Wisconsin Winter

I've been home in Wisconsin for about a week now!  Going home for the holiday season is so great.  I drove overnight after finishing my last final and attempting to leave my apartment spotless for my return (Coming home to a messy apartment after a holiday is the worst).  This year our main family time together is happening before Christmas - Trish and Justin flew in from Egypt for a visit the same day I arrived, and my older sister came into town shortly afterward.  It was so amazing having everyone together because it so rarely happens!  We took pictures with Justin's camera so I'm going to try and get my hands on some of them.  We had very mild weather, until, in typical Wisconsin weather fashion, things changed suddenly today, and a blizzard hit (It's named!).  It wasn't as bad in La Crosse as it was in the southern part of the state (some of the pictures my friends have posted are crazy), but it will be enough for us to have a white Christmas :)  Hope everyone is safe, and good luck for those who have major shoveling to do!

ps:  Whenever I use a lot of commas in a sentence, I think of this article.

Baby Beans

This lady has a surprise up her sleeve...and in her tummy!  I am ecstatic to say that Trish and Justin are now expecting Mo Jr to come into the world this summer, and I will soon be an Aunt.  A cousin-aunt.  A cousint?   Cousaunt?  I am so excited!  Here is his/her first picture!

We are all obsessed with looking at it.  Trish is the first person I'm close with to be pregnant, and it's so interesting to hear about how the baby affects her body, and everything she and Justin are beginning to go through.  They are on an exceptionally wild roller coaster because Justin is now involved in a project in Egypt, and they are moving there for 9 months in January.  So yes, the baby will be born abroad!  They are over there right now for a couple of weeks scoping out the scene and looking for a place to live, and started their own blog to tell unique stories.  

I've always been interested in reading about women's pregnancy experiences, but now I'm super into it.  Here is a cool article about the connection and movement of cells between mother and child.  Also, I was always under the impression you were supposed to cut out coffee while pregnant, but look at this.  (That makes me breath a sigh of relief at the idea of going through it myself one day...)  Trish and I have spent time talking about how the experience is different for everyone, and it's really important for a mother to do what feels right for her.  Looking forward to learning and sharing more about all of this!  Much love to Trish, J, and the little spud :)

Neighborhood Color

There are all these bushes around my neighborhood that are stunning right now!  Their leaves change to crimson as the season turns and are now gradually falling off, and it seems they often fall off the tops of the bushes first, leaving this awesome combination of slate grey sticks and brilliant magenta color.  They're all over the ground and it looks like the sidewalks are strewn with rose petals!  I googled around to find out what it is, and I think it might be a Euonymus alata, commonly called the "burning bush" shrub.  Cool, huh?

Clumsy Goodness

The past month has been swept away before my eyes and I have no idea where it went!  I've gotten lost in Lexington life, I suppose.  Here are some highlights:  Beautiful weather with a new crispness in the air, apartment rearranging, decorating, and cleaning, turning a 10 lb pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern, and subsequently into pies, curry, and granola, the last paper of the semester completed, new places in Lexington explored, and many daydreams about the year ahead.  Also, on the family front, Trish and Justin are moving to Egypt! - more stories about that soon.  School's schedule has calmed down a little bit lately in the lull before finals, and I've had more time for pleasure reading, letter-writing, and small projects.  This just makes me wish I was out of school again, but those days will come soon enough, at which point I'm sure I will bemoan the fact that I no longer belong to an academic institution.

The name of the game around here is still about budget-friendly living.  However, it's not as dire as the previous months, for which I am very grateful.  I get paid regularly now, resulting in a reason to celebrate every two weeks.  Others feel the same - After my last theory exam, the professor announced, "Since we had an exam today and payday is this week, you can count on our next class being Donut Day."  Excellent.  My first paycheck was also commemorated with extravagant baked goods - not one, but two kinds of cookies.  Peanut butter for the first, which you have to make in Lexington because the Jiff factory is down the street and it often smells like a giant bakery that wafts the smell of peanut butter over the city.  The second - brown butter sea salt nutella stuffed chocolate chip.  GOOD GRIEF.  Can you imagine such a cookie?  Here's the recipe if you wish to make your dream a reality. 

