Is that a grave in your front yard?

Poor Larry. He hates plumbing repairs, and we have had one plumbing problem after another at our house over the past several months. Just when we thought things had settled down somewhat, we started noticing a wet place in the front yard that quickly morphed into standing water. Just what we needed - a leaky pipe!

The weather dried out a bit, and Larry started digging. Deeper and deeper and deeper he went before he got to the pipe in question. Pretty soon we had what looked like a grave in front of our house. What a mess!



We put up caution tape and tarps to keep children and dogs and Girl Scout cookie sellers from falling in...



Before he could repair it (or even see what it was that needed to be repaired) we had to turn the water off and let it dry out. Larry filled up bathtubs with water and equipped each with a bucket for adding to the toilet for flushing purposes. He filled carafes and pots with water in the kitchen for drinking and cooking. As a back-up we stocked up on bottled water, too.



The first day we fared OK, but didn't think (duh!) about using paper plates. We washed by hand, then realized, too late, that our water was going fast. After that, we saved up the dishes until our kitchen sink was filled with saved dirty dishes. Why did I even continue to cook? It would have been a lot smarter and easier to bring in fast/take-out food and toss the mess!



In the meantime, we also had the pesky issue of bathing. Sponge baths became the way to go, and we utilized our Girl Scout dishwashing bins to help keep our toilette organized.



Three days later, we were relieved that the job was done. Larry accomplished a neat repair...



... and our water was turned back on. Hurray!!!

Now it was time to fill in the hole again. In the meantime, of course, it started to rain. (At least it held off while he was digging and working on the repairs!) As he attempted to refill the trench amid the drizzle, he had to deal with the fact that it was again full of water, this time courtesy of Mother Nature.



Boy, are we lucky Larry is so handy around the house. Imagine what it would have cost for that job if we'd had to hire somebody... And the flower bed would probably have been destroyed. As it was, Larry did a pretty good job of salvaging what was there, and leaving it ready for Spring planting. What a guy!

It's Cookie Season!

"OMG! What did we get ourselves into?" That was the thought that crossed our minds at the beginning of cookie season this year. Larry and I took on the daunting task of being Cookie Managers for our daughters' two troops - one of which is rather large. We came back from the warehouse with 5 carloads of cases of Girl Scout cookies! In preparation for the onslaught, we took the table out of the dining room to make room for the stock. Good thing!



Xeda loved the new decorating scheme. She thought it was her own personal playground.



We hadn't long to admire our own personal warehouse; in two hours girls were coming by to pick up the cookies they pre-sold door to door. We had to fill these orders fast so we'd be ready. Thus, things started to spread out into the living room and family room of our house.



Emily ended up the troop's top seller. (Go, Emily!) Her order alone looked like this:



Four weekends, 37 cookie sellers, and 40 booths(!) later, we were down to this look. Xeda was so disappointed to see her playground disappear... :-(



Anybody want some Lemon Chalet Cremes?



After all the paperwork was complete, even the lemon cookies found a home - at the Oregon Food Bank. We finally have our dining room, as well as the rest of the house back.



Now we just have to move the furniture back into place!

Springtime in February

Sarah and Emily are skiing today at Mt. Hood Meadows. We spend our evenings lately watching events at the Winter Olympics. But here in Portland, Spring has sprung!

I just returned from a walk under a cloudless blue sky - unheard of here this time of year. I was astounded at the number of flowers I passed in full bloom. Bulbs were in abundance: crocuses, grape hyacinth, narcissus, even some early daffodils and tulips. And based on the green shoots I saw well through the earth, later tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils are not far behind. A bit higher off the ground were heather, azaleas, camellias, and pieris. Trees are even budding out; the maples, plums, and cherries will be beautiful if this keeps up.

Kids are out playing and riding bikes, people are walking, everyone wants to take advantage of this unseasonably early warm (and dry) spell. Let's hope we don't get a freeze that destroys it all!

Sarah Goes GOLD!

