Cache of the Day - The Ornament Exchange

One of our holiday traditions is around Taylor's birthday, which was this past Monday. After her 25 minute band concert at the high school, we went to the house and every family member brought a wrapped ornament. We drew numbers and each participant got to pick out an ornament in the order of the number that they drew. A certain amount of stealing went on as well. If it was your turn to draw and you liked a previously drawn ornament, you could steal that ornament in lieu of choosing a wrapped one.


Of course everyone tries to be clever with their ornament contribution, and there was a wide range of ornaments - ugly ones, beautiful ones, unusual ones, and ones that you just said "What IS that?".


I actually ended up with the ornament I brought - a delicate turtle dove that I wear in my hair. Here are some of the other ornaments as well.


Happy Birthday Taylor! I'm glad you were born!

Cache of the Day - Finding Lost Things

Everyone loses things, but I seem to be the biggest loser of all. Everyday - no kidding - I seem to lose something. Yesterday I lost my wallet while out to dinner, and some kind person found it and - identifying that I am a customer of Monroe Bank by my credit cards - put my wallet in the night deposit box of my bank. My bank called me today and let me know that they had it.

I had to laugh, because this is nothing unusual.

To show you how unusual this is not, I am starting a new side post, of everything that I have lost. I just need to keep track of these things.

Most of the things I lose I find, and that is the funnest part! Someone is watching out for me. And thank you to whoever found my wallet last night and rescued it!

Cache of the Day - A White Thanksgiving

Check out these photos of Thanksgiving in Wisconsin. I especially love the way the snow stays on the branches.








We even got out to do a geocache, which isn't the easiest thing to find in the snow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cache of the Day - Meet The Instruments

Face the music at WonderLab this weekend
Meet the Instruments a two-day affair this year

By Andy Graham 331-4346 | agraham@heraldt.com
November 16, 2007
Watch a kid pick up a musical instrument for the first time and make a sound with it, then watch their eyes grow wide.
Everybody can see a whole lot of that this weekend as Bloomington’s WonderLab museum hosts the annual Meet the Instruments event.
For the first time, it’s a two-day affair. Saturday’s programming will focus on symphonic and jazz music, while Sunday will feature world and old-time music.
“This is our third year we’ve been privileged to host the event, and each year we’ve expanded the program,” WonderLab marketing director Louise Schlesinger said. “It started out with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, then we added other groups and, now, it’s a two-day festival. We have so much musical talent in so many genres in this town, and it’s wonderful to be able to draw on that.”

Bloomington Symphony personnel will have their instruments on hand as Saturday’s schedule kicks off with a 10 a.m.-till-noon session. Josh Grekin’s Little Bands School program will showcase young jazz musicians in the afternoon.
Traditional American tunes will hold sway Sunday as the Hoosier Hotcakes play from 1 to 2 p.m. Dmitri Vietze of Bloomington’s Rock Paper Scissors world music agency will follow by showcasing world music forms and their wide array of instruments.
Both days, attendees will be able to take advantage of interactive music/science activity stations, create their own instruments, try out some unusual soundmakers and explore WonderLab’s “Science of Sound” exhibits.

Regular museum admission serves as admission to all this weekend’s events. WonderLab’s general admission is $5.50 for children, $6.50 for adults and $6 for seniors. Museum members and children younger than 1 are free. WonderLab is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
WHAT: Meet the Instruments, the annual event helping young people experience a wide variety of musical instruments, up close and personal, including the classical instruments of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra.

WHERE: WonderLab, 308 W. Fourth St., Bloomington.

Cache of the Day - Fall Activities

Never really knew what Fall was before I moved to Indiana....but it's not so bad. Here are some shots of some of the activities we've had going on.






Tailgating at an Indiana University football game and playing the Midwest favorite game called (don't laugh) "Cornhole".







Here we are at the Rocky Horror Picture Show on Halloween.












My condo is a great place to be surrounded by fall, from the fireplace, to the patio with a carved pumpkin, to the table decorations.






My friend Kevin came to visit in Indianapolis, just so we could go on the Ghost Walk through downtown.















And here is the crew at Employment Plus in our Halloween costumes.

Cache of the Day - New Season for the Symphony

The Bloomington Symphony Orchestra began its 38th season this past month, and I am enjoying my ninth year playing flute with the BSO.

We started our season this year by playing at the local mall. As part of our community outreach, we look to playing in venues that will allow us to reach potential audience by going to places our audience goes ("If Muhammad won't come to the mountain....").

Not only was our audience fairly large and diverse, we were also able to show them that we are not a "stuffy" symphony. Our program was all about PIRATES (notice my tattoo on my arm - aarhh!!), and we played music from "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Pirates of Penzance" and many more seafaring ditties.

Before the concert, we introduced young audience members to the instruments of the orchestra. I had my flute and piccolo, and several children had the opportunity to blow (or they tried to - no one actually made a sound). Taylor participated by showing off her pirates beard.

It was a great start to the season. Check out the BSO site for upcoming concerts. Would love to see you there!

