Thomas's Philharmonia concert (possibly)

Here is a link to four pieces of music performed by the Flint Youth Philharmonia last Thursday (24th), starring THOMAS on percussion (particularly on the third one, which is the theme from The Dark Knight) and some other kids. The file is enormous, so we couldn't post it the usual way - I hope it works for you. If it doesn't work immediately, give it a few minutes.

More parking lot glaciers

Duck update

I'm sure everyone is wondering how the ducks are doing, by now named "Zachary Quack" (the mainly yellow one) and "Pretzel" (the darker one). (I didn't pick the names, let's just leave it at that.) Here they are, a mere 10 days old, enjoying their daily bath in our kitchen sink, practicing dodging and diving. At first we thought Pretzel was a little "slow" but now he or she (and that issue will remain unsettled for many more weeks) has packed on the ounces and found a real zest for life.

I'd like to report that Thomas runs to my side when I tell him that it is time to feed the ducks and give them clean water (they like to swim in their water trough--very annoying!) but he always squeals like a stuck pig ("Ewww! They stink!") and gags very dramatically and stumbles about the room helplessly. The ducks themselves are, actually, very clean since they spend almost all their time splashing about in their drinking water. The problem is that because they splash all the water OUT of their drinking water onto their wood shavings and, because they still need to be under a heat lamp set to 90 degrees, the wet wood coupled with their crap ferments to a really ripe acidic stench. But, still, Thomas is making much too big a deal of it and in another two weeks they'll be big enough that they can handle regular room temps so it won't smell so much. But I'm betting Thomas will still squeal.

Spring sights in Michigan

This semester has had more canceled school days than any I can remember. Wednesday was the most recent one. I couldn't believe it at first, because there just hadn't been that much snow, but it was snow followed by freezing rain, which coated the snow on the branches and weighed them down. The result was very pretty (in March the trees are just bare and depressing-looking otherwise) but it also brought down a lot of branches and took out the power in pockets all over town. Here's our driveway, blocked by laden-down bushes:

We were fortunate in that nothing big came down and we didn't lose power. Emily was NOT so fortunate. I'm not sure if the branch below by her house is the reason, but she's still without power, which is extra-inconvenient because she only has electric heat (otherwise she could use all this beautiful firewood):

Here's another very common sight these days - Thomas dressed up in concert finery. This one was last night's Philharmonia where his percussion skills were on display in such tunes as the 1812 Overture (no actual cannons, chiz chiz), the Pink Panther theme and the theme from the Dark Knight). As you can see, he likes to relax pre-concert with a little light Nintendo-ing:

I built a snow sculpture:

Frederick ate my snow sculpture:

Pretty, innit? Just this weekend I was remarking to Jami that we should put the goldfish who've been living in our basement all winter back into the pond. "It's not going freeze again, is it?" I said. (Incredibly, at least two goldfish survived in the pond all winter. Let's hope they're safe under there...)

If you look on the surface of the pond (click a couple of times to enlarge) you can see hundreds of little chips of ice. That's from the ice chunks in the trees that the sun has loosened enough that they fall. It's like painful rain outside.

Un-bloody-believable

This weekend it warmed up to 68 at one point, all the snow melted, we put the last vestiges of the Xmas ornaments away (the penguin) and had a jolly time burning lots of dead stuff:


All that remained was the last sad remnants of the Great Parking Lot Glaciers, to be found by all large stores. "Let's take a picture" I said to Thomas "because now it's Spring, it's funny!"


Ha bloody ha, because this is what it looks like this very minute:

Make Way For Ducklings!

Last year Frederick fell in love with the ducks at Emily's sister's farm so an idea was planted in my mind: get ducklings for him. However, duckling season is always springtime, apparently, so we had to wait until now. And here they are!

They are both just one day old (right out of the egg!) and don't even have names yet. We don't even know if they are boys or girls yet and won't know until the adult feathers grow in. They cheep constantly and were very confused about how to eat and drink, but figured it out after a while. They have to be under a heat lamp for at least three weeks, and then we can start taking them outside (if the weather permits) for brief trips. Tomorrow Thomas and I are going to start giving them short, warm baths to help them learn to swim and dive. Thomas is beside himself with excitement; Frederick is slightly alarmed with shyness.

[They aren't Swedish Blues, as I had hoped to get but Indian Runners which apparently make "charming pets and are known for their particularly silly antics."

Thomas, relief percussionist

About 10 days ago Thomas's percussion teacher asked Thomas and Omid if they would both help out the FIM Youth Symphony Orchestra percussion section. It seems that the YSO had a really BIG concert coming up (a joint endeavor with some visiting French students from a music institute in Lyon). The YSO is the BIG kids (17 and 18 year olds, just about to spring on to college) so Thomas and Omid JUMPED at the chance. Then they found out what they had gotten themselves into--three 5 hour rehearsals, each of which with only one 10 minute break and a grueling 3 hour concert, which was last night. (And this is on top of his already overbooked schedule: weekly private basson lessons, weekly private percussion lessons, weekly 3 hour wind ensemble rehearsals with thier big concert next week, weekly 3 hour philharmonia rehearsals with their big concert in two weeks.) Here he is, all decked out in his finery:
We all look a bit flustered, not merely because we all hate having our picture taken, but because a mere 45 minutes earlier one of the 5 hour rehearsals had just ended and I had barely gotten Thomas in the door and Simon just about had time to stuff a few pancakes into Thomas (English-style, crepe-y looking things--so not really 'pancakes' at all, actually, but rather tasty nonetheless). Then we had a good 20 minutes of desperation, trying to find all the pieces of his wind ensemble tux which Thomas had cast to the far reaches of his closet after his Christmas concert ended many months ago. We were late, so Emily snapped a quick few picks and off we went for the concert. We dropped Thomas off at the backstage entrance and then went round the front to wait for the magic to begin. And, if the computer gods cooperate, we'll be able to upload something for you to watch. Thomas doesn't have big parts, since he was given list minute "fill" bits, but he was very excited to play chimes on the Great Gate of Kiev (especially after the conducter--an astonishingly wild Frenchie--instructed him to "HIT THEM!! SMASH THEM WITH HAPPINESS!!" Thomas's percusssion teacher frowned but didn't intervene, so Thomas really whaled on them.

UPDATE: here's the beginning of the concert (before the excitable Frenchman took over) with the beginning of Mussorsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (Thomas is in the middle at the back - he didn't get much to do in this one):

Getting bloody sick of Winter

Still NO SIGN of Spring...