Tonight we brought the pet hermit crab home from the crab-sitters. We might have left Tommy behind in Myrtle Beach, but we have regained Winter. We are officially back.
Yesterday and today was all about getting adjusted. The kids have been finishing off their travel journals, practicing piano, and planning my birthday on Thursday.
I have been prepping for a creative writing workshop that I started for a handful of super fun/smart/sweet homeschooling teenagers. It's interesting to hear the different reasons why each kid is homeschooling. Everybody has a story. I also had a marathon dentist appointment -- that's when you really know that the vacation is over.
Yesterday we attended a fabulous FREE concert at the NYPL for the Performing Arts (that's the library that's part of Lincoln Center). It was the Egypt Mini-Series: The Music of Mohammed Fairouz. I swear I didn't know that the saxophone could make such sounds. It was so different. I don't know what dissonant chords are, or minor chords, etc... I can just say that it sounded different. And striking. I wondered this wonder as the concert was progressing: does going to so many concerts make the kids more appreciative of music, or is it kind of desensitizing them to it, so they take it for granted? I thought of a part in a play we saw one time when a girl had never had ice cream. When she finally did get to try it it was like this life-changing moment that was so amazing she could refer back to it when she wanted a little bit o' happy. I don't know know what the answer is, but I will say that when we had to leave at intermission to make our rendezvous (returning a friend that we had on a playdate), The Boy was actually sad to leave. He said it was the best concert that he had ever been to.
I looked up Mohammed Fairouz, because man, if you can get The Boy to say he loved a concert something was done right. As it turns out he was born in 1985. Hello?! If you believe Wikipedia he is "one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation." Is he the only composer of "his generation"? Isn't everybody else his age like still watching professional wrestling and eating wings? I am impressed, and I am very grateful that our friend suggested the concert (her daughter's piano teacher curated the event).
Today we learned about the controversy surrounding the Belo Monte Dam project in Brazil. This was spawned because of that YouTube video we found when looking around for the "I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper" song (see previous post). "Cleaner energy" from one camp, "toxic levels of methane" from the other camp. My goodness, how does one sort out all of the information from experts? Anyway, an exercise in current affairs.
Anywho, we're getting back into the swing of things here. It snowed today and I wondered how those six-toed cats are doing out at Key West.
