smooth

Here it is, post #200. Goodness, I talk a lot.

Our driveway is becoming more and more smooth. Our long laneway has, from year to year, sprouted potholes that then proceeded to have children and grandchildren, all of whom grew rather quickly. Our slalom down the lane helped for a while until potholes appeared on the alternate routes. Gravel put into the holes helped for a bit, then seemed to be feeding them as they continued to grow.

They are mostly gone now, thanks to D's passes with the tractor and the grading blade. It's like a new, and much less bone-jarring, driveway. After only three times up and back, there is a marked difference. It's a nice change.

This week is school, but the big event is the girls' highland dance exams on Wednesday. I have alterations to make to National dresses, and a blouse to finish. M is doing a sword and a fling, A and R are doing sword, fling, lilt, Flora, and R is also adding a seann tribbhaus and a half hullichan. I never knew, until the girls started dancing, that there were so many that fall under the title of 'highland dance'. I guess it's like that with anything you get involved in - there's more than the casual observer knows. This is our first foray into National dances (lilt, flora, and hullichan), and I must admit that much as I like the kilt/vest look, the white dresses with their tartan sashes are so pretty. The flora has become my favorite dance to watch, so flowing and pretty. It's very different from the sword.

I'm glad we had a good weekend of nice weather and some outside work, with the forecast this week for rain, rain and more rain, and cooler temperatures. All is green outside, and once I have these dresses and exams done I will be turning my attention to some of the gardens and how to reclaim them from the nasty weed that seems to invade all and take over. Perhaps napalm?

more classics

The girls' history book has brought us up to the Elizabethan Age, and had a chapter on Shakespeare. After reading its paraphrased story of Macbeth yesterday, we read A Midsummer Night's Dream from a book I had bought separately, Ten Tales of Shakespeare for Children by Charles and Mary Lamb. This book tells the plays in a story format, good for reading aloud and not having to explain who's talking, but it keeps some of the lines so that the flavor is there. I followed that up by getting my Pelican Complete Works of William Shakespeare and reading Puck's final speech in the original language ("If we shadows have offended / Think but this, and all is mended").

They loved it. R especially was taken with the old-style language. We even looked up some sonnets, M recalling that the one quoted in the Sense and Sensibility movie was #116 ("Love is not true love / Which alters when it alteration finds"). I'm going to try to track down the local company that does Shakespeare in the Park, and see what they have playing this summer.

another walk

Another lovely, sunny day. I can get used to this, and the mountains of snow seem like a faraway land now.

This morning I was in the gardens by the pool, pulling the dead mats of grass and leaves off to find moist soil and little greenlings underneath. It was like something from The Secret Garden, searching under the brown to find the new little plants. It makes me feel like greeting them.

D is on the third of his dates with each of the girls this weekend. M got taken to a movie last night (Horton Hears a Who), A was taken to breakfast and assorted things this morning, and now R is out to see Nim's Island with him. While he was home this morning the five of us and Sam the Mighty Hunter retraced my steps of last week's walk.

What a difference. The snow is reduced to a few forlorn, crystalline drifts hiding in the shade of the cedars, the extra streams have vanished and left behind muddy spots. The creek is still high and rushing, but some rocks have appeared above the water and in the sunshine, all was glittery and sparkly.

As we were wandering home, a rush a few feet ahead of us caught our eyes, I thought it was a groundhog, until I saw the tail and realized it was a muskrat. Sam, still seeming to feel every inch the hunter, went after it, but it was too quickly into the water. Sam jumped in and proceeded to stick his nose in the water while we watched the muskrat easily swim across the creek, emerging out of reach and safe on the other side. Sam was sure it must still be at his feet, wasn't that where it disappeared? The look on his face was pretty amusing, and we (well, the humans) were all glad the muskrat was safe and sound.

It's nice to find things like this when you walk in what I suppose is our backyard. I like this time of year, walking and remembering why this place is worth the work, then sitting on an old fence rail in the warmth of the sun, dreaming.

Here is my waterfall, my special place, today. By mid summer I will be able to sit on a rock in mid-stream that is now under water, and listen to the soft trickle. Today, D was eyeing it and asking, "how would you shoot those rapids?"

And here's a little peaceful spot that we found. R decided it belonged in Middle Earth. Of course, in two months' time, the mosquitoes will be crazy, but for today we could stand and enjoy it.

there's something in my ear

Yeah, same day, two posts. Just the topics were so different, and it sort of makes up for my weeks of silence.

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Last night's band rehearsal was the first go at the Aviom in-ear monitor system. It's surreal, since I have the Shure 210 earbuds, which do a very good job of keeping out the live sound, meaning I was mostly only able to hear the feed through the system. So one person's unmic'ed voice right next to me was muffled, while the voice across the room in the mic was as clear as could be. It gives one this sort of displaced feeling.

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D said as he drove in it was odd, too, as typically the house is shaking with the amps going (my rule has always been that if plaster starts falling from the ceiling, we're too loud) - but all he was hearing was the piano, sax, and voices as all the guitars and the drums were running through the headphones.

But all that aside, the ability to set my own little monitor mix is wonderful. I was adjusting it on the fly, pulling up the drums or guitars as needed, moving the vocal levels around as different people led different songs. It's a fun toy but one that will help the band's sound be the best it can be.

So, on a first run, I must say I'm liking it. We're going to do a few more times of rehearsal before we take it live, but this is looking (well, sounding) good.

archie the wonder dog strikes again

Without going into too many details, suffice it to say that Archie the Wonder Dog has again become Sam the Mighty Hunter. And the farm is less one groundhog for it. I usually like groundhogs but when they start tunneling under our barns they reach pest status and so practically speaking, Sam did a good job.

On a more positive note, these warm days have been lovely. School is being finished with astonishing speed, the girls egging each other on: "hurry up! It's a nice day and we can go outside when we're finished!"

Yesterday was spent raking the yard, much to the chickens' delight as I stirred up assorted little bugs and such. I also filled in the trench in our yard where last fall we exposed the openings to the septic tank to have it checked and pumped, and then the snow came early and the trench remained through the winter. Oddly enough, my arms and back are sore today.

The days are longer, the sunsets wider across the sky, the house has the sweet smell that only comes from open windows and clothes fresh in from the clothesline. The birds' songs wake me in the morning, the creek's flow can still be heard from the house. The ground is still pretty wet and the gardens can only really be raked right now, but today the chairs will be put back onto the porch and I will sit and enjoy our little bit of quiet.

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Then I'll remember how much stuff I have to do.