Band, Band...Band..grateful

Capital City Marching Competition
Originally uploaded by sunasak

For another few weeks, this is what much of my life will look like. Me trying to figure out if a marching band is doing well or sucking. I sure can't tell. Unless the color guard drops stuff or someone falls down, they all look pretty darned good to me. Here we have the Capital City Marching Competition at the Berger Center in far South Austin. Tuba boy is second sousaphone from the left, and Beccano is the one at bottom left standing straightest and most soldier-like. Excellent for a lad with poor posture.

Our lads and lassies came in second overall in our class, and Beccano's percussion ensemble also came in second. This was VERY good, considering the competition. It is a good thing that the LBJ High School band was a host, so not in the competition, because their set was so cool. They all take off their hats and wander around marching a while, then magically come back to their hats, which are shiny and purple.

I didn't think we'd all make it to this one, because Beccano got rather overheated during practice at the school. His head hurt and he was nauseated. So, they asked me to drive him in the cool car and let him keep his uniform off until the last minute. That helped, and he did fine. I considered keeping him at home, but his part really sticks out and would be noticed if it wasn't there. Good thing I took him, because he was so incredibly psyched by the experience. Said it was "the most awesome thing ever." I think doing well really made him happy. So, I am glad I took him.

My friend's daughter's band did well, too, so we celebrated as if we had something to do with it other than giving birth to band members on Sunday.

The rest of my weekend was OK, though Lee was so sick with ragweed that he didn't get to enjoy much. I was as helpful as I could be at the yarn shop, and enjoyed talking to new people and seeing my lovely friends, as well. I like it when there are people to talk to there--helps me feel like part of a community, whereas sometimes I feel sorta peripheral.

And Sunday's fun was singing with members of the excellent Tapestry Singers women's chorus. We didn't do too badly for people who really didn't know the parts (and my music was wrong, too). I keep getting compliments on my soprano-ing. Hmm. I have gone from no high notes at all only a couple of months ago to hitting all sorts of notes in a not-too-screechy manner. Still a bit screechy.

Sunday afternoon I rested as much as I could and knitted like crazy. Lee is starting to feel better, so maybe we will have more fun this coming week before he starts the new job. I also talked to my dad, and that was a relief--hadn't spoken to him in a while. They aren't as bad off as I was afraid.

This is just a bit of stream-of-consciousness "letters to the world" and not very deep. I'll do better next week.

What am I grateful for? New blogs to read and old friends.

PS: progress on my lovely sweater is pictured on my knitting blog if you want to see it. Feel free to visit there.