Sal Poses With Some Hellebores

It's Spring!  The good news is that the weather is glorious!  The bad news is that there is TONS of stuff to do to get the garden in shape!  I have LOTS of flowerbeds, and they are full of leaves, last year's dried up stalks, and a new crop of weeds.  Over the past few days I have spent quite a few hours cleaning out flower beds -- and only a fraction of the job is done -- but I must confess that I am enjoying the process.  It feels wonderful to be out in the fresh air, to discover that most of my perennials have survived the horrible winter we just had, and to see how much better the beds look after I'm finished.  And I'm not sick and tired of pulling weeds yet!  On the other hand, it's been several months since these particular muscles have been used, so I know I'm going to feel achy and exhausted until my body becomes accustomed to laboring in the garden again.

On Sunday evening, as I was outside filling tub after tub with the above-mentioned detritus and dumping it on the compost pile, I decided to take a break and bring Sal out to join me.  It seemed to me that she should have her picture taken with some of the lovely hellebores that are blooming right now.   They are a treat for the eye -- and so is she!

This was an experiment.  I knew that the flower would be in focus and that Sal would be out of focus, but thought the photo might be interesting.  I think it is!

Taking Sal photos in the garden is a real challenge for many reasons.  In this case I solved the problem of a too-tall stem by putting Sal on a brick.  I think the resulting picture is pretty neat.

Sal Goes to a Cub Scout Singalong

Sal and I are proud to be members of a wonderful group of Cleveland Jumping Fleas!  These dedicated folks practiced several times in preparation for a Singalong program for a bunch -- actually a pack -- of Cub Scouts.  It was only our second big public performance, and our first program for kids.   The husband and sons of Lisa, one of our members, are active in Cub Scouts, so she invited us to do a program for their April pack meeting.  Four dens of Cub Scouts -- 60 kids or so -- were expected to attend.  Add in the parents and you're talking a big audience.  We worked hard selecting songs and practicing them, and in two shakes, it was the big night!

To make a long story relatively short, the evening started as a bit of a disaster.  The program was to take place at North Royalton Middle School, but when the first Flea arrived, he was informed by the custodian that the staff had not been told about our event.   The custodian called somebody and there was some back and forth about whether or not we would be able to have the program at the school.  Eventually this was straightened out, and we started bringing in all of our stuff.  We carried everything to the Purple Gym -- which was where we were supposed to perform -- and began to set up.  We were then told that we would be in the Gold Gym instead, so we took all of our stuff to the Gold Gym.  When we had done this, we were told that some students were supposed to use the Gold Gym to practice basketball, so we would have to go back to the Purple Gym.  Once more we lugged all of our paraphernalia to the Purple Gym.  Then it was determined that since the Purple Gym did not have bleachers for the Cub Scouts to sit on, we should return to the Gold Gym, and the basketball players could practice in the Purple Gym.... Seriously!  We moved all of the stuff AGAIN!

Sal with Lisa's son, Dominic, in his Cub Scout regalia.  This is the Gold Gym!  With bleachers!

The fabulous performing Fleas!  From left to right:  Tom, Bruce, Terianne, Lisa, Brian, Nicole, me, Holly, Jeff, and Anne with Sal.

After intensive discussion about the best placement of the laptop (containing a PowerPoint of the song lyrics), projector, screen, backdrop, and music stands, and some rearranging of those things, we were all set up by about 6:45.  The program was to begin at 7:00, but as the hour drew near, a mere trickle of Cub Scouts appeared.   In the end, there were fewer than 20 Cub Scouts in attendance.  They brought their families, too, but the audience was much smaller than we had anticipated.  (Thinking about it later, the low turn-out could probably be explained by the lovely weather that evening.  After a truly horrible winter, perhaps people couldn't bear to be inside on such a warm night.)

As we began to play, I had an unpleasant realization!  Because of the acoustics of the cavernous gym, we couldn't hear each other well, and therefore were not playing together.  I looked down the row of ukulele players, and saw that the people at the other end were a few beats ahead of those at my end.  Fortunately we were able to overcome this problem by moving into closer formation after a couple of songs.  Lesson learned = a giant gym is not a good place for a ukulele show!  Looking on the bright side... despite the low turn-out and the lousy acoustics, the people who came seemed to have a great time -- and that's the important thing! 

