Insights from The Magic Tutu

Mamma Mia

I'm in love with the movie Mamma Mia and the live stage play version too.  I saw the movie this summer and thought it was great.  Then I took my daughters to the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas this past Saturday night to see the live stage play.  It was the best.  We clapped, cried and danced!  That's what happens when you see this play.  Plus, the Las Vegas cast was right on the money.  One of us walked away with a big crush on the lead boy.  Cute photo of  Haley & Julia before they got all glamorous for the night out.  If you have a chance to see the play, do.  It's funny and the music is the best. 

Pumpkin Patch -- part 2

My Pumpkin Patch at the Art Festival this weekend started out looking great.  But it shrunk in size very quickly thanks to all the women who swooped by to buy the last ever pumpkins made by Sally.  I wish I was a better photographer so you could see the texture & trimming of the pumpkins close up.  I'll request to be a better photographer in my next life!  HA!   The little dolls next to the pumpkins are the dolls that Vida makes for me.  Ultra cute....

I had help from my daughters, Julia (left) and Haley (right), who were very funny.  They were both   dressed like ballerinas in their summer attire.  It felt just like a perfect summer day.  Not hot.  Just perfect.  Julia helped me tend my table and Haley gave away her handmade greeting cards to my customers on Sunday.  She's making cards to benefit our ballet company but ended up giving them as gifts to ladies who were buying pumpkins & dolls instead of selling them.  Funny girl....   Fun weekend.  So happy to be loving what I do. 

Nutcrackers & Pumpkins

This weekend our little town was alive with the annual Art in the Park festival.  Tens of thousands drive to Boulder City for this event that takes over the whole town.  I had a Pumpkin Patch set up in front of my theatre where I sold dozens of handmade pumpkins donated to our ballet company by my girlfriend, Sally.  This picture shows some of her pumpkins that are on display in one of the theatre windows.  Since the batch of pumpkins Sally donated to us is the very last batch of pumpkins she'll ever make, some of us felt the bittersweet nature of this happy event.  The dolls in the photo were made by Vida -- the same lady who makes my Little Haley doll and brand new Little Desiree Doll.  Those are the dolls that accompany my books.

This photo shows my collection of Nutcrackers.  I put them in one of the other windows in front of my  theatre this time of year to help advertise the ballet.  Speaking of The Nutcracker, rehearsals are going great!.  And so are tickets sales.  I was a little worried about the ticket sales because of the economy issues, but even that couldn't dampen the happy atmosphere in town this weekend.  Lots of hugs and laughter from old friends who stopped by my Pumpkin Patch.  Lots of smiles and love everywhere.  Thank Goodness for people who keep their chins up and spread Light.    I have more pictures of Sally's pumpkins that I'll post in the next couple of days.  Happy Autumn everyone! xoxo Amy

My old-fashioned stove

My old-fashioned stove is cute....right?  Desi & I have cooked thousands of great dinners on it in our 21 year marriage.  It works just as good as a new stove and this Friday night it will be cooking another one of many scrumptous Cuban dinners.  My stepdaughter, Julia, will be here and is going to cook up a Cuban feast complete with black beans, picadillo, an organic ensalada, white rice, and all the trimmings that go along with this traditional meal.

A few years ago I saw two middle-aged women in front of my house.  They were pointing, looking, smiling, etc.  I went out to ask if I could help.  Turns out their father built the house in the 50's and they grew up in it.  I invited them in and it was the best visit.  They told me everything they remembered about the house when they were young girls.  Turns out it was pink.  They remembered their father planting the two beautiful Modesto Ash trees out front.  They remembered the laundry room and the back yard.  But when they saw "their mother's stove" they both teared up.  They couldn't believe I still had that old stove and still used it.

That stove was one of the selling points of the house when we first looked at it right after our October 8, 1987 marriage.  21 years later, I still love that old white stove.  I've had to replace both elements inside both sides of the oven but it's always sparkling clean inside and out and that little stove is the heart of our home.  Can't wait to watch Julia cook up a storm in my kitchen this weekend.  Wonder what she'll do when the cats start walking all over the kitchen counters?!!! 

