As promised… let me begin this blog with some fun pictures from our weekend of Nutcracker.
You may recognize these two and their pose from last year’s pictures. Ellen and Meredith have danced together since they were little angels (the youngest and smallest dancers in the show). They began this tradition way back then – standing on each side of the stage behind the wings… and this was their signal to each other just before they began their entrance as Angels.
Every year, we take a picture of them together like this. Here you see Meredith in her Snow Queen costume with Ellen in her Demi- soloists snow costume. They had just come off stage from their last performance.
Here I am… working the light board! I am way up above the stage – and I could watch the whole show (well most of the show) while doing my job. It was fun to learn this job and by the last performance I had it down flat!
I did end up with a neck ache and headache from that headphone/speaker though! But it was a fun job!
This is Ellen in her Demi-soloist Waltz of the Flowers costume, having some laughs with Chris and his girlfriend Kailey.
And who is this young lady? Well, I first met her when she was 3 years old. She was in my Creative Dance classes. I taught her for three years and now she is my pick for next years Clara!!! Such a fantastic dancer!
Is there any possibility I could be well enough to dance the part of Clara’s mother again when she is cast as Clara????
Nutcracker was a lot of fun – but it was also very draining. I used every ounce of energy I had that weekend… plus some for the following week. I figured that was OK… I’d just take it easy, watch some of my new movies I got for Christmas and lay low the following week.
Unfortunately, things do not always go as planned. Bill’s back had been bothering him all week, and though he tried to be careful, he did a lot at Nutcracker. Then, on Sunday night, we got home and they’d plowed our street – which meant a huge pile of snow in front of the driveway. For several days, Bill had to shovel a lot to get the car in and out.
By Wednesday, he was getting worse. He tried some support to his lower back while he sat at his desk and we did a lot of back massages.
But alas, on Thursday, he tried to get out of bed and fell on the floor – writhing in pain. It was awful. The whole day, the only way he could get somewhere was a very slow crawl on his hands (which hurt from arthritis) and knees. I called the doctor on Friday, but there was no way to even get him to the office!
So… for the the last 4 days, I’ve been the nurse. Not exactly the rest I was hoping for – and eventually – what I badly needed. I’m sad to say, many sighs have escaped my lips. Though, I was glad to care for and nurse my dear husband who nurses me all the time, I sure wish I’d not spent all that energy and health the weekend before!!!
Today, he can stand with a back brace, and we are attempting to get him to the doctor. Though he’s improving, it’s so slow, I think they need to give us advice. And if it goes out again like last Thursday, I need to know what to do!
My last bit of news is for all my friends that live in the Midwest, the Great Lake region and the East coast. We had THREE more inches of snow last night!!!! Yes… it’s true! Marie was over for a little while because she had borrowed and was returning Ellen’s car. By the time she was ready to leave… she couldn’t leave! She was stuck here for the night!
It was, again, beautiful and I’ll post a couple of picks in my next blog. By the middle of the night the snow had turned to rain , so the main roads are clear and the side roads are mush. but there’s still snow on the roofs and grass!!!
I sure hope Chris doesn’t end up going to school through July because of all the snow days the district is having to take!
The best part of it? Seeing my dear Ellen enjoying it!!! She’s my Winter Snow, Christmas girl, but with our last snow, it was so entangled with disappointment over Nutcracker, she wasn’t able to enjoy it. She and Marie took a walk while it snowed last night and Taran is getting quite used to snow too! He begs to go out and romp in it!! (and eat it)
I’ll blog again soon with some of our snow pics! What fun!
Please keep Bill in your prayers and may you all have a much better beginning to the year than we seem to be having *smile*
~Melanie
Filed under: Uncategorized
