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