Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Annie

My daughter just finished performing in a production of "Annie". It was fabulous! She played an orphan, a servant in the Warbucks mansion, and 'Star to Be' in the NYC scene. Her solo as 'Star to Be' (sorry, not so great video quality) This was Chloe's first play with this production company and it was the most wonderful experience. She is auditioning for "Seussical" next weekend. I predict that we'll be doing three musicals a year now until she graduates from High School. My parents and Jordyn, one of Chloe's friends Adoring fans Signing Autographs Chloe's Aunt Pam drove in from Odessa for the show! The girls had a blast! She auditions for 'Seussical' next weekend!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Spring - Southern Living

I don't necessarily have the greenest of thumbs, but I like to plant a few herbs to use in the kitchen. This year I have planted mostly basil, because I love to use it to make lemon basil pasta, Caprese salads and dress up a frozen Margherita pizza. I also planted some rosemary, which is nice on new potatoes. There is one little sad pot of Mint that survived the winter (barely) indoors and I'm hoping it will come back soon to be morphed into Mint Tea or Mojitos. I have chives in my kitchen window that are very easy to grow. I feel very 'Southern Living' magazine when I use my own herbs for cooking. I love to cook when I have time and I'm inspired...which is not on weekdays after a 45 minute commute. This is my Clematis in the backyard. I planted it myself when I moved into this house about ten years ago. I have several mini roses. This pink bush is my favorite. I planted it by my front door because my Grandmother had a pink mini rose bush by her front door that I loved when I was a child.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Schindler's List Revisited

My husband and I watched 'Shindler's List' last night. I had seen it before, but I don't care how many times you watch it, the film is incredibly moving and disturbing. I find it unfathomable that people could be so cruel as I cried through the entire movie. Seeing people tortured, treated worse than animals. Seeing children ripped from their Mother's arms. I just cannot seem to wrap my mind around the fact that six million Jews were murdered. Six Million. That is roughly the combined populations of modern day Chicago and Los Angeles. And this is an event that occurred during my parent's lifetime. My Mother in Law was a child living in Germany during the war. Her Father was half Jewish and her Mother left them all to join the Nazi party. My friend, Lilo, was also a child living in Germany during the war, also. Her little town was bombed and the women and children had to go outside of town and live in caves. They were lucky to steal a few apples from a nearby farm or score a loaf of bread to share amongst them. Lilo remembers that everyone got along and shared and to this day, she is one of the most generous people I've ever known. "If I have it, I'll share it", is always her motto. A few years ago I saw a man in Home Depot who had a concentration camp tattoo on his arm. I had never seen that before and I was stunned. How people lived through that type of ordeal and went on to live normal lives, I'll never know. I feet almost guilty because of the pain and suffering that these people have been through and the cushy life I have lead in comparison. And yet there are some people who believe the Holocaust never happened?! Chloe was in the hospital a few years ago when she had been kicked in the head by a horse and her skull was fractured. Luckily, her injury didn't require surgery and she recovered quickly, but I'll never forget our days at Children's Hospital. The Mothers who wore an ICU badge so that they could come and go. The children who were terminally ill. I knew that every day of my life after that I would wake up happy and be thankful that I wasn't at Children's Hospital that day. I am guessing that the survivors of the concentration camps wake up like that. I am sure that it is something that haunts them still. It should haunt us all.


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Some of these entries are vintage travel reports and have been restored from a lost blog. I hope you enjoy them.