corner view~the incredible, the mysterious moustache

When I think of moustaches, I think of Charlie Chaplin, a comic actor well known for his work in silent film.   He lived from 1889 to 1977.

And my favorite song these days, sung by Michael Jackson,
to footage of Charlie Chaplin's antics...is...Smile

I decided to do a little research on Chaplin, and found this out.  In his first talking picture, The Great Dictator in 1940, he played the dictator.  The film ridiculed Nazism and portrayed Jewish persecution.  It was a courageous thing to do in the political environment of the time.

At the end of the show, Chaplin broke character to address the audience:

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible – Jew, Gentile – black man – white. "We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness – not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone."

A cool dude, in my book.
Thanks to CV hostess Cate for this unique idea.

For more corner views on this mysterious subject go to this updated list:

jane, ian, joyce, kim, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., ritva, francesca, state of bliss, denise, cabrizette, isabelle, janis, kari, jgy, lise, cate, otli, nicola, vanessa, b, kristina, sophie, mcgillicutty, sunnymama, daan, juanita, ibb, gillian, pienduzz, kelleyn, ninja, guusje, sammi, theresa, cherry b, juliette, mulot, helene, shokoofeh, cole, grey lemon, lucylaine, lynn, skywriting, anna, dorit, kenza, conny, l´atelier, kamana, anne marie, rosamaría, marinik, elisabelle, victoria, the yellow door paperie, tikjewit, juniper, annabel, andrea, valerie, merel, soisses, angie, mlle paradis, cacahuete, wander chow, barbara, emily, tally, nadine, matilda, don, flowtops, susanna, katy, castor, tania, tzivia, dana

happy sunday!

Do any of my European readers recognize this?

Do any of my readers in general know how much I appreciate a gift from a friend brought in her suitcase from afar to share for our reunion meal tonight?

I made salad with my special recipe homemade salad dressing and pasta with two sauces -- red sauce and homemade pesto straight from the garden greens (basil, arugula, and tulsi)
Yum!

Busy week coming.  I'll see you in a couple of days.

sometimes it's important...

...to just hang out with your friends and do something creative and quiet.
Especially after a make-your-own-pizza dinner, while your dad sits nearby with the other grownups and sings sweetly while playing his guitar.

I love my friends.  When I get the time to see them.
I am suddenly busy (as if I wasn't before) with a new project, editing a book I helped write. 

My kids' acting coach arrives in town in six days and my co-editor leaves town in seven days and I am trying to get through the 200 page text this week.
My husband rocks, he is giving me chunks of time this weekend to get to this.
Toodles my friends.  I'll see you in a bit.

corner view~humor

Hello to my corner view friends, and thanks for joining me in a cyber~conversation about humor, which I am happy to be hosting.

I was raised in a big family with a lot of laughter, especially on my mom's side.  My grandfather and my mom's younger brother were hilarious.  My brothers and father often joined in.  I married a funny man and now I live with four jokers.  Our three kids keep things entertaining, especially now that they have studied acting.  It's a constant comedy show over here.

My grandfather was such an amazing person.  He was forever smiling, being an imp, cracking jokes, and telling stories and tall tales that I think were made up on the spot.

"Grandpa, tell us the story about the time it was so windy that it blew your pants off!" was a common request at holiday meals.

He always used to say, "It doesn't cost anything to laugh!"

He's right.  And humor certainly helps to keep me sane.

Speaking of all things funny, our kids have an acting coach in Hollywood now.  He is coming to visit us and do a workshop in a couple of weeks.  His wife produced the comedy film "You Again" with Betty White, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigorney Weaver.  I can't wait to see it, opens this Friday.  Let me know if you see it and what you think.

Next week corner view will be hosted by Cate.  Please go to her blog to find out what next week's theme is.

For more humorous corner views see this updated list.  I am continuing to work on getting it current.  

jane, ian, joyce, kim, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., ritva, francesca, state of bliss, denise, cabrizette, isabelle, janis, kari, jgy, lise, cate, otli, nicola, vanessa, b, kristina, sophie, mcgillicutty, sunnymama, juanita, daan, ibb, gillian, pienduzz, kelleyn, ninja, guusje, sammi, theresa, cherry b, juliette, mulot, helene, shokoofeh, cole, lucylaine, lynn, skywriting, anna, dorit, kenza, conny, l´atelier, kamana, anne marie, rosamaría, marinik, elisabelle, victoria, the yellow door paperie, tikjewit, juniper, annabel, andrea, valerie, merel, soisses, angie, mlle paradis, cacahuete, wander chow, barbara, emily, tally, nadine, matilda, don, flowtops, susanna, katy, castor, tania

annabel's makeover part one

Big sister enjoyed this immensely too.

