Well, first I would like to apologize to the thousands of Latshaw-blog readers out there for my terrible negligence in the past weeks. The blog is BACK!
So you all have been dying to know what has been going on in the lives of the Latshaws the past 6+ weeks…I will try and recap in chronological order, and I have lots of fun pictures to document all of it!
We left on our New England vacation adventure on a Friday evening, right after work. We had to make a stop in Columbus, IN on the way – the Philharmonic had an outdoor concert that evening. It was a salute to the armed forces with patriotic music.
Chuck was responsible for cueing the cannons at the end of “1812 Overture.” It was really fun, but it poured while we were sitting waiting for the concert to start. All the people who arrived early to get a good spot on the lawn got soaked.
Lenny behaved very well and looked very dashing in his patriotic scarf – several Boy Scouts complimented him on it. However, during some of the armed forces ceremonial presentations in the concert, there were gunshots, and Lenny freaked out a little bit. This did not bode well for the 1812 (the cannons were HUGE) – so once the overture started I started feeding Lenny my popcorn. It actually distracted him for a while, but about halfway through the cannons he started shivering while munching, and eventually gave up on the popcorn in terror! I had to hold him pretty tightly so he wouldn’t escape, and yes, felt pretty guilty about it. Chuck did cue the cannons brilliantly, though.
After the concert we were off for the east coast! We made it safely out to Maine for a week at my parents’ lake house. It was beautiful and so relaxing – just what we needed. The weather was wonderful – warm enough to get hot and go swimming, but not muggy or uncomfortable.
It was great to spend time with my parents, and my sister came up for a few days as a surprise!
Lenny went on the boats a few times (with his life preserver of course) and had a few swimming lessons with Chuck. He’s a very good, if reluctant, swimmer, and he used his weak leg very well in the water. By the end of the week, he was exhausted!
Walter bravely defended the dock by barking at intruding ducks. Lenny and Walter also got into a little bit of mischief – they had fun in the mud in the shallow part of the lake. Lenny went in first and Walter shortly followed.
Walter has been having some health problems – he recently had a couple of seizures. Please send him good thoughts!
Dad and Chuck spent the first day installing the dock (it comes out of the lake in the winter time) and it was quite a chore for them!
We saw loons while we were there, and got so close to them in the boat that we could see their little red eyes! I also enjoyed a lot of homemade clam chowder and other seafood.
More fun vacation pictures:
We also got the chance to visit with Chuck’s old teacher, Bob, and his wife Julie, who used to work with Chuck at the middle school in Nashua. We also visited Boston, spent most of our time looking for parking spots, but also ate dinner at the restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner three years ago.
We drove home and stopped in Erie, Pennsylvania for a night on the way. There were a surprising number of pet-friendly hotels in the area, and we got a very nice room – with a hot tub! We used it to give Lenny a bath, which was pretty funny. He actually loved all of the bubbles once he got used to the noise.
I went back to the daily grind at work, which actually was pretty busy due to summer orientation and classes beginning. But after only five days of work, we were back on vacation again! Well, Chuck was. I got a fun weekend.
We drove up to Holland, Michigan for the annual Latshaw family vacation. It is a cute little town on Lake Michigan and we had a wonderful time there seeing the whole extended Super-family and our six nieces and nephews. The beach was beautiful, but the water was pretty cold! Sadly, Sunday evening I had to drive home alone, because I had to be back at work the next morning. (And I couldn’t call in sick because all of my co-workers knew I was at the beach!)
For the first time in my life, my car ran out of gas before I was out of Michigan. It was scary because I didn’t realize what was happening to my car, and I was on the highway when it happened. Luckily I got it started again and off the next exit. Unfortunately, there were no gas stations in sight. While I was on the phone with AAA (who couldn’t find a record of our membership!) a man suddenly appeared at my window. Not a creepy man – a very nice man who lived right across the street and had a spare gasoline can in his shed!!! Thank you mystery man!
Chuck got to stay in Michigan with the family through Wednesday, when he took a train to Chicago and flew out to Portland, Oregon for a conductors’ workshop. Before he left, he met with the executive director of the Holland Symphony. Coincidentally, they have a music director position open, which Chuck had applied for, and he was selected for the second round. He called up the Symphony and asked if he could meet with them while we were there visiting. And it must have gone well – he got a letter just today that he is one of ten finalists for the job!!!
Chuck had a good trip to Portland. He kept calling me, delighted to report all of his culinary options.
Apparently Portland has many vegetarian and vegan restaurants, and Chuck tried to eat at every single one, I think! There was one called Laughing Planet – one of two such restaurants in the world – and the sister restaurant to it is the Laughing Planet right here in Bloomington! They specialize in vegan burritos. ICK!
I think he learned a lot at the workshop, but he was most excited about his mountain adventures climbing part of Mount Hood.
While Chuck was gone, Lenny and I were all by ourselves in Bloomington for a week. One evening, I went with some friends to see the Al Gore movie, An Inconvenient Truth. (I’m sorry Mom!!!!) It was actually quite good, but included a few too many political jabs at the current administration – I think it would have broader appeal if they weren’t part of the movie. Tonight we are going to see Wordplay, a documentary starring Will Shortz of the NY Times crossword puzzle and NPR fame. It has been out for several weeks but just came to Bloomington. Incidentally, Will Shortz is an IU alumnus – he made his own major in “enigmatology.”
