Oh, I love this week between Christmas and New Year's, don't you? We are doing our best to cram our winter hibernation into this span of days: sleeping in, staying in pajamas until late in the morning, reading, movies & games. No routine, no lessons, no school, no homework.

Well, almost no homework.

Sam has a science class stargazing assignment: observe the night sky 20 times in the next month and identify + draw the constellations you see.  Most of these clear, cold nights you can find him in the front yard or back yard or down the block in the field, craning his neck, face uplifted. Then he hovers over a paper with a flashlight in hand, clouds of steam puffing from his mouth.  Up to the heavens, down to his paper, over and over again, recreating the heavens in his own way. 

(Watching him, I think to myself, I could do worse than follow his example.)

When he's done, we come into the lighted house, red-cheeked and starry eyed, satisfied that the jolly chaos of stars have been organized once more into a catalog of creatures and figures.  

Song: Holst   |  The Planets   |  Jupiter

. . .

Sam and G are heading out on a chilly campout tonight (where there will be much stargazing, I'm sure). I'm over at Segullah today, talking about spiritual epiphanies and the invitation of the new year.  Come on over, if you'd like.  More Best of .09 thoughts coming soon...

Best album .09 |   Little Joy   |  Swell Season |  Adele

It's funny, I don't really have whole albums very often anymore.  Like most of the world, I mostly pick and choose individual songs from iTunes and skip the package deal.  It certainly is more efficient and cheap(usually) and it lets me explore a lot of different music but I do miss discovering a lesser known song (ah, the demise of the B sides...) from the days of buying a whole artists' album.

I did opt for the album a few times, though:

Little Joy was a new find this year and I loved listening to it, especially this summer.

I loved Swell Season's Strict Joy (and NPR picked it as one of the top albums this year)

But if I had to choose an album of the year, one that when I hear it in the future it will zip me right back to 2009, it would have to be Adele.  Soulful, playful, gorgeous, and heartfelt.  I caught her concert at the Orpheum earlier this year and it only increased my faithfulness to this album.  So there you go, album of the year 09.

Plus, Pandora is my best friend. (Do you pandora? What's your favorite station?)

Enjoy:

Little Joy's Brand New Start

Swell Season's Feeling the Pull

Adele's Feel My Love

Adele's Crazy for You

. . .

Best of .09: Best album. What's rocking your world?

During Thanksgiving dinner the kids were enjoying getting a ringing sound from sliding their fingertips along the rim of the glasses. So afterwards, Lauren assembled a line of glasses, brought in the tuner and created a chromatic scale, goblet style. The rest of the weekend they spent experimenting with sheet music and original compositions (read: random playing).

It was kind of like when they were kids and they would spend hours building forts or playing with boxes.  Who knew a few glasses would keep the teenagers so busy? 

Here's how it goes every morning: G and Lauren get up by 5, leave for seminary (early morning religious class for high schoolers) at 5:30.  G drops her off at 6 and goes on in to work.  Because she's the only one at seminary who attends her high school, I leave at 6:30 and go pick her up and take her to school, arriving home around 7:20.  (Are you with me?  Is this the most exciting paragraph you've ever read?)

Now I'm no early bird. But in spite of the crack-of-dawnness, that hour or so is one of my favorites in the day. The sunrise is usually stunning. And it's great chat time with my eldest child, just the two of us (as long as I'm not driving to seminary and all in a dither about punctuality).  Don't you love how driving in a car opens up kids to all kinds of topics and reflections? 

In addition to deepest thoughts and shallowest observations, we share music. Today Journey's Don't Stop Believing came on, a tune which always brings up memories of jr. high afternoon dances and the confusion about whether it was a slow song or a fast one.  We were singing along and I belted out the words.

"Mom, those aren't the right lyrics."

"What?! I think I know my own era songs, thankyouverymuch."

"Mom, really, listen when that line comes up again."

I did. 

She was right.

It's not "born and raised and self-destroyed" which is how I've been singing it. All. These. Years. Apparently (as I'm sure you all know) it's "born and raised in South Detroit." Whatever. I think my lyrics make more sense.  And more universal, for those of us non-Michiganites.

Turnabout is fair play, though; Lauren was just getting me back from this time.  

. . .

grateful for: the boost I feel after exercising, our 8 p.m. nightly gathering as a family, and keeping in touch with longtime friends (just had a great phone chat with my college roommate this afternoon)

weekend.
Thanks for coming, friends.

Uno, dos, tres, catorce...

Before the show. Yes, we came early...