Fun visit with family

I am so lucky because I have family visiting this weekend. On Friday afternoon my brother Brennan and his wife Tammy arrived from Utah, then today (Saturday) my sister Luella, her husband Tony, and their two boys Nicholas and Michael got here from Long Island. We got together at the boyscout fund raiser spaghetti dinner, then we went to Holly's and had fondue (with Paul and Andrea, and Gary and Marlene). We had the Wii going like crazy, and we sat around and visited. Good times for one and all.

This morning I went to a consignment sale and picked up some clothes and toys for Rachel. At least she will be dressed and entertained for another few months! She is growing so fast (outgrowing her clothes), I had to do something. Now that the weather is warmer and she weighs 21 (or so) lbs., I figured it was time to get some warm weather clothes and stuff. We also got some tub toys. She loves her bath time, so now she will love it even more.

Tomorrow at church we are playing a musical number. Luella, Brennan, Nicholas and Michael are all playing the violin, and I am playing the piano, "The Lord is my Shepherd." Stay tuned for the results. We haven't had much chance to practice together, so here is hoping that it turns out okay.

Rachel is so cool!

Today we enjoyed a nice sunny day. It was slightly cool, but the sun was shining and that made us so happy! Rachel is the coolest baby around, as can be attested by her use of shades. Check her out!


Rachel and Scout enjoyed some playtime together too.

Scout better watch out. For now his agility is sufficient to overcome Rachel's superior size and weight, but the time will come when Rachel will have Scout pinned instead of the other way around!

Rachel always likes hanging out outside.

Jeff

After putting all of those pictures of me from my childhood on this blog, I thought I would do the same for Jeff. So here is Jeff over the years . . .











What a cutie!

And the winner is . . .

I had a very eventful weekend. About 9 or 10 months ago I joined a women's barbershop chorus called the Pride of Kentucky. This is the local chapter of the Sweet Adelines International organization. Shortly after I joined they competed in the international competition where they finished 11th. I was unable to compete with them at that time for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was pretty new and rather overwhelmed to have to deal with the pressure and intensity of such a big competition, but secondly (and more importantly) Rachel had just joined our family a mere 2 and a half weeks previously, and wild horses couldn't have pulled me away from her.

Fast forward to this past weekend. We had our regional competition for the chorus this past weekend in Covington Kentucky. It was a pretty big event because one of the big gun choruses was going to be competing against us for the first time in quite a few years. (Whoever wins sits out the following year, and between my chorus and the other one, we had been pretty much taking turns winning.) This other chorus, Gem City, is a top notch group having not lost in regional competition in nearly 40 years, and having won the international competition 5 times, the most recent time being about 10 years ago. We had never beaten them.


Another chorus, Capital City, is another strong chorus in our region. They had been losing to us, but always close, so we knew they were just as hungry to beat us as we were to beat Gem City. We approached this competition with a genuine sense of purpose.


Long story short (or is it too late for that now?), we won! (YEAH!!!) But it gets better than that. We are judged by a panel of four judges. One judge specializes in sound, another in music, another in expression, and the final one in showmanship. We sing two songs, a ballad (slow) and an up-tune (fast). Each judge can award 100 points per song, so there is a maximum of 800 points available. Prior to Saturday the best score our chorus had ever achieved was 656. This is not too bad, but we truly believed that we could do even better. Our goal was to break 680.


Our total score was 690. This is an "A." As we reviewed the score sheets after the competition, the judges were so complementary. Editor's note: Our score of 690 is the highest that has been given in any of the regional competitions thus far.


So next we will be competing in the international competition in the fall of 2009 in Nashville, TN. Stay tuned.

So let's hear it for your Region 4 chorus champions, the Pride of Kentucky!

One of the things about Sweet Adelines is their penchant for sparkles, poofy hair, and caked-on make-up (let's not forget the false eye lashes). Just to torment you a little, I will tell you that there are actual photos of me in said gaudy finery, but they will not be displayed on this forum. They were be available for viewing at an exorbitant fee. (Let's face it, I don't think you could afford it.)

By popular demand . . .

Due to the overwhelming demand for the publication of one of the finest pieces of literature found in the English language, here is the poem that my Mom wrote when I was seven years old.

The LAST Noelle
by Georgie Gay Bateman

I am sure that you have heard

Of "The First Noel."

Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . !

Tell me, do you know

"The Last Noelle?"

She's a seven-year-old wonder

With sparkling dark eyes.

She's a raven-haired angel -

(Strictly in disguise).

She's a pig-tailed cowpike

Ridin' "shotgun" on a stage.

She's a world famous 'cellist

On a concert stage.

She's a chicken chasin' fox,

A rabbit chasin' hound;

A dramatic Sarah Bernhardt,

And a three-ring clown.

She's a contemplative Buddha;

She's an effervescent joy.

She's a sweet beribboned lady,

She's a wild tomboy.

What will she be tomorrow?

I can never tell.

One thing I know for sure, though!

She's the LAST Noelle!

