Olga Vannucci's Blog: Travels With George, page 4

A hit

During rehearsal of a musical, my son George hit the star of the show, by accident of course. He said everyone laughed so hard they had to start the song over.

Afterwards, he apologized to the director, and she said, "Are you kidding? It was so funny!"

Hard work and luck

With much persistence, I finally got a picture of the big black bunny that lives under the porch. Then, a fox just strolled across the back yard, and I grabbed my camera and took a picture--no plotting, no waiting, no effort.

There's a life lesson in there somewhere, something like: hard work pays off, and luck is good too.

Snow help

In the last snow two of my neighbors helped me clear the driveway. One with a blower, and one, sent by George's piano teacher, with a plow.

I don't know if it was divorced-woman pity or some karma I've accumulated, but in either case I was grateful.

New Star Trek fan

I've become a Star Trek fan in the last month, which may be partly an unavoidable bi-product of being mother to a 15-year-old boy.

What I like about it is that it's high talk and low tech.

Focus on the strengths

Michelangelo worked with several popes. He was very difficult and they were very powerful. They focused on his strengths and worked around his weaknesses, sometimes by having a cardinal deal with him. They were willing to put up with him to get the benefit of his talent, in an early innate understanding of Strengthfinders.

I read the book Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces, by Miles J. Unger. I did not know that he worked with some many popes and that they put up with him as much as they did.

Procrastination

Eating leftover tortellini is the best procrastination.

The first of the year

My Italian mother says that what you do the first of the year you will do all year, so I'm always a bit careful about how I spend new year's day. This year I spent it reading from a pile of books on my coffee table.