grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Archives for December 2012

The Nutcracker? No Thank You.

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I do not like The Nutcracker Ballet.
I do like my Nutcracker ornament…

There. I said (wrote) it.
I realize in the spirit of all things merry and bright, I should love it and gladly fork over big bucks each December for orchestra seating at The Music Hall at Fair Park. Everyone loveslovesloves The Nutcracker. It’s a Christmas tradition dating back to the beginning of nuts.
Bor-ing.
I want to like it. I’ve tried to like it. 
The music is beautiful, but I would much prefer to hear the Dallas Symphony Orchestra play Tchaikovsky than see it set to pale pink tutus. I get lost somewhere between the Mouse King and the Sugar-and-Spice-and-Everything-Nice-Plum Fairy, wishing for dialog and leaving with a migraine.
Possibly the only way I will enjoy it will be when my own granddaughter plays Clara. In the New York City Ballet. In Lincoln Plaza. But since I have no grandchildren (yet), there are no forced Nutcracker performances in my near future.  Some of my friends are not so lucky…
Yes, I’m a Nutcracker scrooge. Am I alone?

talya

p.s.

No thanks, I’m busy that night
Utterly booked solid,
Totally swamped with 
Cookie baking and Rudolph the
Red-nosed Reindeer watching and
Avoiding the mall at all
Costs. And I have 
Karaoke that night so I must decline
Ever so  
Regretfully yours, Talya
musical pairing:

Act 2 The Sugar Plum Fairy, 1989 Bolshoi Ballet Nutcracker

practice makes perfect?

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Perfection is impossible, but we strive for it. Never do we walk along the beach looking for broken seashells. We seek perfectly shaped sand dollars, round and unblemished by the sea. Practice makes perfect. This old proverb dates back to the mid-1500’s.

As a kid, I hated to practice the piano. But I did.

That metronome bored into my brain – tick, tick, TICK! My teacher banged on the piano when she played, shaking the floor and vibrating the bench where we sat thigh to thigh. No matter how well I played Waltzing Matilda at home in the living room, I couldn’t replicate it in her garage turned piano studio… She made me nervous, and she smelled of eggs.

I recently attended a writing seminar in Eureka Springs hosted by writer Crescent Dragonwagon. Fearless Writing in the Ozarks. It was an Aha(!) event—part writing, part therapy, part slumber party. The class is different each time, based upon the dynamic energy of the people involved. We drafted off one another like race cars. One story led to another. And another.
I left Fearless inspired with new ideas, new skills. But perhaps the most important thing I realized was writing takes practice, like any other worthwhile endeavor—training for a marathon, stretching into a yoga pose, playing a musical instrument. 
Making straight A’s in English or writing a decent haiku in 7th grade doesn’t exempt me from practice. 

Writing practice is writing every day without a purpose. Writing for fun. Writing something no one will ever see. A poem, random thoughts, observations, a Christmas list. Anything. Just show up. For fifteen minutes. The mind becomes free and clear to do ‘real’ writing.
Today is Day 20 of my practice. Already I find I don’t need a gimmick to motivate myself to practice write. Practice writing motivates me.
Yesterday my closet exploded as I excavated last year’s crumpled Christmas wrapping paper. Moving a box overhead, sheet music rained down. Piano sheet music—White Christmas.

There was a time I practiced playing that song…

Our piano has been silent for years, more of an object d’art. It currently displays my nativity scene. Maybe I’ll start practicing the piano again too?

Maybe.

Day of Silence

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Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47 (principal)
Mary Sherlach, 56 (psychologist)
Lauren Rousseau, 30 (substitute teacher)
Victoria Soto, 27 (first grade teacher)
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Rachel Davino, 29
Anne Marie Murphy, 25
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6
Olivia Engel, 6 
Emilie Parker, 6

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