Now That's A New One

Thursday night Brandon and I went to see Morning Becomes Electra. The show was very good despite the fact that it is 41/2 hours long and has two 15 minute intermissions which means 5 hours at the theater. The curtain rises at 7:00 and if you are lucky it falls at midnight. We had a late curtain, but they managed to make up the time. Despite the length, I would highly recommend the show. I would not recommend going on a work night like we did. Furthermore I would not recommend waiting at the stage door (which is really the main entrance) as we did. Why? First Jena Malone was the only member of the cast that stopped to sign programs (it's off-Broadway so no Playbill). Second when Brandon asked to take a picture, her reply was something like, "Um, no, my eyes don't look right tonight." Now that's a new one. Celebs give a lot of weird reasons for not wanting to pose for a picture and some are really strange. I wonder why they don't try, "Not tonight please. I'm sorry. Maybe some other time. But thank you for coming and spending $120.00 to see me perform.

I Love Snow?

I swear this will be the last time that I write about snow. I thought I had experienced every kind of snow. WRONG! Last night and early this morning we had a few inches of beautiful white powder. I loved it. Sometime around mid-morning the snow turned to rain. By the time school was out, every surface was covered with several inches of slush. There was not a single corner that could be crossed without stepping ankle deep in slush. Even in waterproof snow boots you could feel the wet mess. High water pants would have been a welcomed addition to my wardrobe. I didn't think I'd every meet a snow I didn't like. Today I did.

Chinese New Year

I know people get tired of hearing me say, "I love New York," but I do. There are so many wonderful cultural events to celebrate. Today we celebrated Chinese New Year. I made Vietnamese spring rolls for my class which has Vietnamese students. One of them, Preston was the one that informed me that several Asian countries celebrate Chinese New Year. Most of my students had never seen spring rolls before, but they bravely tried them. Most of them even opted for the hoisin sauce. Preston tried the roll and pronounced it better than his mom's. I doubt it. It was sweet though. At the end of the day the parents picked up their kids. As I stood visiting with another teacher, I saw Preston and his mom heading back toward me. It made me a little nervous as his mother does not speak English very well, so she seldom talks to me. I need not have worried though. This is how the conversation went.

Mrs. N: Preston say you make spring roll
Me: I tried
Mrs. N: Preston say he like better than mine.
Me: He is just being nice.
Mrs. N.: How you make?
I explained what I did.
Mrs. N: You fry?
Me: No
Mrs. N: (laughing) Most people think you fry. No, no, no. You make sauce?
Me: I bought hoisin sauce and added some chopped peanuts.
Mrs. N: awww, chopped peanuts. I try and you put garlic in peanut oil and add to sauce.

With that she walked away. As she was leaving, she leaned over and told her son. "Your teacher nice."

Who would have thought that all it took was a little chopped peanuts to make you a good teacher. I love New York.

Beauty of Nature

I know I seem to be obsessed with snow, but it is by far my favorite natural occurrence. Sunrises and sunsets are a distant second. It has snowed for the past four days off and on blanketing everything. The heat from the house melts the snow on the roof which drips off into beautiful icicles. I could take hundreds of pictures, actually I have. You would think after three years I'd be over it.

SNOW!

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I love snow. Today I was modeling writing for my students. We had read Hairs by Sandra Cisneros and the students were supposed to write a piece that followed the writing style that she used. In it she describes different people's hair. The students didn't get it so I decided that they would have to see the process. As I was gazing out the window at the falling snow, I decided to write about snow. I don't remember exactly what I wrote, but it was the first time I reflected upon the fact that there are different kinds of snow. My least favorite is the wet stuff that is mixed with sleet. I love the stuff even though it penetrates my boots and freezes my feet. Next are the big fluffy flakes that cover the ground quickly and make a rubbery scrunching sound when you walk on it. The best kind of snow is when the flakes are minuscule and frozen solid. It is so beautiful that it looks like glitter falling to earth. We had that kind of snow today. This morning as I walked outside in the darkness I looked up at the street light and it took my breath away. The sky was full of dazzling, tiny flakes. I hated that it was a school day. I could have sat for hours and just watched the beauty of nature.

