Landfill Harmonic film teaser from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.
I am counting down the days until Christmas vacation with the boys! I can’t wait. I have big plans. Plans to do nothing! Nothing includes crafting, baking, and reading, but does not include homework, carpool, or swim practice.
Monday
I let the dogs out in the morning while I got ready for the day. When I went to bring them inside, they were sitting back-to-back under a huge ray of sunlight. They had their chins up and their eyes closed. I tried to sneak up and take a picture, but they got curious and moved.
Tuesday
More beautiful light, only this time in the afternoon on our way home from school. It’s starting to get cold here in southern California, so our leaves are only now starting to turn and drop in full force. It was so pretty outside. Everything is a different color when the air is brisk. The sunlight bleeds through the red leaves and turns everything soft and pink.
Wednesday
Susie shared the most amazing video on her blog. That’s it above, about the orchestra. Speaking of music, Nicholas shows zero interest in the piano. His heart still beats for drums. Mikey, on the other hand, will play it on his own, and when I showed him how to play a very simple (one hand, no chords) arrangement of Deck the Halls, he practiced and practiced until he could play it, too.
Thursday
The boys had their school Christmas program. Adorable! I wish I had a video of Nicholas singing. He gets really into it with the long notes. He looks like the little boy in the blue coat behind Sally, right down to the head tilt.
The Rest
Friday is Mikey’s last swim practice. Yay! The return of our Fridays is imminent. Saturday and Sunday look to be pretty quiet. I hope to get some reading done. Anna Karenina, I’m looking at you.
Speaking of classics, I found out this week Edie of Life in Grace has a book club. They’re reading the classics! The classics-classics. Are you impressed? I am. I have no problem admitting her book club is handing my book club its lunch. She has over 500 members participating and the club has its own forum. Fancy! The reading list is intimidating, but I’d like to join in every now and then. She mentions in one of her videos that the trick to reading books like the ones she has scheduled is to practice. Over time, it gets easier. She’s right. I talked about that more in this post (one of my favorites), and I found that to be true even in law school. There is little as boring, dry, and difficult to understand than a casebook, but by the time I graduated I could fly through them. I’m going to join when they get to Dante. That’s been in my Unread Library for years!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Love the dogs’ picture – there is nothing that says pure bliss like a dog loving the sunshine.
Thanks for mentioning the other book club – it is intimidating but I might peek in now and then.
Somehow, free-spirited drums for Nicholas and melodic and methodical piano for Mikey seems just right! Both great individually but together that could be magical. :)
Oh my gosh! Susan, I never looked at the musical instruments from a personality standpoint. You are SO RIGHT!!!
One of my friends also posted the Landfill Harmonic video this week. I love it! I immediately hit “Like” on their Facebook page so I was up to date on the documentary release. Music is my total soft spot.
It’s awesome that Mikey is playing piano of his own will! You might ask him if he’d like to start lessons. The more instruments he plays, the easier it is to learn another.
I’m glad you mentioned Anna Karenina. I’m only 7% through. My biggest challenge is that it’s not an “easy read”. So the times when I’d normally pick up a book (in between jobs, over a lunch break after staring at a computer screen for 4 hours, bedtime, or sick) don’t seem to go well with reading that requires my brain to activate. I renewed the booger from the library twice before loading it to my phone’s e-reader and returning the 4×6, 5-inch thick paperweight (hence, why I know I’m 7% through and no idea what actual book page, lol). I LOVE the story and enjoy reading it, just not that often. I am still reading it in between jobs. I’ve moved on to reading The Beautiful Mystery as my spare time book though.
It’s good to know that practice will make this sort of reading easier eventually!
I love a Charlie Brown Christmas. I feel like when my boys dance, they are all the characters in that dancing scene melded into two little cuties.