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I saw 6+ Monarchs August 31. from about a week before that to about fivre days after my average was 2 or 3. sfter and before that it had been only one a day. August 31 must have been the peak of the migration through our area.
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Today I helped Dad complete the trim. Now it is DONE! I nailed in the last piece with Dad’s supervision.
I pull my ballet shoes on, after slipping my orthodics into them and answering questions as to what they are. Wearing my shoes, leotard and tights, I walk into studio one, which over looks a road. I take a wistful glance at the box of pointe shoes in the corner awaiting September, then I take my place at the bar. Miss Amy, the teacher starts the music.
We do tondues and plies, all basic exercises, but requiring constant attention to all parts of the body at all times. Is my leg straight? Am I sickling? Et cetera et cetera, et cetera. I find a problem with my turn-out, and correct it. I, as well as Miss Amy, am my teacher.
The music for grande battments (grand bat-MAWS) plays. I kick my pointed foot as high as it can go without losing my posture to the front and to the side. I have to watch that I don’t kick my friend Rebecca. When I throw up my leg to the back, I hear a noise. BANG! I turn around, seeing that I hit the fan behind me. Having legs that can stretch high up has its disadvantages.
Beats are one of the last exercises, and my favorite bar. I jump, kick my leg in front of the other, then in back. These are also done in the center. With a little practice, these are easy, but they can drain your strength.
After bar, we stretch. I stretch, lowering myself down the length of the bar to the right. It feels good. Then I turn to stretch the other way. Hold it! Can’t do it! My friend Rebecca is sharing the bar with me, and she is stretching to the right. She is very tall, and can go farther than I down the bar. With myself going to the left, and her going to the right, we would bump into each other, and find ourselves both on the ground.
Then we do exercises in the middle of the room. Pirouettes are hard, and only occasionaly do I actually do an acceptable one. But almost everyone in my class has a hard time with these, and Miss Amy lets us work at it with no corrections, only pointers.
Next in class there are jumps, and these are fast and high. They seem to drag on forever. We start the second-to-last last exercise of the day. my calves ache from previous jumps, still I must jump on one leg. “Higher, Sarah, higher!” Miss Amy calls, but I am doing my best. “Jump, jump, jump.” She yells. My calves burn. “Don’t stop!” I’ll try not to. Then out of the corner of my eye, I see Alex watching me. Mom is standing above him, watching. My calves don’t burn so badly, and I have the energy to compete the exercise. I jump a little higher, then I finish the exercise in plie with the rest of the class.
Finally, I gratefully end the class with a bow. Though I am exhausted in every area of my body, I stand tall as I touch the floor of the studio with my hand, then raise it up into a beautiful finishing position of e carte (AY-cartAY.)
Coming home from my grandparents on Mom’s side, Joseph was a big crank. He would not stop crying. Trying to sooth him, I rubbed my hand in his hair in circular motions. He did stop crying, and I put my hand down and rested it on his seat. Joseph grabbed my hand and lifted it up to his head. I started masaging him again for a while, and when I stopped he grabbed my hand again. later he grabbed my hand from his head and dropped it into my lap. He likes head massages, but not forever.
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Today I finished my book, The Tanaka Sisters.
Tanaka Sakura is a ten-year-old Japanese girl living in WWII. When a bomb is dropped on her house, killing their mother, Sakura and her four sisters must journey to an orphanage. But Sakura and her sisters will not be together for long. They will soon be adopted, each going to a different home. Through it all, Sakura clings to her dream that they will one day be together again.
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Dad took us to the fair, not in Sioux Falls but in a town thirty minutes away, Parker. Some of our friends reccomended it to us It was ten times cleaner than the Sioux Falls fair, with much less immodesty and tattooes. We saw sheep, rabbits pigs, cow, camels, alpacas, turkeys, geese, and more! I got to bury my hand in the prize-winning wool, still on the body of the sheep!