So happy the mums are finally here.  I've loaded my front porch with them to welcome my favorite season....Autumn.  In first grade, Miss Brannigan taught me this song: The leaves are turning brown.  And they fall right to the ground.  Soon the wind will come and whirl them.  Round and round about she'll twirl them.  And fall, is here, at last....

Everything is made in China

I'm going thru a big learning curve regarding how many American factories have closed and then re-opened in China where labor is cheaper.  What I've uncovered so far makes me as restless as the plastic grocery bag dilemma I wrote about in my last post.  My favorite comment on both issues is UGH!

While having lunch with my girlfriend, Cheryl, a while back, our conversation turned to the topic of the loss of American jobs.  She told me about this book  A Year Without Made in China and said it was an eye-opening read.  I ordered it thru Amazon and couldn't put it down.  The author, Sara Bongiorni, tells a tale about her family trying to survive a whole year without buying any products made in China.  Her story is very funny at times but also true.  My daughter, Haley, and I have been trying not to buy Chinese products at all.  It's almost impossible.  All of the seasonal decorations are made in China -- such as American flags (yes...), Christmas ornaments (including statues of Baby Jesus), Thanksgiving decorations, ALL holiday decorations.  Haley had an armful of glitter glue & other items in her arms before looking at the labels.  Every item was made in China so she put it all back on the shelves.

My favorite department store is Dillards.  I went to buy some simple, white cotton blouses for summer and they were ALL made in China.  Out of curiosity I snooped thru most of the women's clothing racks and saw first hand that most of the clothes were made in China.  Can't American workers sew?  Yes they can!  But the labor is cheaper in China.  My comment:  UGH!   The Chinese takeover of our American manufacturing has happened slowly over time.  Now it's reached a point where there's no stopping it.  I wish I'd been more aware of this elephant-sized problem earlier but I was oblivious to the encroachment of Chinese imports into American stores and the massive loss of American jobs.  It makes me sick.  "Go away and let me sleep" is what my mind wants to say to the issue of plastic bags, made in China, elephant slaughter, etc. etc., but my spirit tells me to do what I can do -- as an individual -- to not participate in what I feel is wrong.  I love the slogan from the '60's that said: Think globally, act locally.

Have you switched to canvas bags?

While driving down Baja 1 through the emptiness of the geologically exquisite Baja peninsula, plastic grocery bags were everywhere.  We heard the wild cows eat them and, of course, eventually die because they can't digest them.  Just driving through Las Vegas or Los Angeles you can see the plastic bags in gutters, stuck in bushes and clogging storm drains.

What to do?  Switch to canvas bags for your groceries and all your shopping.  DO NOT accept the free, plastic grocery bags that we've all become so accustomed to using.  Personally, I've probably accepted thousands of them in my grocery-shopping lifetime.  Before I knew they didn't decompose, I must have thrown hundreds of them  right into the trash.  Others I used as trash can liners in my little trash cans. Others for this & that.  But I'm embarrassed to say, I threw most of them away.  In the photo is a still pristine part of the Baja.

That all stopped a few years ago when I became aware of the problem these convenient little plastic bags were causing to the environment and to birds, turtles and other animals who ate them or became entangled in them.  My sister-in-law, Lucie, sent me this link that is just sickening about plastic bags.  Please watch it and buy a few canvas bags to take to the store with you from now on.  Just keep them in the trunk of your car and take them with you when you go in to do your shopping.  I forgot mine once and the clerk let me run out to my car to get them.  

Here's the link:    http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016

Also, my girlfriend, Lesley, gave me a great little book for my birthday last week.  It's called Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano and is loaded with about 300 pages of eco-information.  All good stuff.  Some of the statistics she gives are pretty un-nerving.

Good grief.  We MUST change our throwaway, flamboyant habits.  Did you see that documentary recently  on 60 Minutes (I think?  Or was it on Discovery?) about the area in the North Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of Texas where plastic bags & other plastic containers have collected due to the prevailing ocean currents?  

