Sunday, November 9, 2008

Turning the Corner






Day one of three days off.  Sunshine and ice on the pond.  We drove into Drum to see Madagascar 2.  The boys were so excited.  It's such a turn around to hear them pleading with Dave and I to hurry and finish eating so we can leave.  After all the previews (and every one had a dog in it, I swear), the show finally began.   I soothed into the smarmy music with the fisher kid on the Dream Works moon, and then I laughed to so loud when all of a sudden the kid was smacked from behind by a penguin and they took over the pole.  Ha! It was so unexpected; I got a good belly laugh out of that one.  There is something about a wide screen in front of you, your children on either side, red velvet seats and the smell of popcorn for watching a story in the dark.  But alas, that was the end of the profundity.  As Dave forewarned, DreamWorks does not focus chiefly on story, but on clever adult pop culture humor that comes flying at you so fast, you can only admire the effort.  There was little laughter in the house, but a whole lot of cleverness on the screen.  On the way home we drew out a few of the redeeming moments that nearly moved us or made us think.  It could have been worse.  But oh how I yearn for great story.  --When we finally reached home, we scuttled the boys into bed and read the first chapter of "The Silver Chair" even though it was way late.  We all sensed we were in good hands with only our imagination, the disc heater, velour blankets and stuffies... all snuggled together listening to one voice.  Now there's a great story.
Donovan has two days off now in honor of Remembrance Day and he is full of craft ideas.  Not even vegetables escape his creative touches.  Note the photo of Michelangelo the Ninja turtle with nunchucks.  He is also into Pokemon now and I don't know what to think.  He certainly draws them well, but I don't like the bits I see on youtube sometimes.  Dave and I will have to discuss this.
At church we saw a Remembrance Day video that made me cry.  Silent veterans bowing their heads as a flag-clad coffin goes by.  They even had black and white footage of men leaping out of planes and parachuting down -- it looked like thousands!  The camera was right at the leaping off point in the plane and I thought, "How terrifying for that young man!"  Not only was he hurling his body into space from a speeding metal contraption, he was leaping into enemy territory and expected to not get shot, land safely, and leap to his feet and fight.   Very sobering.
War is still so confusing and gross.  Pastor Ray spoke on the freedom we have because of Christ and how to live soberly with that knowledge and how it frees us to "serve one another in love."  Good stuff.  He had just seen the movie Paschendale (sp?) and he seemed changed by it.  I liked the change in him.  He was so grounded I wanted to listen to every word.  It was good to have him back.
Weston still thrills me with his frank observations on life coupled with his dependence on touch.  If I wear velvet pants, it's like a magnet for him.  Poor guy can't help but come right over and embrace my thigh like a tree trunk and begin sucking his tongue and half closing his eyes.  I'm reminded of a blanket I had as a child.  It had these soft tassels all around the edge and I found a similar altered state of bliss when I would tickle my inner ear with the tip of a tassel. Ha!  Sometimes I find myself still doing this with the end of my hair when I'm day dreaming.  I guess Weston's not so unusual after all.
This week I jump into teaching the advanced acting class Dave began last week: Greek.  He had a magical first day where he brought in dirt and rosemary and had the students go over the syllabus outside the classroom and then enter with stunning epic, eerie music and slowly go to the table and select one of the Antigone (Burial at Thebes) masks.  Wish I could have been there; at least he took a picture.  Anyway, this week I join and teach the Tuesday classes from here on out.  I'm a bit scattered.  I have some strong instincts about movement and chorus work, but I wish I was already on the right page.  I'm still so achingly tired and my head is very much in Christmas on the Air.  This little break is deceptive because it feels like I've entered another world and I don't want to forget my efforts at diligent good health so I can continue to perform well.  Also this week is big for coaching as Tuesday is the midterm presentations.  I'll work hard with Samm and Kendra Monday night and that feels like some pressure.  I'll try to take it one thing at a time and trust for adequate clarity and inspiration in the moment.  I'm also hoping we get to play with the boys tomorrow in a way that feels special to them.  Maybe swim?  Ummm.  Choir's coming up too.  Oh boy, everything is rushing in to the lack of rehearsal void.  I tried drying some of our quickly rotting tomatoes today instead of taking time to can.  We'll see if that's a good idea.  I can't believe I'm still dealing with summer tomatoes that were green a month ago.  Wow.  What a bumper crop.
The other two pics on this blog are from the top of Hamm Hill looking down on Rosebud, and of the harvested canola field from the highway walking back into town.  The town is all golden brown now and waiting for winter to pounce.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey darling!

I hope you get to feeling better soon. It is challenging to keep the plates spinning when the plate spinner is off kilter! Love you!

Jeany Meltebeke Snider said...

Thanks, Jude
My throat is hurting, but I'm not as sleepy as I was last week. Routine is keeping me going. Dave's pretty tired though. Tomorrow we head to Calgary for a fundraiser. Thankfully the boys will stay here with Andrew Cooper and stick to their routine.
Jeany