Handel's Messiah

For the month of December, I will be teaching our ladies at church about George Fredrick Handel and his oratorio "Messiah".

Did you know....

• Handel was born in Germany
• His father wanted him to be a lawyer (Handel only lasted about 1 year in training)
• He moved to Italy to try his hand at musical composition in the Italian style
• At age 26, Handel moved to England, had some success and became a citizen
• By the late 1730's, he struggled with debt
• In 1737 he pushed himself and composed 4 operas in 12 months - ended up having a stroke
• Defied the doctors diagnosis and returned to composing operas
• Still in deep debt and depression
• Charles Jennens wrote the manuscript that Handel put into music
• Handel's Messiah was written in about 24 days (over 50 songs)
• It takes about 3 hours to listen to the whole oratorio

Although I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's rendition of Handel's Messiah, here is a great video of the Hallelujah Chorus in a food court.  Just goes to show how powerful this music can be...where ever it is sung!

The Challenges of an 18 Year Old

Last week my oldest boy turned 18.  One of his remarks was:

"I am now officially an adult"

What I don't understand is why can't my "adult" son finish one college application????

There is nothing more I can say...

The Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference

Today I attended the CMTC in Manchester, NH.  For those of you that don't know the name Christa McAuliffe, she was the New Hampshire "teacher in space" astronaut that died on the launching of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Even if you couldn't attend the conference, the website has some great links used by the presenters.

Move Over Pumpkins!

Here is a new way to play with your food.  Which one is your favorite?

9 Ways to Get a Hub Cap on the Airplane

Holidays are suppose to be joyous and happy times. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is a holiday that can be hard on our family - because our oldest is 3000 miles away.  For the past two years Brittney has had to find friends who will take her in so she wouldn't be alone for the holiday.  This year was to be no diffferent, until this past Saturday night when I found an airplane ticket that we could afford (well, kind of).  Within 24 hours, Brittney was home!

While Brittney was at school this fall, she lost one hub cap on her car.  Not a big deal, but annoying.  As it turned out, we have an extra one here at home, but never got around to mailing it off to her.  So, now that she is home we have been trying to figure out different ways for her to take the hub cap back on the plane to Utah.

The following are 9 Ways to Get a Hub Cap on the Airplane...

#9. Tell security it is your hard hat.

#8. Tell security you're a Gladiator.



#7. Tell security it's part of your ethnic attire.




#6. Tell Security you are the Chiquita Banana Lady.



#5. Explain to security that it is your "bling", man. I mean, doesn't everyone have a necklace like this???

#4. Tell security you're tired of airplane food (or rather no food at all on a cross country flight) and you are bringing your own.

#3. Tell security that you are a transformer.

#2. Explain to security that you are in an "Ultimate Frisbe Contest".

 And finally, the Number 1 way to bring a hub cap on the plane....

Just Tell the truth!

Wow, it sure is fun to have Brittney home!

I say Plymouth you say Plimouth

Here is a link to a great site from Scholastic about the first Thanksgiving.  It includes videos of the "passengers" of the Mayflower.

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/voyage/

My First YouTube

This is an assignment I made for my Master's class.  It is a book trailer for "Night Wings" by Joseph Bruchac.  The book is one of the Great Stone Face contenders for 2010-2011.