Now, for your amusement, here are some of the pictures that represent how I inspired my Mom to write this poem.

I am the little baby.

I love this picture because my shoe is unbuckled. I think that's funny.

This was my 10th birthday

You would probably not guess, but this is an example of the "tomboy." I'm the one with the dog. I used to really love that shirt. I'm the one with the 'cello. I'm the one with the look of unhappiness on my face.

My Mom

Today is my Mom's birthday. If she were still alive she would be 79 years old today.

I have noticed that I am a lot like my Mom, both the good and the bad attributes. Fortunately she mostly had good attributes, so, you know, me too. Even though I may have been something of a disappointment as a kid, I think my Mom would be happy with who I am today.

My mom loved music, she loved animals, especially horses (at least in my memory), she loved literature. She wrote several short stories, many of them from her own life, which I must say was pretty interesting. One of her greatest literary contributions was a poem called "The Last Noelle." Gee, I wonder who that one was about (tee hee hee).

Do you recognize that cute little girl? That's right, it's me (Noelle), age 17 months.

Happy birthday Mama, I love you.

Rachel's Piano Debut

And now, live from her very own living room, just a few (figurative) steps away from Carnegie Hall, I have the privilege and pleasure on introducing a promising young new artist on the musical scene, playing an original composition entitled "Playtime," let's hear it for Rachel!

Notice, if you will, the skill with which Rachel implements the techniques of 20th century composition. She employs the atonal melodies and dissonent harmonies of the Second Viennese school and the vocal techniques of Arnold Schoenberg, but has taken these ideas and modernized them for the 21st century in which she lives and works. There is a rhythmic complexity here that we have not seen since the Renaissance and the isorhythm utilized by Guillaume de Machaut. She has researched the compositions of Béla Bartók, and while he was most well known for implementing the peasant music of his native Hungary into the concert repertoire, Rachel takes these same techniques to investigate the rustic charm of the innocence of youth.

Finally some sunshine

We had a very nice weekend. Finally some sunshine.

Speaking of sunshine, that is Rachel's new nickname. Here's how I came to it - Rachel --> Ray Ray --> Ray --> Ray of Sunshine --> Sunshine. So that's it. Besides, she is my sunshine, even on rainy days.

Here are a couple of cute pics of my little Sunshine:





Some exciting gardening news, I have little tiny baby lettuce plants. I can just taste the fresh garden salad. Mmmmm. And just think of the BLTs that come from my garden. The only problem is that I haven't been able to find any bacon seeds to plant.

Rain, rain go away. Come again another day.

Last night both Jeff and I had to go downtown for two different purposes, but basically the same timing, so we drove down together. I dropped him off for his thing, and I proceeded to go to my thing. When it was time to come home around 11:00 it was raining and lighteninging (what is the present participle of the verb "to lightening?") hard. As I was driving home in the pouring rain I was driving like a little old lady (no offense to all of the little old ladies that are reading this). My shoulders were hunched over as I peered through the rain to try make out the lines on the road. So I am straining to see, when suddenly brilliant lightening flashes, blinding me. I didn't care much for the sensation, and was VERY glad to get home.

I don't know about you, but I am just about DONE with all this rain. I checked out yahoo weather, and it looks like we will finally get several days in a row with sunshine. I can't wait! (But I guess I'll have to.)

Our back yard is a mud pit.


I know, think of the rain as a blessing for my garden. I guess if I have to . . .

I have a rain bucket to collect the rain now to water my garden, but I haven't really needed to use it much, and it is currently completely full, so now all of this rain is just wasted.


I forgot this "before" picture of my burning bushes. Check out the water flow in the background! During the summer this is bone dry.


Luckily, I have Rachel to brighten my day.

Several busy days have gone by . . .

We have had some full days for the past little bit.

On Monday we went to Marlene's house. Of course while we were working on our project, it was rainy, but that afternoon it was a lot nicer. Rachel really enjoys being outside. Me too. We decided to take some "before" pictures of our back yard, then we can see the progress it makes every month.

We moved into our house nearly three years ago. At that time Jeff's grandfather planted for us two lilac bushes and three blackberries bushes. Only one of each has survived. Last year we were finally going to be able to harvest approximately 17 blackberries from our bush, but something (maybe it was Scout, or maybe it was the groundhog that lives in the drainage pipe) stole the only branch that had the berries on it. So this year I hope we can manage some berries.

Our lilac bush at this time appears to be a lilac stick, but I can see gradual progress being made. Hopefully in several more years it will be a real bush. I am seeing some lilacs starting to bloom. We had a few lilacs last year already.


Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to the zoo (again). This time there were more of us. Jeff's mom brought the other grandkids from Lexington, Andrea and Jonas, and Rachel and myself all went. As long as the sun was out and there was no wind it was quite nice outside. Unlike our previous zoo trip, Rachel was actually awake for most of our visit yesterday. She is growing up so fast. She sat up in her stroller (with a little support from the diaper bag) and looked at all of the animals.






The monkeys were having a lot of fun.