 1 month(s) and the final 2 week list (everyone democratically adds to the respective list when we think of something we need to do). Other than that I must be in partial-denial because I haven't done much more than write stuff down. Now is the time for action and I'd better get started....there's that pool demolition guy I've been meaning to call about the old spa.

Everyone loves a parade

The jr. high orchestra was in a parade this morning, in a Woody Allen-ish sort of way. "noridan", a South Korean troupe of musicians/performers, won an award for eco-performance art and was invited here by the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University.

Kids from the various Claremont schools convened to watch and participate in this unusual but very fun event. The El Roble Orchestra was chosen to represent their school and so 36 music kids (sans instruments) were loaded onto a bus for a very short ride to the parade assembly area. After an exciting performance demonstartion they joined in the merry-making and became part of the parade itself. Much fun was had by all, though I'm not sure who these people are and what exactly they were doing here !

12 year old in the house

"Our just-turned 12 year old"

I don't know how it happened, but we woke up yesterday morning to a 12 year old in our house! Consciously I know we moved to Claremont 11 years and some months ago with a 4-month old baby in tow, but how did 12 years fly by like that? We are so proud of this child and all her achievements to date. She is, as she calls herself, "a wanderer and a wonderer". 

Congratulations to you Xandie, on a life well travelled so far, and wishing you many more adventures to come :~)

Symphony field trip

 WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL 

When I was in grade school in San Francisco, many years ago, we would go on a field trip every year to either the symphony, ballet, opera, museum, theater or the academey of sciences. California is no longer the "golden state" and Saturday was the first time in my 12 years in Claremont that the elementary orchestra students were able to see the LA Phil in action. It was a great day for music education: the kids were a pleasure to be with and they had a great music experience. The teachers and parents could relax and enjoy the concert and before/after activities with the students which included a pre-concert drum circle, puppet-making, lunch in the outdoor amphitheater and a question-answer session with a Phil musician, dancers, and the guest conductor. It took months of planning but boy, was it worth it in the end.

(see fellow teacher review of our trip)

Rehearsal etiquette?

It seems that technology needs to come with a manners manual. At orchestra rehearsal tonight I noticed the usually talkative student bass players were very quiet in addition to not noodling (playing while director is talking). To my utter amazement, one of them had his laptop open and running so they could watch the basketball game DURING rehearsal.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing... Brahms was certainly turning in his grave. 

Either that or shooting hoops!

Easter and down time ...

Only 'day two' of nine and I am so enjoying this thing called 'down time'! We have very few scheduled plans on the calendar and it's so nice to just 'go with the flow' for once. Last night was Mahler's 5th at Disney Hall (amazing piece and glorius performance by the LA Phil). Sometime during the night the Easter bunny paid a visit and so Xandie found her basket early this morning before we got up but patiently waited for us before she went on her egg-hunt. We then had a very nice Sunday morning brunch of home-made waffles with strawberries, real maple syrup and "schlag". The only improvement would have been warmer weather so that we could eat outside; but then I guess we can't have it all, all the time.

Spring break a week away!

((Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden ~ Karen Winters)

Looking so forward to "down time" next week. Since Geoff 's college already enjoyed their break (and beautiful weather, I might add) I have no plans other than takin' it easy and a playin' a little catch up here and there. A stroll in the botanic garden, a day trip to a museum perhaps; it's nice to have very little on your plate once in awhile.

B-day planning

It's time to plan the annual B-day celebration for our daughter, Xandie. Our school district's spring break usually butts up, one side or the other, to Easter weekend and so it's always a hard choice to decide which day her party should actually be. We've bitten the bullet and reserved a date along with 2 hours at one of her favorite pottery places. Naturally this meant we spent a good part of the weekend designing an invitation,  deciding on a "theme" and buying party favors / bags. I think we'll be ready...

We have a  little saying, "you were born on Passover and came home on Easter", to remember which day of the week she was born;  as far as the better known saying, "Saturday's child works hard for a living" ~ we'll have to see about that one.

Music filing

I spent a few hours last night trying to re-file stacks of sheet music pulled from my private collection last semester. In addition to two levels of string classes (select 6-8 pieces and use 3-4) and my private students,  I also often fish-out requests for other teachers and friends. Then everything gets thrown in the "re-file box" until nothing more will fit. Now have two boxes worth and need to find a quiet day when I can work uninterrupted to put my music library back in order... until the end of the school year anyway.

NIMBY fight ... a chance at winning!

Seems the 7-11 corner store controversy is at a stalemate momentarily.

NEWS UPDATE: The Claremont Courier
"There will be no 7-Eleven at the corner of Mills Avenue and Foothill Boulevard. The business applicant withdrew their appeal on an earlier Planning Commission decision to deny them a conditional use permit. By withdrawing the appeal, the commission decision now stands. The city council was scheduled to hear the appeal at tonight's city council meeting. Dozens of residents were planning to attend the meeting to voice their opposition to the proposed business. The item has now been pulled from the agenda."


