She's fifteen now

Today, the child who caused my transition from woman to mother, turned fifteen years old.

It wasn't always easy -- it still isn't -- but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. I can hardly remember my life before her.

I'm so proud and privileged to have such a wonderful child who is growing to be a wonderful young woman. I hope she knows just how very much I love her and how important and special she is to me. I hope she doesn't always find her journey through life difficult, and I hope that everything she dreams about that is good, comes true for her. Mostly, I just hope she knows. Happy birthday, Kira. I love you so much.

Bring it on, Summer!

Summer has officially started here at the Brandel Circus. All three of the kids are out of school now, and we have shifted to what will be the schedule for the next two and a half months.

(I still can't believe Noah is starting kindergarten in the fall.)

We've been getting ready for summer for a while, finding all the fun outdoor toys, stocking up on bubbles and water balloons and getting a new lawn sprinkler. Soon, we'll join the pool, and then the fun really begins!

(I have got to get Wren a better-fitting bike helmet...)

Noah is attending a Kindergarten Readiness camp at the elementary school starting July 1, so in two weeks, my big boy will already be getting on the bus and riding away from here to start his own adventures. Kira will be off to her dad's house for the summer next Friday (boo! We miss her when she's gone!), and Wren and I will probably be at the barn most mornings while Noah is at school. We don't really have any travel plans this summer, what with the horses this summer, and the big trip to Miami last year, and the potential for a Disney vacation next year.

I'm hoping for a July schedule that involves getting to the barn by 8:30 at least three days a week, helping Wren with Gabby (groom, round pen, tack, ride), and then getting in a ride on Champ before heading home to get Noah off the bus at noon. After that, pool time! We'll have to fit in other barn time on the weekends or in the evenings, because Travis has already bemoaned the lack of built-in Turkey time for him. I anticipate much library time, and computer and Wii time, too. Summers are very HOT in Virginia, and I can't say I love being out in the heat of the day.

My kids are predisposed to love books and learning, so I am not too worried about "summer slide", or whatever they are calling it these days, but I am considering making some sight word flashcards for practice with Noah, and getting some math facts cards for Wren. Noah started reading a couple of months ago, and while he is not proficient, he is definitely ahead of his level already, and I'd like to build on that a little.

Somewhere in our schedule, I need to find time to work.

Maybe some day trips will be part of the weekend agenda, maybe we will go camping at the state park near our house. I definitely want to hit the state park's water playground.

I think it's going to be a fun summer.

Winter Fun, and Also A Run

I finally got my ass in gear and ran for the first time in two weeks. It was raining, and I have run in the rain so much this winter that I just couldn't face going outside, so I ran on the (hated) treadmill (dreadmill). There is definitely something wrong with the calibration on the 'mill, because I know my pace really well, and there is NO WAY I only ran 2 miles in 31 minutes. Seriously. That's like a 14 min/mile pace. No. Way.

Anyway, I did it, yay, and now I feel like I did something good. If only I could stop mainlining carbohydrates, that would be an improvement.

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I took the kids ice skating on Monday, since there was no school. Kira used to take lessons, and of course I have been ice skating since I was a little girl, but the little kids had never been. We had a great time! It was a lucky thing I saved Kira's old figure skates, because one pair fit Wren, and the other, smaller pair actually fit Noah. I had my own skates from college, and Kira got rentals.

Noah was not sure about this skating thing, but Wren went right to it, especially after she found a friend from her school was there practicing her program.

Kira remembered how to skate, and she was off and having fun.

Halfway through the session, we got to watch the zamboni resurface the ice. Totally fascinating! And super-smooth ice afterward!

Back on the ice, Wren got brave and decided to go out sans buckets.

She really did well for her first try at it! Noah saw his sister try, and so HE had to try, too:

My boy is determined, but not as reckless as his sister. He liked to skate, but he did NOT like falling down.

Kira got a picture of me on the ice, and then we had to take a self-portrait.

We went home after about two hours of skating, and made soft pretzels, a winter school-holiday tradition. It was a fun afternoon, and we definitely want to go back!

Rescue Me

It's been a busy, stressful week with lots of confusion and frustration (for me, mostly). Ugh. It just all sucks. But, nothing makes a day better than some time spent riding in the brilliant afternoon sunshine with one of my favorite people. Kira and I took a riding lesson this afternoon. I rode my beloved Champ, and she rode her favorite Belgian, Beau. I discovered yet another interesting tidbit about Champ -- he's actually a princess. He hates to go in the sloppy, puddly post-deluge ring and get his legs and belly all wet and dirty! That weenie! He didn't give me trouble, just acted all put out every time we had to ride through the wet (which was oh, constantly). He minced his way through every puddle, wet spot, and water-filled hoofprint, and found a way to go rightnexttothefence on higher ground so he didn't have to get his feet wet. Oh, good lord, horse, do you know we are going to be doing some eventing this year?

