Rundown of today (in your mind, hear that symphonic kind of frantic,but happy, bouncy music):
Woke up at 6 a.m.
Starting moving stuff out on the driveway for our garage sale
Started finishing moving tiny toys into this box, big fluffy toys in that box, doll clothes in another box, and bagged different groups of plastic foods
Girls set up a limeade/cookie stand
Lance goes to get cash
Signs are up around the hood…bright neon green and pink. Festive!
The first man arrives. He walks directly up my drive way and says to me, “Is this….” and reels off my home address.
“Yes,,”I say. “This is it!”
He then proceeds to tell me I am Sara Hickman and he wishes he had brought a camera to take a picture. He talked about all the shows he came to last summer. He talked about his daughter.
He wanted to buy a cd, so I went in the house and brought one out. He picked out some wonderful books, and I noted we had terrific puzzles, too, so he left with a bag of goodies for his daughter.
I was wondering how he knew it was me because I had my hair in a ratty old twist and I was in
pjs. That was odd!
Made breakfast for the crew, sat outside and ate it on various pieces of furniture. Lance sat in the comfy funky 1960’s chair. The kind of chair with carved legs that look like lion’s feet on the bottom. And the upholstry is some odd foam green with ripe purple grapes ready for harvest. I like that chair.
I can’t remember if we sold it.
We made $185, minus the $19 for the newspaper ad and $7 for parking for my symphony rehearsal today.
While the sale was going on, I grabbed my guitar and went on down to the Performing Arts Center
and met up with Robert Skiles, who, I must say, is INCREDIBLY nice. He did all the arrangements for
my pieces to be performed with the symphony. Lovely, lovely. Robert is a humble genius. He always has a shy smile, and big wide eyes full of wonder. The kind of guy if you walk up to him and mess up his hair, he’d be ok with that. I like being in his presence cuz he is so relaxed.
After practicing for a bit in the greenroom with Robert and the piano, I go out for soundcheck. The stage is deep and large. I don’t feel swallowed up, but I feel like I am on the tippy-top of a meadow, and all the instrumentalists behind me are in seats, watching me climb.
Peter Bay shows up looking very GQ. He is wearing these cream colored pants and a grey cotton shirt, and just looks good. He has an amazing ability to converse like a man, with the strength and clarity and conviction of a man who is comfortable with himself, and still maintains this boyish wit and charm.
Rather rare! He also seems to put everyone at ease, which is what you want in a conductor!
Kelly Willis runs through her tunes. My favorite was one about a momma bird and a baby bird.
The orchestra really brought some emotion to that tune. The whole time I’m thinking, “Gosh! These folks hadn’t seen the music til they walked in and opened their charts, and then they just start playing as this huge unit…and all the different instruments have something to say, but it is seamless in how it weaves together and makes a uniform sound, lush and twinkling and soft and loud…”
Next, I was up. The symphony show will NOT be like a typical Sara show because:
I will not be talking.
Yes, you heard it hear first. I will have to let the music speak by itself. Which is funny since I wrote the songs and now they are speaking for me! Let’s see what they have to say when I don’t talk about them beforehand. It will be hard, you know. Not chatting. Not being funny. Not interacting with the audience (what?! how can this be!?) I’ll figure something out, don’t worry…
The rehearsal went well…I got lost on RADIATION MAN because of the number of bars in the instrumental section, but I’ll be working on that all week. Weenie Man went off without a hitch.
Cantaloupe will be very funnny. I wish you well will make me weepy if I “listen” to the orchestra while we are performing.
Then I talked with Peter for a while, got to my car, threw my guitar in the backseat, came home.
It rained incredibly hard today, but the sun was out the entire time. The girls wanted to sit on the front porch, wrapped in their favorite blankets, and we watched the double rainbow appear over the Mazacs house and end at our other neighbor’s home, the Rices.
iolana said: “God is very, very happy right now.”
Then we worked on iolana and Lily’s rooms…they are moving into their own rooms, and both very excited about using these exact words:
“I’ll get it…it’s in MY ROOM.” They emphasize this bit themselves…every time.
We went to Furr’s for dinner. We all love Furrs. The interior looks like long ago, like when I was a kid. And all the employees are so kind. The foods ok, but the girls just love to go. If you go, get the sweet potatos. Oy, vey! I had two helpings. That stuff is beyond the yum! Speaking of yum, the woman at the checkout is a pixie and her name is YUMMY. She’s a hoot to talk to, so make sure you start up a conversation about her hair net or her name or the weather…she’s happy to talk with you about it all.
Well, I’m going to snuggle up with my husband and try to get some sleep. My insomnia is worsening, my friends. If I seem dizzy or blurry around you, please have pity on me. Hold me up for a second and I’ll be fine. Middle of the day is when the fatique hits worst. But I will never give up believing that someday I’ll sleep like the majority of the world…until then, I just have to have an understanding of my sleep
and lack, there of.
Here you are. Here I go. Let’s go together, shall we?