Victor has been taking violin lessons for a few months. It seems ridiculous to start a kid on an instrument at three but it’s not uncommon with the Suzuki method. When we first went to see teacher Lynn about lessons she put him through a series of tests to see if he was ready. He had to listen and respond to instructions and stand in a “magic circle” during his lesson. He did very well and we decided to go ahead. We spent several weeks just taking the violin from rest position to his chin. Another few weeks were spent getting him to hold the bow properly. We played a lot of bowing games. Everything has to be calculated to hold his attention for more than five minutes. I have to more or less bribe him into attention with the promise of some candy dots after he finishes his lesson. When he has had enough he looks at me and says, “I’m getting tired.” Unfortunately that has sometimes happened 30 seconds into the lesson and we have resort to various trickery to keep him engaged. Since 30 minutes is too long for him I get to finish the lesson myself. The teacher and I have been going through some Bartok duets together which has been a lot of fun.
Victor’s lessons have been at teacher Lynn’s house on Villa Terrace in Twin Peaks. The house itself is unimpressive but it has an amazing view. Yesterday the lesson was at her mother’s house on Mountain Spring also in Twin Peaks .The house was built by her father in the 1930’s with salvaged bricks and she is in the process of writing a book about him and the house. The front of the house looks like a castle and when we walked into its courtyard there were huge boulders that had been allowed to stay as part of the foundation. Victor was very impressed with the “castle” and the charming stucco over brick music room where we had our lesson. Gradually the amount of time he stays with the lesson has increased. Yesterday he made it for almost the entire 30 minutes. He did such a good job (and it was such a warm day) that I promised him a “push-up” Popsicle.
We stopped at the closest market but unfortunately they didn’t have any push-ups. Victor was intent on that one treat and I couldn’t get him to budge so I decided to make our way over towards where we had to pick up Vida at Hebrew school. We stopped at another market that didn’t have them either so went another two blocks to the 2nd Avenue Mini Market. We drive by this market very often and I think each time how strange to have a sign by virtue of the sponsorship of some product. The “Widmer” over the sign makes it seem like that’s the name of the market. We almost tripped over a broken doorframe as we entered the sparse but friendly market. There was a kid working behind the counter. I always wonder why I never see anybody in corner markets do anything but stand behind the counter. I know something must get stocked sometime but I never see it. And so often they stock the exact same products—you would think they wouldn’t want to mirror a chain store but somehow differentiate themselves.
There was no push up here either but we were running out of leisure time so Vic made do with a cherry pineapple “Big Stick”, one of my personal favorites. There wasn’t much to look at so we quickly bought some sunflower seeds and onion Sunchips for Vida. The beer selection wasn’t great so I bought a Budweiser quart.
Vic’s snack—Big Stick Popsicle Vida’s snack—sunflower seeds and Sunchips Beer of the Day—Budweiser Quart
No comments:
Post a Comment