Makin' Music with Friends

 
Chuck, Sylvia and I had a blast pretending we could play music this morning. We sang along too. Sylvia's cast kept her from bringing out the guitar. It all certainly qualified as "making a joyful noise," and that was good enough for us. We sang some folks songs, and some of the oldest hymns from books I took along. We'd look at a piece and go, "huh?" Then we'd play a line and say "Oh, I do remember that one." Great fun and some praising the Lord in there too.



Tonight I'm giving a program at their church's mother-daughter banquet, then back immediately to work my night shift. Thus, I'm posting early. What a great day, and it's not over yet!

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Can't Get Enough of This

 
Driving through the evening, enjoying the light greens of young spring leaves and early cherry blossoms.





Finally, the light faded into red behind me.



And look where I ended up! Yup, I'm with Chuck and Sylvia of Secondary Roads. A broken wrist has only slowed Sylvia down a little. I was treated upon arrival to homemade rhubarb pie.




Fun times tomorrow, methinks. Stay tuned.

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Green, and It is Lovely

 
Walked the loop around my kingdom today. The air was still and soft. I don't know what atmospheric conditions produce "soft" air, but I know it when I feel it.

Mostly I just soaked up the green-ness. The maples in the cemetery are finally getting leaves.





The lowly dandelion and violet set each other off to good advantage.



And the haze of light green budding aspen against the pines is an example of everything I love about spring.



I didn't walk fast. I didn't walk far (ok, the loop is about a mile, but that's not really far), but it sure was lovely.

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I Love a Piano

 
Going back to the weekend in Indiana. So much great stuff happened that I still want to share. The play we went to was a musical review of Irving Berlin songs, called I Love a Piano. It's been said that Irving Berlin does not have a place in American music, he IS American Music.

The show featured 56 of his songs... not just excerpts either. Here's how the stage looked.



The orchestra was located behind the scrim Art Deco piece.



The scenes were divided by decade, beginning with the 1910s. The kids in the cast pretty much non-stop danced and sang for over two hours. How about a little Charlston? My mother always said she could dance it, but she never offered to show me!



I don't remember exactly which song this went with, but it was set in the 1930s in Manhattan during the height of the Depression.



And of course, there were plenty of heart-tuggers associated with WWII



One of Berlin's late works was Annie Get Your Gun, which is one of my favorites. They did several songs from it. Here Frank and Annie sing "An Old Fashioned Wedding."



And, of COURSE, "There's No Business Like Show Business."



The finale was appropriately, "I Love a Piano."



The kids did quite a good job! And I'm pretty sure that although many people my age know the words to many of those songs, I suspect the students had to learn most of them cold. Great performance!

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Cherry Blossoms

 
Sorry about the lapse in blog posts for a few days. Life sort of had me by the tail for a while, but I think I've recovered and am ready to take on the week.

Here's some quality: the prediction was for rain today, but after a damp morning it turned into a gorgeous, breezy, sunny day. I took a nice walk.

I think this is some domestic cherry gone wild. First fruit tree in full bloom I've encountered here this year. Spring it is!



They are worth a smile or five without any explanation.

	See Good Fruit Year?
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