Soon after Chuck arrived back in Indiana, we welcomed a new addition to our family. We are now the proud owners of “Jub-Jub” the Roomba.
The Roomba is a vacuum robot, about the size of a dinner plate, that vacuums the entire apartment with just the push of a button! I had been looking for a new vacuum for a while, and it turned out to be cheaper than a “normal” vacuum. It’s very effective because Chuck loves it (it’s a gadget after all), and uses it every single day! (I think vacuuming so frequently has been good for him – since we got the Roomba, he has started ironing his own shirts and keeping all of his clothes either in the laundry bin or hung up in the closet!) Lenny is not yet a huge fan of the Roomba because it bumps into his legs if he’s not looking.
This Sunday evening, Chuck is guest-conducting the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra in an outdoor pops concert. By coincidence, they needed a piccolo player, so now I am playing in the concert as well! I also had a gig last weekend, with the Columbus Philharmonic. I subbed for the piccolo player there. (I am getting to know “Stars and Stripes Forever” pretty well!) And the best news is that the CIP now has a second flute opening for next year, so I will be auditioning for that in August. The principal flutist liked my playing at the concert and strongly encouraged me to audition, so I think that was a very good sign.
Our third anniversary is next week (July 12th), so over the long July 4th weekend, we went up to Indianapolis to celebrate. We ate at a place called Gillian’s, where we could eat at the hibachi restaurant downstairs and play skeeball and video games upstairs. (Very romantic.)
It was not exactly the typical “Japanese Steakhouse” which is Chuck’s usual favorite. We were the only two people in there, so we had a very attentive, friendly chef. He wasn’t Asian, giving Chuck hope that someday, he too could be a non-Asian hibachi chef. Our chef was a little too friendly and talked to us the ENTIRE time we were trying to eat dinner. He also kept trying to show off his crazy hibachi flipping skills – not so crazy most of the time. He dropped a LOT of things, including a big blob of butter. (Ginger butter?) He did give Chuck a few lessons, though!
After dinner, we soon both got sick. (Again, very romantic.)
We also brought Lenny back to the dog park for the first time since his surgery this past weekend. He was back to his old self, but a little slower. Two dogs were fighting over a stick and he ran over to mediate and bark at them. He ran around and went in the creek. We could tell he was getting tired, so we headed for the gate and he limped along with us.
He was limping on the WRONG LEG!
So Lenny has now managed to somehow injure his back paw on the right side. The good news is that he’s putting much more weight on his “bad” leg now. It’s gotten better over the past few days, so hopefully it’s nothing too serious.
For July 4th, we went to a little get-together with some of Chuck’s crazy vegan composer friends. It was a lot of fun. This is Ryan reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to me in Dutch – he’s about to move to Holland. (Apparently Chuck would be called “Skajie” in Holland.) We went to fireworks by the stadium and then blew up a bunch of bottle rockets afterward.
Lenny’s birthday is also the 12th (he’s turning 8) and my dad’s birthday is also the 12th (he’s turning 54)! Happy birthday! They’re roughly the same age now, if you figure Lenny’s age in dog years. ☺ July 12th is also a very important day for another reason – the return of PROJECT RUNWAY!!!! Season 3 starts Wednesday night at 10 p.m. on Bravo.
Work has actually been pretty busy, despite the fact that it’s summer. We have 300 new students coming in August, so we have started going through all of their files and preparing for orientation. Tomorrow is Rachel’s wedding (from the undergraduate side), so we’ll be going to that before our rehearsal for the “BSO” tomorrow night.
I’ll try to keep up better on the blog – I hope you enjoyed the monster blog and thanks for your patience!
Chuck's Beethoven 7 concert is this weekend. As you can see, he has managed to trace our ancestry and find a common relative of ours - "Ludwig Latshaw"! :) He is quite proud of that picture.
Project Runway had the BEST CHALLENGE EVER! The designers were challenged to create a garment inspired by "America's hottest fashion accessory" - dogs! They also had to create a matching garment for their dog models. It was great, but unfortunately there were no fox terrier models. And for some reason, they kept Allison on the show AGAIN this week, despite her horrible outfit pictured at left. I don't think she's capable of making anything except those awful bubble skirts, which she wears in every episode. Uli and her pug Einstein were the winners - he wore an animal-print shirt that said "HI LADIES" on it for the judges.
Lenny may not be going back to the doggie park for a while. Yesterday he took on two rottweilers with no fear. They are big, scary dogs! He was barking playfully and they started barking aggressively, so he just ramped it up and barked more. It was about to get bloody but luckily I got him out of there. He was running around chasing dogs much better, though. I think all of the other dog owners at the park really don't like Lenny, becuase he's kind of a pain in the butt. He's usually the only dog that barks, and if two dogs play/wrestle/hump he has to go over and get involved. He's the referee of the park.
Happy birthday to my friend Jason, from back in the Bush 2000 campaign days! He is a big shot in the White House now - this is his birthday party on Air Force One. And he got his picture was in Newsweek last week!
