Q. and KIitty 07.09.2011, Rob Cassetti.2011What a nice weekend. It was a bit of a rush on the front end with the trip to the CSA and then to the store for sundries. We had Cooperstown friends spend 2 nights with us— with kids, our kids (and our summer kid, Jacob). The boys played the guitars and sang and sang. Kitty and I were amused and charmed by Willa, a very engaging five year old who wobbles on the edge of fantasy and reality so one just goes along for the fast ride. This is a child that I would write wicked stories for and know that she would glitter with delight in the tales and pictures. There were fossils to find, dogs to pat and cats to grab so I think we provided some amusement and interesting things for them.
Rob and Kitty set up all of our new camp cots (Byers of Maine from Amazon…really, really nice) for some of the youngers— with a sleeping bower on the sleeping porch (I mean, this house does have a sleeping porch for a reason beyond handing up the laundry). Now we have enough space to sleep at least 10 comfortably which should be good with my anticipation of lots of kids’ friends this summer.
In between all of this, Rob and I went to get Alex and attend the final performance. It was truly remarkable to see the changes in the skills and confidence of our son and his peers from even the week before. Alex was standing taller, outwardly more in the moment and truly riding the crest of this change. He was no longer bothered by the work, but swept into being so engaged in the work, in the music, in the new and diverse friends that this program models his new vision of what he wants from college. All night parties have been shelved. We have a boy who is focused and ready to self motivate to engage completely. We have a boy who wants to be a better writer. We have a boy who wants to do SAT tutoring. We have a boy who wants to practice. We have a boy who is exploding and wanting to find his voice, his path, his way. This time with Ithaca College’s Summer Music Academy was a total transformative experience that I cannot say enough about.
We did some swimming and hanging out on Sunday afternoon with the home team. I made a Christmas wreath (sewn felt) and am planning on cranking out a few more as they are pretty fast. I am thinking that they will be fun for some of my more stylish new friends. The boys went to a bonfire while Kitty, Rob and I went to Felicias to hear Mary Lorson and the Soubrettes play. Wow! Wow! Amazing. Vocals were great, music is stellar and Leah’s banjo and voice being more in the foreground really worked and created this very Mary Lorson sound, though styled to be more eccentric, wooden music box than her other projects. I hope this gets some traction.