Autumn Music

It's been a whole month since I've written on this blog, and it has been rather busy. We moved. Thanks to Nate for assistance. Of course, this left a house full of boxes, some full, some empty, an unpacking job that might never end. The floors look great, the base boards were replaced and need some touch up. We still need to hang all the pictures, paint the oustide rails and side door and inside trim, add attic insulation, install the sound sytem, put on a storm door or two, remodel the kitchen (granite counter tops?? :) remodel the fireplace, redo the patio, pave the parking area, landscape, add a sunroom, add two bedrooms and a bath, and that should increase resale value a bit. We should have that done in the next week or two and then everyone can come over and enjoy! :)

In other news, I travelled to Indianapolis for the Richard F. Dennis Legacy concert. The concert was put on raise an endowment for private lesson scholarships for the musically worthy and financially needy at North Center High School. Carol Dennis invited friends of Mr. Dennis and NCHS alumni to join the fun with the NCHS State Champion Orchestra, so I decided to use frequent flyer miles and make the trip. Dick Dennis played concert master for the Henry Mancini Orchestra and directed at NCHS from about 1962-1995. Several of his friends attending the concert played with Mancini and they were absolutely fantastic! This concert was a great success. Peter Gunn just rocked with the Mancini rhythm section including a phenomenal bass player, a sensational drummer and a brilliant pianist. The trumpet section was also a smash featuring Domonic Spera (IU jazz professor), Gill Hoffer (US Army Band DC), and local pros Jont Rogers and Phil May. Fine trombonest Dave Povolka, oboist extraordinaire Pam Ajango French and several professional string players joined the fun. The high school students were excellent too.

I returned to a full plate. As soon as I returned, I had a rehearsal with the Bellevue Opera which has a show at Thanksgiving-- Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. This has some really nice music. The last several days in Seattle, Cochlear Corporation was hosting a meeting, so I was up every day at 6 for the 1-hour rush-hour commute down to the Talaris center in Laurelhurst. I had a 90-minute presentation to show audiologists how to implement our multi-center music study. This was a burden, but I managed it, and am relieved this is over.

Leah is settling in well to her new job with Newport Audiology. People seem to keep buying hearing aids, so this is good for us. We are integrating some new families into the UPC small group which should be interesting. I hope this all works out well. We are also trying to seek out a local church. We STILL haven't settled on a church -- presybetrian, methodist, evangelical, nondenomenational? Something should work. The search continues. There's plenty of little churches around, so prospects look good, yet nothing really jumps out as the place we should definately be.

Kathryn is still a darling. She's lots of fun, and a welcome sight after a long day at work. She grows everyday, and is really starting to talk a lot. She knows her alphabet and can count into the teens. She can count to 3 or 4 really, after that, she pretty much just runs thru the numbers. I've been working with her on trigonometry, calculus, linear algebra, differential equations and digital signal processing, but I'm sensing these things might take longer to master. Kathryn shows an interest in musical instruments, so that's cool. She likes percussion, e.g. the xylophone. That's a good one for kids.

That's the home news. So, who likes football!? What do you think the chances are Purdue could beat Wisconsin this weekend? It's a long shot, but would be a great win. How about Michigan beating Ohio State and winning the national title? Not that I'm a Michigan fan, but ANYONE other than Ohio State would be welcome. USC? I don't really like them either. We'll see. The Colts? Got a run defense? sheesh. The Bears. After 21 years in oblivion, the Bears appear to be back. The Seahawks aren't bad either. Moving to basketball: The Pacers? Did I just miss the cartoon with the Pacers wearing striped prison garb? C' mon guys. I struggle to cheer for our Pacers anymore. They suffer from a lack of coolness.

I'll end with that. Autumn is here in Seattle, so the leaves are turning, the fog is rolling in and the rain is falling. I haven't seen Mt. Rainier for a week. I'm guessing she's still there. Figure if she blew up, we'd know!