of 'shrooms & Mozart

Went to water last night and was startled by these jellyfish like mushrooms growing amid my native grasses.

Am tempted to smoke them to see if it makes the remaining school days go by faster.

My accompanist extraordinaire happens to be married to a marvelous cellist.  He and I were having a random conversation a couple of weeks ago and he offered that his string quartet was working on a Mozart piece and would my students like to hear it?

I had just prepped a Mozart/Salzburg/Zauberflote lecture and was thrilled at the serendipity of this offer of a group to come to the school.  Gratis.

Not only was their playing exquisite, the manner in which they fielded questions was awesome.  One fourth grader asked what a cello would weigh if it were stuffed with tofu.  Violin I popped back with "soft or firm tofu?"  (The child was lucky he was a few children away from my pointed toes or he would have been kicked.)

What a lovely ending to their semester.  Now to get through the 3.5 remaining days with a smidgen of this elegance.

still with the clothes motif

I know we're all in the penultimate days of school, but I'm pretty much done dealing and I know where to find glitter...

life of the closet

Pretty much my sentiment as I sort through my closet and pack.

bloomin'

 Evidently my gardenia likes monsoon-like weather as it's madly producing blossoms.  Love the scent (have never found perfume/lotion that comes even close to smelling the same, or I'd walk around drenched in that scent) and have this cheerful little bloom on m night stand.

 Which I need right now; having a very hard time with the adage 'bloom where you're planted' as life in the apartment complex deteriorates.  Actually had a group of drunken (or drugged) neighbors try to break into my place at 2 a.m.  Good for the heart rate; not so good for the nerves.

Although, it has given me great incentive to pack everything up and be ready to move as quickly as possible.

Went for a long walk around Town Lake yesterday and had to pause to snap a pose of one of my new places of employment!

The bluebonnets have faded and these vibrant brown-eyed Susans have taken their place on the wildflower stage this week.  There's still beauty amidst the craziness.

Mayfield Preserve

 

Decided to pop out between storms and see the peacocks at this preserve as well as enjoy a Sunday hike.

There are 21 acres here and it seemed as though each acre had at least five peafowls screeching about.

Expect to see an explosion of blooming after the deluge we just had/are having.

 Um.  Yes, another trail, I think.

Thought this was a beautiful shot with the flowers.

 And just in case you thought your job had it's downside...

creativity

 There's something so lovely about an unstructured day.  As it's still a bit stormy, skipped the usual weekend hike and baked instead.  I smushed fresh herbs and Parmesan into an elderly puff pastry sheet that had been in the freezer to create a delicious flat bread; which I used as a base for some buttery mushrooms.

 Going to the market just makes me so happy, as does filling the fruit bowl.

And as I'm sorting and culling my belongings, I found a can of condensed milk at the back of the cupboard and turned it into dulce de leche.  YUM.

Had just purchased some random European cookies (there are aisles of them at the Asian market on my street) and found that the un-sweetened cookie is perfect for the caramelized milk.

And it was time for new hairs~sorry it's in b/w, but it was one of the best shots.

Had to cleanse the visual palette & redeem myself from the prairie shot a couple of blogs ago.

Just watched a fabulous French film, so wanted a noir sort of pose.

let it rain

isn't as catchy as 'let it snow', but rain is what it did today.  Think we got 3" in an hour.  Just in time for crosswalk duty and the drive homewards.

 As I had worn my new coral shoes to work, a co-teacher kindly loaned me her flip-flops so I wouldn't ruin my cute shoes in the deluge.

 And this afternoon's delightful find was my first gardenias finally blooming!

A bright shiny wish for the apartment which I viewed and turned in an application for.

let it be

Yesterday (aside from vile behaved students) was a magical day of goodness.  Dashed home to change for the McCartney concert and found that the California Shoe Fairy had delivered these fun summer flats to my door.

Stepped out onto the balcony to check the dryness of my garden and found my first tomato!!!!! Took it proudly to share at dinner.  Forgot to take a snap of it gracing the top of the salad.

And then.  Then!  Time for three hours of non-stop singing from a legend.  Sir Paul McCartney opened with 'Eight Days a Week'.  What a thrill to be singing at the top of my lungs with one of the Beatles.

'She Loves Me'

His tribute to his good friend, John Lennon.

Wonder how many thousands of hours he has played his guitar?  Several of his instruments are the original ones that he played when he was just learning to play.

I SO want to do this to a piano--zany painting.

'Back in the USSR'

'Let It Be'

They must have disabled the smoke detectors for this pyrotechnic whoosh.  We could feel the heat from the flames in our balcony seats.

Side shot of the paint job.

Part of the crowd.

After a huge ovation, he came out with the Texas flag; my ears are still hurting from the screams over that.

Such a Les Mis moment.

One of his encores was 'Yesterday'.  While I've always thought the Beatles were fun pop music, I was impressed by both his stamina and by the wide range of his musical styles--from quiet ballad to pounding rock and back.  The man turns 71 in June.  Amazing.  I was impressed last month by the 50-year-old Bon Jovi singing/playing/dancing for three hours.  Nice to see such longevity and vitality in the musical field.

One of the highlights in my musical memories~such a great concert.   Completely worth trying to function at work today with only 4 hours of sleep.