etcetera, etcetera, etcetera

"According to the dictionary, it means 'and all the rest.' In other words, everything YOU have been doing while WE have been waiting."
--Anna, from "The King and I"

Every summer for about 20 years now, our church has done a summer musical production. This year's show was "The King and I," and it happened the week after I returned from Banff. I played oboe & English horn in the orchestra, and we were busy for many hours with two full dress rehearsals and three performances. The amount of acting talent in our church is nothing short of phenomenal, and the show was very professionally done. The orchestra, on the other hand...well, let's just say that it did improve each night as a few more right notes were discovered and played by various musicians. It's always an adventure crafting an orchestra together from church members, friends of church members, and unknown hired amateurs from the community (we can't afford to pay union rates for professionals). Fortunately, the audience always seems to think we're terrific, even if those of us in the pit can hear all of the inadequacies...

Our Clear Lake Symphony season started early this year. The first rehearsal was August 11, after I'd just taken about 10 days off from playing, and the musical was the following 5 days, so my embouchure got back in shape in a hurry! We'll play a POPS concert on September 6 if Hurricane Gustav doesn't get in our way.

Our public schools all started yesterday, August 25. I've just about got my teaching schedule set. Right now I have 16 students but will be losing one in a few weeks when her family moves overseas. I started seven new beginners over the summer, so I've been listening to a lot of hideous-sounding whole notes lately! Now I just need to get back to making lots and lots and lots of reeds.

I joined a bowling league last week. It's a Monday morning "Breast Cancer Awareness" league, in which $5 of my weekly fee is donated to breast cancer research. One of the trainers from Curves, Sylvia, is my teammate. We are so funny; neither of us has bowled reguarly for many years, so we're in it solely for the fun of bowling. It's a good thing we're not competitive---some of the ladies are bowling in the 160's and above. I was thrilled to break 100 in one game my first week. At least Sylvia and I are optimistic that we have nowhere to go but UP. Last Friday Robyn & I bowled a couple of games so that I could get some practice; by the time we finished I could barely walk, my left glute was hurting so much. I definitely need to plan on going a couple of times a week to build up my muscles.

etc., etc., etc........