Two Months in a Flash, part 1

Because there isn't much else to do for kicks in Flint these days, we decided to photograph our yard once a week to see the progress of Spring. Here, April 4th, shows the last big blast of winter.I can't find our picture for April 11. The computer CLAIMS that is it "no longer available." I am going to keep looking. But you can take my word for it, it was still really dreary--not snow but cold and ugly. Here is April 18th. Still pretty grim. Talk about wishful thinking--the hammock??? (Many years ago Thomas called it a "ham hock"--the name has stuck.)
Now, April 25th. Still grim.

Two Months in a Flash cont.

Here is May 2nd. It's actually starting to look like Spring.
Here is May 9th, Frederick's birthday (hence balloons). It's greener, but it was ridiculously cold that day so no birthday festivities actually took place outside.Here is May 23rd. I thought I took a picture every Saturday, but the camera don't lie--there is nothing for May 16th. You'll have to use your imagination to fill in the gap.And here was yesterday, May 30th, with the trees ALMOST fully leafed out and Stacy and Bryce's house almost completely hidden.

Here is what Jami has been up to:

I think I mentioned that I took a hand building clay class this past semester to get away from work for a few hours a week. I worked on two things--a coil rolled thing and a slab structure. Here at last is the glazed and mosaic-ed black tuber (a working title). I photographed it as I see all the graduation photos being taken in parks around town. If only I could have draped it against a tree. It was a real booger to mosaic as the opening is very small--too small for my hand to fit in--and the surface was very uneven (for the same reason--too small for me to get in there and smoothe it off before firing). I didn't have a plan for picking which tesserae to use but went with what worked at the time. Bryce thinks it is "cool" so I guess it must be somewhat successful.
Here is the sleepy house. I wanted a gray flecked glaze, but this is what there was. Thomas likes it brown and he has better color sense than I, so I will trust his judgment. For the most part I am pleased, though I was sad to see that the window above the door cracked from drying unevenly. I should have wrapped each window opening with plastic until the seams were dry. Well, considering there are twelve windows and a door I got lucky that only one cracked and that it was small enough to not interfere with the structural shape. I would like to make a whole village of such houses. Simon thinks all should be radically different in color. As usual, I'm not sure what colors they should be. And now the really important question: What do I do with these things?

Frederick's Birthday--He's 6!!!

It was warm and sunny all week and Thomas, Simon and I spent hours Friday night (after Frederick was in bed) blowing up balloons and filling the yard with birthday cheer--and then it bucketed rain and the temps dropped to the mid-50s. It was a dreary day, but I think Frederick enjoyed it anyway. Here he is opening presents from Grandma:
Here is the super cake that Simon made--gluten and soy free and actually rather tasty! For reasons no one is quite clear on (including Simon) rather than put 6 candles on the cake, Simon positioned the nine candles into a 6. As you can see, Frederick is quite skeptical that this is the right cake he should be getting.

Post cake (with plenty of frosting to go around) and wearing his nifty birthday button, Frederick surveys the present selection.

Simon urges F to select the OVER 600!!! STICKER BOOK!!! Thomas moans, "Hey--not fair! They didn't have that book when I was that age!" Thomas did offer to do all the stickers for Frederick, though, since 600 stickers is obviously too much for a mere 6 year old to handle.

Thomas's Season Finale

This piece, which is selections from "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End," is the last song Thomas played this year with the FIM Philharmonia. As you can see, this is a far larger group than the forty kids in the Philharmonia. The FIM has what they call their Showcase Concert which showcases (hence the name) all their ensembles, from the kids 3 years old to the high school seniors about to graduate and go on to greener pastures. There were about 350 kids in this collection, including the 8 percussionists. Thomas is the tiny one between Alyssa, his instructor (and the percussionist coordinator), and a high school senior. Indeed, Thomas and Omid (the other tiny one) are the little ones, the all other five kids are all 17 or 18. At 59 seconds in the clatter is Thomas and the kid he is next to dropping two chains on the floor (symbolizing the sound of the pirates being hung). Thomas's first words to me after the concert was over were, "I got to drop one of the chains!" At 2:48, the oboe solo starts--one of Simon's former logic students. I don't know if logic strengthened his musical abilities, but I'm sure it didn't hurt. The house was packed with an audience over 5,000 people filling not only the floor but four mezzanine levels. As usual, Thomas wasn't even nervous, just sad that the season was coming to and end.