This & That: Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

Blooms and buds are starting to bust out all over some of the trees. This is the peach tree, so I'm really hoping there's no more frost in future forecasts so we don't have to #savethepeaches. My sister's already had to do that down in Utah.

This is the stupid plum tree. No matter how much frost we have, nothing ever stops it from having literally thousands of blossoms.

But here's my baby Elephant Heart plum that has quite a few happy little blossoms on it.

With the stupid plum so close to it for a pollinator, I'm hoping for maybe some fruit this year? But as soon as this starts producing well, the stupid tree will be fire wood.

We got to go listen to Levi's music class this week. It wasn't a program as such, but a demonstration of what goes on in a typical kindergarten music class. Interestingly, I was acquainted with the teacher. I accompanied her son on many occasions when I was a voice studio pianist.

YouTube has again changed how phone videos look and are uploaded. I'm not sure why they can't leave well enough alone. Anyway, I enjoyed watching how the concepts of beat, rhythm, and the use of instruments are incorporated into curriculum. I'll get on my soapbox a little here. Music training is a life-long gift. I've been playing the piano since I was 5 and I'm 63 now. That's more than a half century (which is just a little scary when it's actually said out loud) of using what I've learned to serve other individuals and groups. It's brought me so much joy to be able to participate in beautiful, uplifting music both instrumentally and vocally, and spread that around to those who listen. To my kids, who I made practice while they lived in our home.....if you don't use it, you'll lose it. My technique isn't what it was when I was a teenager, but I manage what I need to, mostly.

Getting down off my soapbox, this also happened. We had to get a recliner when I got out of the hospital so I was able to get my bad leg high enough to help with the swelling. Bottom line, my husband was jealous, so he went out (without talking to me about it, BTW) and bought a matching one. Also bottom line, the furniture arrangement downstairs is now shot all to heck. I told him that now it looks like old people live there. His response was, "Old people DO live here." My kids keep trying to make me feel better by saying it looks like theater seating. It doesn't look like theater seating. And just to show that there's a little bit of karma in him not discussing it with me, his chair had been here exactly 10 days, when it broke. We're now waiting for a repair or replacement and he has to sit on the (oh, the horror of it all!!) couch.

Sent to me from the kids and grands this week, Eric's family has acquired a few turkeys as a bit of an experiment. The females have started to lay some eggs and he sent me this picture with the caption, "turkey eggs intimidating a chicken egg." We have a turkey egg in this week's egg delivery, but I'm waiting until my husband gets home from yet another adventure to try it, so we can share.

Hazel's mama sent these pictures. This is a doll cradle Rachelle used to play with, and Hazel is just the right size for it.

Doll-baby.

In the meantime, Jude has had a bit of an adjustment moving out of the baby of the family slot into a more middle-ish child role. It's pretty interesting how big he looks now compared to Hazel.