HeatherA Writes Stuff

Here is Will playing Bert Healy in his middle school production of Annie Jr. He was great! We saw the show on opening night Thursday and again Friday evening. He hammed it up considerably more for the second show. Seeing him open up and be much more comfortable on stage the second night made me happy. I love how much this kid loves doing theater, but his anxiety goes through the roof during performance weeks. On top of that, this year he also has a cold and isn’t sleeping well. It’s been rough for him and rough for the rest of us as well. He has been quick tempered, on the verge of tears, and very, very sensitive. This happens every time he is under unusual pressure so I have been preparing to anticipate his every need and pretty much give him everything he wants. As a consequence, it’s been a struggle to keep the peace between him and his brother, who probably feels relatively under-accommodated in comparison. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it for the artistic experience as well as t...

I am getting closer to understanding how to post pictures here. This picture, to the left, is from October 2017. It shows the aster that we planed in front of our house. Our house, as you can see, is brown. There is no contrasting color in the trim, door, anything. It’s pretty dull on its own. But from spring to fall we have flowers of different colors (trending toward my preferred pinks and purples) that brighten it up. I love how each year the flowers come back fuller and more beautiful than the year before. This picture also shows how grungy our front walkway is. It could use a good power washing, which I will probably do this spring (no, it was not done in 2017 or 2018).  We are talking about going on a sabbatical next spring semester. We are exploring various locations, but Barcelona is a top contender. I have never been especially interested in Spain, and I took French in high school, but the more I read about Barcelona the more perfect it sounds. It’s a large, walkable c...