Sounds like summer

It felt like summer really started today, with the opening of the local Farmers' Market.  It was great to get down there again and greet friends and acquaintances I've not seen since before Christmas.  I stocked up on leafy greens and the kids bought snacks, and I also made another purchase which I'll have the Man take a photo of tomorrow (he's flying home as I write).

The Boy had a friend round from school to work on a project for Music class. The assignment is to showcase a musical talent, so the two of them composed a piece of music for drums and had the Girl video them playing it.  They'll show the video in class later in the week.  It involved them playing drums in the basement for the entire afternoon. In all honesty, that was not as bad as you might think it would be.

A park with a view

The other thing I was busy with yesterday, before the craziness of the evening kicked in, was a trip to Thacher Park.  I'd taken my Karen friend and her mother there a while back, and had promised to take her again with her dad.

She'd been longing to show him the views, which she knew would remind him of home.  He suffers with asthma and has recently had a spell in hospital, so it was an especially good time for him to have a change-of-scene outing.  And we were lucky with the weather, which was perfect - sunny and bright but not too hot.

We thought about hiking the Indian Ladder Trail, but (mindful of the asthma) decided the steep staircases at either end were going to be too much.  But we spent some time looking out at the views and enjoying the setting.  Then we moved on and visited Thompson's Lake for a bit, and then it felt like time to go home so I drove them back to Albany.

I visit my Karen friends about once a week, and while it's always good to see them very often I have to help them deal with issues and forms and appointments of one kind or another, which can get complicated and frustrating. So it was very enjoyable to go on a simple trip this time, just for fun.

Art and otter

There are days when frankly I have to scratch around to find anything at all to write about, and then days like today when there's been too much going on (so maybe I should save some of it for the next scratch-around day).

Mainly it's this evening that's been crazy.  The kids were both invited to the opening reception of the Middle School Art Exhibition because their work had been selected for display.  The Girl certainly had a picture up (a collage of the Gherkin), but we never found the Boy's piece - darn it!

We couldn't stick around, because we had to get to Five Rivers for a Volunteer Recognition picnic, and the Boy was featuring as the otter.  He did a great job, as ever - dancing along to the live music and making a toddler fall in love with him. The otter got a special mention at the start of the awards ceremony, but had to take his bow quickly so that we could rush back to the Middle School to arrive just after the start of the annual International Children's Art Auction...

The Girl had a piece of work for sale in the auction, but unfortunately it had been sold before we got there.  Darn it again!  The auction was very well attended and brought in lots of money to be shared between projects for kids in Belize and Uganda - well done to the teacher and children who organized the event.

Drinks on board

It's been the usual sort of day here in Albaniana-land - a spot of volunteer-related stuff to do, some errands to run, taxi service to after-school activities.

The Man is away again, at a conference in D.C.  As so often, his journey yesterday did not go quite smoothly, and what should have been a straightforward two-hour flight ended up taking eight or more.  Weather in Albany delayed take-off, weather at Dulles airport meant a detour to Richmond VA...  He sent me occasional text messages so that I could virtually make slow progress with him.  In one he told me the passengers were being plied with drinks and that the flight attendant had announced "We may not get you anywhere, but we can get you drunk."  So at least there was that. And he did arrive safely in the end.

Game play

The Man and I went to see a play on Sunday afternoon at Capital Rep in Albany.  The God Game by Suzanne Bradbeer examines the theme of faith and politics, and the expectation in the US that a politician (particularly a Republican politician) who wishes to rise in his profession should be, or at least appear to be, a practising Christian.  Complimentary to this main theme is the question of whether it's worth jeopardising personal relationships for the sake of career.

The play was well-constructed and held our attention. Although the plot wasn't entirely credible, and the acting was a little over-blown at times, we came out discussing the issues, which is what you want from that sort of a play, and we were glad to have caught it on the last performance of its run.

My hot husband

 Friends of Five Rivers marched in the Memorial Day Parade again this year.  Once again the Man assumed the role of mascot otter, and my friend and fellow Board member, M, donned the owl costume and had a hoot from start to finish.

People love Five Rivers, and today they weren't shy about shouting it out (or just hooting) to let us know.  And they ADORE the otter (even if they think it's a beaver/squirrel/chipmunk/woodchuck/platypus - seriously though, platypus?).  Even as he over-heated, the Man did an excellent job of greeting the crowds and distributing high fives which were received with joy by young and old alike (overheard: "I high-fived the otter!!!" and "Oh boy, I'm never washing this hand...").

