Swan Lake

We went to see Swan Lake yesterday after church:
Can I critique it?  Even though I'm not a dancer, I think so.
I'm glad we had a chance to see this work of art, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (my husband and I especially noticed the oboe solo, trumpet, the harp was huge and acoustics amazing so that the sound floated up to our balcony, still as it must sound next to the musicians) playing the pieces by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875.  Something that has been around and is still being performed 100 years later is amazing.
It was beautiful, the movement, costumes and the set, except for the stage floor.  It was black spongy material that they use in my daughter's dance studio for practicing on...and I assume it must be used for safety of the dancers, but the squeaks that the dancers made as they pivoted was not pleasant.
As we left, we talked about the dancers, their muscles, their feet...how they must have blisters, the amount of work they put into this to make it.
Overall, it was definitely worth it.  Seeing the human body move in such graceful ways to express so much without words!
And a surprise at the very end.  The ballerina who played the white swan was given roses by a young man who walked on stage, and then got down on one knee and proposed to her!  ♥  She kissed him and jumped up and down in a very elegant way to express "yes," without words.  So sweet.

She's 9 years old now...

Yesterday was Olivia's 9th birthday.  I made a yellow cake from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that my parents gave while I was in college, it's falling apart, taped together, but really I use it a LOT.  For the frosting, I used:

• 1 large strawberry
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar

...and blended them in my food processor until a nice and thick consistency and then spread it atop the cake.  It was really good!  Naturally pink.

Monday was Memorial Day and so we went to visit Rob's grandma in Indiana and to take her from the nursing home to the cemetery where her husband is buried (it's been 5 years since he passed away).  He was in the Navy.  

Then we all went to Cracker Barrel.  I haven't been to one in a LONG time, maybe 10  or more years, but I liked it.  Especially when the waitress brought out cornbread and biscuits in the beginning with real butter (cream and salt were the only ingredients)!  Rare when unfortunately so many places serve margarine with a long list of horrid ingredients.

Olivia really enjoyed watching the swans at the pond in our friend's neighborhood Sunday afternoon.