Weekending for the Work Week

Mark Cutrona (over at To Seek A Newer World) posted the other day about working for the weekend; the idea that the working week is just a thing to be gotten through to get to the weekend.

Well. There comes a time in life when that formula gets reversed and you find yourself longing for your quiet, restful workday. Don't get me wrong, I work hard. It's just that life with growing children gets mighty hectic, no more so than at this time of year when the school year is winding down and the band, choir, and dance classes have end-of-semester performances to get through.

Let me outline our weekend for you.

Friday Night.
The school's dance classes held their spring dance performance. Karen and the girls stayed down at the school and I stopped by home to pick up my mother- and father-in-law. They had come into town that morning for a wedding in Ocean City on Saturday. The performance was wonderful. I got to see my little girl, becoming my grown-up daughter, dance on point and dance very well.

Saturday.
We start with the neighborhood yard sale. We had not planned to take part, but I couldn't help putting out a few large things that I'd like to get rid of. Only a few people stopped by, leaked from the neighbor's garage, which overflowed with stuff. Several folks seemed insulted that we had so little out. One guy needed a broken down rusty bike, though, so I made a few bucks.

Saturday evening, Baba and Grandpa headed down to Ocean City for the wedding of an old friend's kid. Karen and I went to Ocean View for the retirement party of the principal of the girls' school, the Southern Delaware School of the Arts, where Karen also works. Great fun, good food, nice people, and a heartfelt send-off for a guy that folks seemed genuinely happy to work for. But it was a late night.

Sunday.
Karen was due to play a flute part at church. I was due to mow the lawn. There was also a teen to drag out of bed and set to studying.

Once up and studied, Colleen was headed to see the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with several friends who had all read the book. I got to drive the group to the theater.

After I dropped that group off, Karen, Christina and I headed down into Rehoboth Beach for Christina's Ninth Birthday Party (two months late) at the Wacky Bear Factory. She and several friends made teddy bears (below), ate ice cream sundaes, and played games for several hours.



After two hours of fun, we headed home again to gather up Colleen (since dropped back home by one of the other parents) to get ready for her performance as part of Roadshow; the show band of the Southern Delaware School of the Arts. They were due to play at dusk at the Bethany Beach bandstand.

We loaded up an electric bass and headed out again. The Roadshow performance was fun; 5th though 8th graders playing a big-band style mix of hits from the fifties, sixties and seventies. Colleen is a very talented bassist. There are other very good players in the group and their shows are fun.

But we were not back home until about 9:30 p.m.

I'm headed to bed. And I'm looking forward to a quiet workday tomorrow. Of course, this week also holds another band concert Monday night, Honors Society Tuesday night, Dance Recital rehearsals Thursday and Friday nights, and the recital itself on Saturday.

A Dad's work (driving and waiting) is never done.

Oh. Dear.

From today's News Journal: Man, 78, accused of trying to shoot neighbor.

Willard Werner thought he had a good reason to try to kill the man; the guy was trying to keep Willard from marrying his 16-year-old daughter.

Some kind of reverse-shotgun-wedding?

According to the story, the girl was also against the idea of a marriage. That shows good sense.

It's All Just a Bureaucratic Game

I wonder -- just slightly -- about the symbolism here. The public square in front of the Municipal Services Building in Philadelphia is strewn with gigantic game pieces.

Odd.

Bummer

The Oasis Restaurant, in Austin Texas, apparently caught fire in a lightning storm last night. It was mostly destroyed.

I had dinner there last fall as part of a professional organization meeting and caught a decent sunset photo, which was one of my earliest blog entries.

A Family Holiday

Memorial Day weekend is the start of the summer season and nowhere does that mean more of a change than here in Coastal Sussex County.

They start arriving with this week-end and they don't go away until Labor Day. Of course, a large part of our local economy depends on them and their vacation dollars. So we put up with them. We complain endlessly about them, but we do put up with them.

Memorial Day also means the start of regular visits by my brothers and sisters and their spouses and children to my parents' place in North Bethany -- the Beach House.

This week-end, we had Bob and Karen, with Jimmy and Andrew, and Connie and Mark, with Christopher, Valarie and Gus. My cousin Jennifer came along as well.

Here, Jimmy, Gus and Valerie play with bubbles after a big family dinner.

Rainbow

Rainbow
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

Actually, a double. I shot about a dozen digital images of this in an effort to get good picture. That's the beauty of the digital camera; you can shoot the great many times that are required to get a decent shot.

This one is posted on my Flickr site. I have more from that evening, but I've reached my monthly upload limit!

Abbey Road: Ubiquitous and Surprising

I spotted this shot on Flickr this evening. Of course, it is tagged "Abbey Road." So are about 85 other shots from around Flickr.

Many are the usual tourist shots. Some in homage to, and some inspired by, the famous Beatles album cover.

In some, we are reminded that Abbey Road is a working recording studio.

Are You a Member of WXPN?

May I respectfully suggest that you become am member of WXPN? I've just renewed my membership.

XPN is a listener-supported radio station from the University of Pennsylvania. It's the home of The World Cafe. It's a great place to learn about music beyond the pablum on the regular radio stations.

It's my favorite radio station and I don't live -- or work -- in range of its broadcast. Thank goodness for the web and broadband.

I would point out though, that I've been a member since before I could regularly listen on-line.

So. Maybe you should become a member and support the station too!

Well Played, Mike Castle

I was proud of my Congressman, Mike Castle, yesterday.

We can all agree or disagree on the stem cell issue; it is complex. Still, I have to praise Mr. Castle for clear, determined and principled lawmaking. He stood up to his party and to the easy emotional grandstanding that this issue can offer to tempt a politician.

I realize I'm a day late on this, but I was too tuckered to post yesterday.

Beachcombing with Christina

This past Saturday, Christina and I spent a pleasant hour or so walking along Lewes Beach, looking for shells and pebbles.

It was a bright and beautiful day, so I was busy with my digital camera. The result? Another photo set on my Flickr site.

Christina shares my taste for pebbles, though I'm trying to teach her a bit of discrimination. If left to her own devices, I'm sure she would cart home every pebble and stone on the beach.

Instead, we brought home a decent sample. We've added them to pebbles from earlier visits and other beaches.

Pebble-collecting always makes me think of my paternal grandmother, Isabel Cooper Mahaffie. Grandma was an artist; mostly a painter, but she also dabbled in terrariums and miniature landscapes.

She had an extensive collection of pebbles she used, some of which I imagine came from this beach, from Rehoboth, Dewey, the barrier islands now known as Delaware Seashore State Park, and Bethany.

I can see her wandering along these shores in the 1920's, 30's and 40's drawing beauty and art supplies directly from nature.

I like to think that some of her spirit and creativity has come down through me to join with the color-sense and music in my mother's family and with the music and determination of Karen's family to help form the characters of Christina and Colleen.