School, Summer...and More School!

Hello All-
I figured I should post since I haven't in ages. I hope everyone is well and had a lovely summer. Grammy and Poppy are here visiting right now and we've been having a very nice time.
I had a fairly relaxing summer. I worked at the local cafe to earn money for a trip to Europe I'm going to take next summer. The trip is being organized by my French teacher at The Northwest Academy and we'll be going to Belgium, France, and Switzerland. I'm already very excited! Other than working, I mostly just read, relaxed, and tried to get ready for the upcoming school year. One of the big events of the summer was the release of the 7th and final Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). Taylor and I have been awaiting this event for many years and were both very excited. On the day we got the books, I arrived home at 3:00 PM from work, started reading, and didn't stop until 3:00 AM. I then had to get up early the next morning for work and was very tired all day, but it was worth it since the book was so good.

For any of you who don't know, I have left The Northwest Academy and will be attending St. Mary's Academy this year. I am looking forward to the school year starting (it starts next Tuesday, Sept. 4th). I hope to do many dance classes again this year and can't wait to start up again after not dancing all summer. Well, that's about all I have to say. I love you all and miss you very much. Kiss kiss!
Kelsey


Below is a photo of me and my best friend Tali (Tol-lee) on prom night in May. Since neither of us could find dates to go with, we went together. It was a wonderful evening. Our school had hired a live salsa band and afterwards a group of us got in a limo and drove to a restaurant where we had cake and french fries at 12:00 AM. It was amazing.

The Flip

On our recent visit to Austin Sam decided to swim in the BIG pool. Margaret was astonished that he just started swimming and turning flips. Pretty cool.

Hey Eugene!

I know we have played some Pink Martini for you, although I don't know whether or not you remember. They are a band from right here in Portland and a favorite of our family. Founding man Thomas Lauderdale describes their style: "At one moment, you feel like you're in the middle of a samba parade in Rio de Janeiro, and in the next moment, you are in a French music hall of the 1930s or in a palazzo in Napoli. It's like an urban musical travelogue."
We saw them in concert Tuesday for the release of their third album, Hey Eugene! The title comes from an audience favorite written by lead-singer China Forbes, Portland's very own diva. They don't play their home town that often as they are always off touring France or Lebanon or Turkey or somewhere out there. Well, the concert was terrific, as always, and I know all of you would have loved it - I hope you can see them perform someday (they're playing the Oregon Zoo this summer; want to come?)
Ciao a bientot,
T

Birding with an Expert

Today we went birding with Grammy's half brother, Greg Lasley. You can see his beautiful wildlife photography at greglasley.net. He has several coffee table books that Sam has loved since he was little. Greg had agreed to take us birding about a month or so ago when I had emailed him to ask where we might see a Painted Bunting. Sam, our resident birder, has been wanting to see one. Really we all have because it is such a beautiful, colorful little bird. Anyway, today was the scheduled day. We met out in East Austin on some city owned property where Greg has special access. It was such a beautiful, sunny and cool morning. Perfect for birding. We immediately saw a Painted Bunting on a wire. Never mind that it flew away because Greg has this special device for calling birds. It is a recording device that plays the birds call which makes the bird come closer to investigate who is in his territory. It was very cool. He then set up a nice scope to look at the bird. I took the picture of the Painted Bunting with my little digital camera looking through the scope. Fuzzy but still proof we saw it. I'm sure Greg thought I was quite the amateur. It was fun to see everything through the eyes and ears of a real birder who knows all the birds and their calls.

Danjiella's 1st Sleepover

Angela, Danjiella, and Luka came last Wednesday, 05/02/07. Danjiella has been staying the night at our house and spending most of her days with me and the kids. She has been so good and so fun to have around. Andi, Sam, and Danjiella get along great and play so well together. We love you Danjiella. We love you too Luka but you just don't know it yet.

--m

Friends and Animals Next Door

Click on image to enlarge

We have a nice little relationship going with a homeschooling family that lives behind us. Libby and Andi are good friends and go back and forth between houses often. Libby has two older siblings, Irene and Thales. Sam loves them and they are so good to him. Irene, 11, comes over and spends time with Sam while Andi and Libby play. Thales, 15, won the International Youth Classical Guitar competition. They are a great kids and we love having them around. They also have a mini farm. Two of their goats had kids recently. Nice to see and play with without having to own any.

Spring Fair

I think I may be camera happy. I might as well turn this into my personal blog :-). Here are some pics of the Austin Waldorf Homeschoolers spring "fair". We got together for a Maypole celebration and I played Lady Spring. One little girl said, "It was so nice of lady spring to come. I feel like I've seen her before." It was a sweet little affair. After the maypole dance and a little food, we had a some cake. The cake was so sweet to taste and look at. Some of the kids had sculpted little beeswax figures to go on the top for a maypole scene.

