Wednesday, July 26, 2006

something is eating my sweet peas!

There are strange things happening to my plants. Actually, not to the plants themselves, but to the dirt around the plants. While I was gone, Jeremy mentioned that he thought something was enjoying burrowing in my pot of sweet peas. Every morning he'd get up and there would be some holes in the dirt around the plants. Well, today on his journey to take the recycling out, he discovered that the pot was turned upside down and was on the step below where it should be. Weird!! What kind of crazy creature could be doing this??! The bizarre thing is that it seems to be only one pot that it is attacking. The rest of the sweet peas lining the steps are undisturbed, and every morning look peaceful and refreshed- quite unlike the one unlucky pot which is quickly starting to resemble some kind of volcanic dirt eruption. hmmmm. I'm not really sure what to do next!! Do I toss the pot? Do I try to salvage it? Rent and set up a night vision video camera a la nature show to find out what sneaky predator is destroying my plants??


In other news. Camps 2 and 3 were great. The kids were great, the weather was great, and being able to see amazing stars at night was great. Deer flies, horse flies, black flies, flies in general, mosquitoes, wasps and dodgy food during weeks 1 & 2, were not so great. Thank goodness for the fabulous pub, where we all regained our sanity once or twice a week with some amazing food and a delicious pint. yum.

It looks like I've already got one new private student (from camp) lined up for the fall, and today I am going for an interview at a music studio not too far from my home. One of the teachers at camp is moving to Bermuda- and was kind enough to pass along my name to the studio where she has been teaching. So if all goes well, it looks like I will be teaching flute and recorder on Saturday (not too early) mornings. I didn't really want to teach on the weekends, but having the studio on Saturdays gives me more time during the week for private teaching.... and having some extra $$$ is always a good thing!!!!

In other non music news....... I'm going to write a book!!! That's all I am going to say about that for now.

Practicing awaits.........

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

knock, knock.......

Am I ever glad to be back home. Jeremy was even able to take 2 vacation days, and so we've had a great couple of days off. We're having some friends over to play poker tonight, and we're bbq-ing some fabulous steak we bought today at the Bloor Meat Market. Great Store.

I have many more exciting stories and news to write about- but I plan on doing that tomorrow once Jeremy is back to work. For now, here's the previously promised pictures of the wild turkeys!!



Monday, July 10, 2006

wild turkeys and stars at night

Phew. What a week it has been. I got home yesterday afternoon from teaching band camp, have today to do some laundry and re-pack and eat as much good food as I can, and tomorrow morning I head back up for camp #2.

Camp was pretty good. The kids were awesome- and I had a great time teaching them all things flute. We also spent some time listening to some recordings of flute music, and watched a dvd of a flute concerto. They loved it. For more camp/teaching stories- check out coach house music flutist

Camp #1 is the longest camp- 9 days. Camp #'s 2 and 3 should fly by- as they are only 6 days- with Tuesday being the intro day, and Sunday being the Concert. Hopefully I won't be as exhausted after those camps. I got home yesterday just in time to watch the world cup game, and promptly fell asleep on the couch for 3 hours.

While I was gone Jeremy was in charge of our plants, and I have to say, he did a fine job of taking care of them- they are still alive!! And, the sweet pea seeds I planted (I know it was a little late in the season, but I don't care!!) have all come up and are growing like crazy!! I'm hoping for some blossoms in a few weeks- just in time for me to be finished band camp and have 3 weeks off to enjoy them. I can't wait.

Oh- one camp story for you. If you don't know this about me already, you will soon discover that I am a HUGE fan of birds. I love birds, and since last year, I've been looking forward to going up to camp to see some of the birds you don't normally see in Toronto. Finches, warblers, hummingbirds, turkey vultures, hawks and eagles, an owl if you're really lucky, and countless other types of birds I still need to identify. So, to my delight, I was thrilled to find out that this year the park has been over run with wild turkeys!!! They are so huge and ugly, and hilarious when they try to fly, and I think they are GREAT!!

One early morning I went for a walk before teaching, and to my delight I stumbled across 8, yes 8!! wild turkeys all together. I think they must be a family. Now, for those of you who have never seen a wild turkey, they really are huge. They come up at least to my waist- if not higher. So, naturally I felt a little apprehension finding myself only a few feet away from 8 enormous turkeys!! I could just see the headlines- "flute teacher found, attacked by wild turkeys", or something of the sort. Anyways- after a moment of these ridiculous thoughts, the turkeys (being really stupid) decided to make a break for it, and before I knew it they were gone, and I was left alone with just some bird songs, some insects, and the wind blowing through the wild flowers and trees to listen to.

I'll post an awesome picture of a wild turkey within the next few days.

Time to do some laundry, and then a nap!!