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Ths is me concentrating hard while trying to take a picture of my practice makeup (which I hate). How grim if this is what I look like when working!!!!!!
First and last time for false eyelashes for me!!!!Wednesday, April 18, 2012
A few more miscellaneous pics
Ths is me concentrating hard while trying to take a picture of my practice makeup (which I hate). How grim if this is what I look like when working!!!!!!First and last time for false eyelashes for me!!!!
The poser taking pictures of the photographers!
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Nicola at Beluga Point.JPG)
UAA in the woods
Photographer Steve and Nicola, assistant.
Isn' t this gorgeous? Who would know it's April???
Steve and Nicola consulting while I warm up in the truck. Note how warmly they are dressed!Saturday, April 14, 2012
April 18, 2012
Lots going on up here in Anchorage! We have over 15 hours of daylight now and some heavy DIsappearing action to get rid of our record-bursting snow. Over 137 inches fell in dribs and drabs and a couple of big drops. Our streets got narrower and narrower, more and more accidents piled up, and snow piles on rooves. Temps are in the 30's and 40's and we have lots of sunlight!
The Irish and I had our first BBQ for a birthday celebration/celebrate Spring/first-just-plain-get-out-of- the-house evening last week. The pavement is largely dry, which was just a memory up until a week ago!
As I sit, sun is streams in onto tulips and daff bulbs that spent the winter in the fridge and are now in pots in front of the slider. The first daff responding to all that warmth has opened up.
I saw one of my students perform in RENT this past weekend with some Canadian friends. It brought back a lot of sad NYC memories, but it was a very good production, all with local talent which Anchorage audiences just love!
I also had a photo shoot at Beluga Point, the train snowplow a few miles down the road, and behind UAA in the woods with my friends Steve and Nicola. Gorgeous scenery and I will post some pictures on this and the next blog. Note how warmly Steve and Nicola are dressed.
Recital coming up, my last one with this center as I need to take a little time off as I just can't work these long hours anymore.
Next will be playing background music at a fundraiser my sister Cheryl is hosting. Not singing, but playing piano! I have picked a combination of classical and non-classical music.
Animals are good and spending more and more time outside. Larkin wants to be outside all the time now in the light. It is amazing how he can spend so much time out in the snow and not mind it. Pak, on the other hand, likes to lay on the porch where it is dry.
The Irish continues to do the bulk of the house chores and work. He is not getting enough sleep and we are not getting enough time together but I hope this will change soon. The dog next door barks and kids across the street bounce the basketball at all hours. And I am sure my coming home for lunch and packing my evening music is intrusive in this small house.
The bears have woken up and are starting to ramble around looking for food.
Hope you all are enjoying a wonderful Spring!
The Irish and I had our first BBQ for a birthday celebration/celebrate Spring/first-just-plain-get-out-of- the-house evening last week. The pavement is largely dry, which was just a memory up until a week ago!
As I sit, sun is streams in onto tulips and daff bulbs that spent the winter in the fridge and are now in pots in front of the slider. The first daff responding to all that warmth has opened up.
I saw one of my students perform in RENT this past weekend with some Canadian friends. It brought back a lot of sad NYC memories, but it was a very good production, all with local talent which Anchorage audiences just love!
I also had a photo shoot at Beluga Point, the train snowplow a few miles down the road, and behind UAA in the woods with my friends Steve and Nicola. Gorgeous scenery and I will post some pictures on this and the next blog. Note how warmly Steve and Nicola are dressed.
Recital coming up, my last one with this center as I need to take a little time off as I just can't work these long hours anymore.
Next will be playing background music at a fundraiser my sister Cheryl is hosting. Not singing, but playing piano! I have picked a combination of classical and non-classical music.
Animals are good and spending more and more time outside. Larkin wants to be outside all the time now in the light. It is amazing how he can spend so much time out in the snow and not mind it. Pak, on the other hand, likes to lay on the porch where it is dry.
The Irish continues to do the bulk of the house chores and work. He is not getting enough sleep and we are not getting enough time together but I hope this will change soon. The dog next door barks and kids across the street bounce the basketball at all hours. And I am sure my coming home for lunch and packing my evening music is intrusive in this small house.
The bears have woken up and are starting to ramble around looking for food.