Thursday night we attended an awards ceremony at the Pacific Northwest College of the Arts for the Scholastic Art Awards.



Sarah was among the local student artists being honored. Her art teachers urged her to submit some of her art pieces to this annual competition. She sent three entries in, and one of them was awarded a Gold Key - the top award. We are really proud of her for putting herself out there and for working so hard to achieve this honor. Congratulations, Sarah!



Her piece is a chalk pastel drawing of a bowl of fruit - a classic still life, right?



Maybe not... Is that mold on that orange? Is that pear rotting? The apple has worms in it! And, are those fruit flies circling overhead?!



The assignment was to draw something ugly in a beautiful manner, and Sarah stuck her tongue firmly in her cheek with this concept of a typical still life that isn't. Pretty clever, I think...

Several of her friends were award winners, as well, some Gold, some Silver, some Honorable Mention (a status Sarah achieved last year). She's in with a talented group of friends who support each other. That's always a healthy environment for budding artists.



If you're local and want to see some of the amazing art at this exhibit, it's on display through Saturday, January 23rd at PNCA.

The Conchords Chorale gets "festive"

I guess I know how to pick 'em. My community choir, The Conchords Chorale, is getting quite a name for itself, and, in fact, will be an official Rose Festival event this year. In addition to our usual performances around town at Retirement Centers and such, we will also do two shows at the Hollywood Theater in June during the Portland Rose Festival. Last year, we were a "sponsored" event, paying our dues and proving ourselves capable of putting on a quality performance. Guess it worked, as we've moved up the ladder this year! Tickets are already being sold as bus tour packages, so the pressure is on!



Surprisingly, the Rose Festival, in its 103-year history, has never been declared the "official" festival of the City of Portland. So yesterday, there was a proclamation brought before the City Council to do just that. We were there to perform, and sang Everything's Coming Up Roses. The One More Time Around Again Marching Band (supposedly the largest marching band in the world) performed, too, and the Royal Rosarians , the Clown Corps, and last year's court were in attendance, along with various dignitaries and historians. It was quite impressive, and we felt honored to be a part of it. We were even on the local news last night!



Our show's theme is "Let's Go to the Movies", and we'll be singing songs from various films spanning from the '30's to the '80's. Our format will be an Oscars-style program, with "celebrities" presenting awards for Best Song from various years. Should be fun and entertaining for our audiences. It will be an exciting season, to be sure!

Emily is cast in her first play!

I am so proud of Emily. She's a seventh grader in a 6th-12th grade school, and she had the confidence to audition for a musical. I would say "like mother, like daughter," but I was an adult before I got up the nerve to do such a thing. She had to prepare a monologue and a song, and performed well enough that she got called back. She wasn't cast as one of the five lead roles (no surprise), but she is in the chorus. She starts rehearsals next week, and, if you've ever been in a play, you know that our lives are about to become a lot more complicated - and extremely busy! It's a big commitment...

The play is called Celebration, and is timed to be the inaugural show in the school's new Performing Arts facility, currently under construction. We're really excited about this new space, and look forward to seeing Emily onstage to help inaugurate its use in March.

Good job, Emily! Have fun!

So, just what is a charrette?

Sarah came home one day and announced that her Urban Design class at school was going on a field trip. They were participating in a charrette with the Beaverton City Planners. This class, new to the curriculum this year, was offered as an alternative to a traditional Government class, and certainly seems well-suited to an arts school. Their focus this semester has been to come up with a design plan for a parcel of unused land near downtown Beaverton - and within walking distance of ACMA - that has stymied city planners for years. The class was divided into groups and each group developed a design for the property based on principles of urban design and land use studied in class. The field trip - the charrette - gave them an opportunity to meet with the city planners themselves and receive hands-on suggestions, advice, and feedback from the pros. What an opportunity! These seasoned professionals walked around and offered ideas for improving different aspects of the students' plans, and discussed what would work and what might need more thought. The press was there to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event, and the accompanying article gives more detail - along with pictures. We feel so fortunate that our daughters attend a school that's not afraid to be innovative!

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