Ski Bum

How could a Christmas vacation get any better. Snow, friends and skiing at White Pass.

A Cup of Christmas Tea

Maybe you have and maybe you haven't read the poem, A Cup of Christmas Tea. If not, here is a version read by the author on youtube.com. I defy anyone to listen to it all and not shed a tear.

Rudy

Merry Christmas !!! Here is a sweet Christmas story.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone.

Pin

Just got this Christmas present pin in the mail from my sis who is living in Ireland for the next year. She of course made it. Her name isn't really Ann Lucy, but it does have a nice ring to it.

She went over in September, bought a car, found a nice place to rent, bought a dog and is now enjoying climate change :o) Snow and more snow in a country that rarely get snow. Her son just arrived from Tacoma for his Christmas vacation . He is a school principal and is glad to be away from the little darlings for a bit.

I know the two of them will for sure have a great time, even though his luggage never arrived and they had to make a trip to the local "men's furnishings" to get him a warm jacket. Me thinks the country will never be the same .

Winter Solstice

Yippee...we are over the hump !!!!!!

Jonathon

You're probably asking why in the world would I put a picture of Jonathon in my blog. Well, it all started with our orchestra playing Beethoven's 5th Symphony, 4th movement, at our concert this season....in fact, last night. While searching youtube for the piece, I came across a video of this adorable boy that his mother took when he was 3 years old, directing that piece from the podium in the living room of his home, while his mother filmed.

Well, don't ya know, he also plays the violin and just had his first gig with the Chandler Symphony Orchestra in Arizona. He is now 4 years old and you must read the article about him. Who knows, maybe one day Gustavo Dudamel will hand his baton to Jonathon as it sounds like his passion is definately directing.

iPad Band

Oh for cryin out loud...now they're makin group music on the iPad...give this a listen. A friend of mine who plays in our band has an iPad and loves her apps. I sure hope she doesn't think she can put down her flute and play her iPad instead. The only electric instrument we have so far is a guitar and I think that is where we need to draw the line :o)

Winter Concert

Only a week until our winter concert and this is the poster you'll see in the windows of our local businesses. An added attraction will be Spike O'Neill. I am sorry to say I had never heard of him, but after meeting him at rehearsal last week, he's a real sport !!

New Horizons Band

The fourth annual National Community Concert Band Sousa Festival will be June 24-26, 2011 in Washington, DC and Alexandria, Virginia. Why am I mentioning it here? Well, because some of the gals in the picture are from Santa Barbara. I met them when they came up to Lacey for the New Horizons Band Summer Camp and some members of our New Horizons Band have joined them when they hosted the Cambria Band Camp in California. What is really exciting is that the Santa Barbara "Prime Time Band" applied and was chosen as one of six bands to play at the Souza festival next summer. The Prime Time Band is also an affiliate of over 170 bands that belong to the New Horizons International Music Association located throughout the USA, Canada and Australia, for people 50 years and older. We have three musicians who are 90, are still love making music and on two of the more difficult instruments if you want my opinion: the oboe and the trumpet.

Jacob's Favorite

Jacob has a favorite stuffed animal as you can see :o)

Goodwill Hunting

I just read an interesting article in the Seattle Times about the Goodwill.

My long time friend Jeanne and I met a few days ago for lunch and for desert we stepped around the corner to the local Value Village. She found a gorgeous grey wool jacket that was edged in the softest brown fur. She looked like a milliion bucks in it and with the senior discount, I think it cost all of $21.00. I found three items as you can see, and after washing them to make sure there were no bedbugs, I tried them on and was most pleased :o)

Mazatlan

I always check to see where the cruise ships are and this morning I caught the Crystal Symphony making the turn-on-a-dime turn in the harbor at Mazatlan. We did the Mexican Riviera cruise on the Saphire Princess, the ship already docked and Mazatlan was one of our stops, along with Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. I'd go again in a minute if I could :o)