Hope you all are enjoying a wonderful Spring!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Happy St Patrick's Day!
A brilliant day filled with sunshine. Not warm enough to do any melting, but gorgeous just the same.
We are 3 1/12 inches of snow short on breaking the all-time snowiest winter in Anchorage. Love or hate it, some residents are hoping for more, at least another 3.3 inches. Then they could say they made it through the winter when the nearly 60-year record of 132.6 inches was broken.
The heavy snow is collapsing rooves and forcing moose into the city, where they are being colliding with vehicles and dying in large numbers. The moose are exhausted from traveling through the deep snow. The state passed an emergency measure to set up feeding stations far from roads and it appears to be helping.
We now have over 12 hours of daylight and have successfully made it through Daylight Savings Time which I think is totally unnecessary up here.
It is vacation week up here and I have thoroughly enjoyed coming home after Job one and going to bed early. I thought I would get a whole lot more done around the house but once my body allowed itself to relax, it decided it wanted to sleep.
The sinusitis is finally leaving after eight or more weeks. I credit it to two humidifiers and the Neti pot, which I have been using up to six times a day.
We are 3 1/12 inches of snow short on breaking the all-time snowiest winter in Anchorage. Love or hate it, some residents are hoping for more, at least another 3.3 inches. Then they could say they made it through the winter when the nearly 60-year record of 132.6 inches was broken.
The heavy snow is collapsing rooves and forcing moose into the city, where they are being colliding with vehicles and dying in large numbers. The moose are exhausted from traveling through the deep snow. The state passed an emergency measure to set up feeding stations far from roads and it appears to be helping.
We now have over 12 hours of daylight and have successfully made it through Daylight Savings Time which I think is totally unnecessary up here.
It is vacation week up here and I have thoroughly enjoyed coming home after Job one and going to bed early. I thought I would get a whole lot more done around the house but once my body allowed itself to relax, it decided it wanted to sleep.
The sinusitis is finally leaving after eight or more weeks. I credit it to two humidifiers and the Neti pot, which I have been using up to six times a day.
Friday, February 3, 2012
In the News 02/03/2012
Groundhog Day isn't such a big deal up here, for obvious reasons. We gained 5 minutes and 21 seconds of daylight today. We now have nearly eight hours of daylight! Ya-hoo!
The cold weather pattern finally broke, just as everyone was getting really cranky. My choir students were practically comatose last week. We had a Chinook wind for a couple of days and it warmed up to 38 and things (like the ice- and hard snow-packed roads) started to melt but it cooled off to 20.
"Big Miracle", the story of the rescue of three grey whales trapped in the ice in Barrow in 1988, opens this weekend to good reviews. It stars Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, and Ted Danson. The real story is in the Anchorage Daily News today. http://www.adn.com/2012/02/02/2297759/1988-barrow-whale-rescue-the-real.html
The uplifting thing about this family movie is it brought the Inupiaq community, Greenpeace, Arco, Soviets, the military, local musicians, ice fishermen from MN, and a chainsaw distributor together for the rescue mission.
One of the most dangerous section of the Iditarod sled dog race was dropped. The mileage is the same, race officials are careful to point out. The area known as The Steps, which contains steep switchbacks will be bypassed.
We have gotten so much snow today, Anchorage drivers are being told to stay off the roads so plows can get to work. It is eerily silent out there.
The Anchorage Daily News gardening expert, Jeff Lowenfels is getting desperate requests for green things growing from his readers. His suggestion is to start sweet peas. I speculate we still have the tough months of February and March and possibly April too to get through before it warms up some. There is so much snow in the back yard it is going to be a pond when it melts and there is no place for the water to go. There is no grass back there, only carpets of stellaria media. It takes a big imagination to picture a green and lush back yard just now.
Alaskan Superbowl food suggestions in the paper include fresh cod ($5.99/lb), oysters (10.95/12), Manila clams (6.95/lb), and rockfish (10.99/lb). I think we are just going to have the usual standard fare of wings, maybe chili, the lad wants chicken quesadillas, and deviled eggs. I think we have a bag of frozen shrimp too. I am still not feeling up to snuff, so we want convenience, although everything is home-made and not processed.
Bush teaching was evaluated and found wanting recently. Despite the curriculum changes in an effort to accommodate all Native youth and the ongoing progress made in educating and keeping potential staff, notably by Bering Straits School District, the challenges continue.
