Art for Heart's Sake

Fiddler Newspaper Article!

Hi, it's Friday morning and I'm about to leap into the car to head to ballet class.  We had our rehearsal on Wednesday night and it was another late one - 10.30pm so didn't get to bed until just after 11pm.  I was half dead yesterday, needless to say.  Heaven knows how I'll survive a 10 show run with bedtimes of 11.30pm most likely!  eeeeek!

Here is a link to the article that was in the Arts Page of the Nelson Mail last night.  That's me front bottom left of the photo (bottom, literally, giggle!!!).  My costume is a bit more ''ghostly'' now than it was when this photo was taken.  John is on the left near the back!  Ruth, spot his beard!!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/lifestyle-entertainment/90878075/theatrix-sing-rooftop-favourites

We ''pack in'' to Theatre Royal on Sunday and it's set to be a VERY long day!  

Well I'd better dive into the car.  Smiles..

Last Rehearsal before we ''Pack In''

Hi honeys, it's Wednesday afternoon and I'm about to label plants to delivery to Bay L tomorrow morning.  I normally do them on Tuesdays but my ballet times have changed.  I now go to ballet class, extra Grade 4 & 5 classes 45mins each late Tuesday pm and ballet practise has moved to Thursday pm's for 1.5 hours before my 4pm class.  This means I now have my Saturday mornings back which is fabulous because oh boy do I need to garden heaps!

We had a long rehearsal on Monday night, leaving home at 6.45 and getting home around 10.30pm.  It's a 20-25 minute drive home from Motueka.  It was a good rehearsal with some of the tech things still being worked on.  

Tonight we have our last rehearsal before we ''pack in'' (a theatre term) to the Theatre Royal in Nelson on Sunday from midday.  This will mean another tech run with different equipment etc and then dress rehearsal on Monday night, a preview performance with invited guests on Tuesday night and then opening night on the Wed.  We have a 10 day straight run (counting the dress rehearsal etc) with one night off.. The first three performances are in Nelson and the last 4 are in Motueka.  

Yesterday Mum went back to Tainui to the hospital wing of the rest home.  There was nothing more that could be done rehab-wise at the hospital so I'm so happy they have sent her back to Tainui.  It is a change of room which will take a bit of getting used to but at least she is back in a familiar environment away from a busy hospital ward!

Well I'd better get labeling!  Smiles..

A Crazy Few Days!

Hi, it's Monday morning and I've had a crazy few days!  On Thursday I delivered plants to Bay L and then left for ballet at 2pm, had practise then class at 4pm followed by a dash home for an omelet and then out again to Fiddler rehearsal.

Friday morning I went to ballet class again and then spent the afternoon pricking out seedlings like a crazy person.  The weather started to change on Friday too and it was drizzling when I woke up on Saturday morning.  It didn't really start raining until Saturday pm and we had rain off and on until this morning so that's just wonderful.

On Saturday afternoon I vacuumed and dusted the house which included giving the bedroom a thorough going over.  I was feeling nasal and put it down to the dust in the house but alas it appears I have a head cold.  I'm fighting it like crazy because our Fiddler season starts from next Monday with the dress rehearsal and I need to be in fine fettle because we have a 10 day run with only one night off in that time!  Keep strong thoughts that it won't turn into a cough because that would totally deck my singing!  The shows start at 7.30pm and we need to be at the theatre by 6pm.  I have a feeling we won't be leaving the theatre until well after 10pm each night which means bed after 11pm!  Eeeeeek I hope I survive.

Yesterday I judged the giant pumpkin competition at Mapua Country Store before we headed to rehearsal again in Motueka, for the Tech Run.  It felt amazing to be on stage under lights with darkness beyond.  

We are doing a full run rehearsal again tonight and Wednesday night in the Mot Memorial Hall which is really good because we need to get used to the lights etc.  We haven't had a chance to try microphones yet but there were some cast members that were microphoned yesterday.  It will be very weird being able to hear our voices quite loudly so I hope we get to try them soon.

I need to go and sow some seeds now.  Smiles..

A Quick Post, More Later!

Hi honeys, just a quick post because I'm about to leap out the door to ballet.  I'll post about the last couple of days this pm.  Smiles...

Hi Honeys!

Hi there, it's been another busy week this week so far with more rehearsals on Monday night - it was the first time we went through the songs with the orchestra (11 musicians).  It sounded really good and we got home just after 9.30pm.  

Yesterday I went to ballet practise and then spent the afternoon sowing seeds (yes Joy, yours too - I'm about to email you!) and labeling plants for delivery.AB

We had some good news re Mum yesterday.  I phoned around lunchtime to see how she was and the nurse told me she was being moved to the rehabilitation ward that afternoon which was a very nice surprise!  We were expecting Mum to be transferred back to the rest home and into bed in the hospital wing but she has improved enough to get to the rehab ward!  Here's hoping this continues as I know it is going to be very hard work for her and she will get stressed.

