(Full screen it, or don't bother.)

Landscapes: Volume 3 from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

5/16/13 Sam's Last Junior Choir Concert

Now, "Dubs" as he's affectionately known by all the choir people, Mr. Wolterstorff being quite the the mouthful, is not known for his embrace of popular music for most of his choir concerts. There are typically many different languages and time periods represented and he's after the art of the difficult harmonies in his choices. He also tends toward the gospel spirituals, which, I admit, I always find a little painful. In Navasota, those choirs would rock the socks off of them. In the whitest bread of Colorado? Not so much. 

The end of the year concert is slightly different, in that every choir performs on the same night (typically he divides the concerts into two to shorten the time) and of the three songs each choir performs, one is a popular music choice. Sam was beyond livid that the Concert Choir got to sing a very long, very exhaustive medley of Disney songs, and Women's Choir (hers) ended up with Taylor Swift. Luckily the iphone video doesn't zoom in so you can't see her utter disdain.

The Men's Choir did a really nice rendition of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" and the boy faced soloist knocked it out of the park. The Honor's Choir (that's the upper choir of mixed men and women) did Queen's "Somebody to Love" and I guess I'm mainly grateful they didn't do Bohemian Rhapsody. Some songs just don't translate to choirs, folks. Add to that the high school gym acoustics and rock hard bleachers without backs, and by this point, I was in cranky city. Of course, they also did Five for Fighting's "100 Years", so I couldn't be too irritated.

Hard to believe next year she will be one of the ones receiving her 4-year choir medal and senior rose and singing the Blessing as she graduates from high school.

5/14/13 Nick's Surgery

Whew, long day starting at 4:45 for boot camp and just now wrapping up from work. Nick came through surgery with flying colors, and shaved legs up to his knees. 

How scary is it that you have to write on your own legs to indicate what limb you are expecting to be operated on? Apparently too many people waking up to surprises have made this necessary.

Then the doc came in and went over what to expect and drew on Nick's legs as well, where he expected to make the incision, and how big it would be. There are two ways to do compartment surgery and this is the least invasive and offers the quickest healing/recovery time. The two main drawbacks to the smaller incisions are 1) being able to clearly spot the nerve running along the leg so it's not severed and 2) more susceptibility to hemotoma, so we have to be very careful to go slowly at first to avoid over bleeding.

And then we, like anyone who's ever done medical procedures, got to play the waiting game. 

They wheeled him back about 3:45 and we got to keep playing the waiting game (although I had work to keep me occupied) and the doc was back with us an hour later, saying everything was great, he'd had very clear sight of the nerves on both sides and there was minimal bleeding. And then, we waited again.

They finally called us back around 5:30 to find Nick wide awake and scarfing down fig newtons. He hadn't had anything to eat since midnight.

And then? More waiting, release instructions, and, finally, freedom!

He's currently propped up in bed, on Percoset, with Lacey, watching TV and feeling no pain. I worked the first half of the day, worked through the waiting, worked after we got home once I got him set up, and hopefully managed to not put myself too far behind for the rest of the week. 

Of course, when we got home, it hit me that we couldn't get the hospital table out of the closet and up to him in the bed without unpacking all of his stuff that was currently strewn on the floor, which couldn't happen until we emptied out the drawers filled with other clothes that had to go somewhere else... and on and on. So between work and a room overhaul and changing ice bags and wraps, and working out wiring everything to be near Nick where he could reach it, I think we're all set. 

And I am pooped.

(post #1414, on the 14th.)

5/13/13 Moving in for the Summer

This morning, there was a huge racket outside the window. I don't speak bird, but I can tell you this couple was having some kind of domestic dispute. When I saw who they were, I had to guess it was about restarting the nest on our porch. The swallows have returned.

What are you looking at?

(just a snippet of their discussion)

5/12/13 Mother's Day 2013

I can't seem to sleep past 5:30 these days, but I've always loved sunrises, so it's not much of a problem. The paler summer sunrises have already started here, but crisp morning air is still around. Here is dawn over Colorado Springs.

Dad made waffles!

Sam presented me with her painting of Kevin and her babies and a moon necklace that just managed to get cut off behind the canvas.

After breakfast, per my request, we tried to get a few updated family photos. 

Between the wind that didn't want to cooperate,

and the lighting, which either blows out the background or makes us all look strangely tanned, 

we still managed to snap a few good ones. 

But most of them turn out like this...

so we mostly gave up and went to play around the Trading Post

5/12/13 From the Mommy Files

Happy Mother's Day to my mommy.