The Olive Garden has finally opened a branch here in Anchorage! I was told by the manager's husband not to go til April 'when all the bugs had been worked out'. Later I found out from colleagues equally excited by the appearance of the chain, 'they' had built to Lower 48 standards instead of AK. Pipes froze, then burst, and they had a big mess.
The cold weather pattern finally broke, just as everyone was getting really cranky. My choir students were practically comatose last week. We had a Chinook wind for a couple of days and it warmed up to 38 and things (like the ice- and hard snow-packed roads) started to melt but it cooled off to 20.
"Big Miracle", the story of the rescue of three grey whales trapped in the ice in Barrow in 1988, opens this weekend to good reviews. It stars Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, and Ted Danson. The real story is in the Anchorage Daily News today. http://www.adn.com/2012/02/02/2297759/1988-barrow-whale-rescue-the-real.html
The uplifting thing about this family movie is it brought the Inupiaq community, Greenpeace, Arco, Soviets, the military, local musicians, ice fishermen from MN, and a chainsaw distributor together for the rescue mission.
One of the most dangerous section of the Iditarod sled dog race was dropped. The mileage is the same, race officials are careful to point out. The area known as The Steps, which contains steep switchbacks will be bypassed.
We have gotten so much snow today, Anchorage drivers are being told to stay off the roads so plows can get to work. It is eerily silent out there.
The Anchorage Daily News gardening expert, Jeff Lowenfels is getting desperate requests for green things growing from his readers. His suggestion is to start sweet peas. I speculate we still have the tough months of February and March and possibly April too to get through before it warms up some. There is so much snow in the back yard it is going to be a pond when it melts and there is no place for the water to go. There is no grass back there, only carpets of stellaria media. It takes a big imagination to picture a green and lush back yard just now.
Alaskan Superbowl food suggestions in the paper include fresh cod ($5.99/lb), oysters (10.95/12), Manila clams (6.95/lb), and rockfish (10.99/lb). I think we are just going to have the usual standard fare of wings, maybe chili, the lad wants chicken quesadillas, and deviled eggs. I think we have a bag of frozen shrimp too. I am still not feeling up to snuff, so we want convenience, although everything is home-made and not processed.
Bush teaching was evaluated and found wanting recently. Despite the curriculum changes in an effort to accommodate all Native youth and the ongoing progress made in educating and keeping potential staff, notably by Bering Straits School District, the challenges continue.
The Olive Garden has finally opened a branch here in Anchorage! I was told by the manager's husband not to go til April 'when all the bugs had been worked out'. Later I found out from colleagues equally excited by the appearance of the chain, 'they' had built to Lower 48 standards instead of AK. Pipes froze, then burst, and they had a big mess.
Super Bowl 2012 and The Star Spangled Banner
Gearing up for the game on Sunday. It is a big deal here - and everywhere else.
Kelly Clarkson will be singing The Star Spangled Banner, and Madonna will be performing during the halftime show singing Vogue and Like a Virgin and two other selections.
The SSB is a notoriously difficult piece to sing. It spans an octave and a fifth. Since it is acapoco, singers have to be really careful not to start too high or else they will wipe out on the high notes at the end. Also, the lyrics in poem-form were written in 1814 and sadly, most of us don't have all those words in our vocabulary, making it even more confusing to sing. Rampart? Gleaming?
Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics the morning after he was released from captivity during the Battle of Fort McHenry in The War of 1812. Key was detained by the British as he had heard the British plans to bombard the fort. Throughout the night, as he heard rocket fire and exploding bombs and in the bowels of the enemy's ship, he anguished because he had no idea who was winning. As the dawn came, he saw our flag still proudly flying.
So it is an honor to the singer who sings the words correctly, in the right key, with the right spirit. I think our anthem reflects my teaching motto perfectly. You have to be fearless to sing it. My favorite rendition is sung by Whitney Houston who blew the crowd away with her 1991 "Welcome Home Heroes" concert in Norfolk, VA.
May Kelly Clarkson be fearless and brave on Sunday and long live the Patriots!
Here are the five verses:
Kelly Clarkson will be singing The Star Spangled Banner, and Madonna will be performing during the halftime show singing Vogue and Like a Virgin and two other selections.
