May

Last night, Paul & I were invited to the Student Appreciation Party at our teacher's new (and much farther away) ballroom. One of our fellow students, May, is in her mid-90's. She has a private lesson once a week, and can move more easily than a lot of 60-year-olds we know. She has a whole wardrobe of ballroom dresses she made and designed herself. She has a nice little business making outfits for other ballroom dancers for their competitions.

We got to talking last night, and she said that lately she's been branching out. Apparently, her fame is spreading to other demographics. She's started designing outfits for pole dancers. We think this is kind of awesome.

Here's a snippet of conversation from last night.

Paul: So what are the pole-dancing costumes like?

May: Skimpy! And stretchy!

Paul: I guess the skirts have to be kind of short--otherwise, they'd just fly up in their faces when they're upside-down.

May: Yeah, they're about seven inches long.

If I live to be 96, I hope I turn out to be half as cool as she is.

Weekend With the Bokuniewiczes

We had a great, full, busy, fun couple of days with our out-of-town friends this past weekend. Since I was at Darcy's, Paul did all the house cleaning and grocery shopping (for which I was extremely appreciative!)

We started Saturday with a rehearsal of the Reinecke trio at the church (to be played the next day). Although I had hardly practiced, I retained most of last year's hard work on it and then some. We all had a much more relaxed attitude about it and we sounded even better than last year.

Around noon, Matt Green (another of Paul's college friends) came over. He was able to score us some corporate tickets for the Indians game. We were in the second row along the third base line! We would have never gotten these seats if the Indians had been playing at all well, Paul likes to say. It was a glorious day, much like our similar afternoon last year, 71 degrees and sunny. We were in the sun this time, slathered in SPF 45, and it was just perfect.

It was only the fifth time I've seen a baseball game live, and I'm happy to report that my streak of having the home team win whenever I go to a game remains unbroken. Halfway through, we moved back a few rows where we could all sit together. Here's our group, left to right: Matt Green, Tom, the 3 sons Jeff, Matt, and Tyler, Marina, and Paul.
On Sunday Marina, Paul and I were the featured musicians at church, playing the Reinecke trio.
Paul, me, Marina after the service.
It was also the last day for our interim minister, Terry Kime. She was with us for a year and I'll miss her. Here she is with Kathy, our outgoing board president, and Rob, our incoming one. Dana and Linda made the stained glass chalice gift.

Photo op time, Paul and I with the Bokuniewicz family:
And here's one I took with Matt Green, who came to the service to hear us play:
We went out for lunch at Tommy's in Coventry, a short walk down the street, where Joy joined us.

Great Times With Darce

Yesterday I had the special treat of hearing the high-profile debut of Darcy's group, The Milwaukee Brass Quintet. They were awesome and got a well-deserved standing ovation. Darcy had arranged a couple of the numbers and even got credited for it by the MC, something she was not expecting!

I got a closeup during the sound check. I figured it wouldn't be too cool to stand right there in the middle blocking people's view during the actual concert!

Here they are during the performance.

Behold the magic of an optical zoom lens!

Darcy got to play MC a couple of times.

The teeming multitudes enjoying the music.

Right after the concert, all five of them had to rush to the performing arts center for a 2 1/2 hour rehearsal for the Milwaukee Symphony concert that night. So I was turned loose with a map downtown to check out the Old World 3rd Street area and the Grand Mall.

I had lunch at the Jewel of India. I am proud to report that, for the first time ever in my life, I ate at a sit-down restaurant, by myself, with no book. I felt a little self-concious but it was fine when I concentrated on my food. I got the buffet lunch and particularly enjoyed the spinach paneer and chicken marsala.

At the mall, I discovered a store I'd never been into, Dress Barn, that has some really cute stuff that's pretty inexpensive, so I bought a multi-colored pastel t-shirt (to replace the one I loved that's now too big for me) and a pretty yellow and peach chiffon dress with a little yellow sweater that I wore last night for the concert.

The concert was American Favorites, the kind of things you hear on the 4th of July, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Here's a great pic of Darcy and me taken in the lobby afterward: Today we went out for an excellent Italian lunch and did some more shopping, takling a mile a minute the whole time. I really wish we could do this more often! Love you, Darce!

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Last Sunday the weather finally warmed up. It was just beautiful, sunny and in the low 80s. Paul had to teach his classes, but I was free to attend little Bruce's 2nd birthday party at Bev & Fred's. It was a potluck cookout and I sat at the table full of salads and side dishes and got to know yet another group of Bev's friends. The highlight of the party was, of course, the birthday celebration. Bruce had a Winnie-the-Pooh cake. He couldn't resist dipping his fingers into the orange frosting!

