Sunday is really the end of the week

Because I have a hard time seeing any day as lazy as our Sunday being the jumping off point for anything.

It's still the weekend (see, not a new week) so we're still soaking up daddy time around here. Piano lessons for both of us learners. Calvin has graduated to the next book so he's on a roll right now. He learned a piece by Haydn today so it was an all Haydn all afternoon kind of day (it's sad, really, that the sound of our day doesn't come across in the photos we share).

There was a lot of Lego time, and a lot of game time, too (mancala, Qwirkle, and the Mammoth Hunt, altered a bit for Calvin's skill level).

We started looking through our books on Africa and did some related coloring.

We had a fire, we had hot chocolote, we read books, we ate comfort soup for dinner. What we didn't do was get dressed. And now that we're rested and relaxed, we're ready to start a new week. Tomorrow.

Accordions

As I sit here typing this, Calvin and Jon are hunched over the dining table, their eyes riveted on Jon's computer, watching, of all things, an accordion performance. It wasn't an accidental stop; the front page of the entertainment section in today's (nearly defunct) newspaper featured a gigantic picture of a man playing that not-so-illustrious instrument. It's hard to say who was more intrigued—Jon or Calvin—and the article, which was about a Zydeco musician playing in town this weekend, led the bigger of those two boys to go in search of accordion performances posted online. Zydeco is interesting, and we got some enjoyment out of that, but it's nothing compared to the beautiful video that Jon found of Russian accordion virtuoso Nick Ariando. Yes, I just used words like "beautiful" and "virtuoso" in relation to the accordion. I had no idea. It's worth watching if you have a quiet moment.

Drum circling

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'll just have to say it again:  we love our library.  We have wonderful childrens' librarians and really inviting youth reading programs.  Every summer our library, like many others, hosts a season filled with fun activities aimed at encouraging kids to read throughout the summer months.  That, of course, is no problem in our house (if we have any problem at all it's in getting him to leave some books at the library for other kids to enjoy), but we like to take part in the myriad of summer diversions offered by our youth program anyhow.  Already this summer we've enjoyed meeting John the farmer and his many farm animals on the lower level of our new library (ever seen a cow checking out "The Big Red Barn"?), as well as additional story and craft times, and today we took part in the library drum circle, again on the lower floor.  I found more than a bit of comic relief in watching the librarians and drum circle leader trying to keep the kids, and their instruments, quiet until the allotted hour (it was a wasted effort in any case), and Calvin found great joy in trying out every instrument he could lay his hands on.  One might think that an hour of percussive instruments in plenty, but I think we could have gone on all day (maybe not the people on the upper floors of the library, though).  We'll just have to watch for our next local drum circle opportunity...

4 days: cookies and carols

With the outside temperatures reaching all the way to a whopping 5 degrees above zero, and wind chills dragging that number down by about twenty degrees, we found some great, festive ways to keep ourselves occupied inside today.  This morning we made two different kinds of cookie cutter cookies (see our To Your Health blog for recipes), frosted them, sprinkled them, and made plates to give to the milkman, the organic man, and the librarians we love so much (plus a plate to keep home, of course).  And after all that baking this afternoon found us settling in for short winter naps. Then, much refreshed, this evening we belted our entire library of carols so loudly the neighbors must have heard us, even through our closed doors and the sound of the howling Siberian wind.  Here we come a wassailing...

Summer entertainment

We mentioned recently that our calendar had been briefly taken over by Calvin's various "end of the year" events, and today marked the conclusion of that situation with a picnic and drum circle for his music class participants.  This was our first time taking part in a real honest to goodness drum circle, and it really was delightful for all three of us.  If you are wondering what a real honest to goodness drum circle is, we couldn't really tell you, but we can tell you that this one involved all the kids and their family members sitting in a circle around a big pile of rhythm instruments, and a rhythm leader who kept a steady and interesting beat for us as we made our way through such child and rhythm friendly songs as Funga Alafia and the ABCs (which can, yes, be quite rhythmic if done right way).  We all got the chance to use many different rhythm instruments from around the world and to pick songs to sing and perform.  It was truly impossible not to get swept into the movement, singing, and rhythm of the circle, and, after a wonderful potluck lunch, we all went home and collapsed at nap time.

Our evening entertainment wasn't nearly as coo, but it did involved some rhythm and dancing (at least on Calvin's part).  With so much to do in our own little village we hadn't ventured into Ann Arbor town for its many activities yet this summer, but after reading about tonight's entertainment at Top of the Park, we figured we'd better check it out.  As it turned out, Heliosphere, performed by a group called Dream Engine, was too loud, too short, and too repetitive and not nearly as much as the band that came after.  And, actually, it wasn't so much the band itself as watching Calvin dance that made that part of the evening riotous.  He enjoyed Heliosphere just fine, but when the music came on he got up and started shaking it right in the middle of the crowd.  He had quite the audience, too.  It's amazing what self-assurance we are born with that is ultimately replaced by a sense of propriety, but at Calvin's age all the world is his stage for sure.

More pictures:  June 2008, too album.