When in Richmond...

In order to finish out our summers with a little together time, I met my parents in Richmond VA last evening, just in time to convince them that dinner at Double T's bbq in Carytown was much more authentic than the diner on the corner in the commercialist mecca where we are staying. We enjoyed some southern bbq on the patio in the beautiful night air. On the way back to the hotel I took them on a small tour of the lesser known areas of Richmond (i.e., I had no idea where we really were, but pretended we were on an adventure....), and discovered a tower of some kind (i.e., I have no idea what the function of the tower is, but I pretended that I really wanted them to see it....). It was stunning. Quite tall. Magnificent. I think they really appreciated it. (:-/)



This morning we rolled out of bed and (after a small detour to drop my car off at the local toyota dealership for alien noises) went to visit the Shirley plantation. We chose this particular plantation (since there were quite a few to choose from) because it promised outbuildings. I do love a good outbuilding. I was not disappointed--if ever you are in Richmond, I highly recommend Shirley to you. Not only are the buildings well-kept and well-explained, but the house sits on the bank of the James and the view is quite refreshing.


We took advantage of a bench above the river
for some reflection and picture-taking.

The reflection had to do with the fact that my mother was in BIG trouble for suggesting to our tour guide that I might like to meet the bachelor heir of the house who currently resides on the 3rd floor of the plantation and has made it what it is today (with the implication that he might then continue the family line). I'm not sure that she has yet been forgiven for that small moment of our day. (I am not sure that she ever will be either.)

I am, however, a gracious daughter, and so I merely let her know that I was not looking in her direction for a reason instead of giving her a good piece of my mind.

(Unfortunately, I could not stop laughing, so it wasn't really that effective....)


Upon leaving the plantation (along with its various outbuildings) we headed downtown, stopping for lunch at the famous 3rd street diner for a $3.99 cheeseburger. Yum.


We then found the canal walk that promised much history, and
walked the 1.25 mile length of it (in order to work off our $3.99 cheeseburgers). The canals were George Washington's idea, and the word "Shockhoe" means "rock" in Powahatan. These are the things I learned, and the things that make me smarter than I was this morning...




We finished off our canal experience with a tour boat trip that

caused us to reminisce about our fateful tour boat trip in Paris (about this time last year) where it rained through most of it and where the tour guide (though translating what she'd said in French into English) was nearly un-understandable. We had a good laugh, and were grateful that in Richmond they promise a refund in the case of inclement weather. (We were further grateful that we did not need to test whether or not they were telling the truth.)

Then we went to pick up my car (anybody know where I can

get good tires in State College?) and then headed back downtown for dinner at Bottom's Up, an authentic hole in the wall pizza place down on Dock Street (I am insisting on authentic holes in the walls this trip, and so far the parents have not fought me on it...)

I am having a blast with my nearly senior-citizen (nearly senile) parents (seen here organizing their various pills), and we have spent a large amount of time cracking ourselves up. It turns out that senior citizenship and senility are topics that bear much joke potential. (And, as much as I love those brothers of mine and their women, it is nice to have some time with just Mom and Dad all to myself.)

Tomorrow is Monticello and more good eatin'... hopefully there will be no heirs at the Jefferson estate for my mother to get her hopes up about bringing into the family....I think we can also guarantee some more good laughing, as there seems to be no avoiding it.....(ie., pretty much anything seems to set us off, and I don't know how the rest of the world functions without us in their lives....)

i.e., my embracing of my last week of summer is going quite well.

all is certainly groovy

Tuesday morning I left the Baxters (sad, sad, sadness....), hopped in my car with a bag of snacks and a variety of other bags holding a variety of other things, and headed South. I opened the windows and heartily sang along with Simon and Garfunkel as the wind whipped through my hair. (You can just imagine the condition of my hair when I got out of that car....) I stopped frequently along my way to refill on drinks (so you can imagine what other types of stops I was making....) and wrapped myself in the warm southern air. It is safe to say my general feeling was blissful joy.

That Simon and Garfunkel were on to something I think: Life I love you, all is groovy.



I arrived at my friend Christin's house in the evening just in time for a truly southern dinner prepared by her truly southern (and truly lovely) mama. Then Christin showed me around town, and took me to the church where she has been newly hired as the Music Director (the reason why she has very recently moved back home). I personally approved all the pianos in the whole building, so she has my permission to stay. I think this is the perfect thing for her, and am so happy for her to be back with her family and starting a new chapter in her life.




The next morning I tore myself from the breakfast table and took myself over to the Hawthorne Inn for the 2nd International Conference on Music Learning Theory sponsored by the Gordon Institute of Music Learning. I had submitted a poster proposal that was accepted, and so I set my rather large and bulky tri-fold board up and then took in the varied sessions being presented. I met some nice people and reconnected with some others that I'd met at previous conferences, so all in all it has been a good experience.



The best part of this little trip though has been re-connecting with Christin, who was my roommate when we were in grad school in Princeton and with whom I haven't really spent quality time in years. (The ironic thing is that she took my job at Prince of Peace when I left Princeton, and then took Andrea's job when she left Princeton, and so we have this little legacy going....and ironic that I was with Andrea before I came here...huh, irony)


We finished up our little visit by having lunch at the Salem Tavern in old Salem, a charmingly historic little area of town that I had no idea even existed.

The food was good (but are Salmon Corn cakes with cilantro mayonnaise and a lime cole slaw historic? I wonder....) and the atmosphere was a breath of the past. A lovely way to continue my embracing of my last week of summer!

Ah, the idyllic days of summer...