It was hotter than last year, so the otter had to nip off to the side a couple of times and (shh) take his head off.  At the end of the parade he collapsed on a grassy bank for a few minutes to catch his breath, which clearly concerned someone as a policeman (actually, the school detective) came cycling up to tell us he'd had a report of a collapsed chipmunk and were we in need of emergency services?

But the Man was OK, so much so that he put the costume back on to walk back to our friends' house where we'd parked the car.  Funny thing: put on an otter suit and march in a parade and people can't get enough of you.  Just walk down the street in an otter suit and no-one will even look at you.

Adirondack Day Trippers

The Man writes...the Boy's Buddy and his family make an annual Memorial weekend day-trip to Lake Placid, and today the Boy went along.

They had great weather and by all accounts a very enjoyable day. They swam in Mirror Lake ("freezing cold"), played tennis, had ice cream at Saranac Lake, and admired the magnificent views from the top of Whiteface Mountain.  These are the Boy's photos.

 

Ladies, and gents, who lunch

It has been a decent sort of day, which included a Japanese lunch for the Girl and her parents.  It wasn't a particularly chatty meal as we were all so hungry that when the food arrived we just put our heads down and noshed.

Meanwhile the Boy took himself and his buddy out for lunch at our local diner. French fries and ice- cream, hm - I suppose that's a balanced meal, of sorts.  But they later earned their treatr by tilling the sunflower patch and planting the seeds we saved from last year's flowers.

Stormin'

We had a heavy storm yesterday afternoon, while only slightly to the north of us a tornado spun through, mainly affecting the town of Duanesburg.  Someone's house was destroyed and there was other damage to buildings, but fortunately no-one was hurt.

Tornadoes are relatively rare in this part of the States, though there have been at least a couple nearby in the few years we've lived here.  It's perhaps unadventurous of me, but I hope we never get to experience one first hand.

Blog hopping

A busy sort of day, then I got involved in an enterprise with the Girl this evening which took a long time and has left me feeling not very bloggy.  Sorry about that.  Feel free to write in with your own news, though.  Or, cross over to those beach-bum Exiles and admire their sandcastles.

Simply the best

A long day of chores, plus dentist, plus more chores, plus Fair Trade Campaigns conference call, plus Girl's skating lesson, topped off by a two hour board meeting at Five Rivers. 

At the latter there were many interesting things to discuss, and also the news that Five Rivers Environmental Education Center has just been voted Best Place to Go for a Nature Walk, and Best [for] Hiking by readers of Capital Region Living Magazine.

Nothing we Five Rivers fans didn't already know to be true, but it's always nice to have external validation.

Lake Wobegon daze

I headed over to the Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza at lunchtime today - Garrison Keillor was in town!  I tell you, it's a celebrity circus round here these days.

I suspect it's not very cool to admire Garrison Keillor, but as the Man reminds me, appearing cool has never really been my guiding principle in life.  All I know is that I saw him on stage in London thirty years ago and laughed 'til I cried, and he's been a hero to me ever since.

I'd hoped he'd be doing a little presentation or the like, but it turned out it was exclusively a book-signing event.  He seemed to be taking the job seriously and was chatting at length to each fan as he inscribed their fresh copies of his latest book, The Keillor Reader.  I sized up the line of NPR listeners (they were all NPR listeners, definitely) snaking through the store and out into the street, and decided I'd have to forgo a chat with Mr. Keillor this time.

But if we had've chatted, I expect I'd have told him about seeing him in that London theatre all those years ago, and how much he'd made me laugh, and he'd have responded with some self-deprecating  witticism.  And I might have mentioned, in my nervous excitement, that the paint on my hands (from touching up some bedroom paintwork) was a colour that used to be called Prairie Smoke - which conjures up rather nice images doesn't it? - but it's now been relaunched as Green Froth, and even the woman in Lowes who mixed the paint for me thought that was an oddly unattractive name for something you were going to spread on your walls.  And Mr.Keillor ("No really, call me Garrison.  Even Gary, if you like") might have squirreled that little story away and one evening incorporated it into a Lake Wobegon tale, not recalling how he'd come by it, of course - but when I heard it on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion I'd have smiled a secret smile to myself...