Here he is with his mommy and daddy right before we sang "Happy Birthday." He's still little enough that he lost interest in the present-opening early on and went off to play while Bev opened them. Good times!

On Monday, Paul and I had another harmonic convergence of time off together for the whole day (not seen since Easter), so we did what we always do when we get this chance--get outside! After consulting our copy of Cleveland on Foot and picking a 6-mile, 3-hour hike from the "Moderately Strenuous" selections, we got up early, left by 9:30 am and were on the trail by 10. The trail was almost entirely in the woods so it was about 10 degrees cooler, a good thing since it was pushing 90 by the time we finished around 1 pm!

I am happy to report that I have met another fitness goal, and that is to be able to keep up with Paul on a hike and not be wasted for the rest of the day afterwards. We are now about equal in fitness. He says strengthwise he still has an advantage but that aerobic-wise I have the advantage!

There were lots of steep ravines, some of which were full of mud and water. One even had rushing water with just a stone or two to hop on to get across. I am still a wimp in these situations so I slowed down and was extra careful, but my balance has improved tremendously and I never tripped or slipped. The scenery was beautiful and we had a great time.

The heat didn't even slow me down. Sure, I got a little sweaty but it didn't make me feel miserable and out of breath like it used to, and I don't have a chafing problem anymore. When we got home, we didn't even turn on the air conditioning because it just wasn't that uncomfortable.

However, we did catch The Da Vinci Code in the early evening. I've read the book, Paul hasn't, and we both enjoyed the movie a lot. I don't get all the negativity from the critics--perhaps their attention spans are frayed from having to see so many movies. I thought it was pretty true to the book and beautifully shot.

"Rate My Life" Quiz

Just for fun, I took this online quiz. Some of these quizzes are off-the-wall ("What Kind of Fruit Are You?") but this one asks questions that actually make sense. My results were pretty much what I expected, except "Friends & Family" was lower than I would have thought:

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	8.3
Mind:	7.9
Body:	8.2
Spirit:	7
Friends/Family:	5.6
Love:	9.1
Finance:	8.5
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

I guess that's because I answered "1 or 2" when it asked how many good friends I have. (Hi, Darce!) I guess it depends on your definition of "good." I have a lot of church friends who I really connect with, but we don't invest a ton of energy in getting closer. Some energy, yes--we go out to lunch, invite each other to our parties, are involved in covenant groups and church activities together, and have occasionally provided support for each other during hard times. But it's not like we call each other or hang out on a regular basis.

I've always been one to invest most of my relationship energy into my significant other. I think I've gotten better but that's still my default setting. Is that so terrible?

That Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well, one of them, anyway! Yesterday, Darcy came by to visit for a few hours. We spent the whole time just yakking, catching up on all the topics we miss in our phone conversations, exchanging fun presents, and indulging in our annual photo session--this is the third Christmas Eve we've done this. It was so good to see her. It meant a lot to me.

We thought we'd shoot some obligatory Cute Couple pics while we were at it. One of them might make our Christmas cards next year.


At about 6, we had to kick Darcy out because I had to get up to church to rehearse with Amy and Sharon for the service, which started at 7 pm. It as a lovely service--carols interspersed with readings, some humorous and some touching, and ending with several verses of Silent Night by candlelight. We hung around for another half hour socializing over cookies.

We had minestrone soup and a few more cookies for dinner while we watched our DVD of It's a Wonderful Life, a tradition that Dad started maybe 10-15 years ago (not from my childhood). Paul & I have watched it every Christmas Eve we've been together--this is our fourth--and I love this tradition. This time we didn't have to cram packing into our schedule because we didn't have to fly anywhere today, or leave the house at all, for that matter.

We slept in as late as Mouchie would let us (about 8:30) and then enjoyed our stockings filled with clementines, shelled mixed nuts and dark Malley's chocolate foil-wrapped bells. We had a few fun little gifts from mostly family, and laughed at Mouchie as he played with the wrapping paper.

We roasted a 10-lb ham (my first ever). Wow, was that ever good. We got it yesterday morning at the West side market. It was a bone-in, non-precooked one, and super high quality. We coated it with a sugar rub with ginger, cloves, mustard and lime zest with pecan halves all over it--delicious, and not that hard. I managed to fit in a workout and we did our Christmas cards together while listening to David Sedaris's Santaland Diaries, one of our "sentimental" holiday favorites. We got to talk to Dad, Becky & Hannah, Eric, and Mom on the phone.

