Book Worm

My mother isn't too far from the truth when she likes to tease "You haven't read anything since 3rd grade's Roald Dahl!" I think that statement is pretty true. That WAS the last book I remember reading for pure enjoyment. Since the days of Matila, I only read what was required from me during my scholastic adventures. Then when I graduated college, I stopped reading. The big joke was "I only read music".

Then I noticed I would get pretty bored on long flights from Hawaii to the mainland, so I would pick some best sellers to read. And I noticed I enjoyed them. Some of them I even continued to read when I returned to Hawaii to finish them.

It was when I got "sucked" into the Twilight saga that reading was forever changed for me. I thought NOTHING could be better than those four amazing books. And I thought I ruined reading for myself from them on. Nothing else could compare.

But this past month I have discovered the joys of reading. I have been buying used books on Amazon.com for sometimes as cheap as 30 cents. (plus 3.99 shipping, but still!) I have noticed that by now reading, my wifely duties have dwindled significantly. When I used to have a quick 15 minute break I could do the dishes or start the wash. Now I dive into my book and read voraciously. I also noticed that reading books= stop spending money. I can't remember the last time I went grocery shopping. And I used to go probably 3 times a week. I'm about to finish reading Jodi Picoult's The Pact (a lot darker of a book than I care to read but very much an intense page turner). And before that I read her book "Plain Truth". Yep! I learned how to read reeeeal good!

In other news, this weekend included Alex digging up our septic tank for a quick repair. I started to document pictures and he teased me about putting it on my blog. I found the whole process interesting. So after being teased I stopped the documentation. When he was finished he asked if I took pictures and I said "NO! You made fun of me!" Our friends stopped by and noticed that the excavation "didn't smell" like you would normally think it would. I joked "That's cuz our $h!t don't stink".

A Whale of a time

(not my photo, but you get the picture!)
On Sunday I went to Hapuna Beach with my friend Fabie. I have heard that the whales are migrating right now and putting on quite a show for us folks in Hawaii. I have seen far off distance whales breaching before. But they look like little blue shapeless dots lacking detail and form, on the horizon. I've never seen one up close.

Until Sunday. I was talking with Fabie when I notice behind her a huge, up close, fully detailed whale breaching out of the water. I couldn't speak. I just squealed and pointed.

By the time she whirled around to look, he was gone. He wasn't as close as this picture, but close enough for me to see his eyes and his open mouth. It was just amazing to see a whale in real life.

Interesting facts:

The heart of a humpback whale is 400 pounds. They weigh 50 tons. They live 50 years. There are 15,000 world wide. They usually swim at 3-9 mph but can travel up to 15mph when in danger!

East Coast Salerno's

Aunt Chris, Uncle Lou, Ryan and me
A visit to the Woodbillie farm
Just being a goof ball (don't ever call him this because he only focuses on the word "ball")
Dang I'm sexy
Zepola! The Italian donut. You have to think of what yours looks like before you eat it!
Pizza Fritte: Top it with powdered sugar, jam, or peanut butter

This best part about this past week was visiting with my Aunt and Uncle from New York. They brought along two treasured Italian family recipes with them: Pizza Fritte and Zepola. I am so cursed being an Italian with sky high cholesterol. (270!!) They came over to our house Sunday to meet the goats. Now, my Aunt and Uncle are about to become REAL grandparents to a REAL grand kid due in July. The FIRST great grandchild for the Salerno family (my cousin Damian really took the pressure off of me to provide the first great grand child for another good 2 years.) I was able to visit with them one more time on Monday down in Kona on MLK day (which was also my father in laws birthday). I just love having family visit!

NPR's From the Top on the Big Island

Last night, attending a live radio recording of National Public Radio's From the Top in our own small town of Kamuela was absolutely surreal! We watched five talented musicians ages 14-17 perform on cello, violin, voice, piano, and guitar. Although the pianist was from Honolulu, Alex and I wished they ONLY featured the talented youth of Hawai'i. I will blog about this event more. But now I must TEACH the youth of Hawaii.

