Frantically fall. Also, "Ella!"

It's the annual Frantic Fall here in Rochester. October. The time when everyone suddenly realizes that the snow is going to fall soon, so it's time to get the kids Out And About. I have the numbers to prove it; my KidsOutAndAbout.com readership spikes 30% as soon as October 1 hits. Mother Nature responds with harvest season, and all of the farms around here open their arms wide and welcome families with:

corn mazes



and strange activities




and crazy swings



and hayrides with friends to the pumpkin patch.



Of course, I'm the person with the master list of great things to do in fall around here, so we have to participate to the max. I have to report on them, after all! Friday we sat down and planned what we have to fit in, as there are only four weekends in October this year. Those photos above are from Stokoe Farms, a place out west of Rochester, where we spent several hours Saturday afternoon.

For me, three hours were taken yesterday morning on the telephone with my friend Amy Asch, a musical theater historian who has just published a book with Alfred A. Knopf (pronounced "K-nopf"--really) called The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II. If you are a person who likes to know everything about musical theater, buy this book.

After we talked last month about the book, Amy got an unsolicited earful from me about the need for authors to help market their work, and how a web site is a must. She bore up cheerfully, especially when I offered to hold her hand to get it done. (You know how sometimes things are just so hard to figure out when you have to do it alone, but all you need to get over the hump and push through is a friend taking the first steps with you? I figured that was the case, and I was right.) Amy is fairly non-techie but a quick study, and we set up a GoToMyPC.com connection and made her a free web site on Google Sites. She has to finish up the content this week, but soon you'll be able to go to AmyAsch.com and it will forward to a real web page that lists her book info, bio, selected talks, links to resources for other historians and students, and upcoming appearances. I was happy with our work. It's not often that you get to make such a difference in someone's life by taking three hours out of yours doing something you love anyway, and it felt to me like we got a lot done in that time. I felt, you know, productive.

Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, we had Homeschool Mother-Daughter Book Club (Willie the Squowse). And then, last evening, we took the girls to see a production called "Ella!" at Geva Theatre. It is a kind of combination play and Ella Fitzgerald retrospective. David and I were skeptical -- I mean, Ella Fitzgerald is incomparable, so much so that we named our Ella after her -- but the reviews from people we trust who had seen it were so positive that we figured we should see it as a matter of principle. I wanted to bring the girls, too -- Ella in particular, of course -- and so because I didn't think that we should spend $150 on a night out, I scouted out how to go for less. (I will also admit to having become spoiled by many theaters giving me free tickets to dress rehearsals or first night performances so I can report on the show.) My newsletter (which goes out to 7500 Rochesterians on Thursdays) proved handy here: I asked, and found out that the Pittsford Crew was selling coupon books as a fundraiser that have two-for-one coupons. So we went.

The show was actually really good. The girls were, as usual, the youngest people there. I am so pleased to say that we are now at the point where it's not just that they behave themselves when we push the envelope and bring them places not designed particularly for kids, but they actually enjoyed the show. I'm gradually finding myself relaxing at these things and becoming absorbed in the production rather than hyper-monitoring them to make sure they're behaving appropriately and seeing how they're experiencing the show. I'm not sure that other kids who were not familiar with Ella Fitzgerald's music would have been other than bored, but ours already understood enough about Ella and her music to have a place to put the new information.

It was also really cute a couple of times in the lobby, when there was an occasion for me to say Ella's name. People in the crowds saw me calling over to the little blonde girl in the sparkly dress, put two and two together, and smiled.