That was obviously a delicious celebration, but there was also much brainstorming about what my first paycheck purchase in Lexington should be.  A bottle of whiskey?  A small piece of furniture?  A trip to a new restaurant?  I thought about all this while biking home, where I came to a halt outside my gate, swung my leg over, and was surprised when one of the gigantic holes in my pants got caught (?) on the bike seat.  I tried to recover with an odd, small hopping motion, but alas, my middle name is some combination of clumsy and accident-prone; my bike and I slowly went down together in a loving, yet awkward embrace.  Ergh.  It was then, lying on the ground, that I suddenly knew what I was going to buy... :)

ps:  This post was written while wearing my new jeans.

Busy and Buzzing

Things have been so crazy busy lately, it's nuts!  A never-ending siege of opera performances, rehearsals, exams, quizzes, and papers is pounding at my door.  By never-ending, I mean hopefully calming down by Saturday, because although things have been hectic for a couple weeks, due dates and schedules demand it should start winding down around then.  Ah, Saturday, come sooner!  but also don't, because I need way more time to get everything done before you arrive.  Everyone is in the same boat at this time of the semester, which is kind of nice, in a twisted way.  My landlord and I crossed paths today while we were both doing chores, and he told me that this is the point where his blood pressure literally starts to rise (He's a geography professor.), and that apparently doing chores helps to lower it.  Isn't that interesting?  I guess that explains the dire need to do dishes and sweep I felt when I got home.  Yesterday my friend and I took an hour for a much-needed sun-soak while sitting in the grass (We've been having beautiful, beautiful weather and little time to enjoy it.) and then sipped these cute espressos, all of which helped fuel the rest of the afternoon.  No matter how much is on your plate, you need time and space to sit and breathe every day...although today's had to be lumped in with taking a shower :)

"Crepes"

I'm discovering a couple things that help me feel good while living on a tight budget.  There's not a lot of money for extra activities or purchases, but I have to eat no matter what...so I've turned to the ritual of the meal as my main source of pleasure throughout the week.  Cooking and eating are extremely comforting, satisfying, and made to be shared with friends.  An automatic social activity :)  I eat a lot of beans and rice and regularly make a big pot of curry out of one vegetable, but every once in awhile it's nice to have a meal that's a little out of the ordinary.

A little while ago some friends and I watched To Catch a Thief; have you seen it?  It's an Alfred Hitchcock film set in the French Riviera starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, so every scene is shot amidst stunning landscapes.  I was thinking about it this morning, and it put me in a very French mood, so I donned some stripes and a necktie a la Grant, threw on a bit of french music, and decided I wanted crepes for breakfast.  Alas, the budget demands that eggs are saved for main dishes and butter is rationed.  Also, I don't currently own a blender, which is the best way to mix up crepe batter (Julia Child's recommendation).  So, I turned to corn tortillas as a crepe substitute.  Obviously not the same thing, but they were still delicious.  Actually corn tortillas have become a staple in my diet this month.  A big pack goes for about a $1.50, so they're a great substitute for bread, which is more expensive and doesn't last as long, and they're super versatile.  I topped them with ricotta (the one grocery trip splurge), peaches - which are way cheaper in Kentucky than they were in Wisconsin (awesome) - sauteed with water and honey so they got all thick and syrupy, and sprinkled on lemon zest and rosemary.  So good.

They did it!

 Trish and J tied the knot this past weekend!  Hooray!  The wedding was incredible.  I love these two individually, and I love them as one.  Many others feel the same way because their wedding was a huge showing of support, friendship, and love.  It was a testament to the spirit of generosity.  Does that sound over the top?  It's true!  There was a tangible feeling in the air that infected everyone; it made me feel very real and alive.  And it kind of felt like time was moving in another dimension, because by the time the weekend was over I felt like I had been there for a month, and it was a little surreal to get on a plane and head straight back to school.  I wanted to know more about everyone I met there, hear their stories and just spend time being with them.  I'm going to share more details about the weekend, but I want to wait until I have a chance to look through more pictures.  Gosh, Trish is so beautiful I can hardly stand it.  I believe so strongly in this relationship - Congratulations to my cousin and cousin-in-law!

