Arabian Nights

"Arabian Nights"    Oboes & Bassoons   Sat June 25th  Conservatoire de Nice

"A La Claire Fontaine" [French children's song]

A short video of Léna singing at a concert last night.

Léna in the newspaper

 This was just a few days ago on June 14th.  Léna got interviewed after school about "what is a Mayor?" and thankfully her response was spot on.  :-)  This is due to Christian Estrosi, who has been the mayor of Nice for several years, giving up his mayorship because his eyes are on bigger prizes.

On May 10th, Léna's school class sang in a big outdoor concert with classes from other schools.  That is her teacher Magali standing right next to her.  And on the far right, with cascading curling blond hair, is Michelle, who was Estelle's 1st grade teacher before she left her old school to go to the music school.

Isn't it sad that I don't post very often anymore!  But from my telephone I cannot post, and therein lies the rub.

RIP Prince

This post from October 2009 shows me dancing my head off to Prince, live, on French TV in Paris.

When I was 13, I went to see Purple Rain with my old neighbor Nancy.  Her mother had died, her father had remarried, and she had moved away.  But she and I met up, somehow, somebody took me to meet her somewhere in Burlington, and off we went to see Purple Rain, fresh out in the cinema.  It was a wild, grown-up thing to do.

I just showed the Purple Rain video to my uni students 2 weeks ago, for no reason at all.  Because I could.

What a wild performer, so full of energy.  I loved him to death over 30 years ago, still do.  Bummer, in every sense of the world.  Is 2016 the year music died?  Starting to feel like it and we're only in April.

Happy Birthday Joanie!

Oboe Audition - Douceur Oceane 30 Jan 2016

Debussy's "Rêverie"

The Farmer Boy Trip = Almanzo Wilder's homestead

One lovely day in July was one of my best days of the year.  10 hours with my sisters doing something interesting.  But before that we had 4 nights at the red camp.

 Our first day there, we saw Tyler  & co out for a quick canoe ride.

 There was some lovely painting going on, and some attempts at fishing.

 Heather came for a sleepover one night too!

One evening we went for dinner at Dad's old farm, the Aldrich house, with our friends Rob & Celena Coleman and their daughters Iris & Reed, exact same ages as our 2.

 We even made real ice cream!

 The next day was the evening all my sisters arrived for the Farmer Boy excursion.

 The next day off we went in a van big enough for all of us.  What a great day!

We had a lovely 2-hour tour with a great guide.

 We saw all the barns & the house.

 Such a lovely day.

 And here was a really special treat - all our names on plaques, donated by Joanie to finance the one-room school house built on the estate.

 I love this photo as it shows my 5 sisters, all teachers, all in different positions of study in this school.  And Jim, our guide, who was delighted by us, and us with him.

 We even had a little nature walk down to the river.

 I was captivated by this unusual cemetery that we drove by.

 

The next morning, back at the ranch, the girls had special time on the couch with their aunties.

 Breakfast fit for a Farmer Boy!

 That same day I attended, as the lone guest, the burial of Mr. Coleman's ashes at his plot at Westlook, just several paces from where Dad is buried.   Iris & Reed sang for their grandfather, Rob & Celena said a few words, and I thanked Dr. Coleman for taking such good care of my father's childhood home, and for our incredible luck at meeting each other, and reconnecting that home and the wonderful people in it, to our family.

The 4th of July, 3 months later!

Here are some fun photos of our 4th of July weekend in Vermont this summer.

 The next day we did the Color Run at Echo Lake. 

 Soon after we got ready for 4 nights at Shadow!