I am ''hitting the wall'' at the moment.  I am so exhausted from the Fiddler rehearsals and trying very hard not to worry about Mum that every little thing that happens in the course of the day can completely throw me for a six and make me super grumpy!  Chester must have eaten something that has upset his stomach AGAIN because we had another irksome present on the verandah again yesterday.  This is about the fourth bout of tummy upset over the past 2-3 months and we're over it!  He goes on special food that settles things down, then we introduce his usual food very, very slowly.  If he has another bout once he's over this one we will have to take him to the vet for more investigation in case there is something going on in his gut!  Phooop!

Well I'd better get going.  I need to phone the hospital to see if I can talk to a doctor about their plans for Mum's rehab.  I also want to give them a heads up about her VERY arthritic knees which make using a walker or any sort of equipment very scary for her because they won't hold her up well.  Smiles..

Ballet, Rehearsals and More!

Hi, it's Monday early pm and I've just finished my lunch.  On Saturday I had ballet class in the morning and then I bagged the apple sauce I made late Friday pm.   I went out into the paddock to limb up some more trees and John joined me, dragging the branches into a big pile.  Late pm he went out to friends and I stayed at home to make Tomato Passata!  This is a beautiful way to utilise lots of tomatoes and is just perfect as a base for chicken casseroles etc in winter.  

Yesterday we did a bit of this and that in the morning and then headed out to rehearsal for the afternoon - the first full run of the entire show.  It went really well with just a few hiccups, caused mainly by missing cues due to lack of props and different music.  We were rehearsing in a different hall and it truly does make a difference, especially when you're not on stage.  The perspective/room we had was totally different and it threw us a bit, which isn't surprising.  I was also quite stunned to see a cast member wearing a mask because she wasn't well - here's hoping the entire cast doesn't come down with it.  I thought it was a bit silly of the director to insist she come to the rehearsal when she clearly wasn't well!  Time will tell!!!

My exciting news is my new website is almost live!!  Eeeeeeeeeeek!  I had to do a couple of things to help my website builder this morning and I got SO confused.  I'm good with technology usually but my brain is a bit fuddled due to Fiddler and Mum.

Re Mum we're still not quite sure what is happening re where she's going next.  My sister thought she was going back to the hospital end of the rest home today but apparently there was a lack of communication re the clinical manager at the rest home and what she told Judith.  There is still a chance Mum may go down to the rehabilitation ward at the hospital.  I'm hoping that will be the case but Judith has already moved all her stuff from her rest home room to the hospital wing of the rest home so I guess even if rehabilitated Mum couldn't go back to the rest home end because her room will be gone!  Confusing!!  

I must leap outside and prick out some seedlings now.  Smiles..

Busy Days!

Hi there, it's Friday pm and I'm about to head next door to do some gardening for my neighbour.  Yesterday I delivered plants to Bay L then came home via our local farm shop for some vegies.  I got 6kg of beautiful large sauce tomatoes for $9 so I'm going to make some Tomato Passata which I love using as a flavour base or pasta sauce in winter.  I have quite a lot of tomatoes in the garden but not quite enough to make a decent amoung of passata so I decided to supplement them.

I will be making a batch of that late tomorrow.  Yesterday I also stewed the trugful of Reefton peaches and late this pm I'm going to stew some apples from our tree.  I NEED to do these things even though I'm so busy with everything else and desperately want to get into the garden too.  I'm renowned for having good intentions and before I know it the fruit has gone rotten and ends up on the compost heap!  Not good!!

Ballet practise was great yesterday and I had my usual Thursday class straight afterwards except 1 in every four weeks Peta takes it so we are doing Intermediate!  Yikes... and yikes some more!  It's far more advanced than I am but I do my best to pick up some of the repertoire.  I'm totally in awe of the young senior dances, they are AMAZING to watch while I'm trying to understand what they are doing!

This morning instead of our usual adult ballet class we just had another practise because Peta couldn't make it.  This went really well too so that's my fourth session this week.  I'm heading in to do a 3/4 hour Grade 4 and 5 class (1.5 hours in total) tomorrow too - this will only be for the next two Saturdays because the timetable is changing to Tuesdays at 4pm so that will take the place of our Tuesday practise and I'll practise on Thursdays instead.  Phew.... how confusing!  That will leave my Saturdays free again in the near future which is wonderful timing re the garden etc.

I'd better get next door.. first Mum update... she is still in hospital and will be until next Monday when she will be moved back to the hospital wing of the rest home she was in.  Sadly it is possible she will be bedridden which is SO SO sad.  My darling Mum just doesn't have the ability to cope with her very arthritic knees as well as her newly mended hip.  Her left knee (broken hip side) is incredibly swollen from the wrenching it had when the surgeon operated and it just won't hold her up.  Hopefully they will manage to get her into a wheelchair at times too!  Her hallucinations were really bad again yesterday morning mainly because she hadn't slept for almost 3 days but yesterday she finallly went to sleep at 8.45am, slept all day and all night so she was much better this morning.  Fingers crossed the delirium stays away!  Smiles..

