My family (sister and dad) came up the 17th of March to attend a concert that I was participating in. I joined the Eugene Symphony Chorus, and our spring performance was March 18. We sang Mozart's Coronation Mass - way too much fun for a first soprano - mostly in the stratosphere for the entire piece.
On Friday, we went to the Evergreen Avation and Space Museum, courtesy of Michelle McMillan's (blog link) family membership. My dad, who will be 86 in June (and is planning a ski trip to Mammoth as we speak), wanted to see the Spruce Goose. Initially, I thought my sister and I would just drop him off and head up to Woodland Woolworks, but it turns out they have my favorite plane there too!
We took a tour with one of their docents (Timothy) - he was great. He had been a pilot, and knew a lot of background about the planes, their missions, the construction, etc. I was very impressed. The best view of the "Goose" was from an upstairs balcony - I took 6 pictures to get all of ONE side in! Here's a picture of the nose...
After we went to the Avation Museum, we walked over to the Space Museum (they're in separate buildings), and had lunch at their cafe (very yummy). We then did a self-tour of the museum. They have all sorts of full-sized replicas of Sputnik, Mercury capsules, rockets, rocket motors, and, of course, my favorite plane, the SR71 "Blackbird."
Saturday, we hung around home, but my sister wanted to play in the mud, tiling, that is. I have been in the process of building a hearth for a pellet stove, and had gotten all the tile, with two to cut, and sort of stopped. She is the tiling goddess, and finished it. I still have to grout it, but that's not too hard!
Sunday, they headed back to my sister's in Nevada, where my dad would stay for a night, and then drive home to El Cajon, CA (east of San Diego). We had a wonderful time. With my mom's passing last fall, it's interesting getting us together. We have so much fun, but we're still missing her...
On the farm front, I have a new horse. He's a 9 year old Thoroughbred, off the track, but for 5 years. The lady I got him from is kind of flakey. She had gotten him in October to be a pasture mate for one of her horses after losing it's buddy. He is rideable, and is really a very calm horse. After trying to get pictures of his markings and tatoo to the Jockey Club to find out what his registered name was (no such luck), I named him Merlin. He is not as smart as my last horse, Doc, but he is going to be fun to work with. He has a very sweet face.
When I first brought Merlin home, Doc was still there. He went to the absolutely perfect home 4 days later – Merlin was bereft, and quite upset with me. I brought 4 of my 5 alpacas home to keep him company. It was hysterical! He’d never seen them before, but chased them around trying to see “What are you guys, exactly?” When one stopped to pee, he sniffed him all over, while the alpaca (Willy) was looking at him as if to say, “Will you excuse me? I’m busy here!” The boys are enjoying being back home.
Before my family showed up, I had gotten 35 Cornish x chicks. They were temporarily installed in the living room, but seeing as how I was going to be sleeping in there, I decided to move them out to the "big" brooder outside. All of that peeping would not have been good for my beauty rest!!
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I have started tomatoes and peppers, gotten the 3 little pigs, and done a lot of dyeing for Fiber Market Day last weekend in Prineville - those will be topics for the next post, which I promise will not be as long in coming!
I’m Back… Photos and text copyright March 31, 2010, by Laura at http://polymathchronicles.blogspot.com/
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