Time of Joy and Sorrow

The past few days have been mixed bag. Friday afternoon during the storm, I went over to a neighbours to take pictures of her flowers. She wanted me to photograph them for the photo cards that I make and give as gifts. If you are one of my friends, you have a pretty good idea what you are going to get: the options- a scarf- the variety continues to multiply; photo cards so that you can also stay in touch with friends, or a cookbook- I am working on having one ready for Christmas 2009. I was proud that my friend who I play tennis with likes my cards so much that she is looking for subjects for me to photograph. She was also proud of her amaryllis. Problem with the photos will be the fact that I had to shoot through the window, not usually a good thing. Here's hoping that the photos turn out.

Last night, Michael and I went to a dance recital. One of my former students had asked if I would attend. It was a wonderful evening, from the littlest dancers who got confused and one of whom loved the audience so much that she had to be lifted off the stage when she would not stop waving at the audience from the corner of the stage to the mature and skilled dancers who offered dances from the many regions of China. I have already thanked the student and asked that we be invited to the next recital (we paid for the tickets and they were worth every penny.)

Yesterday, very bad news. A friend who was the first teacher I met when I started teaching over 30 years ago had very bad news. Her husband died shoveling snow on Friday evening. What a terrible blow at any time of year but this must be one of the worst. We are going to the visitation and funeral. I can not imagine how she must feel when the death was so unexpected.

Hopefully, the rest of the week brings good news and the snow stops. It stopped for a couple hours today and the sun was shining but the sky is grey again. Going out to shovel, no worries- tennis and exercise have helped me to be ready for this.