It's Been Awhile

Hi,

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I couldn't figure out how to log on after they changed the site. But here I am, finally. It's been four months, so I'll just cover the most interesting things that have happened.

We've seen two more Broadway shows since then - Annie and The Light in the Piazza. Annie you know. The Light in the Piazza came out a couple of years ago and won six Tonys. It is about a young woman, Clara, and her mother, Margaret, on vacation in Italy, where Clara falls in love with the young man Fabrizio Naccarelli. Her mother opposes the relationship for reasons we eventually find out; Clara is "not quite as she seems". The music is exquisite. The performances were very good, and the design is beautiful. The production of Annie was also quite good.

A week ago we saw Moscow-born, New York-raised singer/songwriter Regina Spektor in concert, which was absolutely wonderful. She has real talent - she sings and plays beautifully and puts on a good show.

Regina Spektor

"Love is a fable..."

"Say it somehow..."

Well, that's all for now. Love you all so much.

Taylor

Homeschooling Rocks!

Spring is beautiful here so we hit the water in a canoe on Town Lake for a little environmental education "class". Lots of wildlife, including babies. We had such a great time. These are the days that I love the most-being outside, communing with "naytcha". The swan looks beautiful but when we got a little too close the kids hunkered down in the bottom of the canoe after he/she came towards us hissing. Brought our nets and caught a baby turtle. Released it after holding it for awhile - very cute! Saw a gar in the water and a humongous turtle that I, at first, thought was an alligator. I wanted to hang out a little and look for it again but Andi was sure it was an alligator and was also sure it was going to jump in the canoe and eat us. I wonder what the school children are doing right now? Wish you were here to enjoy this day with us. -auntie m

Click on collage for larger view.

Going to the Beach

A few weeks ago we went camping on the Texas coast. Even though it rained a good part of the time, we had a great time. We were mainly going to see the Texas Sandfest sand sculpting competition. We spent only a small portion of our time there due to rain. We went to the Aransas National Wildlife refuge where we saw alligators in the wild. We went to the Texas Coast Aquariam, the U.S.S. Lexington (a retired Navy aircraft carrier now used as a museum), and to the beach. It was not a very warm day by Texas standards and Andi fell into the surf with her clothes on (that's the picture where she's wet and mad). After that she got her swimsuit on and played a little longer. Sam also got his clothes wet and walked through Corpus Christi nudie buff. It was the first time we have been to the Texas coast as a family. Not nearly as beautiful as almost any other coast but we still had a great time.

love, m

Blogging again

Hi Everyone!

I was inspired to blog today because we had such a beautiful time at Commons Ford Park. We caught 5 huge crawfish and, of course, released them again. A friend had asked us to bring one home so they could see it. Their 11 year old daughter was interested in holding one and perhaps eating it. We decided, instead, to bring home a few dead ones we found. We didn't want to sacrifice such big, majestic crawfish that had obviously lived quite awhile. They looked like junior lobsters. It was a gorgeous, cloudless, warm-but not hot, day. The wildflowers are in full bloom and the creek was running strong. I thought of you guys so much while we were up there.

Wish you guys were around. Love, M

Hello.

I'm two now. My hair is getting long. I can sing my ABCs without breaking into Twinkle Twinkle. I like to giggle. I wear big girl diapers. I know there is something called Luka in my Mommie's tummy. I love the park & the zoo -- especially the elephants. I have no idea what colors are, but everything is green. I love my baby dolls & books. I make my Tata & Mommie laugh a lot. I don't like vegetables, but will cry for a cookie. I walk to 'school' some days when it is pretty outside. I like to say "It is beautiful." I'm really good at saying "Please" and "Thank you." My Mommie takes lots and lots of photographs & writes about our life often ... why are you guys so quiet? I miss you. Mommie said you must have done something worth blogging since January 5th. So what's up?

C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E

On Wednesday, as season-ticket holders, we saw our next musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It's basically about a spelling bee, and the participants are a bunch of quirky-but-loveable middle schoolers (all played by adults); whoever wins goes to Nationals. On Broadway, the show won Tonys for Best Book and Best Actor, and I loved it. It was hilarious and it was genuinely touching. One of the interesting things about the show is that in the lobby they select four audience members to participate, who go on stage and actually compete in the "bee", which gives an improvisatory aspect to the musical.
Lots of love,
Taylor

GENE POOL

Not sure about this. We miss you all too. It is mighty quiet around here now. We have had lotts of action at the feeders and the pine cones. Yesterday a golden fronted woodpecker showed up. He tried all the feeders and ended up hanging upside down on one of the pine cones. We have had lots of tufted titmice and cardinals and yesterday we had a big flock of robins, although they seemed to be more interested in the bird bath. We never see too many robins around here. The deer also like the pinecones, much to the disappointment of the birds.

