Salerno vacation in Hawaii!

The beach house we rented in Puako for the week
Like father like daughter. Sitting in Puako Bay.
The backyard of our condo!
Silly Moki wearing my hat. I swear this dog poses for the camera!
How many Woodbillies can fit on a bed?

Seasons Goatings!

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Part one on the top. Part two on the bottom.

Tonight was my school production "A Charlie Brown Christmas". The student were absolutely amazing! Sorry about the delayed intro. I didn't have time to edit the videos tonight. This is raw footage of my amazing students of Waimea Country School! I am one exhausted music teacher, so I will blog more about tonight's adventure soon.

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!!

They call me Mellow Cello

This past weekend was the Waimea Chorus Christmas concert (like I previously blogged). The concerts went very well on Friday and Saturday and were only half filled by audience members. After the Saturday concert our only cellist announced he would not be able to make the Sunday concert. And he has a solo piece. I, being the overly self assertive and confident first violinist, nonchalantly wave my hands and say "Have no fear. The violinist is here. I can play the cello part. The cello is just like a big violin anyway. ANY violinist should be able to do this". I figured nobody would really come to a Sunday afternoon matinee show anyway. I practiced for several hours, and for the record, DID get the piece down (pretty good). I rehearsed that morning with the choir pianist and even impressed him (somewhat). Fast forward to the concert. To be fair (to myself), I didn't have a chance to play with the choir. I begin my piece just fine. But then I linger nervously on a dotted half note...for well over 3 beats. This measure is now followed by 3 measures of rest, only I don't know where I AM during this rest. I start playing and obviously it's not the right spot. I panic. I think my a$s is even starting to break a sweat. So I'm quickly faced with 2 possible solutions. Sit there in silence awkwardly for the next 6 (very long) minutes. Or do the next best thing. I'm not even going to POST the video of what I like to call "Che-llo what were you THINKING?" Even my musically barren husband, who couldn't carry a tune if you handed it to him in a basket, could tell something was amiss during my cello debut. In my moment of panic I decided rather than sitting in silence I would perform my newly revised piece "Let's improvise in the key of g minor".

You have no idea how relieved I was to lower my cello back to the ground and pick up my beautiful lighter than air violin and at least prove myself as a musician to the FULLY PACKED SOLD OUT CONCERT.

Holidaze

This picture of my dad wearing my sister's hair just cracks me up! Yes that is Kimi's head!
Me and my siblings on Thanksgiving
Man's best friend on a bike ride to Waipeo Valley

Pressure is on to blog, but I don't want to "blah-g" about nothing. The holidays are upon us. I'm putting on Charlie Brown Christmas shows next week. I volunteered to play violin for the Waimea Chorus, which entails nightly rehearsals till 9:30pm and concerts Friday-Sunday. But the Chorus concert is very clever. Someone arranged classical pieces like Bach Preludes and Debussy's Claire de Lune and arranged Christmas carol lyrics to match up with them.

My family is coming out for Christmas this year, and I am beyond excited. They will get to meet the new "grandkids" Buckley and Mabel, who are now very adjusted and quiet. Some days they are louder than others for whatever reason. I'll take a colicky screaming baby on an airplane over screaming goats any day. I don't know what it is about a screaming bleating goat, but it is the WORST sound in the world. Sometimes all it takes to quiet them down is a few scratches on their back and a Koa branch to munch on and they are quiet and calm again.

The weather is H-O-T and dry in Waimea. My friends told me it was 16 degrees in Seattle yesterday. And here I am in December still wearing a sun dress and bare feet!

I think we will up pot a Sugi tree and use him as our Christmas tree this year. You have to do SOMETHING to get in the holiday spirit here. It's just not Christmassy in 90 degree weather!

Alex's surprise

My early Christmas present from Alex

He has turned me into a piano dork all over again. I can't stop practicing on this gorgeous piano. It's rich buttery tone captivates all my free time. I told him "Now nothing will get done around the house!"

Here's the story. I landed on Sunday evening and was starving. So I suggested we eat down at the pier. We are taking our sweet old time eating at the Blue Dragon (a fun musiquarium). We come home. It's dark outside by this point. I let Moki open the suitcase full of presents I brought him (and video taped the event). My phone rings. It's a student wanting to reschedule. I say "I just walked in. Let me find my calendar and I'll call you back". So I go running into my dark music room and flip on the lights and see THIS in my room. I screamed and ran back OUT of the room. I stood in the living room wide eyed looking at Alex with my back to my music room and said "Did I seriously just see 2 pianos?" I'm shocked. Blown away. Totally surprised. The piano is a 1928 Baldwin Howard French Provincial Style.

Most students didn't know that grand pianos fit together like this, hence their unique shape. I have been printing 4 handed piano duets (click HERE to see free printable sheet music for piano duets) and plan to do many student duet recitals in the near future.

I'm breaking out the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 and plan to memorize all 3 movements. I would like to audition with the symphony sometime next year!