I felt crummy when we collected our riding stuff and got in the car, almost canceled out of our lesson just out of general gloominess, but we went on to the barn, and I was glad we did. It was like a weight lifted off me, and I felt so much better. My ride wasn't particularly fantastic, nor did I do anything great, in fact, I don't feel like I really rode that well at all, but I guess I needed some "horse time". After riding, then driving Kira to her dad's, then driving back home, and putting the little kids to bed while Travis worked, I am beat. But there was a big glass of Hardywood Park's Coffee Stout, and two copies of 'Dressage Today' waiting for me, and an episode of 'Arrow'. It was a pretty decent evening, but now I am going to pass right the heck out. Back to the barn in the morning for Wren's lesson.


***So, my trainer suggested I try the Calais Horse Trials this year as my first back-in-the-saddle event. Introductory level, where the dressage test is so boring, it's brain-numbing (and doesn't get up to a canter), but the fences are a low two feet, even for cross country.

I haven't decided if I'm up for it yet, but if I do go for it, I will need a show coat and white breeches, and a safety vest. Oh, and a medical armband.

Chihuly at the VMFA

Most of you know that I am a docent (a fancy word for 'tour guide') at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I've been doing this for a year so far, and I LOVE it. It's my most favorite thing I have ever done, I think. I only wish they paid me to do it.

One of the benefits is getting to see the traveling, banner exhibitions for free. I spent a bunch of time in the Egyptian mummy exhibit last fall, and I've seen the beautiful, breathtaking display of items from the period of Indian maharajas. This season, our museum has put on a huge exhibit of the work of Dale Chihuly. As an amateur glass artist, I adore any kind of glasswork, but especially glassblowing. Chihuly's work is stunning, bright, colorful, and imaginative, and this exhibit is a wonderful showcase. I especially love that he created a couple of works especially for installation at the VMFA -- the 'Blue Ridge Chandelier', and 'Red Reeds'. Really, I hope the museum purchases the chandelier, but I don't think there are any plans to do that, unfortunately.

My oldest daughter has wanted to see the exhibition since it opened last fall. Noah has been studying the artist and his colorful works in preschool over the past few weeks, and he was all excited about it. having been to the exhibit myself, I knew all three kids would love it, but what gave me serious pause was the fact that most of the works are easily within the grasp of the attendees, literally. You can get right up close and personal with his pieces. The thought of my young, active kids in a room with pretty-much-priceless glass art was a little unnerving.

But, I've had worse ideas. So I arranged tickets for yesterday, a school holiday.

The museum was PACKED. I guess everyone else had the same idea, because there was nothing in particular on the schedule that I could tell, besides a couple of tour groups. When I got the tickets last week, they said the options for tickets were wide open. This exhibit has timed-entrance tickets so there wouldn't be too many people in the gallery at one time, so I had to choose a time. I'm glad I picked 10:30, because by the time we left at noon, it was jammed!

This is what you see when you walk into the exhibit space:

And this:

My rudimentary photography skills aren't terrible, and my point and shoot camera is decent, but I could not even do justice the the depth and range of COLOR in this room. It was unbelievable.

On the wall opposite all of the magnificence was a collection of his paintings. They were much more muted in color, but full of shape and interesting texture. The kids pointed out their favorites. Wren chose "all of them" as her favorites.

After this part of the exhibit, you walked under one of his best works, as far as I'm concerned. It is the 'Persian Ceiling', and there is a HUGE one in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. I've never been there, so I don't know what it looks like, beyond the photographs I've seen, but even the truncated version we have is stunning.

It's really cool to walk underneath all those pieces of glass, with the light pouring through them. It's kind of like being in a kaleidoscope!











We spotted a whole bunch of marine animals made in glass, like this starfish in the center of the photo:

More starfish, some urchins, and some squiggly cool-looking things:

And an octopus!

The light was just incredible in there!



We are so lucky to have this beautiful collection of artwork right here in our city. I could stand under that ceiling for hours -- in fact, I was thinking how cool it would be to lay down on the floor and look up at it all, and try to see the patterns, shapes, and objects he placed in there.

I think this is my favorite thing of all the pieces on exhibit.







After the Persian Ceiling, there was another huge room with his 'garden' of glass. His mother was a master horticulturist, and he did a lot of work inspired by her gardens. Another absolutely breathtaking display in here. There's just SO much to look at!

And a favorite of Kira's....the neon tumbleweed! This is an earlier work for Chihuly, and there is only the one in our exhibition, but it's still cool!

After we were done gazing at glass, I took the kids around to their favorite galleries -- the Gans silver collection, Africa, the Mellon Sporting Art collection, and ancient Egypt. Riding in the glass elevators is a particular source of joy for these guys!

