First Day of Summer in Austin

Yesterday was the last day of school, which means today is the first day of summer vacation! It also means that I have way too much chocolate as that seems to be the most popular thank you gift for teachers. This one I thought was especially cute, and don't worry, none of it will go to waste :).

My plans for next year are still unknown. The position I am currently in is being cut to half time, so I will definitely be doing something different. I have applied to two middle schools in Austin that have open orchestra director positions. Murchison (my current school) suggested I teach .5 orchestra and .5 band for them. Since I have already signed a contract, I will have a full time job, but I may be at a different campus or even multiple campuses. We shall see.

James is at a convention in Nashville, TN. Hopefully, it gives him a chance to rejuvenate a little bit as he has been really busy at work. The last month has been full of interviews and negotiations as he filled the three vacant positions in his office. Once he gets back from Tennessee he will be training new staff members and eventually reducing his work load back to one person's job from the two or three he has been covering :).

We will be heading to Denver at the end of June to tour the local breweries, camp and hike in Rocky Mountain National Park, and explore the Mile-High City. I was just reading about the campground we will be staying in... they have bear lockers to house food overnight... this should be fun...

Rimsky loves boxes!

My first project for the summer was to assemble our new chairs. Of course, I had lots of help from the kitties! 

Duncan explored each new piece as it was added :).

It wasn't long before Rimsky joined Duncan.

Final setup, whew! Now we have a few more seats for when family and friends visit, yay!

 Happy summer to everyone! Hope to see you all soon!

Not too late....in Pacific Standard Time

Greetings from a splendid solace in Seattle!

Those you who truly know me, you will know that I am not a huge fan of boats.  Particularly, I do not ever remember having interest in joining the Cruise Ship trend nor do I have any plans for that in the future.  But, when a Orca is involved....you never know what might happen.

I'm getting ahead of myself.  I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change closed on May 3rd after selling out 7 of 8 performances.  That is nothing sort of amazing.  Though, I must say I was extremely proud of the work that was done on the stage.  I think with these visuals, you'll agree that something right happened.

For those of you who weren't able to make it, it was downright hysterical.  Thanks to all of you who made time to see the production.  Your support means a lot.

I've been mostly playing catch up since the show closed but I finally took some time to myself and am in the middle of a vacation in Washingston state.  Here are some pictures from the Whale Watching trip that I took today with my friend Estelle Cowie who joined me from her home in Alaska.

A female orca whale of J-Pod

The Male Orca of J-Pod "Mike"

Needless to say, it is some much needed time off.  I'll be around Hutchinson for the summer and I am looking forward to enjoying some quality time at Double K.  Happy summer!

Signs of Spring and other things

Spring has finally arrived along with some rain.  It rained all day on Saturday and today again it is a beautiful day.  There are so many beautiful flowers this year-decided to just share a few pictures.  The birds have been quite plentiful too.  Grandpa and I spend a lot of time bird watching.  The one below is an oriole.  We have had two kinds of  woodpeckers, brown thrasher, American finches, several kinds of dovesand others.

Iris

Mothers Day supper at the Shooks

Playing with Aunt Vicki's toys.

Some of Grandpa's roses.

And last but not least. A squirrel that I befriended when he was  a baby appears by my feet periodically for his hand-out

All About the Dreams

Well, we've been far and away in the blog-o-sphere recently. 

It's been a crazy spring at our house as we began new endeavors.

Let's start with Mary, who went in to tech for Dr. Zhivago on Broadway at the beginning of March. It was a grueling process, with wonderful people that lasted through previews and right up until opening, April 21. Then, it got slightly more ease-ful until they decided to close the show this coming Sunday, May 10. No real shockers there, but certainly an emotional last week. This was my very first Broadway show from scratch. It was such an experience of beauty, strength and perseverance on the part of all those working behind the scenes. I got to work with Rick Kelly who is one of my very favorite supervisors and had the support of so many wonderful people as it came to fruition. More over, the people that I worked with were all just Fantastic. Every day was a pleasure. No worries, though - back to Jersey Boys for me and all of the friends I've made there. Certainly lucky to get to live my dreams!

Kurtis has been working on his dreams this spring, too. He took off from Cedar Lake(which is now closing) to pursue the union and went out on tour at the end of last year to get a card. Now, he's chasing the Local 1 card. (Mine is Local 764, the wardrobe union.) Local 1 is the stagehand union. As he is most skilled at the carpentry and welding, he has begun his work at the big Local 1 shop, Hudson Scenic. It's an on again, off again deal depending on how much work they have available, but he is enjoying the path that it is taking him down. He's also put in some time at The Joyce and with some Industrial Load-Ins. Every little bit counts towards his card, but his is a lengthy process so keep praying for lots of Local 1 work and fabulous connection building!

Other than that, spring is finally dawning here and we are so very thankful. All of the trees are blooming and we're able to pop our windows open. The cats love this, even if the birds that they can't catch annoy them, they seem to love the fresh breeze. Beer is in full brew, yoga is in full swing, house cleaning is on the rise and we are working on connecting with more people as the season turns.

Sending lots of love your way! Wishing you a happy turn of seasons.