Nutcracker Season is upon us

Russian Corps (2009)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Yesterday, MR noticed on our afternoon trip to ArtsPlace that the city of Lexington has already started decorating for Christmas with garlands around the light posts (and yet a banner is still up with Autumn leaves on the same post).  Her comment, "that's just wrong." And, yet Nutcracker Season is in full gear with a Tschaikovsky accompaniment to breakfast and a daily watching of Flowers, Snow and the Party Scene from a previous year DVD.  Soon, very soon, I suspect it will take a full frontal lobotomy to eradicate the ever-playing Waltz of the Flowers out of the interior of my brain. 


Backstage at the 2008...Oh the glamour! 



Aaaahhhh...I love it. 

Yesterday, the Lexington Ballet staff offered a free ticket to the Nutcracker if you could post 10 Nutcracker posters in "verifiable" locations around town.  It makes me want to give Peddie's little "heheheheh" laugh.  I'm thinking that we could have a really good time putting posters up around town AND taking pictures to "verify." 

Reverse Scavenger Hunt + iPhone Camera = Fun Time + Free Ticket to Nutcracker.

Let's start talking...Spring Awakening

I got one of my favorite offers this weekend!  Free tickets to a Broadway show at The Opera House.  Four free tickets, great seats.  You may know that MR and I love all things Broadway.  Maybe love is an understatement so let's go with obsessed...

Back to the story, I got a very late offer for four tickets to Saturday's show of the National Tour of Spring Awakening which won mulitple Tony awards and starred both Lea Michelle (Glee) and Jonathon Groff (Glee) in the Broadway show.  I also got the caveat with the tickets that the show had adult themes and I should be prepared.  The adult themes included but weren't limited to sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, abortion and suicide.  Here's the description of Spring Awakening from the website if you haven't seen or heard about the show:

The winner of 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical - told by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater through "the most gorgeous Broadway score this decade" (Entertainment Weekly) - SPRING AWAKENING explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with poignancy and passion you will never forget.


The landmark musical SPRING AWAKENING is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll that is exhilarating audiences across the nation like no other musical in years.

Join this group of late 19th century German students on their passage as the navigate teenage self-discovery and coming of age anxiety in a powerful celebration of youth and rebellion in the daring, remarkable SPRING AWAKENING.

After a significant amount of deliberation about whether I should take or not take Mary Rollins and her BFF Christina, I decide after talking to a friend who'd seen the musical that the girls can go if it's okay with Christina's mom.  We had a talk about the mature themes that they might encounter (see above list) and we bravely headed off into the world of the theater.  The fourth ticket went into the hands of my neice who's a current  freshman at Transy and was dying to go see it too.

The show was great although I don't think we'll be singing any of the songs out loud in the kitchen along with the iPod... particularly not "You're F****ed".    It was indeed a checklist of difficult subjects from  masturbation and wet dreams to homosexuality, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy (following a pretty good acting job of intercourse on stage), abortion and suicide.  Yep...that about covers it.  I had some serious moments questioning my sanity in bringing these girls to the show (even the 18-year old) and wanted to whip my hand across their eyes and plug up their ears but you know what...I'm pretty darn sure they knew all of those things happen in life.  In fact, I'm pretty certain (see previous postings) they've seen pregnant students at their schools.  What was really great is that we actually talked about some of that stuff on the way home and the next day and the day after that.  Things like suicide often being fatal and the dilemma of abortion, the downside of parents who don't listen and aren't honest when their children when they ask them difficult questions.  As a mom, I know I'd much rather talk about those things with my daughter than let somebody else do it for me and Spring Awakening sure opened up the conversation. 

Oh...and for you Broadway fans, the music and dancing are excellent.  I need to see if Seth Rudetsky has any commentary on it!

P.S. I would not consider taking anybody younger than high school nor would I take my 82-year old mother!  She'd have hated the music anyway. 

coming soon...Official BluegrassMom blogger

Dear Potential Future Employer of My Children:

If you are reading this blog because you are trying to find out if my children are going to be good employees of your company, shame on you.  If, for example, you think my 12-year old son (who shall remain nameless in this particular post) would be unsuitable for employment because he once combed his hair with a salad fork OR thought a ball-point pen would work well as a first line of defense if facing down a wolf than perhaps my son ought not to work for you.