Scholarly Pursuits: Debussy's Sarabande

So I'm starting a little sub-series on this blog, where I will be posting about pieces of music and composers studied in my 20th century music history class.  I've jokingly decided to label it "Scholarly Pursuits"; it's not really a scholarly endeavor, but more an opportunity to record personal reactions to listening and ideas discussed in class.  However...it's for school, right?  That counts as a scholarly effort :)  I'm starting with Debussy's second Sarabande, which is in a set of pieces titled "Pour le Piano".

At the point in his life when writing this Sarabande, Debussy experimented with mixing conventional rules and structure with his new ideas about composing music that focused on pleasure and a state of being.  The Sarabande is a beginning step down this new path:  the convergence of traditional form and tonal expectations with a new style of voice leading.  In years before, motion and development were felt in music through harmonic development and a relationship with the tonic.  Tense digressions and resolutions back to I were the primary expression of emotion.  Debussy didn't wish to get rid of the tonic, but the keys in which he wrote are no longer strongly tonicized because of a lack of leading tone and half step motion.  Motion is no longer created through the means of resolving dissonances and tension in traditional harmonic motion.  Because dissonances are treated as consonances, no firm sense of harmonic resolution is necessary.

Debussy believed music was not "the expression of a feeling, it is the feeling itself."  Perhaps this explains the atmospheric quality of his works, the sense that they simply exist.  Each chord looks neither to its origins or its future, but is heard fully in the moment of its being.  So, if tonality is no longer a driving sense of motion, where does the motion originate?  In listening to the Sarabande, I would say it comes from the rhythm, pacing, and expanse between the voices.  There are definite steps forward and points of arrival, with recovery from climactic moments.

This Sarabande turns my mind to the act of wandering; not aimlessly or listlessly, but rather a constant exploration of something new.  Each turn of the head and opening of the ear bears witness to a new sight and sound, something which excites the senses and creates a desire to move forward and discover more.  This is where the emotion and expression in the music comes from.  As Debussy stated, it is the music.  It is not our personal emotion that drives everything onward, but the need to continue witnessing the music and emotion that exists outside of ourselves as it unfolds before us.

I chose to post these photographs that I took in Basel, Switzerland to try and illustrate something I find powerful about Debussy's works, which is their ability to make you notice more about yourself and your surroundings.  His music creates a story and atmosphere.  Look at these photographs in silence, then look at them while listening (find other recordings, too) to the Sarabande.  How does the story change?  How does your perception of the scene change?  We're assigned listening exercises for class to teach us the importance of actually taking time to experience a piece of music.  By focusing all of our energy on listening (or reading a poem, or looking at a piece of art), we walk away with a heightened sense of awareness.  Suddenly we see, feel, hear, experience more.  And I think this is our ultimate goal as musicians and artists - to strive to experience our surroundings in ever greater depth, to respond and react, and then to share the outcome with others.  It's easy to listen to the Sarabande in passing because it's short and goes by quickly.  The piece encourages us to take time to notice, to observe; it is a beautiful paradox that the simplicity of this experience can make us aware of so much.

One Week!

One week, one week!  One week until Trish and J tie the knot!  I love these two so much and can't wait to go to Massachusetts next weekend to celebrate with them!  I get to see my mom and sister, too, which I'm so happy about.  After the wedding the couple is flying to Thailand for their honeymoon, then shortly after that going to live in Egypt for a few months for some work that Justin is doing.  What an adventure!  "We'll be busier with life-living than bees with their honey-making," Trish told me once right before I moved to Worcester.  Well we were, and we are, and now they will be :)  Hurrah for them!

Stretch, Scrimp, and Spare

This month I have decided to embrace the spirit of the poor, graduate student stereotype.  I'm enjoying UK so far, but it turns out their administrative communication and organization are weak.  The other new TA's and I were informed we won't start receiving our stipend (which is essentially our income, especially as we've just arrived and haven't had time to find more work) until a month and a half after school started.  Yeesh.  Well, I can challenge myself to live a frugality-themed month.  There are a couple small things that would be nice to take care of...for instance, the front light on my bike broke, and instead of replacing it I had to tape a small flashlight to my handlebars.  I don't own a pair of pants without a huge whole in the inner thigh area.  Also, I don't own any forks.  I have four knives and one spoon.  Why?  How?  Who knows the answer to these mysterious questions.  But these small things can all wait.  Except the forks, maybe, because that's starting to get awkward.  I had a friend over for dinner the other night and we had to keep washing the spoon.  Anyway, when I first arrived here I felt super stressed about all this (I literally only had $30 one weekend) but the trick is to stay focused on the fact that it's temporary, because then it all just seems ridiculous and makes me laugh.   One morning I told Trish about my pitiful breakfast of a banana and half a tomato, and she replied "Wow, a veritable feast."  That really cracked me up, and I've felt fine ever since.  So!  For the rest of September I will be searching out all things that Lexington has to offer at free or low-cost prices, and also attempting to cook on a lower budget than usual without resorting to solely eating beans from a can.

