A little painting on the side...

Due to the "last minute" theme of our show, Bob ,the director, recruited me on Tuesday to paint the masks for the show. I am a painter?...no....did I paint?.....yes, and... I surprised myself.

"Lady Pertelote," Chanticleer's beloved hen

Old man and and old woman,

The Fox...

Linda, the dear soul who agreed to paint our backdrop at the last minute

The Canterbury Tales

Every year Bob Hutton, the music teacher, puts on a community theater piece to raise money for the music department. This year’s pick was an adapted version of “The Canterbury Tales.” He passed the word around and those that were interested, were guaranteed a part. At the first meeting six of us showed up and never left. We read through the script. The next day, Bob asked us individually what parts we wanted to play and what our schedules looked like for next three months.

An advantage of doing this show is that while we may pick one character from the on set, we are able to play up to three different characters during the narration of the other actor’s tales. I chose the role of the Prioress and was also able to play Allison: a dizzy adulteress, Hilde: the Miller’s cohort in stealing grain and a Knight who learns how to be truly virtuous.

We began rehearsals the first of November and opened the show last Thursday night. A month of that time I was in Oregon. Each actor had some last minute scheduling issues. Plus, the artist that was supposed to paint the set withdrew her offer two weeks before the show opened. Linda, a water color artist and the new 5/6th grade teacher’s wife, agreed to take up the challenge. Rye and Joon supplied all the costumes. Before they moved to Hoonah they were very active in Renaissance Fairs and Joon also directed some children’s productions. They were an abundance resource that added the necessary touches to making the characters come alive, but some of us didn’t have all our costume pieces until dress rehearsal. Even with all the glitches, everything came together.

They always say that bad dress rehearsal means a great opening night…well it’s true.
In addition to a smooth show the theater/church was packed, the largest turn out since Bob’s been directing.

Today, Saturday, is our last show. Through a few missed lines, improvisations, and quick changes we provided the folks of Hoonah an entertaining production and judging by the laughs they truly appreciated the show. The end of any production is bitter-sweet. It has been a huge time commitment, an incredible learning experience and now that we have finally arrived at Canterbury I wish I could stay longer.

"The Prioress" played by yours truly....

"The Wife of Bath" played by Joon Cross, 7th/8th grade teacher and Rye's mom

"The Miller" played by Rye Cross, works at the Boys and Girl's Club

"The Reeve" played by Jennifer Bidiman, Andrew's teacher

"The Hostess" played by Justine Borg, Lutheran Minister's Wife

"The Cook" played by Terri Budke, Abundance Fellowship Pastor's Wife

"The Franklin" played by Bob Hutton, Hoonah Music Teacher

Opening Night with my family :)

Writing Class Update

With "The Canterbury Tales" opening this week, I haven't had many extra moments to write...the play is going well but I am behind on my homework!

I wanted to say thank you to those that commented on my last writing. It helped tremendously. I crave the feedback and the editing notes...I was waiting eagerly to hear back from my teacher; here is what she said...

Tricia,
What a gorgeously written mini-memoir. I was impressed with your ability to really "go there" with this. Both of my fathers died within the past five years (I had a step dad who raised me from the time I was 5 and my birth father) so I felt like I was with you in that hospital room.
How old were you when this happened? Was it fairly recently?
I thought your descriptions were apt and, at certain times, downright beautiful in their simplicity and insight.
I appreciate you sharing this with me.
Best, Meredith

The format is such that she is able to under line certain parts of the text and make comments. Her comments pop up when I click on it. Here are some of the technical things she mentioned:

I could take out "tenderly" from in front of settled. She wanted more clarity on "failing his career." I didn't need the directive that placed mother "in front" of me, or my siblings "to the right." I also didn't need "yellow" with "jaundice" since we all understand that jaundice is yellow.

She underlined many of my descriptions that she liked. That was cool.

Here is this week's assignment...

Write a brief personal essay on anything you like. Though you will be focusing largely on your personal experience, try to expand this into a universal point somewhere in the piece.Keep it short, preferably under 500 words.If you’re stuck for ideas, here are some good directions: A book or movie that had a profound impact on you.
A type of food or drink.
A time of day.
An everyday object or device.



It is Saturday morning and despite the fact that I stayed up last night until 1:30 am , I am still not done with my writing assignment. I picked another difficult subject and the way it is working out is in a very lyrical in style, which for me, it a lot more difficult that straight forward "newsie." So, I will post it when I am done and let those that are interested take a look.

Thanks for your patience!

More photos...

Today the view from our picture window is of scattered snowflakes crisscrossing in the mild wind. Through the flurry, I can see two young men delivering a truckload of wood to the elder that lives below us and across the water the mountains are hidden due to the heavy fog hanging over the water. I love watching teh snow and we love the playing in the snow, especially when the flakes are slow and soft. Inches and inches have fallen throughout the week and some great snow ball fights were issued.