I went on four rides. All of them, except the ferris wheel, were spinning rides. They were extrememly fun. One you twirled and went over little hills on the ground while going in cirlces. Maria and I went on that one. The other you went in a big circle in the air annd made yourself twirl with a little wheel. Landon and I went on that one. Then there was another that you spun while going in a slanted circle in the air, so at the top you were at an eighy-five degree angle to the ground, and you were laying on your back with you feet in the air. Maria, landon, and I all went on that one. in the beggining of the ride, after we were all on and buckled in, Maria decided she didn’t want to go on the ride. But there was nothing she could do about it. By the middle of the ride, however, she didn’t want it to stop! In the ferris wheel, the same thing happened with both her and John Paul. Landon and I had to reassure them, in the very start, and they loved it when we got going. There where mud races going on, and when we went to the top of the ferris wheel we could see them. They were boring.
Then we ate a delicous roast beef sandwich, then we watched the fireworks. They were big, and the grand finalle was beautiful, a golden fan streched out below little golden corkscrews, which were below the BIG fireworks.
And that wrapped up our trip to the fair.
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I have reached 100 posts on my blog!
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I have never been very good in water. I like to swim in it, but I never really have done anything such as diving from a standing position, except about three times in swimming lessons three years ago. I have been scared to go too deep, then not be able to get up to the surface in time. Yesterday, however, when we went to the pool, I gathered up all the courage I had and dived standing. It was not scary. It was fun! I had discovered diving. Again and again I dived.
Maria came over to me and said she wanted to learn how to dive. So I taught her. First I showed her the knee-dive, diving from a kneeling position. when she was ready to move on, I showed her how to dive from a standing position. She belly-flopped a lot, but kept on trying. She probably did about five real dives. The others were a mix between a dive and a belly-flop. Maria also found out she was four feet tall, high enough to go down the big, curvy slide.
I have never had so much fun at the pool as yesterday, because I discovered diving.
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Friday marked the end of tennis lessons. We had a tournament, hosted by Weber (whatever that is.) I lost the first match three games to four. Landon got matched up with a bad server and that he says made him win the first match. Again he went on to win the second match and finally, in the last match, placed second in the tournament. He got a bronze-colored medal.
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After an all to long period of my internet being down, in which I have not been able to write, Dad has put me back online!
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Today, thanks to a carpet cancellation, the carpet people came at eight o’ clock. They finished installing it about ten thirty, then every child poured in to the room. The baby gate was taken down with as much joy as the Wall of Berlin. The most happy one was Joseph. He has spent the time from when the door was taken down to now trying to get into the school room. Now he happily joins the other children in playing on the fresh carpet.
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Last night Mom finished the second coat of avacado green paint on the walls of the school room! Moving day is near!
The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Lord, have mercy.
Lord,have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, one God,
Heart of Mary, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, after God’s own Heart,
Heart of Mary, in union with the Heart of Jesus,
Heart of Mary, the vessel of the Holy Spirit,
Heart of Mary, shrine of the Trinity,
Heart of Mary, home of the Word,
Heart of Mary, immaculate in your creation,
Heart of Mary, flooded with grace,
Heart of Mary, blessed of all hearts,
Heart of Mary, Throne of glory,
Heart of Mary, Abyss of humbleness,
Heart of Mary, Victim of love,
Heart of Mary, nailed to the cross,
Heart of Mary, comfort of the sad,
Heart of Mary, refuge of the sinner,
Heart of Mary, hope of the dying,
Heart of Mary, seat of mercy,
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
L: Immaculate Mary, meek and humble of heart.
A: Conform our hearts to the heart of Jesus.
Let us pray:
O most merciful God, who for the salvation of sinners and the refuge of the wretched, has made the Immaculate Heart of Mary most like in tenderness and pity to the Heart of Jesus, grant that we, who now commemorate her most sweet and loving heart, may by her merits and intercession, ever live in the fellowship of the hearts of both Mother and Son, through the same Christ our Lord. – Amen.
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Mom decided that she would have the new school room green and the kitchen red. Dad has finished painting the ceiling and installing the lights and light switches, and the carpet man is coning on Monday!
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