Celebrations

The week seemed to pass very slowly as we anticipated the coming weekend. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday dragged by. It was cold all week and snowy most of the week. We did have a bit of sunshine, but only on the coldest days. I mostly went out only to do the chores. One day I did take a walk along the beaver pond. Everything is frozen. I have to keep reminding myself that under that hard and crusty snow there are snowdrops and crocuses waiting to spring forth.

The frozen beaver pond.

The new fire pit is under the snow there somewhere.

Cold evening.

I spent the week on an Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) binge. Many years ago, while browsing through CDs in a record store in LA somewhere back in the 90's, on a whim I bought a CD of Ella Fitzgerald singing songs by Cole Porter. I bought the CD because I was interested in the Cole Porter songs, not because it was Ella Fitzgerald singing them. I knew who she was. I’d seen her on TV commercials for Memorex tapes and Kentucky Fried Chicken. I knew she sang jazz and I was sure that I didn’t like jazz. But while listening to that CD, something wonderful happened – I fell in love with Ella Fitzgerald. She was called “The First Lady of Song” and I believe she was. Later I discovered recordings of her singing songs from The Great American Songbook. According to the Great American Songbook Foundation:

The “Great American Songbook” is the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century that have stood the test of time in their life and legacy. Often referred to as “American Standards”, the songs published during the Golden Age of this genre include those popular and enduring tunes from the 1920s to the 1950s that were created for Broadway theater, musical theater, and Hollywood musical film.

Ella Fitzgerald.

I acquired all of her Songbook recordings – Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, the Gershwins, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, and Rogers & Hart. Her renditions of those great American songs are the best I know of. For more than half a century she was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States. She won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums. Her voice was amazingly flexible. She could sing everything from a tender love ballad, to jazz and scat. Listening to those great songs, and her beautiful voice brought me hours of happiness all week long.

On Thursday Miriam and I were not in school. Stacey and Hannah got off work early. They got home at 2:30 and we packed up and headed down to the Thayn’s house for our much anticipated weekend celebration. Our reason for gathering was fivefold, Rachel’s birthday was on the 7th, mine was on the 11th, it was the second anniversary of our trip to Italy, it was Valentine’s Day, and Presidents’ Day weekend.

We arrived at the Thayn’s house at 7:00 and unpacked the car. Rachel told us to stop everything else and come into the living room because Hazel had a magic show for us and couldn’t wait another moment to show us her tricks. So we went in and sat down. Hazel showed us a card trick. Then she “magically” transformed water into ice cubes. For her last trick she said she would change a Barbie and a Ken doll into real human beings. She put the dolls under her well-draped table. Rachel and Tabor held up a blanket. Hazel said some magic words and as Rachel and Tabor dropped the blanket – there stood Daniel and Raven! We were flabbergasted! We had no idea they would be there. The Thayns have been doing a lot of remodeling on their house and one of their big projects was putting in new flooring downstairs. That’s something Daniel is good at, so they flew Daniel and Raven in last Tuesday to help them and they never said a word about it. We were so happy to see them! Later in the evening, the Fosters arrived and Hazel put on another magic show and surprised them too.

So we spent a great weekend together. The Italian part of the celebration was all about food, of course. On Friday we went shopping at DeLallo’s Market, a wonderful Italian market where we bought a variety of cheeses, pasta, pastries, and other items. The whole weekend we spent a lot of time making and eating excellent food. We had charcuterie with cheeses, meats, and crackers. Miriam and Hannah made cannoli. Sarah made pizza, focaccia, fettuccini with pesto, tortellini salad, sfogliatella, and two kinds of gelato – cherry chocolate, and buttermilk lemon blueberry. It was all so good.

One of several olive and antipasto counters at DeLallo's.

The cheese counter.

All sorts of pasta.

Fabulous pastries.

When we weren’t eating, we played games, made music, and just enjoyed being together. Some of us also helped work on finishing the flooring. Hannah and Raven had a nail painting session with the little girls. I opened birthday gifts one evening. We had Valentines this morning. I was sad to have it all end. But it isn’t over yet. Stacey and I left at 2:00 to come home. We just arrived here an hour ago. The Fosters left some time after us. But Miriam and Hannah stayed a little longer. They are on their way home now and they are bringing Daniel and Raven up here to visit with us for a few days. It’s been three years since Daniel was here and Raven has never been here. We’re excited to have them here. It would have been nice if Rachel and the girls could have come up too, but June came down with chicken pox while we were there (she had a very mild case) and Rachel is anticipating the other girls getting it too and that wouldn’t have been very fun.

Playing games with grandma.

Making music.

Working on the floor.

Tosh helping with the floor.

Sarah making pizza.

Sarah's amazing gelato.

So much food!

And more food!

So, our happy weekend is over. It was so much fun and I’m sorry it went by so quickly. I got lots of great birthday wishes and gifts. I’m thankful for Kurt who took care of my chickens while I was gone. I’m glad Daniel and Raven will be here for a visit. I’m already wondering when we will all be together again. It won’t be soon enough for me.