However, I think it's more likely that after queuing for an hour, and him having been signing books for about two hours by then, we'd both have been feeling quite jaded and taciturn and not up for much of a chat at all.

Monday matters

Same old same old here in Albaniana-land today.  I've been tied up with various projects, but nothing too bloggable.  As for the others, after their days at school/work: the Girl put in a solid hour of Irish dancing at her class; and though the Man is a little under the weather, the Boy has more than enough energy for the both of them and dragged his dad out after dinner for "street sports" (tennis and soccer).

There May be goslings

Another quiet day but later the Man and I made it down to Five Rivers.  It looked very lovely in all its May glory, and there was the added seasonal bonus of fluffy goslings.

Shredding Day

It has mainly been a "jobs around the house day" for us, with sorting and shredding continuing in the office while the Man tackled some yard work.  Even the kids joined in the efforts and painted a door.

I also popped out to visit my refugee friends, to help them look over some paperwork.  It was nice to see the kids briefly - they are usually at school when I visit. The youngest one has grown a lot.  She has been attending pre-school since September, and loves it, but although she speaks English now she was too shy to speak to me today.

Green day (off)

Since 5th Graders were visiting the Middle School today to check out what they are in for, 6th Graders got to come home early - the Boy seemed to be home again almost as soon as he'd set off.

Since it has been a rainy day, on and off, and none of his friends were available, he hasn't done much with his extra free time, but he and I did go out for lunch together and that was very enjoyable (despite the restaurant's air-con being set to Arctic).

Warm weather coupled with sufficient rain this month mean that everywhere is looking very lush and green - such a contrast with even just a couple of weeks ago.  And, sorry, I don't have a photo to prove it - maybe tomorrow, when it will be even lusher after even more rain tonight.

Quite a Dame

It seems to be the week for famous British people whose names begin with E to visit the Capital District.  Monday night we saw Eddie in Albany, and this afternoon we whisked the Boy over to Troy to experience the skills of world famous percussionist, Dame Evelyn Glennie.

She wasn't performing, though.  She was holding a masterclass for selected percussionists from the Empire State Youth Orchestra, and the sessions were open to the public.

I was surprised how few people had turned out for this free event, but perhaps it's a rather specialist thing?  Anyway, listening to Glennie describe the intricacies and subtleties of percussion playing (specifically, marimba) was just fantastic - she is a brilliant presenter, with great powers of description, and a very kind manner with the students who must have been completely over-awed by the occasion.  We watched two 30-minute sessions, and I for one was enchanted. 

A couple of times she took over the marimba from the student to demonstrate a point she was trying to make.  In one case the student had played perfectly ably - but Glennie's skills took the music to an entirely different level. She is quite extraordinary.

The masterclass took place in the concert hall at EMPAC, the Experimental Media and Performance Arts Center at RPI [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute].  It's a relatively new and very beautiful performance space, and I hope to get back there for a formal performance sometime soon.

Special coaching

The Boy woke us up before six this morning.  He had a major school trip and we had to get him to the Town Park to catch a coach...to NYC!  Quite a trip.

The whole 6th Grade (about 400 kids) went to explore the American Museum of Natural History.  Our Boy had been before, with us back in October, but he enjoyed the revisit.  However, the seven hour round trip by coach was a bit of a marathon.

A crowded "field"

The Girl took a skating test today - the Preliminary MIF (Moves in the Field).  Why they call it that I'm not quite sure: fields really don't come into it. It's a series of prescribed skating moves that take you around the rink.

The examiner watched as various girls in turn took various tests, skating in and out of a whole lot of other girls (and one boy) who were on the ice for skating-as-usual.  

How the examiner managed to see clearly what each candidate was doing beats me, but suffice it to say, the Girl passed her test. Yay! She can now get back to fun stuff like working on a new program and improving her jumps and spins.

Whimsy, on a whim

Eddie Izzard is in town - for one night only, performing at the Palace Theatre in Albany on his US tour.  At the last minute the Man and I got it into our heads to go and see him, so we did.

Mr. Izzard is a clever and funny man. Watching his stand-up routine in full is a bit like being marinated in a vat of whimsy for two and half hours.  Not unpleasant while it's happening, but slightly leaves you wondering why.