Love to all.
Grammy and Poppy

I Think, Therefore I am a Rhubarb Tart

Hello,
I am sorry we have not been saying much lately. It's been almost two months since I last posted, and now I feel obligated. An exciting thing that has happened since then is the Oireachtas - a really, really, big Irish dance competition that took place mid-November and that had never been in Oregon before. It qualified dancers for the World Championships, and four dancers from my school are going, which is really exciting; plus many more of them will be going to Nationals.

Another exciting thing was seeing our old friends, the Ogdens - you know, Meggy and Zizi. Zizi is getting ready for college, so they were over here visiting some universities. We found that we still have quite a bit in common. It was lots of fun.

I also read Moby-Dick, which was really an experience. It is in fact all it's cracked up to be. If you haven't already, I would really recommend that you read it at some point in your life.

This weekend we're going to have dinner with Nanny et al. at an Arabic restaurant, and hopefully we'll get to see some dance.

But other than that we are just waiting to go to Austin.

Love,
Taylor

The BIG 40

Thank you for all your sweet birthday wishes. I love you very much. My friends surprised me with a Sugar Photography session. I've been wanting to splurge so our little (but growing) family could actually have some professional family photos. She's done some amazing work for my dear friend, Devra.

I love you all very much & so look forward to Christmas & spending that special time together. Countless hugs & kisses from Auntie A.

Am I still allowed to blog?

I know. I know. I am so lame for not having blogged in ages. I still don't have a new camera. We are kinda poh right now having spent all our money on our house. So, rather than disappear completely from the family, I decided that a word was worth a hundred pictures.

Things are going really well for us. I've been homeschooling Andi now for about 2 months. She loved it at first but now she says she would rather not do school. Not here, and not at a school. So I said, "really, well pick up your pencil and get to work." I think she actually does like it though. On days when we get a lot done we've spent about 1 1/2 hours doing school. We have a very active social life too. It has been great. Andi is in a homeschool gymnastics class, the Austin Children's choir, and a Waldorf kind of interpretive dance class (Eurythmy). We're going crafts on Friday with my friend Greta and her kids. So, Andi has lots of time with friends. She has made good friends with another little homeschooled girl that lives behind us. They can walk back and forth between the houses.

Sam has been very patient with homeschooling. Our only hiccup was the first day of school when he was a little freaked out for some strange reason. I'm not sure if he thought he was going to be sent off to school or what. He cried and cried. Since then, he's been fine. He just plays around us and it has worked out really well so far. One of his best little friends has an older brother from Andi's Kindergarten class that is now being homeschooled too. We see them at least twice a week at different homeschool activities. Of course, Sam is soaking everything up too. Andi was counting by 2's and when she got to 14 she hesitated and Sam said, "16". It doesn't even seem that he is paying attention but.... He, by the way, is riding a bike with no training wheels. Pretty good for 3 1/2. He's very proud of himself.

Andi had a performance with the Austin Children's choir last weekend. They performed for about 200 people at a Teacher's Retirement conference. It was so beautiful and they got a standing ovation. Of course, who wouldn't give an ovation to a bunch of adorable children. There are about 125-150 children in the choir and it is a top notch organization. They have another performance in Nov and one in Dec. Unfortunately it is on the 3rd so you guys probably won't be able to see it.

This weekend we are hosting a Halloween party which is a cooperative effort of the Austin Waldorf Homeschoolers. We expect up to 50 kids. It will be a potluck and a number of people will be bringing games for the children to play with prizes and everything. We've been busy making decorations and getting organized for the big event.

Well, that is the scoop in Austin. We love you all.

Rince Gaelacha

Last weekend I went to my first feis ("fesh"), or, Irish dance competition. I wasn't dancing, just watching. It was wonderful fun and I got to see lots of good dancers and pretty dresses. Students from my school took home 18 first places, and many more placed in the top five of their competitions. There's another feis coming up in a few weeks which I may or may not dance at.
Also I got my first hardshoes at the feis, and at class this week started learning some hardshoe.
Love you all.
Sláinte,
T

Savion Glover and Such...