It made me sick!  Twice the size of Texas?!  No way!  Yes way!  The plastic bags have blown into the oceans from the continents and the cruise ships trash (ugh!) and washed into the oceans via rivers.  It is collecting in the North Pacific at an alarming rate and sea life is eating it and dying.  The plastic can't decompose.  It hangs around for years.  The pretty rose in the photo has nothing to do with this post.  I just put it in to add something beautiful -- something opposite to the trash we're all creating.  This rose bloomed in the garden of my girlfriend, Patricia, this summer.

This post is just to make you aware of the atrocity of accepting plastic bags from grocers and all merchants. Take you own bags with you.  If Bangladesh and China can ban plastic bags, America certainly should be able to do it too.  The moral?  We are spoiled.  Time to face the mess we've made and put a stop to it.

A perfect Saturday afternoon

A quick post here for my girls who may check later to see if I posted any photos from today's rehearsal.

We rehearsed the Party Scene (that opens The Nutcracker) for two hours and the girls were full of energy and worked hard for me.  One of the girls was very funny at the break balancing a present on her head!  I gave them chocolate covered cherries for a little pick-me-up.  The music for this ballet is so happy.  I love the way these little girls respond to the music.  It's so healthy.  

Following the Party Scene rehearsal came the Waltz of Flowers.  And I did decide to bring the dancers onto the stage with the music rather than have them placed on stage before the music starts.  We had a costume fitting and realized we have 10 costumes and 11 dancers...ugh.  So now we must consult Miss Vickie to resolve this dilemma.  She's good at that.  The Waltz went beautifully.  I love teaching these  girls choreography like this.  I can see how far they've come since they first came to me as 3 year olds entering Baby Ballet and I applaud them for sticking with their ballet classes all these years.  I truly believe mediocrity is a waste of a life.  So, today in my theatre, I was delighted to see these girls show up for rehearsal -- giving me their Saturday -- and work, work, work.  No mediocrity here.  Just a lot of good energy, love and smiling ballerinas.  I am one lucky duck to have the pleasure to spend my Saturday with them.  

Should I or shouldn't I?

Hmmmm.....should I begin the Waltz of Flowers choreography with the girls already placed on stage when the music begins or should I have them waltz onto the stage with the music?  Either way will be lovely but I spent  a lot of thought-time today debating this question with myself.

We've begun rehearsing for The Nutcracker that our ballet company is presenting in December and this Saturday is the first rehearsal for Waltz of Flowers.  Usually Miss Vickie choreographs that piece but I'm creating the choreography this year and teaching it to my dancers on Saturday on the stage in my theatre.

I'm going to use the waltz arms that are the prettiest arms of all -- those being the left arm remaining in second while the right arm only moves thru the whole port de bras range.  I'll use the grand jete' entournent only on the girls who can execute it the best.  And I will not use any pas de chats (my least favorite step for choreography.)  I think the pas de chat is ok in class and in character dancing but I really don't like to see girls in jewel encrusted, hand-made tutus doing pas de chats.  Unless of course, they're the cat in Sleeping Beauty!

I will use soft chasses interspersed with chasses entournent to move the girls silently from place to place.  I want to present an etheric piece that will make our audiences swoon.  Especially since Waltz is the last big number before the Coda.  My thoughts have been on this choreography all week and that makes me happy.  I'm so glad I don't have to spend my thoughts on diplomacy and international affairs.  I could never, ever be a politician.  They are a different breed of person.  I'm much better at sewing sequins on tutus, taking care of my husband & kitties & dog, and planting flowers.  I adore and worship nurses, but I could never be one.  I love the girl who gives me pedicures, but I could never do that (I don't like toes.)  And I could kiss the people who keep the shelves of my local Albertson's so well-stocked.  I guess we each have our place and our niche.  I love my niche and I'm happy to be in it.  Better get back to planning my choreography.

Glissade, assemble', sissone, pas de bouree'

Tombe' pas de bouree' glissade grand jete'

Waltz 1-2-3-4 chainee' chainee' pose' arabesque and run...