Tuesday was the one and only sunny day of the week. That morning, after Steve and Andrew had left for school, I was sat down to study my lines for "Canterbury Tales" when the sky cleared and the brilliant sun called me out to play. I threw on my coat, gloves and snow pants, grabbed my camera and off I went…and of course I wanted to share with you some of my favorites.

The stones of the dike covered in fresh snow...

Cemetary Island

Even the satellites look pretty...

A trash bin with a mission...

A boat moored at the dock...

Fire Hydrant...

Greetings!

This week we were back in our usual routine of piano lessons, rehearsals (Canterbury Tales opens on Thursday) and school board meetings. The weather was unusually cold, dipping to temperature in the teens. I kept Andrew home on Tuesday morning to watch the inauguration. Also on Tuesday, I started an online writing course, which I share with you in the next post. The last post of the day includes some pictures of our sunny Sunday. Some may not think barnacles on a shell are photo worthy but I think they are beautiful. Thanks for reading. I hope you all have a great week.

Love Tricia, Andrew and Steve.

New York Writing Class

Tuesday I started a six week online writing class. It is through Gotham Writers Workshop http://www.writingclasses.com/ in New York. How I love being connected to that city!


There are about twenty other people in the class from all over the U.S. and even France and Japan.


I am going to take you on this journey with me...I will share with you my weekly assignments, what I turn in and the comments the teacher gives back to me and as my assignments are not due until Tuesday I would love feedback from you to help make the pieces the best they can be!... so here we go...


This weeks assignment...

Think of a specific moment when you were at a crossroads, major or minor. For example: screwing up the courage to ask someone on a date, deciding if you should fight back at someone who affronted you, unpacking in your first college dorm room, standing on the altar about to be married. Zero in on that specific moment. Remember all that you can about that moment, perhaps even jotting things down. What did you see, hear, smell, touch, or taste? What were you thinking or feeling? Now try to write about this moment, bringing it to life on the page. (Use the details you remembered.) You may allude to things before and after, but stay mostly focused on that exact moment in time. Keep it short, preferably under 500 words.

My piece:

I tenderly settle myself on the bed and sit snuggly next to his legs. I finger the smooth translucent top of his purpled right hand, gently tracing the broken blood vessels. I pause over the ridges that line his trimmed nails. The pads of his fingertips are hollow, empty of fat and scarred with blue needle punctures. His exposed skin, seeped in jaundice yellow, shows no sign of the deep tan worn by this traveling salesman or of the welding sparks that once singed his young arm.

I cup his limp hand in mine and watch his chest labor up and down with soft broken breathing. His lips, slightly parted, are stretched tight, flaked from dehydration; his eyelids are peacefully closed, fringed with sparse white lashes. The thick creases of his forehead curve downward, connecting to the wrinkled tributaries of his eyebrows, his ears, his cheeks and slack neck. Years of loss, joy, anger, wit and love flow placidly to a place of final surrender.

Resting my head on his stomach I set my right hand on his heart --- his injured heart, his borrowed valve, his man-made helper. The organ weakly whispers of his faults and his triumphs --- carrying the pain of losing his mother at 19, arguments with his children, failing his career, toting oxygen in a can while waiting for his one of his 21 grandchildren to visit. This soft muscle clings to the day he met my mother, fathering his first child, making the sale, cheering the football team, building wheel chair ramps and hearing me sing.

My palm feels a slow beating through his hospital gown and thin cotton blanket. I want to grab hard…yank him out of his yielding and pull him toward me, like a spoiled child not wanting to share, begging for more time. I am not ready for just memories of my father, pages of a photo album or a little smile of remembrance while eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I need his calm blue eyes looking at me with pride, I need him to help me piece my life back together, to help me raise my son, to let me really love him.

My mother sits beside the bed in front of me. My eldest brother and two sisters stand to the right. Tears, prayers and talk of “going home” push through the stagnant air. My mouth murmurs words of togetherness, knowing how he dreads traveling alone. I lie still with him. His breathing calmly stops. The cries around me become louder, more intense and urgent. Yet mine is a quiet, tearful waiting, unaware of when his last beat will resonate, anticipating the moment of losing his rhythm. Time slows, I strain, memorizing the timbre of his heart, I listen…the absence is the finality…I wait…just to make sure.