Yes, I have been cutting my kid's hair for years.  In fact Annabel has only had one visit to the salon ever before this.  But now that she is pursuing her career in acting ladies and gentlemen, she needs a proper hair style.  I will share part two soon, and you will see her transformation.

my creative space

OK guys.  I got out my brushes.  These are my daughter's paints, but still. At least it's a step in the right direction.  Note the new laminate floor, perfect for spreading a drop cloth and painting on top of with no worries about getting on the carpet.  Not an art studio, but kinda.

I did this painting a few years ago for fun when I was teaching my girls how to work with acrylics.
I am teaching home school art this year.  I even have a textbook.  Now that I put it in print, I have to follow through!!!  And be organized!  haha  That will make for fun creative time for me and my kiddos.  I want to include my son in the lessons too if I can find the time when he is home from school.

Those of you who don't know me - I am a stay at home mom, home schooling two middle school girls with the help of an awesome tutor and working part time to promote my husband's rock music.  Just started working with my husband last spring, so it's all new.   I am learning very quickly about the music business!

I like the idea of posting about my creative space.  It will give me a chance to make it a priority :)   Thank you Kirsty for creating this.  It is fun to see what other people are doing, a little bit like my art school days.

Because mostly my creative space as of late has been occupied with helping with video production of my cool rock star hubby, helping him with wardrobe and lighting, etc.  We are making YouTubes of his songs with him in them.  If you are really interested let me know via the comment section and I will send you some links.  Here is the first song we put on YouTube.  My daughter made the video for her dad.  It is a song he wrote called "Sky High."

But I hope to get back into painting, or any art making this year.  It has been a long time since I have personally made something just for sheer joy of creating.

corner view~seven

Welcome to corner view everyone.  I am happy to be hosting for the next couple of week's in Jane's absence.  Please check out my girls CV's, Sky's and Annabel's.  They would be so happy.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of seven, in fact the only thing, is my sweet husband, because seven is his favorite number.   I heard about this very early in our relationship, and for good reason.  You can tell a lot about a person by their heroes, and why they are their heroes.

My husband's childhood hero was Micky Mantle, number 7 for the New York Yankees.  And this is why, my husband explained to me over lunch today...

"His father taught him to switch hit.  He was a star baseball and football player in high school, when he was suddenly diagnosed with a form of polio.  The doctors were not sure he would ever walk again. Nonetheless, he tried out for the majors and would end up being the fastest runner from home plate to first base in the history of baseball at that time.  He played with a tremendous amount of pain.  He used 7 miles of tape around his legs every year, and despite missing 30 - 50 games a year because of his injury he became one of the best center fielders in the history of baseball, one of the best and most prolific home run hitters, and he won the triple crown twice. 

"He hit the longest recorded home run in baseball history, over 600 feet! One home run took off a piece of the Washington Senators' scoreboard. One went into the parking lot of a visiting stadium and smashed through someone's car window."

"Why did you idolize Micky Mantle so much, Gary?" I asked. 

He replied,
"Micky Mantle had courage.
He was really humble, he didn't like the publicity.
He would go on the field in unbelievable pain and play the game.
He would never complain.
He didn't make excuses when he struck out.
When he hit a home run he never taunted the pitcher.
He just played baseball."

"Did you ever see him play, Dad?" asked my girls.  By now, having heard the "interview" they were totally intrigued.

"Oh yeah," said Gary.  "I saw him hit a home run on a day when he was in so much pain that he could barely walk.  It was the bottom of the 9th against the Cleveland Indians, I'll never forget that game.  There were two outs and two guys on base.  The Yankees were down by two runs.

"The manager said to Mickey, 'Look kid if you don't hit a home run, don't run.' (Mick was so hurt he shouldn't have been playing.)

"Mick said, 'Don't worry Casey, I can't even walk.'

"Micky limped to home plate, dragging his bat on the ground.  The first pitch he hit a home run!  He limped around the bases."

By now my husband was clearly emotional, remembering the feelings of pride and love and awe...his eyes were moist.  And I was glad that Jane picked seven for corner view. 

***

We are raising three kids, as most of you know.  The first two are girls, they have been easy for me.  I understand girls, I get them, I know how to motivate them, I know what makes them tick.

My son, as it turns out, is more of a mystery.

Gary and I have been talking about that lately, the psychology of boys, and how Gary is better equipped to guide us in raising our boy, because he understands boys.

Duh.  Took me awhile. 

And somehow this story of courage, and strength, and being a hero -- a true uncomplaining, humble hero, is one I realize will help me understand my son even more.

Next week's corner view theme is "humor."