It's great to be in this situation with student status because there are lots facilities and opportunities available for free.  Well, I guess the idea is that you're paying for them with thousands of dollars of tuition, but I'm not, so there you go.  The other day I went to hang out at the main library on campus.  My jaw dropped when I first saw this building, and I assumed it was something for athletics because it looked impressive.  It feels bigger than it is (it's very large) because it stands on top of a hill, and there's nothing immediately surrounding it.  It has a really cool glass dome at the top that lets in a lot of light, and is stuffed with books, comfy chairs, private desks and lamps, group tables, and a cafe area.  Cool!

Don't Forget

Passed it on the street!

"Don't Be Flip"

Last weekend was my first in Lexington, and I had been feeling very scattered and unsettled, when all of a sudden one of my best friends came for a quick, unplanned visit.  Nic (no photos of him from the weekend, but here he is scoping out some Parisian pants) is a very comforting presence, and in one weekend furniture was picked out, my apartment largely set up, and the city became a much more familiar place.  It seems to be full of colorful buildings and people.  When we stopped in at a secondhand furniture store, we purchased items from a woman who talked our ears off, and said things like, "I live down on 7th Street, on the nice end.  I mean, I thought I lived on the nice end, but I can't even get a pizza delivered to my house!"  And those first few photos are a wall of a coffeeshop that has potential for placement on the favorite-city-stops list.  We also went to an awesome restaurant called The Village Idiot, and ate things like "Devils on Horseback", which are dates stuffed with goat cheese and orange marmalade, wrapped in bacon, and drizzled with honey.  Good God!  

Nic and I share a common favorite poet, Todd Boss, who wrote, "Don't Be Flip when you drop your mate at the dock."   I really like that.  So, no coolness, no coyness, just many, many sincere thanks to my friend, who swooped in and made me feel relaxed about a major to-do list, and excited about moving to a new city!

Biker-Friendly

Before I moved to Lexington I'd been hearing that it was not a bike-friendly city and I had to have a car.  Eek, gross.  The responsibility of a car right now is the bane of my existence.  Ok, that's a slight exaggeration, because I don't even have to pay for parking here (Lexington has a pretty low cost of living), but overall a car just strikes me as a money pit.  Anyway, it turns out that that Lexington seems pretty hospitable to bikers!  Sure, it could be better, but it could also be much worse.  School, grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops...all within easy distance, and reasonable drivers on the road.  Woo!  Photos above are of some sweet rides, a bike shop I ride past on my way to school advertising the awesome-ness of Wisconsin, and my favorite detail on my orange Gitane - a miniature coat of arms with a ship. 

Brought to you by Maker's Mark

The first week at Kentucky is complete!  It started off completely disorganized and a bit stressful because the school is...not the most clear communicating organization I've ever come across.  I felt frustrated and discouraged the first few days, and even entertained doubts about returning to school.  But two things happened that made me feel excited about being a student.  

1.  I parked my bike alongside hundreds of others when I went to my first German lesson, and when I came out, every single bike was outfitted with a waterproof seat cover and reflector swatch.  This made me feel happy to be a part of everything.

2. I went to my opening 20th century music history lecture, and the professor managed to make a lesson centered on the syllabus captivating.  Totally rad.  Bingo - ready to learn, student-style.

And of course, everything starts feeling good as you get to know those around you.  I went to a bbq last night with cool people and found out that the orchestra is sponsored by Maker's Mark.  Now that's when you know you're where you're supposed to be.

These pictures are from around campus.  Lots of brick, lots of green :)