Anyway, there were some good laughs.  We're a bit fearful for him, taking his atheist banter and transvestite references to the deep South and American heartland later in the tour, but perhaps he'll still manage to charm?  Well, at least he'll always have Albany - he certainly got a warm reception here.

First cut of the season

We spent a good chunk of this summer-like sunny Sunday with friends - a sort of Mother's Day (as it is here) brunch type occasion.  We met some new people, and caught up on our friends' news, and generally had a good time.

This afternoon the Man has been labouring in the field, or at least mowing the lawn - first cut for this year. He obviously wasn't the only one with that idea, as the neighbourhood has hummed with mowers all day.

Drumming up participants

 Our World Fair Trade Day event went well today.  I was pleased with the turnout.  Fifty-ish might not sound like many, but on a warm Saturday morning in May at the library that's not bad going at all. Some people had come specially, others were passing by and drifted in just to see what was happening. For the most part they stayed a while, got stuck into the activities, chatted about Fair Trade and enjoyed the extremely tasty baked goods.  The FREE FOOD sign definitely worked.

The kids helped out/joined in.  A friend of mine who runs a local art project brought along African drums and other instruments and had a bit of a music session going at the back of the room, which was very popular.  The Boy demonstrated his percussion skills, and has been invited to make a guest appearance at a drumming workshop my friend is running in June - so that's a happy outcome.  The Girl spent the rest of the day with a bunch of friends, including one she hasn't seen for a while - another happy outcome.

Meanwhile, over in Linton I gather the first day of the big bookfest weekend was a great success. I've been enjoying some lovely photos online, and look forward to hearing about tomorrow when, rumour has it, there might be a very special guest attending.

Preparations

With the Boy back at school today as planned, I've been scrambling around all day preparing for the Fair Trade Fun Day I'm running at the library tomorrow.  I've been assembling various international-themed activities for kids, putting together a display for an information table, and collecting in entries for a Fair Trade Bake-Off to be judged by members of the library staff, then sampled by the public.  I've also been lining up some volunteers (mostly friends of the Girl).

I have no idea what the turnout will be, having not done this particular event before, but I've spent years studying events in this country now and I think I've learned what sells: the sign outside the room tomorrow will offer Fun Things To Do PLUS FREE FOOD, and I hope that will pull in some passing trade.

It's all in honour of World Fair Trade Day.  I'm excited that this year in the Capital Region there are a whole lot of events going on to mark the occasion - in Albany at the Honest Weight Food Coop and at Ten Thousand Villages, an FT store; in Troy at Emma Willard School (the USA's first FT High School); and at Mango Tree Imports, the FT store in Ballston Spa.

Impatient patient

Another day off school for the Boy - better than yesterday, but still hoarse and spiking a temperature.  He spent most of his time on the sofa watching videos. This is his sister's idea of a dream day but, unusual fellow that he is, the Boy tells us he would have preferred to have been at school.  He's hoping to be back there tomorrow.

As he was not in need of constant attention, I was able to leave him convalescing while I made a couple of refugee-related outings. The family I visit has a big project on that I'm trying to help with - more on that some other time.

This evening we went all old timey and "made our own fun" with a few rounds of charades.  The Boy hammed it up, giving a convincing impression of someone who is really on the mend now.

Sick day

The Boy got up this morning feeling proper poorly - fever and everything - so he had the day off school.  He rallied during the day (those magic meds) but he has a gravelly voice and we'll have to see how he is tomorrow.

So I spent the day mostly at home, too (though I did get the Girl to skating later on).  I hacked away some more at the filing task - I'm making progress but still have a way to go.

Band night

The Boy is not 100% this week, with a sore throat and a slightly wonky thermostat.  The school nurse sent him home early today, but he was determined to make it to the 6th Grade concert tonight.  So he took some meds, grabbed his sticks and went.

We're glad he did.  The band played well (wow, they've come such a long way from Mary Had a Little Lamb and the rest of the elementary school programme). They played four pieces and made a good sound. Percussion turns out to be one of the most interesting orchestral gigs - the eight or so kids who play it in this grade were taking turns on all the various instruments: drums of different sizes, bells and cymbals.

The Boy enjoys playing in the band, and we're happy that he has musical pursuits.

Time files by

Alas, no May Day Bank Holiday for us.