For more corner views go here:  

jane, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, caitlin, joyce, kim, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., ritva, francesca, state of bliss, denise, cabrizette, isabelle, amber, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, allison, lise, cate, otli, ida, dorte, nicola, vanessa, b, kristina, sophie, mcgillicutty, sunnymama, juanita, inna, daan, ibb, jodi, gillian

pienduzz, kelleyn, ninja, guusje, di, sammi, theresa, cherry b, juliette, mulot, helene, shokoofeh, cole, inner toddler, lucylaine, lynn, skywriting, anna, dorit, kenza, conny, l´atelier, kamana, anne marie, rosamaría, marinik, elisabelle, victoria, the yellow door paperie, tikjewit, juniper, annabel, andrea, valerie, merel, soisses, angie, mlle paradis, cacahuete, wander chow, barbara, emily, tally, nadine, matilda, don, flowtops, susanna, katy, castor, tania

reflections on dawn and my daughters

I met her when I was eleven.  The minute she saw me she said to herself, I want to be her friend.  I found this out years later.  She was new to our town and our school, St. Joseph's.  I had been there since first grade.  It was seventh grade, not the easiest time to enter a new social scene.  We became best friends that year, wearing our hair in pig tails, which seventh graders did in the 70's in the U.S.   

By high school Dawn and I were inseparable in our blue polyester Catholic school uniforms, kneesocks hovering below our knobby knees, brown leather tie "school" shoes, a new pair each year, worn all year.  We were on the cheerleading squad and the swim team, we did theater shows together.  We slept at each others' homes almost every weekend, and I loved helping her clean out her closet.  (Don't ask, I'm a little odd.) We laughed and joked and traded clothes.  She admired my art talent and I admired her big heart, her confidence, and how she treated old people.  I want to be more like her, I decided, and I started to.  Knowing her really changed me. 

We stayed in touch as the years went on and we were in separate colleges, visiting in the summers, talking on the phone, writing letters (remember letters)?  When we graduated from college I was finished first so I went to see her at the University of Virginia, where she starred in a play.  I whistled so loud at curtain call.  Years later we both went on to graduate school.  I moved to California and got married.  Dawn was there at my wedding, helping set up behind the scenes.  She was at the birth of my first child, driving through what would normally be close to three hours of traffic in 1 1/2 hours.  Never hit a red light.  Remarkable.

Now fast forward all these years.  We both are married with three kids.  Our kids have spent time pretty much every summer together since they were very young, so they are like cousins.  They really love each other.  They live 6000 miles away.  Dawn and I always talked of raising our families in the same place.  We got close a couple of times, but it never worked out. 

I saw Dawn this summer, and she and her three boys spent a few days and nights with us.  I miss Dawn.  I miss having a close girl friend in my daily life.  I miss having someone I can have fun with doing anything, even going to the hardware store we are talking and laughing all the while, which we managed to do this summer on a three hour getaway while Gary watched ALL SIX KIDS.  Thanks G.   

This is the photo of our kids having a "tantrum" when it was time to say goodbye.

I realized something recently.  My girls are now 11 and 14.  Annabel is the age I was when I met Dawn.  Sky is the age I was when we really became close.

My girls at at such great ages.  They are silly like Dawn and I were as girls.  When I see them interact now I constantly remember myself at their ages.  The girls and I have been having so much fun, laughing our heads off this week.  They are growing up, but still silly.

This makes me miss Dawn a little less.  It's almost like having her here.

corner view~school

I pretty much liked school all the way through the educational process - from grammar school through graduate school.  Most of my teachers made positive impressions.  I just wrote a note last week to my sixth grade teacher.

On the other hand, my husband hated school.  Poor G.  He was bored, he was unchallenged, he was harassed.  My two girls have been to formal school and now home school.  They love home schooling.  But my son loves his public school!

What is the magic ingredient?  It's not the school, I believe.  Not the university, or the philosophy, and not really the subject matter, as much as it is the individual teacher.

When the teacher and the student get to a place of respect and joy where a true exchange of ideas is going on, then learning is taking place. When the student is inspired then that is real success. What I've learned from my children is that school is defined by the student's relationship to the teacher, nothing more, nothing less.

This is what we look for when we choose our girls' home school teachers, or when we enroll our kids in classes, and in our public school system -- we look for mentors -- truly gifted ones who know how to do more than just put information before them.  I believe this is the standard we all must set if we want to be inspired, and truly learn.

By the way, to any of my blog friends who are fans of Gary, my husband's music, there is a giveaway of his newest CD on facebook here.

And happy September to all of you.  I am back from a long trip, happy to be back into a routine, into blogging, into visiting you all!

To see more corner views hop over to the sidebar here.

marathon video shoot

Our video production was quite a production day and night!  We flew our videographer out from Wisconsin, and he stayed with us.  (The guy pictured in the aqua shirt sitting at the drums with Shawn, and in other shots as well) We shot a ton of footage in three days, and we are making several music videos from this.  They will be added to YouTube over the next couple of months, I will share them here as we make them.