Hello All-
Quick news update. A couple weeks ago, our family saw Savion Glover, who is one of the best if not the best tap dancer in the world. He was amazing! School is still going well-I'm very busy with everything that's going on. On Wednesday, we saw Sweet Charity (the musical) which was pretty good. On Thursday, I went to a walk out protesting the war and president Bush. Although several people from my school got pepper sprayed, I (luckily) was not one of them. It was very fun, crazy, and, at times, scary. I love you all so, so much. I hope that we will be coming down for Winter Break, which would be a first. Angi - I hope all is going well with the possible new addition to the family! Miss you all!
Kelsey

Movie Reviews

Unknown White Male
This is a documentary of a young man living in New York that suddenly suffers from a form of amnesia. The last 35 years are erased from his memory. It made me contemplate how different I would be with no past mistakes. No prejudices. No past achievements. The way God intends us to live daily. I think it would be wonderful in many ways ... minus the not knowing my family part.

Memoirs of a Geisha
This cinematography is stunning as are the costumes & settings. It was a captivating story of several Japanese geishas. It focuses on one in particular from being sold into a geisha house, her struggle to survive, her rise to fame & journey to love. Highly recommended.

Fateless
This is a Hungarian Holocaust movie centered on a 14 year old boy. For whatever reason I've always been drawn to Holocaust history. This is a semi-autobiographical story. It was absolutely outstanding both in content & presentation. It was so well done and, yet, not overdone. It ignites my passion for humanity & to live in the present moment for others.

God's Creation

The finest details & order of the universe God created amazes me. The colors alone are breathtaking. Life is stunning. I love you all very much!

Wicked

Last night we saw Wicked, the smash-hit Tony-winning musical that opened on Broadway in 2003 and is on tour right now (the musical tells the story of what happens in Oz before Dorothy arrives, and how Elphaba became known as the Wicked Witch). Both the leads in this case had played their characters on Broadway, and are both Northwest natives. Shoshana Bean, who played the lead role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch, grew up in Portland. Megan Hilty performed the role of Glinda the Good, her best friend. The show and production were so wonderful and the cast were phenomenal. They absolutely brought the house down. I will never forget the experience.
T

Wizard of Oz

Cinetastic

When you lot were in Oregon I was going to write out a list of good films we had seen in the past year or so that I thought you should see. Some of them you've probably watched, but I'll include them anyway. Some are great and others are quite good and worth seeing. And we're still in our Hitch buzz (Have seen: To Catch a Thief, The Birds, The 39 Steps, North by Northwest, Vertigo, The Trouble with Harry, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much ['56], Suspicion, Strangers on a Train, Dial M For Murder, Torn Curtain, Foreign Correspondent, Rope.) I'm also reading his bio. We're watching Marnie soon. Obviously we have a lot of films to go, most notably Psycho. We also have He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not rented, on Angie's recommendation. Oh, and! They're filming a big movie a few miles from us right now, starring...Morgan Freeman, among others. It's directed by Robert Benton, who did Kramer vs. Kramer. Sorry if all the movie talk is boring. Here's the list:

To Be and To Have (French film)
The Squid and the Whale (came out last year)
All those Hitch films
Neil Young: Heart of Gold (great concert movie)
The Price of Milk (enchanting New Zealand indie, probably hard to find)
Funny Face (musical w/ Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn)
Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music (fabulous documentary about said event)
How to Steal a Million (fun Audrey Hepburn/Peter O'Toole romp)
Return of the Secaucus 7 (very indie The Big Chill type thing)
The Red Violin (interesting fictional history of a violin)
Ragtime (based on E.L. Doctorow novel)
Wait Until Dark (thriller with Hepburn again, and Alan Arkin)
Brazil (brilliant, brilliant film - dystopian comedy)
Great Expectations (by David Lean, with John Mills and Alec Guinness)
The Bicycle Thief (great Italian film)
Rivers and Tides (you have to see this; it's about the artist Andy Goldsworthy)
Walkabout (weird story set in Australian outback)

I think that's enough for now. There are so many films out there, how can one ever see enough in a lifetime?
Love and film reels,
T

Green Muse

Taylor, April 2006

Ah, Grasshopper!

A grasshopper walks into a saloon. The bartender stares in amazement as the grasshopper says, "I'd like a drink, please." The bartender's jaw drops. He's finally able to say, "Did you know we have a drink named after you?" The grasshopper replies, "You have a drink named Irving?"

Sweet Sixteen

Happy birthday, Miss T. You are an incredibly special person. We hope you had an extra special day. We've been thinking about you & wishing we could be with you all. As you may recall I was born on Halloween. All I remember is being really sick after eating birthday cake & then heading out the trick or treat ... eating lots of candy along the way. You shouldn't have the same problem! Well, we love you. Our gift to you is MONEY. However, our request is you use this toward your very first Oriental Dance Costume. Love. Love. Love You.

Chang-An Le

They arrived! While in Oregon I purchased two original Chinese paintings while touring the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. The paintings are still covered in a wrap for protection & I was only able to capture a portion (large) of the image. I think they are beautiful.