Sunny Day in AK

OMSI and First Lego League

The last weekend of our Oregon vacation was spent stopping at various points between Portland and Medford. We stayed at my sister’s in Jefferson, I sang my recital in Albany and Saturday was spent at OMSI in Portland. Mom, Andrew, Mary Anne and I arrived at the science museum a few minutes before the doors opened at 9:30 am. We quickly purchased our tickets for the museum, the submarine tour, the IMAX movie, Wild Ocean and asked directions to the Lego Robotics demonstration. Even with many hours ahead of us, the task of taking in all the exhibits would be a difficult...but there’s nothing I love more than a challenge. We were off and running...well at least Andrew, Mary Anne and I were...Mom in her “low high heeled boots of two inches made it gracefully to the submarine in her own time. The kids were jumping on their tiptoes to board a real submarine. Our tour guide had been sharing the story of the USS Blueback , the U.S. Navy’s last non-nuclear submarine, for ten years and knew all the details of this fine vessel and the men that kept her running for thirty-one years. Mary Anne recognized the sub as the same from the movie Hunt for Red October. Andrew and Mary Anne got behind the wheel, pushed buttons, looked out the telescope to see the view across the river, sat in the Mess Hall and even tried out one of the beds. From the torpedo room to the engine room, we learned all about the important but dangerous jobs and harsh living conditions that the 82 men aboard the submarine had to endure.

Next we were off to observe the Lego Robotics demonstration. This event was the compelling reason we stayed an extra day with my sister and hocked our MET Live opera tickets at Tinseltown in Medford.

It seems as if every kid Andrew’s age is obsessed with Legos. Today’s designs and possibilities, of the little snap on pieces, have far exceeded the early version of rectangles and squares. Now a box set can be purchased with extravagant themes and shapes consisting of pirate ships, castles, cities and Star Wars, stamped with price tags ranging from five dollars to $100.00. My most recent discovery is that Legos is moving into robotics with children as the inventors.

There is an international organization called “First” that has teamed up with the Lego Corporation to promote physics and engineering for students. I had never heard of the First Lego League before until I came to Hoonah. Ben, the math teacher does an after school program in Lego Robotics that includes the sixth through twelfth grade. They work in teams, program the robots to complete tasks and compete at the regional state levels against other students their age.

If there is one thing that that I have learned from Steve is that life and learning must be authentic. To have children excited about their future, learning must have real life application. Capitalizing on Andrew enthusiasm for Lego’s combined with his affinity for math, Jr. FLL is something that I want to get Andrew involved in yesterday!

Here is what we saw at the OMSI demonstration…
Teams were given a challenge: Climate Connections Challenge! Discover the links between science, people, resources and communities. Unearth how we learn about past climates and delve into questions surrounding our current and future climatic conditions. Join FLL or Jr.FLL teams in creating a global game plan as they make these Climate Connections!
After Andrew walked through and analized every display he took pictures …here are some of his favorites….
I have watched documentaries on the differences between high schools in India, China and the U.S. I read facts about how our children, especially boys are failing in school because the system is extremely convoluted. I look at the overall statistics of how we rank in educationally across the world. I am embarrassed. Yet even as I encourage Andrew to make his education a priority…the connection to the movies and stats seemed literally a world away.
As I walked through the Lego Robotics displays I observed those who were participating and who were the parents making this opportunity happen? Portland is a diverse community, but in this slice of the science museum I was the minority. I predominately heard European accents; I saw fathers and mothers of Indian and Asian descent. It was a clear representation of the global personalities who place an emphasis of nurturing the minds and potential of future engineers and scientists. As the world suddenly became much smaller to me, I felt an affirmation of the commitment to Andrew’s education. Here in this small room is the future and if Andrew wants to work side by side these aspiring scientists, he deserves every opportunity to do so. I will everything in my power to help him.
Steve and I are looking into the different avenues of how to get Andrew involved with the Robotics A.S.A.P. For my friends in the Medford area, the local 4-H has a group that students can join. For more information on the big scope of this organization here is one website I found: http://firstlegoleague.org/community/HomePage.aspx

After a quick bite to eat, we made our way into the IMAX theater. Surround sound, oversized domed screen turned Wild Ocean into a personal experience. It was about a preserved section of the waters off the coast of southern Africa. It is only other protected waters in the world other than the Barrier Reef in Australia. Its characteristics are that of what oceans would have looked like a hundred years ago, before humans started over fishing. It wasn’t an hour long commercial for not eating fish, but more a plea to keep the food chain in balance by all countries enforcing reasonable regulations. The fast pace footage set to the African rhythms was breathtaking. At one point Andrew jumped in his seat as a fish leapt into the screen. We left, dizzy with images and full of new facts about our wild oceans.

Andrew and Mary Anne took a spin in the motion simulator…depicting a trip through Ancient Egypt and then raced through more science exhibits. We left at 4:00, with glazed eyes, minds brimming and ready to have some down time. Andrew wanted me to tell you that we all had a great day at OMSI and he can’t wait until he can go back again!