I am embracing my last week of summer in a major way.

Today I am killing time waiting to leave for North Carolina since the friend I'm staying with there arrives from somewhere out of the country tonight and since the Baxters are living their lives today (What? People have normal lives?).

A mini road trip away is a quaint little place called Peddler's Village, which is filled with shops filled with completely unnecessary items. I poked around, sneaking in and out of the air conditioning when the heat became too oppresive and the sun too blinding (because today is a true day of summer). I found a few fun gifts for people that I think they will like and so therefore I am happy. I was also happy to find the Town Crier Bakery, and happy with my elephant ear because I love elephant ears. (Happy happy...)

Tonight I will spend a final evening with the Baxters. Perhaps something like this will happen at dinner, as it did last night:

Simon, politely interjecting into the adult conversation

with absolute seriousness:

"Um, guys? I think there's something wrong here. [slight dramatic pause] Mom has a drink, Dad has a drink, Lauren has a drink--and I have NO DRINK!"

Baxter Time

I am right this moment enjoying a bit of quiet time in the Baxter's living room while they make the trek to drop Nathan and Adam off at camp for the week. When Brent, Andrea, and Simon return I will have eggplant pomodoro simmering on the stove, and should be nearly (if not completely) finished with the poster I am presenting in North Carolina in a few days.

Today the boys and I spent some time together after church, since Adam and Nathan had to leave. Adam showed me how to use the timer on my camera, after I repeatedly told him there was not a timer on my camera. (This is a recurring theme in my relationship with said Adam. The boy is a technical wizard.) We took advantage and snapped this group shot,


but not until after we'd played a few more or (much) less successful rounds of Guitar Hero. Adam set me up as "expert" the first time around under the argument that I'm a pianist and hence this should be easy for me. (He may be a technical wizard, but his logic is faulty....) I managed a 76% accuracy rate once we finally put me on "easy", which is one step above "beginner". This was, however, much better than Simon's consistent 4% accuracy over the course of 3 rounds--I guess I can take some small amount of pride in that, in order to save my self-dignity anyway. At least I wasn't one-upped by a four year old.

I don't think I could have begrudged this particular four-year-old though, even if he had seriously embarassed my musician pride. He has me wrapped around his little finger, it is pretty safe to say. He and I had a small photo shoot while we were waiting for Adam and Nathan to finish something up on the computer.

These are only a few of our shots--in most of them one or both of us look a bit stoned. (I can assure you, however, that we were not ...)

Somehow there would be giggles and smiles all over that boy until the number "3" came out of my mouth and then: the deer-in-headlight-stare.

Lucky for me, I get another 40ish hours with the remaining Baxters, once they return this afternoon and before I head off for the South. Hooray is what I say to that....Baxter time is the best time.

Piano Camp 2009

Someone should do a study on the psychology of piano camp.

We cram a lot of information into a few short hours a day, keeping the energy high-paced and the expectations above what most of these kids think they're capable of. We assign them a new ensemble piece on Monday and tell them they need to play it by Friday at the recital. This may be stressful for them, but believe me--it is also stressful for us as we try to bring it from notes to music in a few short days. (We have found jumping up and down and yelling to be quite effective...)

We play quite a bit of Jig-a-lo, in what has become a piano camp tradition.

(Yes, this is me, gettin' jiggy.)

We like to think we teach them some new things.

Mostly, we tease and are teased in return.

We do a lot of exaggerated eye-rolling and quite a bit of laughing.

We spend our days teaching, our lunch break reviewing what's working and what's not, and our evenings planning for the next day based off of what occurred.

We dwell in exhaustion and hear duets in our sleep.

Somehow though, come Friday, we are still smiling.

Somehow, those kids knock out an awesome recital.

Somehow, we can't wait until next year!

The Qualley Kooistras Unite

Since our boy has decided to go and add a Kara to our family, we thought it was time we gathered our clans together. Last Saturday in NJ at my parents house we made some food, drank some iced tea, enjoyed the sunshine on the deck, and got to know each other.

(Kara's family is perfectly normal,

despite the fact that every picture taken of her might suggest otherwise.)

We ate, we talked, we laughed. We ate more.

We came up with many possibilities for Kara's new name, many of which I now forget. (I do remember "Clown-Qualley-Kooistra" quite clearly, and wonder if the others were similar?)

Kara's mother brought *the wedding dress* (which I could not take a picture of, on the chance that Dave might commandeer my camera and see it by accident), so we women gathered in the bedroom to ooh and ah. She will be a beautiful bride for sure.
Then, after Kara's family headed back to PA, we Kooistra children took a group photo, despite the fact that we were exhausted and could barely keep our faces in one position for the 5 seconds it took to pose. (Perhaps that's why we all look a bit crazed....one of us in particular, though I won't mention any names.....though, did I mention that "crazy-qualley-kooistra" was possibly one of those possibilities I mentioned earlier?)

It was a treat just to be all together, and nice to get to know the loved ones of the Kara we have come to love as well.

one whole year

A year ago today a very special event occurred in the life of the Kooistra family (and specifically in the life of Keith):

We acquired a Marisa.

It has been fun to watch their relationship develop further in this first year of being husband and wife. (And, selfishly, it has been fun to have a sister.) They are perfect for each other: both a little bit feisty, a medium bit stubborn, and a whole bit big hearted.

They make a lovely pair.

We love you Marisa, and are grateful for your place in our family. Thank you for dealing with us, loving us, and loving our Keith.

Congratulations ~ We wish you many blessings in year 2!