Glorious Autumnal Morning!

Hi, it's lunchtime on Wednesday and we woke to 8.5 degrees C and a very heavy dew!  I was a bit perturbed to see condensation at the bottom of some of our doors and windows though, eeeeek... 

We have stunning sapphire blue skies and sunshine without it being too hot, which is definitely my sort of weather.  The light is changing slowing to that gorgeous golden autumn light too.

Today I've been busy pricking out seedlings this morning, after delivering some plants to Mapua Country Store.  This pm I will be sowing seeds and then stewing some of our gorgeous Reefton peaches so I can freeze them for winter.  They are so divinely scrumptious I don't add any sugar, it's just pure peach flavour.

After that I need to start trimming some of the lower branches off the trees in the paddock so John can mow beneath them.  I always feel as though I'm being mean to the trees but they DO need to look like trees, with trunks!

We've just had lunch so now I have to go and sow some seeds!  Smiles..

 

Ballet Practise.. aaah Blissful Sigh!

Hi, it's Tuesday pm and I had a lovely time at ballet practise this morning.  It felt so good dancing after having a week when I couldn't!  Wow!!  Also made my soul feel so much more settled.

I've been rushing every since, labeling plants for delivery this week and organising photographs of some of my geraniums for my new website WHICH ISN'T FAR AWAY!!!  I'm so excited and a little daunted if I'm honest.. a real website with a shopping cart is a BIG DEAL for me!  It's a step I ought to have taken long ago but better late than never!!

My website is going to include my seedlings, perennials, seeds, garden info and advice, my gift tags, art creations, a growing service (I'll grow your seeds for you!) and more!  

The rain has finally stopped, we had around 80mm altogether over a few days which is just PERFECT!  I'm hoping people will start buying vegetables etc again because the ground will be soft.  

I just spoke to Mum on my sister's phone and she is sounding better, if very frustrated because she keeps getting different nurses and can't do what she wants to due to her lack of mobility.  She is being reassessed on Thursday to work out a rehabilitation plan, whether it be at the hospital or back in the hospital end of the rest home.  I'm hoping the former because there are full blown dementia patients in the rest home hospital wing and Mum would hate it!

Well I'd better get back to work.  Smiles..

Rehearsals in Full Swing and Mum Update!

Hi on a lovely drizzly Monday morning.  I've just been thrashing out my Mud Cakes and Roses column which was due in on Friday the 10th.  It completely slipped my mind because I was in New Plymouth but I got an extension to lunchtime today which is so lovely of them.  I'm just going to grab a cup of tea and come back!

Yesterday I wrote and recorded my radio show and then it was time to head to rehearsal for the afternoon.  We were there from 1pm until 5.30pm and I have to tell you at first I was a rather grumpy zombie!  I was/am so tired, more emotionally than physically after my week at the hospital with Mum that it was really hard to focus on Fiddler.  The noise of constant voices is hard for me at the moment too because let's face it - I spend a lot of time with plants that don't physically talk at me!  Giggle.

Rehearsal went well and we were in our costumes (hmmm lovely, NOT.. giggle) for some of the time.  It is three weeks until opening night, crikey, crikey, crikey, eeeeeeeeeeeek!  There are a few bits and pieces that changed while I was away but I will pick them up fairly quickly.  

Now to Mum... I can't remember what I've told you but here's the basic run down.  Her broken hip op went well then she had complications due to severe bowel impaction (most likely was fairly bad before her fall) and last Monday they basically told us nature had to take its course.  They had tried various things which hadn't worked and they couldn't operate because of her age stating it would be too risky (Mum on the other hand really has had enough of being here!).  They tried one more thing on the Monday which definitely made a slight difference.  On Tuesday Mum had a Type 2 heart attack (not caused by blockages but by strain) while in the bathroom which caused everyone to come running, getting her back to bed as soon as possible where they did an ECG and diagnosed the Type 2.  

Mum also has a certain amount of delirium which comes and goes and this can be quite perturbing.  I spent a lot of time plucking items out of the air and handing them to her because the last thing you want to do is tell them the item doesn't exist because this would make her condition much worse.  It's a common effect of the shock of the accident, the surgery and her bowel problems and we've been told it will settle.  

Because of her other health issue they haven't been able to mobilise her much so if the delirium continues this will decrease her chances of going to the rehabilitation ward and she'll end up going back to the rest home but to the hospital end of it.  This upsets me because that is where the full-blown dementia patients are and Mum still only has very moderate dementia.  She would absolutely detest being there.  Keep  your fingers crossed this won't happen!

I need to go and prick out heaps of seedlings for the rest of the day so I'll leave this here.  It's lovely to be home but very hard to be away from Mum.  She is such an amazingly strong, gorgeous soul!  I love her to the moon and back and we had a lot of precious moments in amongst everything that was going on.  I'll treasure those moments forever!  Smiles..