July. . . She Will Fly

Parade Selfie

Calvin with the Eastview Drum Line on the 4th of July

Cabin is for Family and Friends and Often the Lines Blur

Piano Room Set Up for My First Teacher Training Session

We Said Goodbye to Our Friend Garfield--he went to his new home in New Ulm

A Lovey Lily

My Piano Kids in Colorado

"Baby Sitting" Your Young Friend 

Sam's Graduation

Bill at Home Behind the Grill

Susan and Sam

Janel and Sam

Cousins 

My Fairy Garden

Mary's Fairy Garden

Suzuki Associaion of Minnesota 2017-2918 Board Retreat

Sweet 16 Boy's Birthday

July, she will fly. The words to some old Simon and Garfunkle tune.
The pictures don't lie, it's been a busy time.
I might add--high highs and low lows.

In that age old quest for balance, which I'm sure I've written about every summer, we ping-pong back and forth between having our lives in perfect tidy control, and doing things for other people and making an impact on the world arround us and. . . having a little fun.

Busy May turned to busy June turned to busy July.
We may have lofted the paddle and crushed the ping-pong ball.
We are home this weekend for the first time since Memorial Day.

Lows? Some lows are private--don't we all have that? But I'm happy to try to gain some sympathy for twisting my ankle in late May and having a piece of glass stuck in my foot for the last ten days. This also warranted a tetanus shot which punched me in the arm and knocked me out for an evening. Yesterday the glass was removed and that is a good thing. Saying goodbye to Garfield the cat was much harder than I thought it would be. I thought I would be relieved that we would not return home from a weekend away to find fresh cat pee in fresh places. Instead I felt all kinds of other emotions that weren't so pretty.

Highs? Red Pines Chamber Music Festival (I'll write about that on the studio blog at some point). Other highs? Being at the cabin with friends and family. The cabin is like the other woman. When you are with her, you love her and want to stay with her. When you go home to the house that is your wife you kinda want to fix things up with her too.

More highs, Calvin is having a great time at the Young Artist's World Piano Festival and we got to hear a two hour concert from Ann Schein Monday night. That's two hours that I will never forget. Sam's graduation party in Iowa was super fun. And, tomorrow Mary leaves for Italy with my mom.  Oh, and I did my first teacher training Every Child Can class.

I told you the ball was off the table. Next week is our MacPhail institute.

As I look at the photos and finally have an hour to reflect, I see that it is all good. I wouldn't change a thing. I'm looking forward to the next three weeks of teaching and cabin life. I'm profoundly happy. I'm just also profoundly exhausted. This weekend we are home and only have Calvin's camp recital. A pause between rounds. An evening with my husband.

I follow a devotion called "Action and Contemplation."
I guess I have to stick with the ping-pong metaphor--since we now have ping-pong at the cabin.
August may need a slower volley and not so many slam dunks. A little less action and a little more contemplation. A little instant replay in slow motion.

Blessings to you as you balance your own summer life.
Sara