What a week! It
has been a whirlwind of activity around our house. Everyone in the family stepped up to make the
house presentable for Grandma and Tim, Jim’s brother. I must say it is awfully nice to have the entire house clean
at one time, rather than attacking the neediest room each week. The main focus of their visit was to
see Pippin, but I’ll save those stories for later.
After the house started to shine, I did manage to squeeze in
more needle felting. I’m very
excited about the felted tiles I’m creating featuring vegetables and
fruit. Everyone knows that fruits
and vegetables are healthy to eat, but mine are especially high in fiber. Ha ha ha! This week I focused on peas. When I was sitting outside the room where the boys were
having their voice lesson I was positioned underneath a large commissioned
piece that featured pea vines on a trellis, which made for a wonderful creative
connection. I worked, listened to
singing and looked up at my artistic history. When I thought about the fancy wine we planned to drink with
Tim, I got to thinking about grapes so I had to make a few of those to feature
on tiles. And of course you can
never have enough tomatoes, so I made more thick slices that show off the
delicate seeds and internal structure.
Saturday night featured the opening performance of
Pippin! It was fabulous to share the
event with my family around me in the center of the sixth row—best seats in the
house! I just got to take it all
in. The kids were amazing! They sang and performed their hearts
out and the audience loved it. The
costumes really pulled it all together—I must say I’m really proud of my
designs, and I’m incredibly grateful to all the people who transformed them
into costumes, especially Nancy Riggert.
It was fun to see some of the parents who contributed to the costuming
after the show, and they got to see how their efforts fit into the big
picture. They were in awe of the
entire performance. I’m really proud
of what we’ve been able to accomplish as a group. I’m grateful to Gwen Witten and Chris Miller for giving me
this opportunity. It’s just the
biggest canvas I’ve ever worked on, and it’s so much fun to see it all come
together.
Next, a little parental gloating is in order. Tommie and Jacob were fabulous! The transformation that Tommie
undergoes when he is onstage is phenomenal, to the point that people don’t
recognize him. He does appear
different visually underneath grey hair and behind a beard, but his body
movements, gesturing and voice characteristics are completely fabricated and
distinct from his day-to-day persona.
And, if you want to see them live - the next performance is this Saturday Oct 22, 7pm - and here is the link to the tickets!
I wish my grandfather, a bass in the Czech opera, could have seen him in
action. Jacob shone too—he was a
glowing, performing ball of energy.
He embraces the stage, but his stage persona is a caricature of how we
see him at home. He was a
confident magician, a dynamic circus performer, and always in command of his
art. My little pumpkins!
We had a wonderful visit with Grandma and Tim. We shared lots of stories and laughs over
meals and a trip to the Farmer’s market on Saturday morning. We found hot chocolate and coffee for
everyone—including me! Marina made
me a special, off the menu, decaffeinated coffee that made me very happy. At the market we sampled a variety of
dainties for breakfast and found enough vegetables for the week. The biggest
news from the gastronomic adventures was that there was pie. It was an amazing blueberry/strawberry creation
using fruit from our trip to Andrews Produce on Topsail Island back in
May. It came after the almond
encrusted walleyes the crew caught in July and a nice bottle of wine, so we had
an excellent meal. And I got pie
for breakfast over the next few days!
Today I finished the last slice, though. I’m beginning the next countdown to the next pie—I wonder
what and when it will be?
Until next week
Posts
I love these glimpses into your very creative life! <3
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