What next?

Came home from work after a long day. Wife and kids were at swimming class. 

Thought of sitting down for a minute and sipipng some tea. There was a loud ruckus in the backyard. It was like every bird and animal had decided to go crazy at the same time. 

Came to the backyard and was face to face with a FOX! 

It started right at me and ran into the bushes. For all I know it is still there.. The animals are still screaming.

so went out with the only camera I could grab in time to catch the fox.

Called local animal control to report this and they forwarded me to through three different numbers after it went to an information only voice menu and hung up on me. 

Guess if you have so many squirrels, rabbits and birds, the foxes automatically follow! 

It was the size of a medium size Alsatian dog, except it could effortlessly jump a six foot fence. It could glare at me with mouth open and that did scare me! 

We have now seen at least 7 creatures in our backyard that folks don't typically expect to see. As long as tigers don't show up... 

West and East

Jr. gets to practice saxophone over the weekends. Her teacher is making sure an email goes out saying she practiced and Jr. knows she has to, if the email has to go out!

I am also making her practice Carnatic music when we get a chance. She knows the songs by heart and it is a question of being able to follow the notation in the paper and translating instantly in her head from a different south Indian classical notation. 

She does a great job of both and has improved a lot.

Next week, Nagumomu in Raga Abheri.. at least the first few lines!

More than her practicing, these videos end up with some funny outtakes. Hope the kids have fun watching this years from now.

Old is gold!

We have been watching "Baby photos" and "Baby videos" over the last week at bedtime. We stumbled on a few folders in the archives that we have skipped all along!

A drag and drop error had secretly hidden the folders inside other folders. 

The contents were so amusing that we had to share!

Jr.'s re-enactment of her circle time at school reminded me of my brother re-enacting his kindergarten class at home for us when we were kids!

Simbu should pat himself on the back for coming up with a catchy song that a 4 year old girl can sing with an American accent.. 

Needless to say, we miss those days! 

Another year rolls by..

This weekend was Jr.'s Dance school annual day performance. We rushed in and out of it because of the cold weather. She did make me proud by doing her best. Given that we push this kid to do Classical dance, music, saxophone, etc. etc. I was happy with the fact that she does all this with a smile!

The 5D Mark II usually takes shots seamlessly while taking a video, but this time there are gaps in the video where the snaps were taken. Managed to Collage all her still poses. 

Here is the video of her performance! I am sure the folks in India will be critiquing her dancing. For now, I am happy that her interest in Classical dancing is increasing over time. As long as she keeps at it, she will only get better..

and yes, she is going to be pulled with me to Yoga class soon. That should help her with the one leg balancing for sure!

One more year has gone by so fast!

The Alto Sax Diva..

That is my darling daughter, posing with an attitude when I requested a photo of her playing Saxophone.. 

We then switched gears from the Carlos Santana mode to Carnatic Sangeeham mode and here is the result..

She is getting better with more practice. Have to say a heartfelt thanks to Candida Connolly and Kadri Gopalnath for publishing a book that brings these almost 400 year old tunes to Western notation. Initially she was playing it staccatto and now that she heard the CD that came with the book, has figured out that the notes are to be played slurred and there are tie'd notes where she lips only the first note! 

It is an interesting experience for me watching her figure this out as well as helping her figure this out! 

A funny conversation after we listened to the amazing Kadri play Nagumomu..

me : you see how he just floats that note for a fraction of a second? can you do that?

Jr. : how long has he been playing the saxophone?

me : 30-35 years?

Jr. : Let me guess. That is what he does for a living?

me : yes. I think he is a full time saxophone musician.. not some part time bank employee playing saxophone on the side.

Jr. : I AM A BEGINNER! I DON'T FLOAT NOTES LIKE THAT APPA!

Well, that came out of nowhere! If I had only captured that dialogue on video, it would have made the videoblog even better..

Here's to my diva!