The rest of the evening's plans include watching A Christmas Story and packing for our trip to Houston tomorrow. Paul's family is having a huge reunion there from the 26-29th. I checked the weather and it's supposed to be in the 70s the whole time we're there! Whoo hoo!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

An Evening at Dale & Joy's

Last Friday, we spent a fun evening with our friends Dale & Joy, plus two of their kids and a few other assorted friends of theirs we met for the first time. It started with the preparation of gioza, or Japanese dumplings, made by Paul and Dale. They used to make them for years every Friday night after marital arts class, so they really know their stuff.

Here is a close-up of Dale's hands mixing the filling:

Dale, Paul and Joy cooking up a storm. I had the enviable position of staff photographer. :-)

After dinner, which included gioza, Paul's beef curry rice, and sake, we adjourned to the living room for some music making. This was the first time Paul and Dale had ever played together. The audience was very appreciative!

I asked Dale to take a picture when it was Paul's and my turn to play. This is the very first picture of us playing together! It was lots of fun.

Tonight we went to the Haunted Autumn Auction at the UU, which included yummy appetizers, a silent auction and a concert of live rock/folk music. What a great time! Since Paul was coming later, I walked (3 mi.) so we wouldn't have to use gas for 2 cars. I won a buttload of stuff, including 12 vouchers for Cleveland International Film Festival tickets, 4 vouchers for Cleveland Public Theatre, 3 gift certificates for food, and a homemade pumpkin coffee cake that smells heavenly. I immediately froze 3/4 of it wrapped in single portions.

Tomorrow Bev is coming over for a blogging tutorial from me--not that I think I'm an expert--but I guess since she knows zilch about it and I know a little, I can share what little I know.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Check this out. I have finally figured out how to include more than one picture on a post. :-)

Yesterday we had a great time with the Bokuniewiczes. After waking up around 9:30ish, the seven of us gathered around the newly clean and uncluttered kitchen table and breakfast bar while Paul made toast and fried eggs and I prepared coffee, orange juice and fresh fruit.

Paul, Marina and I practiced our trio together for the first time. It actually was pretty smooth going for the most part, each of us having practiced and listened to the CD for the past couple of months. After an hour and a half, we decided to quit while we were ahead, knowing it would be fine for today's performance.

I love that we live so close to everything. We were able to leave at 2:40, drive the 4 miles to downtown, find parking, walk to Jacobs Field and find our seats at a leisurely pace, and still be on time for a 3:15 baseball game.

Check out Paul's hat:
He, Tom and Marina all graduated from Oberlin, so this Oberlin Conservatory hat was a hit.

Here's another gratuitously cute couple pic, courtesy of Marina:

This panorama shot came out really skinny because I stitched it from 7 pics.Paul and Marina are close-up on the left.It was a gorgeous day, sunny, in the 80s and not humid, our seats were in the shade, and the Indians won in an exciting 9th inning. All the pics from yesterday can be seen here.*

As far as the performance at today's service, it went pretty well. Not flawlessly, but that didn't bother us. It was Paul's first public performance in 20 years, and I thought he sounded beautiful. In fact, I think the music was the high point of the service! :-)

They Bokunowitzes decided to go home today instead of tomorrow, so Paul and I have spent the afternoon reading the paper and doing a little clean-up, a very atypical Sunday for us. Usually we would both be working! The downtime feels good.

*My website, www.karint.com, now has my full name as a header on it and a link to this blog, making both much more visible on search engines. I didn't even notice until I uploaded the pics today. Thanks so much, Dad! xo

Birthday Party Cookout

We spent today at Bruce's 1st birthday party (Bev & Fred's). There must have been 30-40 people there. Fortunately, the weather stayed gorgeous. Bruce napped during the mid-afternoon (that would explain the partially-devoured birthday cake while we were singing Happy Birthday in the pic above). There were huge amounts of food which we ate constantly for at least 2-3 hours, lots of conversations, and several cute kids under the age of six, none of whom we were responsible for. ;-)

Fred poured a celebratory bottle of Jagermeister into little shot glasses, encouraging me to try it. I've heard of it, but had no idea what it was. Everyone else was chugging theirs and it didn't take me long to figure out why. It tasted mostly like Robitussin cough medicine, with anise and prune flavorings for good measure. Kinda nasty, but even the 1/4 inch or so I consumed gave me a buzz. Paul didn't like it either. One of Fred's friends generously offered to take it off my hands. All in all, a great day.

I've updated karint.com with new pix (see link in 5/28 entry).