On our way home, we stopped outside the cafe to see Chihuly's 'Red Reeds', the other installation he created specifically for the VMFA.

It was a terrific morning out with my kids, and I am so happy they could come and enjoy the artworks with me. Even better, I am so incredibly lucky to be able to be a part of all this fabulousness that is the VMFA. Becoming a docent there is about the best non-family related thing to happen to me in forever.

BTW, museum admission is free to the permanent collection, and the museum is open 365 days a year, from 10am to 5pm -- til 9pm on Thursdays and Fridays. The Chihuly exhibition closes on February 10th, so get your tickets and go see it!

Like Christmas

The requisite "house in the snow" picture I take every time it snows here.
7:30 a.m., Friday, January 18, 2013

Not quite enough snow fell last night to make a real snowman, so I had to augment with PicMonkey. I take this picture every time it snows, mostly because I think our house is pretty in the snow, but also because it's interesting to look back over the ten years we have lived here and see how our house has changed from year to year. Different cars in the driveways, different landscaping, flags, decorations.

Our day started way too early. My son is an extremely early riser, and got me up the first time at 5:00am. And then he proceeded to get me up every ten minutes of so after that, until I finally gave up in a huff and hauled myself out of bed, wide awake and slightly irritated. I realize a snow day is like Christmas to them, but seriously, an opportunity to sleep past the 6am alarm was juuuust about within my grasp.

I know, I know. One day, I will look back and wish for today, when my son is fourteen and hasn't gotten out of bed at noon. And I want him to go out in the snow-covered yard and throw snowballs and go for a walk with me. 

Kira has still not gotten up, even though I know she is awake.

We HAD to go out as soon as it was light enough to see outside. The kids voluntarily dressed themselves (a minor miracle in itself), and went out to throw chunks of frozen snow at each other. And at me. Travis enjoyed the opportunity to wear his no-kidding authentic Russian fur hat (purchased in Russia, even). 

This is what passes for school-canceling snow here in the 804. Note that the roads aren't really even frozen. Oh, I am not complaining, mind you, because even though I was awake at 5am, I did not have to be functional, nor make lunches, nor implore anyone to get dressed, brush their hair or teeth, or find backpacks. Or argue about how much clothing really was necessary.

Shortly, I am going for a run. At least three miles, maybe more if the roads aren't too slippery. The sun's out now, so I don't expect the snow to last too long today.

But for a single snow day, on a Friday, before an already-scheduled three-day weekend, it's perfect.

Quoth the Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary....

Today was a rainy and dreary day. Kira was actually home this weekend, and not at her dad's, so I thought it was a perfect time to have a mother-daughter outing. We spent the morning shopping for her new swimsuit (and I bought myself a glittery pair of flipflops), and getting Easter basket goodies for the little kids. Then, after lunch, we made our way downtown to thePoe Museum in the city.

Kira has been studying Edgar Allan Poe in her English class this year. She has developed a love for the dark, haunting stories and poetry, especially 'The Raven' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart'. Most people associate Poe with Baltimore, but really, he has a much more significant history here in central Virginia -- in Richmond, specifically.

The museum is located in the oldest building in Richmond -- a house built in the early 1700's, and later given to the museum to house the collections about Poe and his life.

The museum is made up of several buildings clustered around a walled garden that contains the Poe Shrine.

The walled garden, facing the shrine.

The main building holds the gift shop and a small exhibit of furniture and paintings. Two other buildings hold a huge model of Richmond as it appeared during Poe's life, his first-edition books, some family artifacts and clothing, and lots and lots of information and details about his life that I had no idea about. Of course, I couldn't take any photographs of the artifacts or the insides of the buildings, but I took as many shots of the outsides of the period structures as I could.

The back of the main house, which contains the gift shop and some offices.

Kira ponders the gardens

From the inside of the Poe Shrine

We really enjoyed our visit here, and although the museum was small, there were so many interesting things to see and read about that it was well worth the time and small admission fee.

Afterward, I took Kira to Richmond Hill, a few blocks away, to show her one of my favorite views of the city. It was starting to rain, with the significant warning for sever weather, so we ran up several flights of concrete stairs that went straight up the side of the hill to see this:

It started to thunder and lightning shortly after I took these pictures, so we quickly made our way down the hill and made it into the car JUST as the downpour began!

A few blocks away is St. John's Episcopal Church, where Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, and also where Poe's mother is buried. I really, really want to see this church, so it will have to be next on my tourist agenda.

I love my adopted hometown of Richmond, Virginia. This place is so very full of history and art and culture and science! So many terrific restaurants, so many great outdoor spaces to play in, it's hard to see and do everything. It's a great place to live.