Now we're back to square one; who and what new businesses will move in and will they have a good chance to "make a go" at it?

First monday of spring

It's Monday and as usual I've got my to-do list of tasks to start, continue and complete today. First off was getting the bass to the jr. high with a wheel in its pocket (field trip to orchestra festival this week and Xandie has to transport "Count Bassie" on her own). Then over to the D.O. to finish up the second semester copying spree for afterschool string classes and then get music delivered to the other instructors (along with field trip packets to see the LA Phil next month). Now that I'm back I need to sort through all the other pending business on my desk (which is actually a seldom used DX7) and then grab some lunch.
After lunch is a series of elementary string classes and then orchetsra rehearsal at Garrison Theatre tonight. Whew!

I think Mondays are a little too frantic for me; maybe Mondays on sabbatical will slow down a bit...

Financial planning

I guess "it takes money to make money" is true, or you need to be willing to lose some of what you've got big-time... Having done our 2009 taxes we're now filling out forms before talking to a financial/retirement planner tomorrow. After the big stock bust last year (or Dec. 2008 anyway) we lost total faith in the stock market and plopped everything in "high interest" bank accounts. Seems the best we can do is maybe 2% and so now we're lookin' to "bite the bullet" and investigate investment options. While we don't expect big gains, it would be nice to look at semi-retirement (for both of us) when Xandie finishes her first 4 years of college. We've talked to "portfolio managers" and they take a very big chunk out of your gains and so now we're looking into "fee-only planners". Don't have any answers at this point, but I sure hope we can protect what we have and at the minimum keep up with inflation...sigh!

Spring forward

(last spring at the Claremont Depot)

The clocks have been set forward (I can't even tell you how many that would be for this household) and Spring officiallly begins this Saturday. Geoff is on his break from the colleges this week, but X's and mine is not until April and so I have a severe case of spring fever at the moment. Unlike last year, I'm not planting so much as I'm tending to what's there and trying to see where I can minimalize watering and maintanence. I'm especially enjoying the morning birdsong and observing new plant growth; a time of renewal for all.

A "normal weekend"

We seem to be having a  "normal weekend" at last; no concerts or overwhelming workloads carrying over into our days of catch up/rest. 

Today we're off to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach to meet up with a prof. and her grandaughter from Christchurch, New Zealand. She has previously assisted other HMC profs on sabbatical there and we are hoping that she'll be helpful in our case with both info and connections. I'm especially interested in the school system for Xandie's sake and opportunities for me to study/teach on a visitor's visa. Geoff shouldn't have problems as he'll be the invited guest lecturer/researcher.

French music

My ex-next door neighbor is the high school choral director. He had a problem finding cellists to play in his chamber singers concert and asked if I would help out, so of course I said, "yes". Turned out it was the Faure Requium ...a gorgeous, lush French piece which requires solo violin, 4 violas, 1 bass, 2 horns, harp, organ, timpani and  2 cellos. It also turned out that I was going to be the only, lonely cello player. Taking both parts home (one rehearsal/play concert situation) I determined which cello part was more prominent and alternated parts depending on the movement. In the end it went well for the choir, the director, soloists, and the chamber orchestra, but I sure wish the other cello was there.

Spring cleaning?

Looking ahead to daylight savings and the official start of Spring! 

Boy, do I have spring cleaning and clearing-out projects on my mental "to do" list; especially with a sabbatical around the corner. My personal favorite is permission to rent a dumpster. It's the only time (once every 6-7 years) I can get my family to throw anything away. Then there is the spring yard sale when the neighbors always seem to be inspired by my "urge to purge" myself of extra junk and so it becomes a block sale.  Xandie usually decides to sell 1 or 2 of her books and a few toys to generate some personal income and Geoff usually says "whatever" allowing me to rid ourselves of a reseasonable amount of stuff without too much resistance (I live with two major pack-rats). The beauty of it all is that because we're packing everything up for a year there's no incentive to go out and buy any new stuff until we return!

Looking up and on

OK, life is looking up and better today! 

The air is especially clear after an overnight rain shower, my grades have been sent/received and ready for distribution and now I can move on to the next round of stuff to do. 

Music, for one, is definitely in the air: coaching jr. high strings this a.m., then adult cello lesson 'til lunch, LA Phil field trip letter to finanlize, Faure Requium part to look over before tomorrow night and then teach two string classes this afternoon before picking up X-girl after her art class, after which a make-up cello lesson is coming at 6:45 pm.

e-grading

Well so far, not so good ! I think using LINUX on a mac using open office trying to talk to microsoft word is not gonna be a go.... I can input everything but don't seem to be able to export in any way or fashion. Grrrr!!!  I'll guess I have to wait for my personal computer doctor to get home or print out all my progress reports at the house and then try to figure out how to get an efile to the district office..... glad I have until Friday.

