Peek-A-Boo!

DeL's Visit!

After 3 years of not seeing each other since they moved, Hannah & Esther came up for a visit! I can't even begin to tell you how fun it was to see them. I wasn't really sure how it would go - you know how if you don't see someone in a long time, it can be hard to know what to talk about and awkward.

Let's just say, we didn't have that problem. In the least. :-) In fact, they arrived Thursday afternoon, and by Friday afternoon, Hannah lost her voice from talking too much!

I think between the four of us we got around 300 photos. Here are some of the highlights:

We played "Would You Rather" the first night... wow. Talk about making memories...

Here we're all stirring the baked oatmeal Friday morning (actually we were just posing)

Friday morning was a bit of a rush because somewhat last minute we decided to go downtown and tour the Lyon & Healy harp factory. Another WOW. I'm so glad we went!

Hannah is playing a harp designed by Carlos Salzedo, a famous harpist. She played several pieces for us. Below is a video of a Salzedo piece. It's a modern piece using lots of pedal work.

(photo credit: Esther)

Would you LOOK at all those harps! I could spend a week there. Heavenly! :-)

I played the Salzedo harp too (both harps I played were concert grand pedal harps - HUGE, especially compared to my harp!)

(photo credit: Esther)

Anyone have a spare $20,000 laying around that you don't need? *hopeful look*

Two happy girls! The lady who checked us out said, "These are better than Tiffany bags, don't you think?"
We agreed. :-)

We stopped for a very late lunch at Sweet Tomatoes and introduced the girls to beets and jicama...

And then took them to Ikea. And at Ikea, they don't give expectant mothers priority parking like some places. Noooo... hybrid cars get the prime spots. We were thinking about suing them for discrimination. Ironically, apparently nobody in Shaumburg owns a hybrid car because the parking spaces were empty...

After that adventure, we were all pretty tired out and one of us had no voice left, so we curled up with popcorn, tea and chocolate and watched the new Emma.

Saturday we took pictures outside, and I got a harp lesson (thanks Hannah!) while Dad, Esther and Tara had a jam session (classical jam you know).

Hannah enjoying the snow! They don't get much of that down south!

Boots!

The girls were supposed to be posing for a snowball throwing shot, but as you can see, they did more than pose. :-) Thanks to Hannah's good aim, Esther got a nice handful of snow down her shirt.

This is a delicious cheesecake dessert we made. Except, it's not really cheesecake. You'd never believe it was made from nuts!

There are so many more photos I could post but I will leave it at that. We all can't wait for the next time we will see them!

The Yen Antique Museum!

That's what our house is feeling like these days. :-) Most of you probably know we have an antique potbelly stove in our living room, and a few months ago we acquired an antique pump organ. For my 16th birthday, Oma gave me her old typewriter. Since then we have also been the recipients of various more-or-less antique office supplies like staplers, etc. via Opa, along with another typewriter and a treadle sewing machine. Throw in an antique lace collar and a few old books ranging in topic from stationery etiquette to old folk songs, and you almost have a complete collection worthy of opening a museum.

We weren't satisfied with almost. *wink*

Maybe you remember our post about going to Old World Wisconsin with the Strands, and seeing a very neat old piano. Turns out, a family from our church had one and wanted to get rid of it. Wellll.... that's hardly a deal to pass up, right? It wasn't in great shape so we had it restrung and fixed up a bit. The finish is still a bit scratched and worn, but that's alright. "Distressed" furniture is worth lots - why shouldn't distressed instruments have the same worth?

Here are some photos from moving the piano in - thanks Jonathan & Joseph!

One big truck for one (sort of) little piano... but that's another story...

The legs attach with big wooden screws

Upright!

This is the pretty music stand. It's very delicate so we have to be careful not to put too heavy of a book up there.

They don't make 'em like this anymore! It has neat black and gold painting inside.

We had to wait a while after it was moved in to get the keys (the man who fixed it didn't want it moved with the keys). Now we have them and it's playable! It's terribly out of tune though... he's coming to tune it again in a couple weeks, thankfully!

Oh yeah, did you want to see it with keys?



Here's the one at Old World Wisconsin - pretty similar, eh?

Messiah 2009

This year's Do-It-Yourself Messiah was a bittersweet experience; almost like the end of an era. Doesn't that sound dramatic? This year many traditions were broken; our group from church was MUCH smaller; no private train car; no singing on the way home (because that might disturb the other people with whom we were obliged to share the car); no dressing up extra formal; and most importantly, no opera house.

Yes, the folks who put on this event every year must have run out of funds and abandoned the beautiful, gold-gilded, velvet-carpeted halls of the Civic Opera House for the... ummmm... unique ambience of the Harris Theater. How do you like the change??

We still enjoyed the train ride with friends. L to R: Tara, Kristen, Emily, Yours Truly.

The lobby area (is there a better word than "lobby" that I am not thinking of??) of the opera house - beautiful, isn't it?

(photo credit: Erbers Etc.)

Here is the *cough* cheerfully lit lobby of the Harris Theater.

Emily likened it to a "disco parking garage."

I am disposed to agree.

Kristen & I found that glowing neon pink faces are actually quite... well, you know... pink?

Really there wasn't THAT much difference in the stage, except that it was smaller.

For those of you who have gone before, it's easy to see how much smaller the Harris Theater is. And it is also very black.

Versus the grandeur of the opera house! Quite a difference, eh?

(photo credit: Erbers Etc.)

Well, well... enough griping about the new facility. I think you get the picture. Everyone write and demand they have it at the opera house again (send money with your letter and they might listen!!!).

Part of the alto section

The principal cellist who is there every year. She gets so into the music, it's fun to watch!

Sisters, sisters...

Even if the Harris Theater can't compare to the opera house, the evening was still very enjoyable as always. The soloists were all pretty good; we always like Tamara Matthews (soprano), the alto isn't our favorite but she has a great attitude. :-) The bass was good, but a little "bouncy" and desperately needed a haircut (want to see what I mean? Watch the video below). And the tenor was so handsome and youthful *inside joke*. :-)



Here's an example of the bass's very bouncy and forceful nature. :-) It's terrible but Laura, Kristen, Emily & I were all seized with a fit of the giggles during this song. In his defense, it would be very hard for any of us NOT to bounce a little bit to this song! Despite the entertaining aspect of this video, watch it to the end because he does a fantastic ending with a ridiculously low note that sounds GREAT!
All in all, I think we are all looking forward to next year!

Today's Forecast

Current weather forecast: 

"Snow will stop after accumulating 1 to 3 inches"

HA! And it is still coming down!

Sweet Sixteen!

Happy birthday, Tara!

Deer in the Headlights!

Oh wait... it's a cat.

Nevermind.