Everyone got in on the action, which was fun, and it was part of home school for sure.  Since one song is about Annabel, she acted in one of the videos.  And I got to act in one, where I play a woman whose musician-boyfriend (Gary) is asking her to let him come back home to her after he tried to make it big in New York but ended up being chewed up and spit out. (I accepted him back.)  I am wearing all white.   Sky helped a lot with additional camera angles.  And Shawn did some drumming for fun, while our guy filmed him.  He did such a good job we might use it in one of the videos.  Shh...don't tell him, it will be a surprise.

I included the shot of me singing because Gary loves it.  No I did not sing on film, although, like I have said, I am a wanna be.

all is well

Sometimes I worry.  I need not, but I do anyway.  I worry that I am not doing enough for my kids emotional and spiritual and academic education, I worry that as time passes I won't get everything done that needs to get done, I worry that my occasional grumpiness effects my kids in a negative way (my son recently wrote this sentence for the spelling word "alone.") 

My mom likes to be alone sometimes.

Made me laugh.  But also aware that he gets that I need and ask for that.  And that is a good and healthy thing.  We all need time alone.

I worry I don't give my kids enough time with me.  I try to find that balance of wife, mother, housekeeper, working mom, bill payer, gardener, travel planner, cook, nurse.  I need to also find time for correspondence, phone calls and emails, blogger, writing, exercise, eating, and of course, duh -- humor!

As my grandfather used to say, "When you own a home your work is never done.  It's just one round of enjoyment after another."

It's constant as you all know.

It suddenly feels like time is going by very fast.  I feel older than I did in my 20's, a new mother with a fresh freckled face.  For so long I felt like I was still 19, well into my 30's, but I don't feel that way anymore, now that I am clearly not in my 30's.   Now that Sky has turned 14 I think constantly about the fact that she is going to grow up and want to spread her wings.  And the others will follow.  My kids all have big dreams.  I know them well.  I know their strengths, I know their weaknesses.  I want to make sure I give them what they need to best succeed in this world.

But I have come to see that these kids are not just mine, not just ours.  They are God's.  And Gary and I are not alone in raising them.

So when I start to worry I remind myself of this and I look at how the last few years have actually been a series of fortunate events that mostly have happened with little effort on my part.  God's grace and goodness and blessings are always flowing.

Especially when the girls happen to run into an old friend they haven't seen in years and they get to goof off in the pool for a couple of hours, and renew the friendship.

I am a planner.  But I have come to see that so much of the best things in life happen without any plans.  I am writing this so I remember it when I start to worry again.

holy basil look at my tulsi

I came home to this one plant that is gigantic!  I am talking 4 feet tall and almost as wide!  It's the purple tulsi plant.  Time to harvest!

We have been home for 28 days.  I have been so busy since arriving I haven't had time to properly prune and clean up my garden.  One thing I learned, no more tomato plants!  :(  But it's not worth it.  They are a summer bloomer, even where we are where it is so hot, the plants know when it is winter, when it is summer.  Since we are always gone in summer it's not worth it to plant tomatoes.  The only plant that survived has some sort of bug disease...Gardens really do need a lot of love.

But my tulsi is so happy!  Some bugs, but nothing neem won't cure.

This is what I have done since we came home:
*Unpacked and set up a room we had remodeled (can you say dance floor/ performance room people?)
*Gotten Shawn back in school, helping him after school with staying on track with way more homework this year.  Shopping for his school supplies took nearly 5 hours, as I had to go to 3 stores since the other 2 were out of stuff.
*Found the girls a home school teacher and have gotten them going with school, books, supplies, etc.  Meeting with the teacher weekly.  She is GREAT.
* Had a brief surprise visit from Swami (although he didn't stay with us) because there is now a new resident here who Swami lived with for years.  So from now on when Swami comes he won't stay with us anymore...bit of a bummer for us.  We will miss having him here.
* I am currently organizing a workshop with our kids new acting coach from Hollywood.  He is coming here in a month, I am handing his registration, which is fun, but a lot of work on my end - newspaper press releases, etc.
* Hosted Gary's production manager for 4 days while he shot video of Gary singing and playing for several new YouTube videos, all upcoming.  They turned out GREAT!  I will write more about that. 
* Helping oversee Skylar recording songs, making videos, etc.  She runs everything by Gary and me.   
* Continuing social networking for Gary's music, daily
* Helping the kids with every other day shooting brief commercials so they can practice their acting.  
* Getting caught up with eye, dental, orthodontist appointments for all three kids.
* A small fundraising project.
* Cooking, cleaning, piles of laundry!

As Sky used to say when she was little,

"Good my gracious me!"

It's good that I wrote it all down.  I realize, man that's a lot for less than a month, especially right upon our arrival home, where what I want to do is ease back into our life and poke around in my garden.  I am trying to maintain stamina for now I feel pretty tired. 

Good thing the tulsi is good for stress :)