Dear Family and Friends,
Our Halloween weekend started off with a snow storm. Yes, a snow storm. Winter Storm Alfred made an appearance Saturday night into Sunday. Those of us who live on the coast were lucky. Apart from some strong wind and a light dusting of snow we didn't get much from the storm. Other parts of Connecticut, however, received upwards of 20 inches of snow, and many people are still without power. We have to laugh at the choice of storm names around here. First it was hurricane Irene (Clara's middle name) and now Winter Storm Alfred (Our rector's name). Anyway, last night we were bombarded with hordes of trick-or-treaters, many of whom may have come to the borough in order to avoid downed power lines and snow drifts. Clara definitely enjoyed her first Halloween experience. We dressed her up as a sweet little pumpkin and held her at the door every time children came by. Joey decorated the front of our house with spooky lights and carved an amazing cat pumpkin. The pumpkin was a huge hit. A grown man even walked by our house and stopped to take a picture of it on his phone. We bought 10 bags of candy thinking we would have left overs to take to the church office today, but as it turns out we ran out of candy around 7:30 and had to turn off all of our spooky decorations and close the blinds. Oh well, we managed to give out plenty of candy, and it was getting to be Clara's bedtime so it worked out. After Clara went to bed, Joey and I watched the original Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis on TV. Joey had never seen it. I'm not really one for horror movies and neither is Joey. I think we would have had more fun watching Charlie Brown's Halloween.
Clara sure is a lot of fun these days. She has two incredibly cute little teeth on her bottom gum now. She has also started to laugh and giggle a lot. She thinks silly facial expressions are hilarious and also loves to be tickled. Occasionally she will give Joey little kisses on his cheek. I am extremely jealous because so far I have yet to be kissed! On the other hand, Clara sometimes gives me such amazing little love eyes, and all sense of jealousy quickly fades.Joey and I have both been keeping extremely busy. Apart from taking care of my little girl while Joey is at work, I have been teaching and gigging. I also had a violin lesson with Katie Lansdale, professor of violin at the Hartt School of Music last week. I studied with her last year before I had Clara, and I hope to start having semi-regular lessons with her again in order to keep growing as a violinist. I don't think one should ever stop studying one's instrument, even after graduating from music school. I can always learn more, and not only does it strengthen my playing ability, but it also helps me to be a better violin teacher. Last week Joey gave three recitals, one at St. Mary the Virgin in New York City, one at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, CT and one here in Stonington at our own Calvary Church. All three recitals went very well. The recital at Calvary was a lot of fun. There was a wine reception prior to the recital, during which Joey spoke about the music he was going to perform. Since the organ at Joey's church is in the back balcony, Joey set up a video camera with a screen at the front of the church so that the audience members could watch him play. The screen was a big hit, and something he will probably do again in the future. Joey also had a lesson last week. We drove to Wellesley, MA to meet up with his former organ teacher from Oberlin, James David Christie. It was a great lesson, and we were so happy that JDC (as he is called by his students) was able to finally meet Clara. Apart from his church position, Joey has also taken on two very part-time jobs, one as organ accompanist for a choral group called the Anglican Singers, and another as organist for Evensong services at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford. As if the three recitals and the organ lesson were not enough, Joey rehearsed and performed Evensong with the Anglican singers while fulfilling his duties at Calvary!
(Joey, Clara and JDC)
Well, I guess it's time to take down the Halloween decorations and look forward to Thanksgiving. We hope you had a great October and wish you a joyous November. We don't really have Thanksgiving plans at this point. We will probably spend the holiday at home, just the three of us. Joey doesn't have enough time off for us to travel, and since Clara is so little, a relaxed Thanksgiving at home sounds fine to me. Till next post....Erin, Joey and Clara