I went back to MSU...

...and haven't been seen here ever since. I should have written that prediction into my last post. Or did I?

The two weeks I spent being immersed in Music Learning Theory were overwhelmingly fun, exhausting, inspiring...everything that I was certain they would be. The flood of learning was constant...philosophical ideas, educational research, theoretical concepts, practical knowledge and skills... It was enough to satisfy me for a while...the kind of learning that keeps growing, even after you leave the 'classroom.'

Ryan spent the first week and a half touring Lansing with Maya and Sophia. The highlight was Impression 5 Science Museum. But they also found gardens and playgrounds, mall play areas, parks, storytimes at libraries and bookstores. The girls loved having so much time with their Daddy. Uncle Randy and Aunt Jo entertained us, and put up with our chaos and noise, cooking for us all week, and even participated in 'practice music lessons' for me.

The next week marked the start of the real Summer Session, and daily 2 hour commutes both ways.

And now...
...I am drowning. In exhaustion. In the mess of my house. In my sadness over missing days in a row with my girls. In Music Theory assignments and quizzes (which bring back all my feelings of anxiety and insecurity and frustration that I remember from sitting in Math class!) In guilt for not completely enjoying the decadence of education.

I've been consuming audiobooks insatiably during my drives. That is a great pleasure. Except that for some reason, I've chosen really depressing stories lately, all seeming to have a common theme of death....Ellie Wiesel's Night, Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Master and Man...and now I've begun Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.
Don't tell me the ending...but I'm really hoping the old man does not die. However, he has been 2 days out at sea, without much food being pulled by a giant fish... Maybe I just need to find some light, shallow 'literature' to fill my time in the car.
One of my courses this summer is near the top of my 'favorites thus far' list, Curriculum with Judy Palac. She is a brilliant and generous thinker. I love being in her class...her smile and frequent laughter are engaging. She seems always patient and calmly assured as we discuss the questions she guides us with. And the content is exactly what I need most in my teaching right now. One of the things I've most enjoyed at MSU has been the balance and richness of learning both theoretical and practical....the unending immersion in scholarly research and philosophical writings...and the constant questioning and application of these ideas to actual teaching.

We took a fast trip to the cabin over the 4th of July weekend. It was a blur, and knowing this would be the case, I took lots of pictures.








While we were there we saw....
...a doe and a fawn crossing the road, 2 turkey vultures perched on the dock trying to intimidate a seagul to steal his fresh fish, a very loud osprey, a parade in 'downtown' Cedarville,a mechanic who put a new battery in our car which quit working, 1 tick on Maya's scalp, and Sophie constantly trying to get into trouble in and out of the cabin. It was quite a trip... Maya still sings "Around the corner's the cabin" (tune: For he's a jolly good fellow...) daily, sometimes changing the lyrics to reflect the fact that the cabin is actually not around the corner any more.

This weekend we've been trying to recover, spending as much time all together as we can, riding around town in our little old convertible...and I've been slowly attempting to finish my Music Theory homework.
I've almost given up on keeping my house clean...(thank you, sweet friend for helping me try :)
though my family has been eating well thanks to my Mother-in-law and Mother who keep feeding us.

Only 4 more weeks.

Back to MSU

Two years ago I was introduced grad school and to Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory in a week-long 'workshop' course at MSU. It was a fun week that reawakened my mind and reignited my love of learning. The introduction to Music Learning Theory both affirmed (some of) and reversed (others of) my thoughts and practices as a music teacher. My eagerness to learn more was instant, but my enthusiasm and understanding has been steadily growing ever since. Maybe I'll post about it someday. But next week, I'll begin my first certification workshop in MLT with one of my favorite professors and two of the brilliant teachers that she introduced me to.

I'm so excited.

We all leave on Sunday night. Ryan, Maya, Sophie and I will all be staying with our very generous Uncle Randy and Aunt Jo for a week...or more if they'll let us. Ryan has a week away from work and will spend it touring the playgrounds of Lansing with Maya and Sophie.

If Anything Ever Goes Wrong At The Zoo

by Mary Jean Hendrick and Jane Dyer
is one of our favorite books from the library right now.

So Maya and Sophie were floored with excitement when I announced at breakfast last week, "We're going to the Zoo today!!"

It was a rare kind of adventure for a mid-week trip without Daddy (who unfortunately had to work). But it was spent with good friends that we've loved for a while...and some new friends that we love too.
With lots of wonderful snacks and lunches packed by our generous friend, Jen, the day was magical and exciting and even slightly relaxing.

(Having a sweet four-year-old companion for my Maya seemed to keep her completely out of trouble...even amidst chaos, crowds, heat, with only a single-parent for the day, and no double stroller!)

So although we've been reading about a catastrophic day at the Zoo....for us, absolutely nothing went wrong at the Zoo.

etsy

Chunky Urban Bucket Hat from afterthebump


Red Felt Mary Jane's from ithinksewdotcom

Kawaii Zakka Paris Pillow from dedeetsyshop


Pretend Play Sugar Cookies from Madelaines

If only I had more time and money to make imaginative and adorable things for my girls....

I should be reading Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns (required reading before my class in 2 weeks) or sleeping....not posting random things I found on the internet to my blog.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet

This may be my favorite of Madeleine L'Engle's 'Time Quintet' (A Wrinkle In Time) so far. The possibility and hope of this story (these many stories, really) intertwined through creation, history, humanity, individuals, and time are still making my heart race and my mind swirl a little.

I love the way that Reality is made clearer in L'Engle stories...that what we see is not all that is. And that what we cannot see is far more real. As I read, I felt newly awakened to the reality of how small I am. How fleeting are all things visible and present. And yet even as I was dwarfed by the enormity of the Universe and my Creator, I was synchronously awed by the significance and interconnectedness of each person, each action, and each moment.

At the risk of sounding silly, ridiculously romantic, and childish....I'm kind of hoping my dreams tonight will be graced with time-traveling unicorns and wind and sparkling water and golden sun....

But despite the appeal of all those enchanting images, the truths that Madeleine L'Engle so brilliantly and generously has given her readers in this story will linger in my conscious far longer than my wild dreams of time travel and outer space.

Romaine, basil, mint, red pepper...

...green onions, beefsteak tomatoes, cucumber, and green beans.

Our first attempt to grow food.

We may have been a little over-zealous in our quantity, for such a small garden. Some of the cucumber plants (that Ryan and Maya started as seeds) already seem to be a little scrunched and choked....or maybe they're just wimpy. But most of the other plants are still looking quite hopeful.



I'm mildly concerned about the hungry animals that make their home in our yard. Do squirrels like to eat lettuce and tomatoes? I've only ever seen one 'Peter Rabbit' in our yard this year...but we do have squirrels in abundance.

But if the rabbits and squirrels don't steal it all, we may have some very fresh salad at our house this summer for our friends who come to visit.

You'll have to wait a few weeks though.

Of course you're still welcome to come sooner if you're not just in it for our organic food.