Sincerely,
Gwennie

P.S. If you are reading this blog because you just like being at home with us in the Bluegrass, we probably like you too. 

And, to those dear readers, guess what!  I'm going to be an official Herald-Leader (Kentucky.com) BluegrassMom Blogger.  Okay, some of you know that already because you know me in real life and I told you, but, I hope you won't mind that I'm selling out to be perhaps read by a larger audience.  Who knows!  Chances are it will still be the same 6 people who are reading this at the moment.  A girl can dream though (and in that dream Jennifer Aniston plays me in the movie).  Anyway, I hope the new readers don't mind that I don't always blog about parenting except that I'm ALWAYS a parent so therefore everything I write is about being a mom, right? 

And, to the person who declared that my children were going to HATE me (LOL...you know who you are), MR is cool with the new audience -- she read a few posts and didn't think it was too embarrassing.  Pfshew...I was little bit worried about that but I figured if she liked "Bike Lexington" all would be well. She did.  

Oh, and about the above letter to my children's future employers. I read an article recently about all the digital impressions of our children that were flying around the Internet these days--kids with their own domain names, baby photos on Facebook pages and blogs, et cetera.  The article claims that one day employers would be using this info to find out background info on potential employees  judging that if they were late potty trainers they might be "slow".  So, I just want to be perfectly clear, right now and forever more, that I firmly believe that the goofy things children do should not be held against them by anyone -- future employers OR voters  -- with the exception of their siblings who may tease them until the end of time about things they did as a kid.

Have I ever told you about when my brother pistol-whipped me after watching Wild Wild West?

Mr. Bones says...

Boo!

Time to get the skeletons out of your closet and onto the front door!!

Table manners..

True story from the Mathews' house: last night our wonderful new priest and her son had dinner with us.  During dinner, Will picks up his salad fork and starts combing his hair with it. 

I guess it's something to do with your salad fork when you hate salad.  If only he were 2 and not 12. 

(We all thought tt was pretty funny, but don't tell him I said that.) 



These are pretty ballet girls after going to see Lexington Ballet's
"The Haunted" on Saturday night.  These girls always have charming
manners and never confuse their salad forks with their hair brushes.



Off to the races...

I wish there were some ugly horses.  It might help
narrow down the betting choices.

Yesterday was the most beautiful of Kentucky autumn days that you can imagine.  And, lucky girl that I am, I spent my day at Keeneland as the guest of some very nice people who invited us to a party in their corporate box.  If you've never been in a corporate box at Keeneland, it's pretty swell.  There's really great food (yesterday some amazing sesame-crusted ahi tuna), delicious cocktails (nothing beats a Keeneland bloody Mary), great views of the track, and engaging company!  It's especially nice if you are at Keeneland and it's not the most beautiful Fall day in the history of Fall days.

I love betting on horses  and hearing everybody's different take on their horse of choice for a race.  Many people just bet the handicappers favorite listed in the front of the program -- almost fail safe but not nearly as fun as the strategies I typically use throughout a day to achieve betting success:  eyes closed - finger pointing, choosing the high pay-out long shot, betting on grey horses, or my favorite -- just choosing the one whose name I like best.   Yep, it's pretty scientific.  After I lose about $6 when the aforementioned techniques don't work, I forget the horses and just bet my favorite jockeys. Yesterday's winnings using the jockey technique? $3.60 which is just about enough for a pumpkin spice latte at Starbuck's.

End of the harvest

Remember last spring when I made all of those hopeful statements of what a great garden I was going to have this year? How I was going to compoast, blah blah blah. 

Here are the pictures that sum up the bounty of my harvest.   I grew a few peppers.  In total, there were four and one more still clings to the vine and a handful of cherry tomatoes.  There were a few big tomatoes, too, but hardly worth the effort it took to water them.  There wasn't any effort to plant them as my mother did it for me.

