Have I mentioned I love working with my mother? Here she is, doing what she loves:
She is an amazing teacher, and I am so grateful that not only I have the chance to see her in action, but my boys also. Here they are yesterday (Friday, October 19) in her classroom, helping with a very complicated art project. Using paper plates as the template (you see Stidmatt holding some in his pic), the children drew their interpretations of Northwest Coast art — a lot of ravens, a few bear or orcas, and colored them in. Red, Black and White are the traditional colors for this artwork, and the graphic quality makes all the designs “pop” like anything.
Stidmatt is in the pic on the left, Stidgrant on the right. The kids really loved having them there! I can’t show pics that would clearly identify the children, let’s just say they are cute as anything, and when they are all doing what they love (this class LOVES art) this class ROCKS! More importantly, we are already seeing some of them make great progress. This is a class of hard workers, and most are eager learners. The ones who are more reluctant are even starting to make progress! It is a good feeling to know we are making a difference — a positive difference! — in someone’s life.
Last night, we went to the Seattle Symphony. No, my new “little black dress” didn’t get finished — I got as far as starting to put the zipper in when I realized something was askew. In fact, though I cut the pattern according to my measurements, I am not at all happy with the way it fits. the front is fine, but the back was much too wide. I will see if I can fix it by removing just the back seam and recutting. If so, I will save a few hours’ work. Otherwise, I love the fabric I chose, and I can rip as many seams as I must to get this to work! *determined mama look*
On to the Music. We get the Baroque series package — this concert was Handel’s Water Music, a very lovely flute concerto by Vivaldi (probably my favorite baroque composer), a viola piece by JC Bach (purportedly, I guess the authorship is open to interpretation), and Handel’s Royal Fireworks. Christopher Seaman, the conductor for this concert, is wonderful. He both conducts and plays the harpsichord (we have seen him before at the Seattle Symphony, though he is the resident conductor elsewhere). I love that I can actually hear the harpsichord parts in Benaroya Hall! So often they are drowned out or just missed on recordings.
Today, we went to Schilter’s Family Farm with the boys. WEAR BOOTS! It’s quite muddy this time of year… but the corn maze is great fun, the pumpkins are beautiful. Large, Small and ENORMOUS, you grab a wheelbarrow and choose the perfect ones for yourself. We found some beauties. Unfortunately, as we got home, it started to rain. So pics of those will have to wait a bit. Meantime, here a few we did take while we were there!
Here they are, about to go into the maze. You can see the puddle we waded around to get in!
And here is Stidgrant, when the sun finally came out … do you think he had fun?
And on the way out… the kids stood for one last picture…
Weeks like this one make me feel hopeful about the future. My children spent their day off from school helping their grandmother and the kids in her class. They are just as happy tramping around a pumpkin patch as in front of a computer game. They don’t just go to the symphony — they enjoy it and have a real engagement with the music.
My children are not unique, but the things we do as a family often are. Tomorrow, we will help at the Apple Affair, the autumn festival our friends with the fruit stand hold. Pictures from last year’s event arehere. I don’t think this year’s pics will include a sunny establishing shot though…