After the program we went to Lisa's house for pizza, beverages, and delicious ice cream cake.  While enjoying the food we watched a video of our Fairview Park Singalong  (you can read about that Singalong by clicking here).  I'm unhappy to report that despite enjoying watching the other Fleas in the video, I had to cover my eyes whenever I appeared on the screen. I know it is wise and mature to accept oneself as is, and not be haunted by the image of oneself in a video, but unfortunately I am not that wise and mature.  I'm currently trying to recuperate from the experience.  Note to all videographers: please be kind -- don't videotape me!!!

On a happier note, Sal made some new friends at Lisa's house -- an armadillo and a racoon.   Photos of Sal with these critters -- products of Lisa's amazing artistic talents -- follow.

Sal with Lisa's paper mache armadillo.  I love how the texture of the armadillo and Sal's grain look together.

Lisa with Sal and the super-fun Cub Scout raccoon she created.

All in all it was a good night for Sal and I.  Lessons learned from the experience:
1.  Don't perform with un-amplified acoustic instruments in a cavernous gym.
2.  To maintain peace of mind, do not watch any videos in which I appear.

Kudos go to the performing Fleas for all of the time and effort they spent preparing and performing.  Extra thanks to...
Brian - for his infectious and entertaining MCing.
Bruce - for his terrible (in a good way) riddles and jokes, plus hours of PowerPoint proofreading.
Lisa - for her incredible PowerPoint artwork, percussion playing, whistling, and hostessing.
Jeff - for his musical leadership.
Nicole - for her super banjolele playing.
Tom - for his washboard skills.
Holly - for her virtuoso performance on the train whistle.
Terianne - for bravely joining us after playing uke for a short time.

And a super big THANK YOU to my sister, Anne!  Once again, she did a wonderful job as our PowerPoint slide changer.  She goes above and beyond to support me, and I really appreciate it!!!

And a round of applause for Sal -- for her ability to make people smile! 

And now it's time to plan for our next Singalong!!!  It will be here before we know it!

Poor Sal Is Forgotten...

When a woman has a child, she is starting down a long and amazing road!  Sometimes the road is relatively smooth -- and sometimes it's pretty rough -- but in the end, what's it all for?  I believe it's for... GRANDCHILDREN!

After my child-rearing adventures, I hoped to end up with a grandbaby to enjoy -- and especially hoped for a granddaughter.  I wanted to buy cute little pink garments and do "girl stuff" together.  Of course my sons were (and are) great, but the urge to purchase pink was not satisfied when they were kids.  We had lots of fun, but a baby girl to dress up was my unfulfilled dream.

And now my dream has come true!  Thanks to my son, Brian, and his wonderful Jen, a beautiful baby girl has come into my life.  Her name is Sophia -- and she is truly a joy! 

Since this little family lives several hours away from me, Sophia was four days old by the time I met her.  Of course I planned to take Sal with me when I went on one of the most exciting trips of my life... but unfortunately, my little uke was left behind!  I had lots of things to bring -- including the fabulous Flea ukulele I bought for Sophia -- and didn't realize that Sal was not in the car until I was 15 minutes from home.  Since I was already running late (as usual), I decided to let Sophia's ukulele stand in for Sal on this visit.  Sal will go along next time -- and many times in the future -- to help document Sophia's growth.

Now it's time to share some photos of my amazing grandchild -- as all grandmothers must do!

Sophia with her very own first ukulele.  It's bigger than she is now, but that will change soon.

I took more than 40 pictures of Sophia with her Flea.  At this point she seems to be bored with the whole thing.  Perhaps she is wondering when Grandma is going to play the instrument instead of taking pictures of it!

Awwwww....

After taking photos, I played and sang a little for Sophia, and she didn't cry!  I regard that as a successful first step in her indoctrination to the ukulele, and look forward to many fun musical times in the future with this darling girl and her Flea.  In a few years I hope she'll be playing the instrument herself and we can do some duets!  Perhaps I'm putting the cart before the horse a bit, but a granny can dream, can't she!?

Sal Calls It a Wrap...

I'm always a little sad when the Film Festival ends, but also a bit relieved.  My poor posterior needs to recover from the painful experience of many hours sitting on the terribly lumpy seats at Tower City Cinema!  (Note to Cleveland Cinemas: I love you, but please replace those seats with comfy ones!)  This year I saw many wonderful films -- and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Here are some highlights of Sal's last visits to the 38th CIFF.