School for the kids, work for the Man.  And I made some inroads into our filing system, which needs a thorough sort-out.

After school: percussion lesson for the Boy, dance for the Girl, swimming for the Man.  And more fun with files for me.

The Importance of Supporting School Theatre

On a whim, the Man and I went to see a High School production of The Importance of Being Earnest this afternoon.  It was an edited version, shortened to just an hour.  The cast of teenagers did a nice job - not a slick performance, but engaging, and they got plenty of laughs.  Oscar Wilde's lines sound just as funny with an American accent.

In the intermission, giving a nod to menu references in the play, tea and cucumber sandwiches and muffins were served - a version thereof, anyway.  The sandwiches were spread with cream cheese (no one thinks to put butter in sandwiches here); the muffins were not the bready English kind but cakey American ones; and the tea... well, suffice it to say, the tea was served with honey, not milk. So, not exactly authentically British - but a jolly spread, nonetheless.

We didn't find out until the end, but the son of a member of our trivia team was playing Lady Bracknell - splendidly pneumatic, and just camp enough without overdoing it.  Special credit to the girl playing Miss Prism: a stand-in because the billed actress was sick, she was recruited with only two hours notice and put in one of the best performances of the show.

As they took their bows, each member of the cast gave a thank you to the parents and backstage crew who had made the show possible, and the guy who'd played the butler threw out a heartfelt plea for us all to contact our Board of Education members and remind them to give as much support to school Arts as they give to school athletics.

Books books books

A couple of weeks ago I loaded up the car, then our garage, with a lot of second-hand books that had been collected at the Middle School. Today we delivered them to their destination, the old Albany YMCA, which is home to Grassroot Givers.

After they'd lugged all the books in, the Girl and other members of her Girl Scout group sorted them into categories (non-fiction, picture books, readers etc) so that they'll be easier for recipients to pick from later.  Mostly it's Albany teachers who come in and choose books for their students, many of whom don't have books of their own at home.

The girls worked hard and fast and had soon sorted the 894 books we'd arrived with. Wow, that was a lot of books!

The girls were also given a tour of the whole Grassroot Givers operation, and gained some insight into the services it provides.  And after the sorting effort they got to hang out in the former lap pool, sitting on some old pews that a church had donated, eating doughnuts.

Tweezer teaser

Ticks are a big deal in this part of the world.  You can pick them up anywhere, and they spread nasty diseases such as Lyme.  It's best to avoid getting them on you at all but that isn't always possible, so regular all-over tick checks are advised and it's good to have the right sort of tweezers on hand in case you need to pull one off you.

For the last couple of weeks (actually, since the Exile pulled a tick off my husband at a party) I've been trying to get hold of a pair of those special tweezers.  Well, I've visited several pharmacies, large and small, and tweezers are not to be had. And it's not because there's been a run on them and everywhere has sold out (as you might expect at this everyone's-going-outside-again-after-the-long-winter time of year) - the stores don't even stock them.  What's that about?  The pharmacist at a CVS told me customers ask him for these tweezers "all the time, but the company doesn't send us any."

Hmm.  If I was of a conspiracy-theory frame of mind I'd be very suspicious by now.  But maybe I just need to see the opportunity instead of the challenge, and start my own tick tweezer business?

A crowd of threes

I seem to be in a run of writing everything at a day's remove...so, anyway, yesterday (Wednesday) I was down at Five Rivers again, observing an Observers class.  It's a while since I've taught, so I wanted to remind myself about what is involved by watching another instructor with a class of kids.

Observers is aimed at the younger age groups, and this was the youngest group you could get: three year-olds.  I'm going to sound like an American when I say, they were adorable.  They really were. Sweetness personified, with their eager little faces and their welly boots on the wrong feet.

The lesson usually takes one and a half hours, all out on the trails.  However the weather was very cold and drizzly, and this little lot weren't quite up to it, so they only spent thirty minutes outdoors and the rest in the classroom examining animal pelts and feathers and pretending to be bees (the instructor really had to think on her feet).  While we were outside they did spot some deer fur, animal trails, scat ("Euugghh!") and had a goose come right up to see them. So they had plenty to remember and tell their parents about when they got home, and they all looked very happy about the whole adventure.

And I was reminded that teaching at Five Rivers is all about never knowing what to expect, and having fun with that.