A wonderful whirlwind of a weekend!

I loved this weekend....and what a fun whirlwind it was!  My birthday was Friday and I'm so glad I reminded everyone in advance.   Cards, flowers, dinner with family and oodles of hugs.  Yum, yum.  Saturday we presented Chautauqua in our theatre.  This year the scholars portrayed Henry VIII for the matinee show and Eugene O'Neill for the evening show.  The audiences were wonderful and the scholars were tops.  My girlfriend, Sara, who coordinates Chautauqua called me onto the stage Saturday night and presented me with a bouquet of white roses for my birthday which had now spread over 2 days.  Sunday I started the day by sitting on my front porch with freshly ground coffee and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  Then to Nutcracker rehearsal, then a long walk with Jelly (my dog), then a gathering with girlfriends and finally a dinner at home with Desi.  He keeps saying "Happy Birfday" to me because he knows I like to celebrate all week.  If you read my blog last month you'll know why we say "birfday" instead of birthday.  A funny story.

Just got out of a ballet class and am off to Roberto's to pick up tacos for birfday dinner #4.  I'm so happy to be alive.  I love my family so much.  And my girlfriends are so funny and light in spirit.  My 1st grade teacher came to see Chautauqua.  Miss Brannigan.  She's 88 now.  I'm always so happy to see her walk thru our theatre doors.  She said something to me that really rung true.  She said when she grew up it was almost a sin to have a problem and more of a sin to tell another person about your problems.  And that it was considered a virtue to keep your problems to yourself and not spill them onto another person.  Wow!  Look how far society has slipped.  Look how so many people dump their problems onto others nowadays.  There are some people who I never say "How are you?" to.....I'm afraid they'll tell me!  Not to sound cold, but don't you think problem dumping is out of control?  I love this quote: There's enough pain in the world without me adding to it.  Miss Brannigan is very alert, very petite and cute too.  She made me stand in the corner in 1st grade after she said I stood on my chair in excitement because a clown was coming into our classroom and I wanted to look out the window at his arrival.  To this day I deny I stood on that chair and that she wrongfully put me in the corner.  I was so humiliated.  All these years later we laugh about it.  My girlfriend snapped this photo of me and Jelly in her garden.  I'm so happy to be alive.

Mister Bubbles chooses VP Running Mate

Sorry to be gone for 10 days but I've been driving Mister Bubbles thru the Sierras where he's been campaigning with his newly selected VP Running Mate Baby Girl (his sister.)  It's an historic moment because a Presidential candidate has never selected his little sister to be his running mate.  She's purrfect for the job because she's a domestic diva.  She can sew, clean, cook, settle disputes, manage finances and laugh!  Mister Bubbles knows she's purrfect because being female, she can relate to every mother in America who is trying to run a household and raise children.  She thinks it's a virtue to be happy baking cookies.  Baby's only concern is that she'll be able to take her basket and bear with her to the White House.  And she wants to be sure she can buy Fancy Feast on the east coast.

The campaign posters will read "Vote for Bubbles & Baby" and their platform will be based on restoring love and laughter to every household in America.  After all, a happy household would naturally be filled with love and laughter and that's what America needs.  Actually, that's what the whole world needs!  Each morning and several times throughout the day, Bubbles and Baby meditate together and during their meditations they clear away thoughts about all of their forthcoming political duties and let the fresh breeze of God's power blow thru their minds.  When the breeze passes their thoughts about our wonderful country and what they can do to help are fresh, organized and powerful.  In this photo Bubble was chatting with some frogs near a pond about being hoppy....oops!....I mean happy.

Leadership emanating from LOVE is the best leadership.  And that's why the ticket of Bubbles & Baby is the perfect ticket.  They'll lead with calm command and will be loved by all.  Right now Baby is exhausted from 10 days of campaigning and wants to take her afternoon cat nap.  She wants to reassure everyone that she is a W-O-MAN and will bring the power and wisdom of sisterhood, motherhood & womanhood to the ticket.  And in case you wondered, she's pleasantly plump!