I hate this stuff when it doesn't go smoothly :~(

Life off-line

Our server has been repaired after 2 weeks of "life off-line" on the house machine. Funny how quickly one becomes dependent on technology and how panic sets in when it suddenly disappears on you. Of course "it" just happened to die when Geoff was out of town, I had close to 100 progress reports to submit and it's the first time music grades have gone "electronic" to boot. (Good pun, there!)  So now, cross fingers/knock on wood/make a sign of the cross, things are back to normal on the home front and life can continue as I currently know it.

No place like home... (birthplace, anyway)

San Francisco (view from Alcatraz)

What a great reunion we had to celebrate the anniversary of my mom's 100th birthday! My sister and I cooked up a plan based on the premise that had Mom made it to 100, we would have planned a worthy celebration. And so, our families met up for a long weekend and celebrated in "Crandall-style" (a little quirky and lots of fun). Here are a few pieces of evidence:

Havin' a few in North Beach 

                      Looking a little "jet-lagged" at  The Tonga Room

Ta da :~)

Charlotte, Pat, Suzanne and Brandon

The happy (and relieved) music teachers

(photo: Xandie)

"All's well that ends well"; and actually, the beginning and middle went very well, too. The kids did a terrific job (as usual), most of the details were worked out ahead of time, and I felt that everything was under control and a good representation of what a successful string program should look and sound like. 

For the record:

Elementary Beginning Strings

French Folk Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traditional

Old MacDonald Had a Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U.S. Folk Song

Mozart Melody and Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Traditional

Elementary String Orchestra

English Morris Dance . . . . . . . . . . . Traditional/arr. Noah Klauss

La Rejouissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.F. Handel/arr. Richard Meyer

Sneakin’Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Van Ryswyk

Dragon Slayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rob Grice

El Roble String Orchestra

Overture to William Tell . . . . . . .G. Rossini, arr. Sandra Dackow

Emperor Waltz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. Strauss, arr. Merle J. Isaac

Dance of the Tumblers . . . . . .  . . . . . . N. Rimsky-Korsakoff,arr. Sandra Dackow

The winter spectacle (concerts, that is)

Today is the first of two district-wide elementary winter music concerts; strings tonight, band tomorrow. This year we have about 175 strings and well over 200 band students.  The enrolment numbers continue to grow and even with budget concerns we have somehow been able to not only survive, but thrive!

Concerts are always free and open to the public; Feb. 16 and 17 at 7 pm in the El Roble Intermediate School Gym, Claremont, CA.

Valentines pie party

Well, it was a beautiful day and we did make it to the bird fest this morning (at least 2 out of 3 of us anyway). After lunch we went to a pie party at a dear violinist neighbor's home. It seems her renter (a college student) has a friend who is a pie baker and he wanted to present a pie-tasting event. Boy, was it ever yummy and what a "sweet idea" to hold it on Valentine's Day. 

2 out of 3 (birdwatching for Cornell)

Mornings are certainly a more active time for bird-watching. I didn't see/hear many more species but I did see greater numbers! Our most prolific visitors from the Cornell lab "urban bird list" are: house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, and American crow. There was also a western scrub jay sighting during the 10-minute observation window but they are not on the list. The local botanic garden is hosting a birdwatch on Valentine's Day. Maybe I'll get in on that bird count too.

Migrate to the Garden

Sunday, February 14

10 am - 3pm

• Count our bird citizens - participate in a nationwide bird count
• Bird I.D. - Hoot's Who?
• Games, Crafts & Activities

Get on the wire (909) 625-8767, ext 224

Admission fees apply:
$8 - adults
$6 - seniors/students
$4 - fledglings aged 3-12
Free - RSABG Members

It really does take a village

 We have a wonderful community of 'music in our schools' supporters. Both music vendors who handle instrument rentals locally, J. Brown Violin Shop and Styles Music, donated gift certificates for our winter concert raffles next week. Then when I went to pick up two soft cello cases from the village shoe repair he knocked $10 off the cost for me. These are just a few of the reasons why I love our Village!

Facebook frustration!

I guess the news of the week is the tweaking of Facebook and how many people are reaching the boiling point of frustration while trying to understand why it's "better".  Just when I thought I had things pretty much figured out they had to go and change it!

(Im going back to the Lite version)

One week 'til winter concerts

The countdown has begun and I've been lying awake 'til the wee hours of the a.m. running the too-many-details through my poor little over-saturated brain. You'd think after all the years and hundreds of kids I've taught that it would be a piece of cake but it seems that every year we do things a little differently and so those are the things I worry about.