Welcome, Spring! ???

The calendar tells us that today, March 20th, is the 1st day of Spring. It may be more apparent in different parts of the country, but here in the high desert of Oregon it most certainly is not. A few inches of heavy snow greeted me as I opened the back door to let the dogs out this morning. I called in to the school closure hotline prior to waking Amy just to be sure - alas school was still on... Dan shoveled to reach the newspaper and on we went with the day.

It just so happens that my lovely and talented niece, Nancy Barnes, just sent us copies of photos she took back in January when visiting with her handsome husband, Jason. The photos where taken at the studio of Amy's ballet teacher, Joy Victor, during class barre work. Even though it is blustery outside and not at all spring like, these pictures remind me of a spring yet to come.

Here are the lovely pictures - Enjoy!

And, Welcome, Spring!

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Music by Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons Spring

my SMART readers

This is my 3rd year participating in the SMART (start making a reader today) program at our local elementary school. The first 2 years brought me in contact with some very sweet, talented and lively 1st and 2nd grade girls. I currently meet and read with 2 second graders every Wednesday. I was pleased to be assigned a boy and a girl this year.

Cristina is simply delightful. She is a bit chubby with deep dimples, long brown hair, wears very fashionable clothes and recently had a second piercing in each ear. She very proudly showed me as soon as we sat down. It was one of her birthday gifts from her mother.
Cristina is the queen of conniving her way out of reading. Her best scheme is to convince me to read every other page, which I am very willing to do - anything to get her reading. Along with reading comes the chitter chatter that is common to girls her age. Keeping her on task is not always easy. But I have found that sometimes just taking some time to chat is just as important as reading together. She has opened up to me about her family life and it is not pretty. She lives with her Grandma. Mom has a boyfriend with other kids living in that home. Dad has a girlfriend and other kids living in his home. Ugh!
I am hoping that my time with Cristina is helpful to her. She certainly makes me smile!

Zerikai - great name, right? - is a sweetheart. He is frequently tired, dirty, and disheveled. I just want to hug him. He really struggles to read but is eager and works hard for each word. Again, we stop to talk and sometimes the subject of our book will remind him of a story that he just has to tell me. Earlier in the year he told me about trips with his father digging for dinosaur bones and traveling into space to other plants. All told with complete seriousness. Lately he has shared with me his dread of going to his dad's house because his stepmother doesn't like him. My heart hurts for this sweet boy.

So, I do what I can - which does not seem like much - to bring a little sunshine into each of these kids lives. They certainly make my day brighter!

auditions, auditions, auditions...

Every weekend in January was booked!! 2 weekends in Seattle, 1 weekend in Portland and 1 weekend at home with our favorite Portlandites - Nancy & Jason.

The 1st weekend, we teamed up with 3 of Amy's ballet buddies and 2 Moms for a roadtrip to Seattle - the goal was to audition for a spot in the School of American Ballet's Summer Intensive which is arguably the toughest program to get into. It is kind of like getting into Stanford or Harvard - about a 10% admission rate. Amy & I had never been to Seattle so after the stress of the audition we were able to enjoy a few hours at Pike's Place Market and do some big city shopping.

Our weekend in Portland involved the same crew of ladies and the dancers had 3 auditions lined up - the Rock School of Dance in Philadelphia, American Ballet Theater School in North Carolina and the Harid Conservatory in FL. This was a much more successful weekend for Amy as she gained admission into both the Rock School and the ABT program in North Carolina. She is also on the waiting list for Harid which is really where she would like to end up.

The last weekend in January we took Dan along to Seattle. I think the other girls/moms had had enough but Amy wanted to press on and try for 2 more. Dan & I were also hoping for success at these 2 auditions as they would keep her within driving distance of home. The Pacific Northwest Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet. Unfortunately she did not get into either program... Again, very stiff competition! When you think of these schools auditioning in cities all across the US with hundreds of kids in each city vying for a spot in the summer program - it really boggles the mind!




Ah well, the audition process is good experience for Amy. We will keep you advised of her summer plans!

The "Best" Christmas Gift

You're looking at a picture of it .... the "Best" Christmas gift. So what is DOC and what is this all about?

This gift concerns repayment of a couple of dollars owed to me. It turns out that I grew up in a small country village, East Union, MN, with a population of about 50 and about 25 miles from Minneapolis. Most of the folks living there had lived there "forever" and were second, third or even fourth generation (like me). That meant that outsiders were looked upon with suspicion and generally not spoken to, i.e. the complete opposite of "Minnesota friendly". Or maybe that IS Minnesota friendly? Ignoring weather extremes, it was a pretty idyllic place.

Then one day some new folks moved into the area. Marge and Phil Johnson bought a farm about half a mile from where I lived. They had a couple of small kids, and my mother got to know Marge quite well because she did some babysitting for her. Phil worked somewhere in "the cities" and was a gentleman farmer on nights and weekends. It didn't take much of his time because he chose to grow grass for sod, which doesn't take much effort once it is planted. I hardly knew Phil (remember, you don't talk to strangers).

When I was perhaps 20 years old, I got a call from Phil one evening asking if I could come and work for him that evening doing some sod work. It was about the last thing I wanted to do because I was working my way through college by flagging traffic for the Minnesota Highway Department. That looks like an easy job, but after standing on hard pavement for 10 hours my legs typically felt like wooden sticks underneath my body. But when working one's way through college, every last dollar counts so I went and did a couple hours of work for Phil. At the end of the evening, he said "I will pay you later". Minnesota nice dictates that you say something like "okay, thank you". Well, later turned out to be much later, and I did not get paid my $2 by the time I went back to college.

That winter back at school I received some shocking news. Phil Johnson had murdered his wife Marge. What?! That kind of stuff absolutely DOES NOT happen in East Union. But it did. So much for my $2 (never mind Marge and the kids).

I told Amy this story a couple months ago, and it set her to thinking. A week before Christmas she placed a package under our Christmas tree and told me that it was the best Christmas gift. When I opened the package, you can see a copy of what I found at the top of this page. She had gone to the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) and gotten the commissioner's name. Using their letterhead, she composed a letter to me from the commissioner and from Phil Johnson. After lots of years, I finally got my $2. The letter and the dollars are framed and hung on our wall. I guess you could say it is a conversation piece.