NOTICE: Today's program will broadcast nationally the week of February 15, 2010. You can hear it on Hawaii Public Radio on Saturday Feb. 20 at 10am. Check local station listings and listen online at http://fromthetop.org

Battle with the Bugs Human Body Detectives

Did I post the youtube video of the song I wrote for my friend the author of Human Body Detectives?

If not, click HERE to listen to a sample of the song! (My voice is the high harmony voice!)

Moki Armstrong

I swear this dog poses for a photo opp. He's sitting on a high table hamming in up in this photo from last night's hang out with the boys at Matt's bike shop. I told Alex that if everybody's men are missing, they are hanging out in this new corner of town. In this small corner we have a bike shop, a tool shop, and a bar at Tako Taco! Now if only there was another corner in town with a chocolate shop, espresso bar, and cupcake shop...

William Tell and Pictures at an Exhibition

Gioachino Rossini was born in Pesaro, the only child of Giuseppe, the town trumpeter and inspector of slaughterhouses, and Anna, a talented singer. He received enough musical training by the age of 10 to accompany and play church music. After some formal studying between the ages of 15-18 Rossini composed his first one act opera buffa (comic opera). By the time he was 37, he'd written 38 operas. (Best known is Barber of Seville). His William Tell Overture tells the tale of a man named (obviously) William Tell, a legendary 14th century Swiss hero during the time the Swiss were fighting for their independence from Austria. When Tell, a noted marksman with the crossbow, refuses to bow to Gessler, the Austrian governer, Gessler arrests him but says if Tell can shoot an apple off the head of his son, he would be freed. Tell succeeds in the apple shooting, but turns around and tells Gessler that had he failed, he'd have shot Gessler himself. Which in turn leads him to be chained again. Tell eventually is freed long enough to kill Gessler which leads to a revolt by the Swiss.

The full opera takes SIX hours to perfom, but has been pared down time and again.

You'll notice the audience chuckling when we get to the "High Ho Silver" theme. I sort of wish the conductor grabbed the microphone and like a spokesperson at a horse race said "AND THEY'RE OFF! Theviolins areinthe leadbut WAIT nowthecellosarecomingupfrombehind AND WAIT nowthetrumpetplayerpassesthelead....

The second video is one clip from Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". He was so impressed by the artwork by Victor Hartmann he wrote a piece of music for each illustration. My favorite (the video I posted) is titled "La Cabane sur des pattes de poule" (Baba Yaga). The Hut on Fowl's Legs. Hartmann's sketch is a design for an elaborate clock suggested by Baba Yaga, the fearsome witch of Russian folklore who eats human bones she has ground into paste with her mortar and pestle. She also can fly through the air on her fantastic pestle, and Mussorgksy's music suggests a wild midnight ride. You can hear the brass play "Uh Ohhhh Here she comes".

2010

OK so apparently now that it's 2010 I have nothing to blog about. And yet my visitor tracker number keeps rising so I know you readers are still checking!

Winter vacation is over. Alex and I went to bed at 9:30pm on New Years Eve. I wanted to have a themed party where everyone would come as a notorious figure from 2009. I was going to be Octomom and tie 8 baby dolls to me. Alex was going to be Swine Flu and wear a sanitary mask with a pig nose drawn on the front. But we were both too lame and exhausted to orchestrate such an event and chose to go to bed early instead.

I think I've earned my Jessie the Farmer girl scout badge. I successfully relocated the portable electric goat fence all by myself last weekend! That's a lot of netting that could quite possibly be tangled into one giant ball of fencing. My little green lawnmowers have already munched down most of the new pen this week already. But this weekend I can't tend to them because I have 16 hours of symphony practice and a concert!

Click HERE to see the article about this upcoming weekend. And yes, in the photo, I am wearing black knee high boots.

So all is well for 2010 as of this week. I did a student head count for 2010 and I have 73 private students. Back to school. Back to lessons. Back to more blogging! Here's to a healthy happy New Years my loyal readers!