Less than a week into mass social distancing in response to the novel coronavirus, the Indigo Girls spent 90 minutes the evening of March 19 singing and telling stories to viewers in a generous online concert that brought together many of the people who would no longer be able to see the duo in person…
music
Bright spots in spring
Before the long days of summer parenting melt my brain, I want to capture some of the good that happened this spring. I wrote in late April about what life looked like in the first two months of my separation from my husband. Daily journaling for myself has become very important, but time capsules captured…
Chords and tears
Today was a day of children singing and playing music, and a day of me crying. At the UU church where got married in 2002 and are these days, at best, sometimes-attendees, today was an all-welcome service designed around Sesame Street songs. I thought about going when I saw the email describing the service, and…
What life sounds like now
There’s definitely a soundtrack around my house right now that I want to document. That, and today the kids were off school so I’ve had no time to write but am determined not to skip a day of #NaBloPoMo15! So here’s one of the shorter posts I wanted to be sure to write, to peg this…
What’s it like to be an adult?
Today skipped by with no chance for any fun photo shoots out in the fall air. But that’s just as well, because this commitment to photograph and write daily in November prompted me to snap some shots of my son and husband playing music together. Sometimes I wish they would both help me get dinner…
What makes me feel like a parent
The first time I’d heard of a “touch truck” event was in a With the Kids article in the Washington Post Weekend section. Herndon Truck Days sounded like a blast! And the article also inspired me a year later to pitch an article about the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s Children’s Music Festival. It was published and…
Dance at Strathmore + a giveaway
One of the highlights of our week last week was the CityDance performance at the Backyard Theater for Children at Strathmore. What a lively performance! It makes me feel good that my son got to see the beauty and athleticism of dance as expressed by children and adults, including male dancers. And who doesn’t love…
A marvelous day with SteveSongs + a giveaway!
The Washington, D.C. area was treated to some glorious weather this past weekend, and audience members for the final SteveSongs performance of the week at Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts soaked it up! The Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods was the perfect place to be Saturday morning to listen to stories with storyteller Baba Jamal Koram…
SteveSongs talks to Crunchy-Chewy Mama!
One week after I had my baby girl this past August, I padded groggily out of the bedroom late in the morning and found my son looking out our bay window and listening to a SteveSongs CD. With his knees tucked underneath him in the chair that sat where the birth tub had been, my…
Giveaway for Strathmore’s Backyard Theater July 29
I’m giving away four tickets to one of the July 29 performances at the Backyard Theater for Children at Strathmore. Performances are at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. On July 29, the show will be “Banjo to Beatbox with Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer and Christylez Bacon.” The description of this act is: “Family folk meets hip…
American Idol 2010 — not a mom
How bad does it sound to say that because she is a mom, I’m glad Crystal Bowersox didn’t win American Idol? That’s not completely true. I just wondered how bad it would sound to say it. Make no mistake, I was and am a Crystal fan. I think she’s amazingly talented, so damn centered, and…
Whose kid will be the next Adam Lambert in 20 years? (Or Susan Boyle in 40?)
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on May 16, 2009 Whose kid will be the next Adam Lambert in 20 years? (Or Susan Boyle in 40?) My husband and I “aww”-ed in unison when watching a preschooler at Adam Lambert‘s old community theater ask the American Idol finalist how he got so good at…
Small change
Leave it to the French to spoil a quiet moment. No, really it was my toddler, just choosing to blast a track from Putumayo’s French Playground in the middle of a rare couple connection. The three of us had just gone out for a nice dinner together — lovely walk in cool September air down…
Goin’ to Carolina (solo, with my son)
On Saturday mornings when I was a child, I spent hours watching cartoons before my parents came downstairs. It always startled me when one of our Siamese cats darted into my field of vision. After inhabiting a two-dimensional light-box world, seeing the muscular real-live animal removed my fantasy goggles. A similarly surreal experience was enjoying…
Ani the Mami and Indigo Women
My husband was really trying to do something nice. In fact, he was trying to do exactly what I said I wanted: take initiative to get us out together as a couple. And he was thoughtful about it, purchasing Indigo Girls tickets after a drive in a borrowed car to the beach in Maine had…
Fitting in Fun, by Necessity
I think the only time I really played with my son today was in the basement while the house was being cleaned upstairs. It felt different than any other five minutes. I had to be in a position of no other choice in order to fully be with my child. What was I doing the…