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| Calvary Church |
Well, you can blame hurricane Sandy for the lack of an October blog. Sandy hit on Monday Oct. 29th, and we were without power until Nov. 2nd. There were already many things I planned to blog about this month, and that was before Sandy decided to come ashore. Anyway, in an attempt to keep things organized and compact and avoid writing a dissertation, I will try to summarize our crazy month of October into the beginning of November.
WORK:
Joey and I have been staying busy professionally. Joey's work at Calvary is going well. He is also teaching private lessons, accompanying for Anglican Singers and acting as Artistic Director of Calvary Music School. On top of that, he gave two organ recitals this month. I am also keeping busy teaching. I now have 14 enrolled students. My studio has grown much more quickly then I had anticipated, and Joey and I are working to balance our schedules and still be able to care for Clara. So far we are managing fine, and I am grateful to have so many wonderful students to work with.
MEGAN"S VISIT:
My dear friend Megan, who lives in Alexandria, VA, came to visit us at the beginning of the month. Megan and I met when we were in 9th grade, while attending a chamber music summer institute. We were roommates and became instant friends. Megan has two daughters and is expecting another baby in February. Clara had a lot of fun getting to know her girls, and it was great to see Megan and catch up with her. We spent a lot of time at the playground and also visited the Mystic Aquarium.
VACATION:
I celebrated an early birthday with Joey, Clara and my parents in Stowe, Vermont. The trip was a gift from my parents. They rented a 2 bedroom town home for three nights. Stowe is a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains. Unfortunatley we just missed the peak of the fall leaves, but it was still beautiful, and we saw a lot of color on the drive to Vermont. We had fun touring Stowe and taking scenic drives. We had some awesome apple cider and donuts at Cold Hollow Cider mill as well as some great meals at various local restaurants. We also stopped at a place called Kringle Candles in MA. It started out as a candle store and now has several stores including a Christmas and toy store, as well as a wonderful farm to table restaurant. Clara had a lot of fun exploring a new place and seeing her grandparents. Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful birthday experience!
BIRTHDAY:
I officially turend 29 on Oct. 19th. Clara and I had a joint birthday celebration since she turned a year and a half on the 20th. Joey made us a ghost cake, and boy was it good! I am looking forward to the last year of my twenties and love the fact that I can continue to tease Joey about being 30 for one more year!
Joey recently had his piano delivered from MN and moved into the front room of Calvary House. He will teach his students on it, and we will use it to practice and prepare for recitals together. It's really nice to have it, and it has quickly become Clara's favorite "toy". She loves to play the piano and listen to daddy play while she dances.
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| I made this violin for Clara before her wooden violin arrived. |
CLARA:
Clara is a year and a half old now and is learning new things every second. Her vocabulary has really grown over the last few weeks. She is able to recognize 9 of the alphabet letters by sight and say them out loud, and she can count to 5. One of the most exciting things for us is hearing her sing. She now sings the first phrase of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", and she almost always sings it perfectly on key. She loves to sing and dance. I have started giving Clara violin lessons. I know what you are thinking. "That crazy woman, how does she expect an 18 month old to play the violin?" Of course Clara is not playing a real violin. She has a fake wooden violin that I purchased online, as well as a fake bow, and she is able to take a bow with the violin in rest position and put it onto her shoulder in play position. She also knows which hand holds the bow and will pretend to bow on her violin. We are also clapping rhythms, which she is pretty good at. She loves the violin and often wants to play with it as soon as she wakes up in the morning. I am interested in helping her enjoy learning about the violin without pushing her too hard too soon. We have fun little practice sessions, and she is given a sticker at the end.
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| Keeping warm during Sandy |
HURRICANE SANDY/HALLOWEEN:
As you know, a major hurricane hit the East Coast early last week. Hurricane Sandy merged with a Nor'easter to form a hybrid storm which resulted in terrible destruction and tragedy in several states, including Connecticut. New Jersey and New York were hit the worst. Because we live so close to the ocean, we were not comfortable staying at home during the storm. We were concerned about the storm surge. Also, the borough was placed under mandatory evacuation the night before the storm, which meant we might not be able to get help if we decided to stay home. There is nothing more eerie then listening to police sirens and announcements outside telling you that you have to leave your home. Our wonderful friends Richard and Lois from church offered to let us stay with them. They had a generator which provided power to the house even after the wind knocked power out. The borough did suffer quite a bit of damage, and coverage of the damage in Stonington could be seen on the national weather channel. A huge tree fell on the local library destroying the roof. There was also some serious flooding in the low lying areas of the borough. We were lucky though, Both Calvary Church and Calvary House were ok. We did spend a few nights at home in the dark. We had a fire going in the dining room and basically stayed there until we had to get into our cold bed. We have a small generator which was able to power an electrical heater in Clara's room. We actually spent the final night without power with some other generous friends who had power. The whole week was a bit surreal, and we were so relieved when the power finally came back on. We missed an entire week of teaching, and Joey's adult Evensong had to be cancelled.
We were excited about Halloween. We were going to take Clara trick-or-treating for the first time. However, the mayor of Stonington cancelled the holiday because he felt it was too dangerous for kids to be out immediately following the storm. Not to mention nobody had any power. He officially changed Halloween to November 16th. I'm not sure why he picked such a late date.; it's less than a week before Thanksgiving. I am glad that he rescheduled it though, and we do plan to participate and hand out candy. Maybe Clara will still get to go trick-or-treating this year. She has an adorable strawberry costume and it would be a shame for her not to be seen in it.
Although the storm and lack of power was difficult to deal with, we feel so lucky in many ways. Many people are still suffering because of the storm. Some lost their property and some lost their lives. This was the second hurricane Joey, Clara and I have experienced in CT, and I pray we don't have anymore for a very long time.
LOOKIN AHEAD:
We are hoping that November won't be quite as eventful as October. We look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with friends here in Stonington and putting up our Christmas decorations. The weather has turned colder now, and most of the trees have lost their leaves. We hope you have a wonderful November and a happy Thanksgiving. I tried to keep this post short but it seems I have failed. Oh well, November should be pretty straight forward.
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| We took Clara with us to vote but she wouldn't tell us who she voted for. |
May your stuffing be tasty,
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize.
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
-Anonymous
Joey, Erin and Clara