I think I'd better keep my day job and hope that I never reach a point where I have to grow all of my own food.  The Mathews family will be pretty hungry!

   

Voila...Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

The really yummy, even if you think you don't like pumpkin* Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 stick butter (melted -- real butter, of course)
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling -- just plain pumpkin)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (Will and MR encourage more chocolate chips)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Whisk together wet ingredients (butter, eggs, pumpkin) in one bowl then add chips and craisins and blend together stirring well.  Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and spices in a separate bowl.  Gently fold in pumpkin mixture just until dry ingredients are moistened -- be careful not to overmix.

Spoon into greased muffin tins. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes about a dozen regular-sized muffins.

*Disclaimer: Marc does not like pumpkin OR these muffins so the title isn't quite true.  A lot of other pumpkin dislikers like it though.  Me, I like pumpkin.  I thought I didn't like pumpkin for a long time but I was young and stupid.  Now, I know better.  Pumpkin...good and good for you!

The Cathedral Writing Group

Writing is good for you.  I promise  It's something anyone can do and something everyone should do. 

I'm a huge fan of daily writing, not that I accomplish writing every single day, but I do believe it's a powerful means to knowing yourself better and understanding your story.  We all have a story to tell and we all tell our stories differently every time we tell them.  Knowing our own story can help us relate to other people and see the mysterious ways that God works in our lives.   Personally, I find it's an important part of my prayer life as well.  When life feels like it's spiraling out of control (and frankly when doesn't it!), I find writing brings the same kind of peace and balance to life that I get from running.

This Fall, after much deliberation and prodding from my friend Elizabeth who is the Minister of Christian Formation at Christ Church Cathedral, I am leading a writing group that meets on Thursdays at 12:15.  It's an open group with folks who make it in when they can armed with their pens and journals, I don't "teach" writing, I merely facilitate and I send group members a daily prompt (except Sunday) via email.  During our meetings at the Cathedral, we do a variety of exercises to explore writing and talk about what we find in our writing. 

While we don't use a particular text, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is probably my favorite writer who writes about writing.  I like Julia Cameron an awful lot too, author of  The Right to Write and The Artist's Way. 

If you'd like to be a part of the Cathedral Writing Group, let me know!  You can also be a virtual member and I'd be happy to send you our daily writing prompt. 

Top of the Muffin to you...

Remember that Seinfeld episode?  Brilliant, but then again, weren't they all? 

Oh happy times when the morning starts with pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  Thank goodness the great pumpkin shortage of 2009 is over and a bountiful pumpkin harvest is at hand.  I have been checking the baking aisle at the grocery for months looking for my canned pumpkin and the empty "pumpkin" space is finally full!  Can you believe there was actually a crowd of us?  Well, two of us!  My larder formerly known as the pantry (had a nice appointment with a British client last week who showed me her "larder") is now full of pumpkin!  Six cans.  Just in case they run out again before my pumpkin tooth is satisfied.  I just couldn't stop myself from stocking up. 

Let me know if you want the recipe.  They are really yummy!

Race for the Cure

WEG...gone for a whole week as of today.  I still want to talk about it.  That and I have 100s of random pictures of horses doing reining, dressage, driving and dashing across road that I have no idea what to do with now.  Want to see them?

We're getting on with life here though.  Yesterday, was one of our favorite annual Fall events:  The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  I ended up as the mom alone with a pack of ballet girls and a couple of boys at the race who ALL abandoned me as soon as we got to the festivities. After the race started we all managed to catch up with each other.  I ran the whole way, some of the girls took a short-cut (yeah Sarah for your fabulous run -- if ballet doesn't work out I think you might have a cross-country future) and the boys claimed to have not taken any shortcuts but somehow ended up beating me across the finish line anyway and I ran the whole way.  Hmmmm...They did claim to be highly motivated by the free stuff available at the end of the race.

Longing for excitement

One of the Double Dans demonstrating that you can
train your horse in the comfort of your living room.

When I drove to ballet last night, it was so quiet.  I miss the world and the odd things they do with their horses. 

At least, I  have the Race for the Cure to look forward to!