The SSB is a notoriously difficult piece to sing. It spans an octave and a fifth. Since it is acapoco, singers have to be really careful not to start too high or else they will wipe out on the high notes at the end. Also, the lyrics in poem-form were written in 1814 and sadly, most of us don't have all those words in our vocabulary, making it even more confusing to sing. Rampart? Gleaming?
Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics the morning after he was released from captivity during the Battle of Fort McHenry in The War of 1812. Key was detained by the British as he had heard the British plans to bombard the fort. Throughout the night, as he heard rocket fire and exploding bombs and in the bowels of the enemy's ship, he anguished because he had no idea who was winning. As the dawn came, he saw our flag still proudly flying.
So it is an honor to the singer who sings the words correctly, in the right key, with the right spirit. I think our anthem reflects my teaching motto perfectly. You have to be fearless to sing it. My favorite rendition is sung by Whitney Houston who blew the crowd away with her 1991 "Welcome Home Heroes" concert in Norfolk, VA.
May Kelly Clarkson be fearless and brave on Sunday and long live the Patriots!
Here are the five verses:
|  |
Additional Civil War period lyrics
In indignation over the start of the American Civil War, Oliver Wendell Homes added a fifth stanza to the song in 1861 which appeared in songbooks of the era.When our land is illumined with liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile
The flag of the stars, and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained,
Who their birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Nice presentation.
So I admit the traditional English Christmas cake does not tempt all American palates, or even many, especially my family, who have been tortured with too many renditions of dry, tasteless, stale, American versions. Even the Irish won't touch it.
Also, Americans are not able to encompass the scope of this ancient traditional cake which began as a porridge to break a long Christmas eve-day fast centuries ago. It morphed into plum porridge, then dried fruit, spices, and honey were added to the porridge mixture, and eventually it turned into Christmas pudding.
In the 16th century, oatmeal was removed from the original recipe, and butter, wheat flour, and eggs were added. These ingredients helped hold the mixture together and in what resulted in a boiled plum cake. Richer families that had ovens began making fruit cakes with marzipan, an almond sugar paste, cake using seasonal dried fruit and spices. The spices represented the exotic eastern spices brought by the Wise Men. This cake became known as "Christmas cake."
It is hard for us to imagine the preparation and planning that went into the ingredients of this cake which included the harvest and drying of fruits used to punctuate the cake with bursts of intense flavor and sweetness along with the addition of expensive sweetner hoarded by poorer families all year to sweeten the cake, which is still not sweet enough for most Americans' palates. Small quantities of spices were available only to the wealthiest tier imported from across perilous seas.
This glamorous holiday cake crammed with fruit and nuts, covered w/marzipan, and iced a dazzling white is truly the rock star of the Christmas dinner!
In our too-busy lives everyone, including the English, cuts corners and purchases more processed and store-made food items. We try not to eat processed food at all and although this takes months to create, it is slow food at its very best!
Also, Americans are not able to encompass the scope of this ancient traditional cake which began as a porridge to break a long Christmas eve-day fast centuries ago. It morphed into plum porridge, then dried fruit, spices, and honey were added to the porridge mixture, and eventually it turned into Christmas pudding.
In the 16th century, oatmeal was removed from the original recipe, and butter, wheat flour, and eggs were added. These ingredients helped hold the mixture together and in what resulted in a boiled plum cake. Richer families that had ovens began making fruit cakes with marzipan, an almond sugar paste, cake using seasonal dried fruit and spices. The spices represented the exotic eastern spices brought by the Wise Men. This cake became known as "Christmas cake."
It is hard for us to imagine the preparation and planning that went into the ingredients of this cake which included the harvest and drying of fruits used to punctuate the cake with bursts of intense flavor and sweetness along with the addition of expensive sweetner hoarded by poorer families all year to sweeten the cake, which is still not sweet enough for most Americans' palates. Small quantities of spices were available only to the wealthiest tier imported from across perilous seas.
This glamorous holiday cake crammed with fruit and nuts, covered w/marzipan, and iced a dazzling white is truly the rock star of the Christmas dinner!
In our too-busy lives everyone, including the English, cuts corners and purchases more processed and store-made food items. We try not to eat processed food at all and although this takes months to create, it is slow food at its very best!
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