Addendum:

As I sit here three days later watching a quiet snow with large beautiful flakes, I realize that maybe this is the best kind. You can follow the large flakes as they slowly make their way to their target. The scene is enhanced by the fact that there is no traffic and the sky is just beginning to lighten. Takes my breath away.

What I Hate

As much as I love New York, I hate the medical system here. Friday I went to my back doctor, Dr. Bakshi. He thought I was bringing a report from my neurologist, Dr. Belok. I thought they had faxed it. I called and they told me that they couldn't send it because I hadn't signed a release. When I asked why they hadn't called me, they lady said that they were waiting for me to call. Why would I call? I asked them to fax it the day I was there over a month ago.

"Why would I call? Okay send it now."

"Not without a signed consent, but we did send it to the referring doctor, Dr. Greenberg."

I called the referring doctor. "Can you send the report to Dr. Baksi?"

"Sure if we had it, which we don't."

Call again to Dr. Belok. "Dr. Greenberg doesn't have it."

"Oh, well we will fax it over tomorrow."

"But I'm at the doctor today."

"Well you should have called sooner."

Sooner than what? I called four weeks ago!

Happy Birthday!

Today is the anniversary of the birth of two of my favorite men. How ironic. My father was born on this day 85 years ago. Elvis was born on this day 74 years ago. Although clearly I loved my father more, Elvis' music gave me many hours of listening pleasure. I was lucky enough to have seen him perform 4 times. The last being his next to last live appearance. My love of Elvis came from my late fiance Gaylen. He traveled to Las Vegas several times to see him perform at the old International Hotel. Once, he caught a bear that Elvis tossed to the crowd while singing Teddy Bear. Gaylen gave the bear to me. Years later I gave the bear to my youngest daughter who I believe slept with him every night for years. Both men were considered great men. Both died much too young, but the world is a better place because of them.

Happy Birthday Daddy!
Happy Birthday Elvis!

Surprise!

There is nothing cuter than seeing the look of surprise when a child opens a gift. I'm not sure when Alivia started making that face, but we see it several times a day. During gift opening at Christmas, she did "the face" every time she opened a present. I know that eventually she will stop just as she has moved on from other cute things that she does, but we will enjoy it for as long as it lasts. Wonder where she gets it from?

Happy New Year

I think that New Year's Eve is one of the most overrated days of the year. Try as I might, I can't think of a single year when everything went the way it was supposed to. Additionally the only one that really stands out in my mind was the eve of 1972. Gaylen, my fiance who was killed in an auto accident in 1972, my sister and her best friend Ann and I went to Cabinis Field in Corpus Christi to shoot off fireworks. Gaylen and I would become engaged 5 days later. My favorite thing about fireworks is shooting off bottle rockets and lighting Blackcats, holding them until they are about to explode and then tossing them into the air. It was really dark out and in my attempt to find the fuse, I touched the small cylinder with the punk. The blast went off in my hand. The pain was indescribable. Add to that my sister yelling at me all the way home that I was going to be in soooo much trouble and it's a wonder I didn't lose consciousness. After arriving home and recounting the story to my mother, she cleaned up my hand. Beneath the powder marks my hand was covered in large blisters filled with blood. After doctoring my hand Gaylen I went to sit on the couch where I cried myself to sleep.

There were a couple of years as a teenager when I went to parties. As part of a married couple there were years when we went out with other couples. But this year will go down as one of my favorites. One I will not soon forget. About three days before I thought that I would be babysitting while the girls went out. On the appointed evening Erin decided to stay in. I sent her off to the store to buy a basket full of comfort food. Since Elyse doesn't have cable, we decided to rent a movie and buy a couple of card games. By the time Erin returned from the store, Elyse had decided that staying in sounded like a good idea. So there we were, me and my three girls eating chips, dips, roasted chicken salad, chocolate chip cookies and drinking champagne. About 9:00 Erin put Alivia to sleep on Elyse's bed. We played cards and watched movies until 11:15 when we decided to tune in to the only TV station Elyse gets. We sat and watched until the ball dropped, on the delayed broadcast, at midnight. At the stroke of 12:00 central time, we toasted, kissed and hugged. Erin decided that we should go in and give Alivia a new year kiss. Imagine our surprise to find her sound asleep on the floor. I'm not sure when she rolled off the bed, but she must have been sound asleep as she hadn't even cried out. As simple as the celebration was, it was by far one of my favorites.