Cache of the Day - The Best Place to Live

I guess I left my heart in San Francisco and I didn't even know it. Seems the Trolley City is the best match for me in terms of places to live, followed by Boston, DC, New York, and Los Angeles. I must be a "city girl".

Austin was #86 (that would have TOO freaky if it made the top!).

Where should YOU be? Take this quiz to find YOUR list of "Best Places to Live".

Cache of the Day - Festival Fun

Saturday was a full day of festivals and the difference between them was radical!

Taylor marched in the Persimmon Festival parade. The Persimmon Festival lasts all week in Mitchell, Indiana, and is quite the event for the small town of 4,500. This was the last day of the event, which includes midway rides, arcade games, and lots of "fair food". Persimmon pudding and ice cream - and anything else you can think of that you can create with this fruit - is everywhere. The competition is fierce for the best pudding.




The first year I experienced the parade was right after we had lived in California and we had just gone to the Rose Parade in Pasadena. As I stood on the streets of this small town, watching the firetrucks and tractors drive by, sirens and horns a-honking, I had to laugh to myself. But I have since appreciated the charm and the small-town atmosphere. Here are some shots of Mitchell friends on the street, as well as some shots of the parade. Taylor is the clarinet-player.

Later that night, we headed into Bloomington for the Lotus Festival. This is a VERY different event. Going into its thirteenth year, the Lotus Festival brings the world to Bloomington by booking musicians - bands, vocalists, unusual instruments - from countries everywhere. The diversity of the musicians and the diversity of the crowd add to the energy of this event. We saw just about every group (albeit sometime for only one or two songs). My favorite was the a capella group Chic Gamine and the improvisational oud and vocals of Dhafer Youssef. The Tuvan throat singing of Chirgikhin was also pretty cool.

A perfect day for a festival!

Cache of the Day - Shakespeare in the Park

What a beautiful evening to bring a lawn chair and a picnic and to enjoy some theatre in the round. Taylor and I, and Taylor's boyfriend Tyler, had a chance to see a modern-day version of "Romeo and Juliet", performed by the Monroe County Civic Theatre on Saturday night. It was staged in a local park and was performed by Bloomington-area community members.

The play was updated for a modern audience, and actually adopted a sports theme by creating rivalries between Bloomington High School South and Bloomington High School North (two real rivals!).


Here are some shots of the actors, who relied on the setting sun for their stage lighting. There are shots here of the rumble and the [homecoming] dance.

Check out the pic of Taylor, Tyler, and I enjoying the show. You can also see a very disinterested Gracie!

Cache of the Day - High School Football Games

I'm actually not talking about high school football games. The football game is just the opening and closing to the marching band.

I heard that statement once before, but OF COURSE I never believed it! Football is king, as is any sport when you're in high school. But - being a former "band nerd" myself - I couldn't wait for football season to begin. There is nothing like having the best seats in the house (our band at Cortez High School in Phoenix always sat on the 50-yard line on the "Home" side). And the antics in the stands! Having an instrument close by, while viewing a football game, always carries a potential for mischief.

One of my favorite times was when I first started going to college and, as a "prequel" to going to Arizona State University, I enrolled at Phoenix College. Of course I was in the marching band, and that is where I met My Pal, Andy. Andy always was the Master of Mischief and he (percussion), along with buddy Dave Hoops (trumpet), would make me laugh hysterically. I remember a particular game where Andy would put a trumpet to his chest and someone would yell out, "Hey Andy, play it with HEART!!!". And Dave - unseen of course - would play the "CHAAAAARGE" fanfare, while Andy would act like he was "playing" that fanfare with his heart. And then someone would yell out, "Hey Andy, play it by EAR!!!!" and Andy would put the trumpet to his ear and, well....you get the picture.

Of course, all the other non-band fans were actually WATCHING the game, so they paid no attention to these antics whatsoever.

I learned practically everything I know about football - and developed a true appreciation for it as my favorite sport - as a result of going to every Home game and 90% of Away games. And I developed a true appreciation for the unique bond that musicians have for each other through the closeness and camaraderie that we shared in these tight quarters.

So, much to my delight, my daughter Taylor is now in marching band at Mitchell High School, where she plays the clarinet. I can see that she enjoys the band very much. I'm pretty sure that is because of the people she plays with and shares the stands with. Here are a few shots of her in her band uniform.

So, football season has begun and going to Taylor's games has brought back some great memories, and just one of the reminders of why music means so much to me today.

Cache of the Day - Theme Parks

Everyone's got to do at least one theme park over the summer, and we've had a chance to hang out at a couple this summer.

Here's Tyler and Taylor at Kings Island, north of Cincinnati, getting ready to ride The Italian Job. Even though we were waiting in lines the majority of the time, and spent lots of money on food and drink, we had lots of fun.

The best value around is a Holiday World, where they've got great wooden roller coasters. The best part, however, is that all the fountain drinks are FREE!!!! And sunscreen - if you're in the water park - is FREE!!!! And parking is FREE!!!! We like FREE!

While nothing compares to Disney, these local theme park are loads of fun.