My sister is always game for a fun acting gig.  As a passholder, I could enter and spend time in the Hospitality Room, which has chairs and tables -- and free snacks!  Poor Anne, as a lowly ticket holder, was not permitted to go through those doors.  I asked her to act unhappy about this, and she did a fine job! 

Another fine acting job by Anne!

Nicole, one of the fabulous Cleveland Jumping Fleas, posing with Sal by the board indicating showtimes.  We saw The Winding Stream together.  What a great film!

My friend Barb and Sal with one of the GuitarMania guitars on display at Tower City.  We saw two films together -- both of which were amazing.  We would both highly recommend Heart of a Lion and Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine.

This gentleman played a violent neo-Nazi in the compelling Heart of a Lion.  In real life he seems like a very nice guy, as evidenced by his willingness to pose with Sal.

After seeing the super-entertaining Just About Famous, I was excited to see that two of the film's featured impersonators were at the CIFF!  Obviously Sal had to have her photo taken with them. 

This is not the sort of young lady Mr. Hefner usually poses with, and I believe he thought I was quite nutty, but he posed with Sal anyway.

Maurice Reedus Jr. with Sal.  Everybody who goes downtown has seen him playing at sporting events and in front of the Playhouse Square theaters.  The film about him -- The Sax Man --  won the Local Heroes Award.

A bunch of Film Fest chums hanging out with Sal at the closing ceremonies.

Conclusions about this year's Cleveland International Film Festival:
1.  It was awesome!  Most of the films I saw were very good to excellent.  My love of documentaries and road pictures is confirmed.
2.  Because I had some sort of coughing/sneezing/blechy virus, I had to scale back my attendance from last year's average of five films per day.  My total this year was only 44 feature films and one shorts program.  Next year I plan to avoid all sick people pre-Film Fest. 
3.  Sal had her photo taken with lots of cool people.  I know I could get even more pictures of her with Film Fest luminaries if I brought her every day.  Maybe I will do that next year, even though it's a pain to carry so much stuff.
4.  The Festival ended with a wonderful new beginning -- the birth of my first grandchild!  You can be sure that Sal's future travels will often lead her to Sophia's house!


And last, but not least, the rest of my Facebook apre-film posts for the cinema obsessed:

Transfusion = Interesting subject (food trucks) + too long + too repetitive.
A Simple Piece of Paper = Touching multi-hanky documentary about adoptees receiving their birth certificates.
The Dark Matter of Love = Excellent documentary about a family adopting three children from Russian orphanages. Word to the wise = Not a good idea if you can't afford long-term professional help.
The Winding Stream = Excellent music-rich documentary about the Carter family. 
Hopeless Hopeful = Very clever + extremely entertaining + bank robbery comedy + cupcakes!
Deep City: the Birth of the Miami Sound = OK documentary + a bit disjointed.
Sex, Drugs and Taxation = There was a long wait between two films, so I decided to watch the beginning of this and skip the other movie if I really liked this one + I didn't.  (I didn't include this in my total of films seen, because I saw only about 1/4 of it.)
Monk With a Camera = Slow, but very interesting + great photography.
The Dog = Fascinating + funny documentary about the Dog Day Afternoon bank robber.
West = Outstanding + suspenseful + Iron Curtain drama.
The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne = Super entertaining + very funny + documentary about a notorious jewel thief.
Here Was Cuba = Cuban missile crisis + pretty good film.
A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at the New York Times = Very interesting + too drowsy to completely enjoy 5th film of the day.
The Cooler Bandits = Very mixed feelings + cue the debate on crime and punishment.
Slingshot = Fascinating + inspiring!
Jingle Bell Rocks = A jolly good time!
Just About Famous = Super-fun documentary about celebrity impersonators.    
Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine = Absolutely heart-rending. A theater full of tears... 
Heart of a Lion = Powerful drama.
3 Autumns, 2 Winters = Strange French film + many people leaving theater saying things like "that's an hour and a half of my life I will never get back." 
Clownwise = Hard to describe + I liked it.
Rich Hill = Extremely depressing
To Be Takei = Entertaining + uplifting + funny
Sex(ed) = Hilarious      

Farewell, 38th CIFF.  Sal and I can't wait for the 39th!