Unread

I had some lofty reading goals earlier in the summer. Out of all those books I was going to read, I have only read 2 ("Voyage of the Dawn Treader" & "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo").
I am stuck! Do you ever begin to read a book and get stuck? I am reading "The Silver Chair" which is the next to last book in The Chronicles of Narnia. It is not very good. Eustace does not make a very good main character! I have several more books waiting to be read, but I feel like I need to finish this book. I want, no, NEED to finish the series before school starts.

OK. Here is my declaration:
I, Tiff, will finish "The Silver Chair" so that I may read "The Last Battle" therefore finishing The Chronicles of Narnia before August 19th (my first day back at school).

Summer Strings Camp!

These last few weeks have been busy for me. As soon as my nephews went home, I began preparing for the Hendersonville Symphony's Summer Strings Camp which I have coordinated for the past 4 years! We had a great week, and I think the kids learned a lot while having fun. I spent the week pouring over the list of students and dividing them into two orchestras and into chamber ensembles. Our two orchestras were unbalanced (24 in the older group, 43 in the younger). At our Sunday Staff meeting, we decided to create a 3rd orchestra. It worked out great! Each group had between 20 and 25. We had about 4 "walk-ins", boosting our numbers to 71.

The Green Orchestra were the beginners who had only 1 year of experience. The Yellow Orchestra were the intermediates who had 2 - 3 years of experience. The Blue Orchestra was the older students with 3+ years of experience. The Blue Orchestra also gets to participate in an Improvisation Session. This year's song was "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns'N'Roses!

Everything went smoothly. Monday is always the hardest day because no one knows where to go or what to do next. The rest of the week was a breeze, and the staff took over. I sat with my computer and made programs for the concerts and revised the schedule for Friday (among other things).

The students have orchestra rehearsals, then they attend a sectional and a theory class. Lunch is next followed by either Improvisation Session or Music Appreciation. They have more orchestra rehearsal and a chamber ensemble coaching.

Each day ended with a Special Event. Monday was a Cello Quartet performance. Tuesday was a presentation of "early" string instruments by Gerald Trimble. Wednesday was the Staff Chamber Concert. Thursday was the Student Chamber Ensemble Concert. Friday was the grand finale. We had a packed house for this performance! I thought all the performances were amazing! These students learned A LOT of music in a short amount of time.

The Summer Strings Staff did an amazing job of teaching and entertaining these students for the week. I am so proud of them and the students!

I hope to do this again next year and continue improving the experience for the students!

Newphews Visit

My sister and her husband had the opportunity to take a trip to Jamaica, and I was thrilled she asked me to keep the boys for a week. We had a GREAT time! When I aske Stephen what he wanted to do the last day, he replied, "Why don't we stay at the house? We've pretty much gone somewhere everyday..."

I forgot my camera when we went to Fun Depot, so I was sure to remember it for Lake Lure!

We met my friend Kelly whose son is 8, and her sister Kristy. (Yes... they are twins!) They were kind enough to watch Josh for a few while I took some pics, and then...

Here Stephen is waiting on the water slide....

SPLASH!!! Kelly & Kristy watched Josh so I could go slide. It was AWESOME!

Saturday, we went to Pisgah to the fish hatchery and education center. The boys got to feed the fish.

Josh had Nanny hold the food, and he would only throw one or two pieces at a time! He is so funny! (Stephen was done in about 20 seconds.)

Just a shot of some of the trout... (there are 3 kinds: Rainbow, Speckled, & Brook)

Soooo handsome!

We had a great week! I hope Michelle will let he keep them next summer, too!

Backyard Rainbows

It started raining out the blue, literally! The sun was shining, and I think the sky was blue. I went outside to see where Moldy was hiding, and I see this:


I have NEVER seen a rainbow this closely before! It was beautiful! I followed it across the backyard to here:

I just had to laugh, because this is the edge of the septic tank! The "pot of gold" is apparently located where our drain line begins. I feel sorry for those leprechauns...

Your Moment of Zen

Sorry it's a little blurry, but check out this little guy!

A New Door

Moldy has a new door to the basement! We had her litter box in the spare bathroom, which is not very big, and she has a tendancy to kick her litter all over. So Matthew decided that it should go in the basement.

We showed her that her litter box was in the basement, and we bribed her to come through the door to show her how it works. It only took a day or two (she had been going outside a lot). I heard her go through the door all by herself! It was a very proud moment. :) Here she is in action.

Read, reading, & home improvements

"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is the 5th book in the Chronicles of Naria series. Only Edmund and Lucy return to Narnia, but their obnoxious cousin, Eustace, goes with them by accident. I am looking foward to reading "The Silver Chair" next.

I am close to finishing a CRAZY book called "Mistress of the Game" by Sidney Sheldon. Oh.My.Goodness! The characters in the this book are so maniacal, yet so believable... it's scary that people like this could exist!

Yeseterday, Matthew had his "crew" working around the house. A hill of kudzu was attacked. A radon vent was installed, which meant running a 4" PVC pipe from the basement floor, through the hardwood floor, through the ceiling, and out the roof! It's only about 30+ feet. The porch ceiling has been primed and is ready to be painted. (The pine beadboard knots bled through the first round of paint.) Matthew and a couple of guys built a shelter for our firewood. I managed to pick 2.5 quarts of blackberries and make round 1 of jam!

I am hoping to tackle some curtains tomorrow. We'll see how it goes!