It has been a bit of time since I last wrote and time & events have passed without my comment. So.... here goes! Walking back in time...
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| Peter Pan curtain call |
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| The Lost Boys, Peter and Wendy. Mallie is 4th from the left. |
Mallory
and I are involved in youth theater productions, as always!. She was a “Lost Boy” in Peter Pan which ran the weekend before Thanksgiving and, in addition, I have
started work on Little Mermaid. Mallory will stage manage with me. The show will run in February 2013.
Steve has been very busy playing a couple of silent
Japanese films the last month. Apparently, the Japanese made silent films till
1936 which incorporates a thing called
Benshi. It is the traditional narration done by a live actor along with music. Very
interesting. Steve also did a magnificent recital with a percussionist on Sunday, 10/21 and it was great to have the Warners in town and staying with us. The
unfortunate thing was that I was also to have appeared on the concert.
I went to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor on the
Friday (10/19) before and a vocal scope proved that I had a ruptured blood vessel in my
right vocal chord with some bleeding behind the folds. This very thing happened to the singer, Adele, only she had it on both sides! I was ordered to immediate vocal rest for six weeks – no
singing and limited speaking! The good news is that the chords can be restored
by rest and I have a great doctor will do another scope tomorrow to see if I have been a good enough girl. You can imagine how it’s been running youth theater
rehearsals! I have spent alot of time at home and away from people so as not to talk much in the daylight hours. I have had to cut out all voice lessons, church choir and teaching
at the Montessori until next month. With the aid of a voice amplifier and NO
SINGING I was still able to run the rehearsals with the help of some of the
staff. Yowee!! Luckily, with Peter Pan finished and Little Mermaid now into blocking and dance rehearsals, I am off the hook with the youth theater till January.
Okay, this wild thing happened to me as well in October!!! The day before I went to the ENT, I was teaching my usual round
of music classes with the 3 ½ - 5 year olds when I noticed that one of the children
was slumped down on the rug. We are all on the floor and sometimes the kids
will take advantage of the relaxed rules to lie down on the rug we are on. This
time, when I spoke to her, the child did not move and it was then that I looked
at her face and realized something was terribly wrong. Her eyes were blank and she was not breathing! The teacher asked me if
everything was okay and I told her to call 911 immediately. She did and another
teacher cleared the children out of the room while I rolled little Ava over on
her back and started chest compressions. It was an awful sight – her eyes weren't focusing and
her mouth was turning blue. The director of the school came in and, together we
worked on her till the EMS appeared. Her mother and grandmother came and they
all went to the hospital with her. She was awake and talking by then. She was
running a fever and they were able to confirm that she had had a cerebral
seizure. At 3 ½ it is amazing what you can come back from. They actually
released her later that day. Wow! I must admit, when it was happening I was
cool as a cucumber. When the technicians started asking questions about what
had happened I started to fall apart. In fact, one of them asked if he needed
to treat me as well! What a wild day!
To continue the strangeness, my next appointment,
that day, was to teach a voice lesson at a Frank Lloyd Wright house! Yup! One
of my students had a great aunt who had commissioned him to build her house in
the late 40’s. We decided that since I was keen to see the place and there was
a lovely Steinway there that I would come there. So after this scary, emotional
morning I found myself, in the afternoon, in a lovely space, at a nice piano
looking out over a pond and gorgeous foliage. Wild, eh? I was still able to sing but the hoarseness - in the absence of any cold - made me look for an ENT the very next day.... Yikes!
I was also able to go visit my "cousin" Hazel. She is my father's first cousin and I have never really figured out how that works so I just consider her a cousin. Poor thing is suffering from advancing dementia. I did call before I drove to the facility - very nice, btw - and she was so excited to hear from me. I had the weekend to put together
a photo album of lots of old and newer pictures to take to her. I found the
place and was let in by a woman with a heavy Eastern European accent. The reception room was very nice with
a fire place and all. She went looking for Hazel. Turns out she was in a
day room, of sorts. She looked really good and had a big smile on her face when
she greeted me. She was a lot more “with it” than most of the other residents.
We went to her room for our visit and I was surprised to see her little white
dog there. I guess as long as the dog stays in her room she (?) is allowed to
stay. I must admit, I felt very sorry for that little animal. Kind of a dismal life. All the doors have the residents’ names on them. Hazel seemed a little
unsure as to which was hers. I was there about 90 minutes and we had a good
visit. I gave her the album and we spent a lot of time looking through it. She
cried over all the old pictures. She knew every person in them too. It was a
little hard as she would say…every minute or so…”so you’re Leonard’s daughter!”
There were many times when she would try to tell me something and she could not
find the correct words. I tried very hard to follow her intent to get to what
she was trying to say. It was difficult to hear her speak about my parents as
if I did not know them. She feels that they had turned away from her and I kept
trying to steer her back to something else. Of course, I had to stop telling
her that they had passed away as that upset her every time so I would, again,
just try to change the subject.I noticed, in the visitor book, that her son, Dan, had come
the day before so it seems her sons are in and out. She claims no one comes to
see her. She told me that she feels that she is more “engaged” than the rest of
the folks there and I would agree with her. Most are incapable of speaking. Her
room is very nice and has an attached bathroom. Her dog is great company to
her, as you can imagine. In fact, every time she cried, which was often, she
would sit and lick her arm. She did so enjoy the photos I was glad I had taken
the time to make the book for her. I will visit her next month with another one
– I have so many of my grandmother’s photos too – and it will be a great basis
for conversations. She did not recognize herself in any of the photos she was
in. I must admit it was very difficult to see her but I was glad to be able to
spend time with her and see her smile.
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| The 3 of us on Thanksgiving Day enjoying the Bay! |
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| The sleeping loft at the house |
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| The stairs leading from the loft. |
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| This is at the bottom of the stairs - kitchen to the left and living room straight ahead. We had the Macy's parade on! |
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| The cool enclosed porch! |
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| Looking out at Long Lake. |
Hope your holiday time was great! Onward to the end of the year!!!
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