J.S. Bach and the coulé de tierce melodique

I wrote this 15 years ago when I was a harpsichord doctoral student. If life had gone differently, I would probably have adapted it for publication. As it is, it's just been sitting in a box in the attic all these years. I don't know how much has changed in Baroque performance practice since I wrote this, but maybe someone might still find it interesting. After I wrote it, I sent it to Kenneth Gilbert who wrote back a complimentary note saying it was "of commanding interest" "raising points that appear never to have been properly discussed before, if at all, in print" and that he agreed with most of what I had to say.

J.S. Bach and the coulé de tierce melodique

Slumber Sally

Lizzie is now in the "book"-writing stage.  Her latest is Slumber Sally, about Sally's first sleepover.  She had a few pages left over at the end, which she devoted to a preview of Slumber Sally 2: They Shall Once Again Have a Sleepover.  The sequel seems more promising than the first.  It is noon, and Sally has to wait until 6 for her friend Ellie to come over.  "I pass the time by watching TV then I decided to write a book about the wonders of the world."  "When we do go to bed we are going to keep a light on and read the books I wrote then we will read books from my bookshelf and then we will compare them.  After that we will go to bed and we will dream about tomorrow or dolphins or anything then we wake up even though we were at the exciting part of our dream."

Arthur's Chamber Music Debut

A movement from a Haydn divertimento through Princeton String Academy.  He was listed on the program as "Gus Kim."

Arthur's 11th Birthday

Arthur celebrated his 11th birthday at Great Wolf Lodge Pocono.

There was a large dessert buffet, so we didn't do a cake -- we stuck his 11 candle on a cupcake and some mud pie.  We quietly sang Happy Birthday and he closed his eyes, clasped his hands, and really made a wish.

Play

by Lizzie Kim

We need a design for the place-
Daddy is the swimmer,
The four-year-old girl is the princess,
Stephen is the ninja,
We need something to cover us up when it's time-
Because it's a play

Lizzie turned 4 today.  We took her to Build-A-Bear, where she built-a-dog: a princess costume (with Hello Kitty underwear)-wearing, iPhone-toting, basketball-playing dog.  She also took a birthday bubble bath.

We have started to throw away the kids' old toys in anticipation of the move.  We were sorry to see the Shape Turtle go, something that lasted through all three kids.  I didn't feel ready to toss out Arthur's mini-golf ball rack.

The point of having this blog was to record stuff we want to remember.  What with Facebook and Picasa and all, we hardly ever use it.  But I want to remember that after reading Lizzie her bedtime books, right before we turn out the lights, she asks for, and we give her, a "no bad dreams" kiss, as she clutches her two bears, always in the same way, one in each arm.

Stephen has been sleeping with a Santa hat on.  Arthur is going through an annoying phase where he keeps saying stuff like he's tired of living, even though he is not in the least depressed.

Mother's Day

The kids had various cards and crafts mostly from school. Stephen's tribute-to-mom booklet mentioned Mimi's ability to locate the Crate and Barrel Outlet and how she calls his room a "hell hole" when she wants him to clean it up. Arthur wrote a poem on which he noted that it had been "edited by Mr. Brown."  Mimi suspects that means Mr. Brown had to write it for him, and joked about the impropriety of a teacher writing a Mother's Day poem to her. There were some definite Arthur touches though -- the poem extols Mimi's "skill" at taking care of kids, and at one point he ended a line with "me/us" -- although "me" rhymed, I guess he felt "us" was more accurate.

Art

Stephen (on requesting more paper to paint the same thing he just painted):
Claude Monet painted many pictures of the same bridge.  Why not me?

4/23/12

Arthur's protagonist in his "realistic fiction" writing assignment has a love interest.

4/14/12

Attended 2.5 innings of a Princeton/Penn baseball game. Stephen got bonked on the head by a foul ball. He's OK, and we kept the ball.

Reptiles: couple recent hikes. Delaware-Raritan Canal from Alexander to Washington -- several large turtles sunning on the southern tip of Carnegie Lake. Institute Woods -- dead snake on trail.

3/31/12

1) This morning, went to Dad's Day at Lizzie's pre-school @ Princeton Presbyterian. Lizzie's teachers are Mrs. Egan and Mrs. Young. The kids are Lauren, Will, Shresht, Areev (sp.?), Vihari, and (absent) Danel. No 100% whites (Will is half.)

2) While Lizzie went to Toby Riggall's birthday party, I took the boys to the Rutgers geology museum. (Arthur has taken an interest in rocks and minerals.)

Stuff that's been happening

1) Bought new computer today when we thought our Dell (~5 years old) died. But I'm typing on the old one now.

2) Paid >10K due to sewer problem at Michigan house. Met with Alfinito who will manage our investing.

3) Stephen studying violin with Becky now. Still hates practicing.

Musical tastes

Arthur: Ambient

Stephen: Heavy Metal

Lizzie: Bluegrass

Also, Lizzie made good headway on potty training today.

Just now, when he should've been asleep

Stephen: Well, I just read the Bible.

Moved to New Jersey

Last day of work at Beaumont, June 22. Arrived in New Jersey with Arthur and Lizzie on June 27 (Mimi and Stephen arrived on the 26th.) Lost part of my filling in a Pennsylvania rest stop while eating Sbarro's.

Learning Impaired

After two weeks, Mimi still can't see the penis in the Anthony Weiner penis shot.

"I don't trade with the Devil"

Arthur, referring to Leonard, while playing Monopoly.

Valentines Day

Mimi and Arthur worked together on a box for Valentines Day cards. After seeing the other kids', Arthur admits his is pretty much the worst one in the class. Mimi asks him whether he feels bad about that. Arthur says, no, he just figures the other kids had more "craft"-y moms.

Waiting for Santa

Stephen: The only strange sound I heard was Arthur snoring!