Performance Weekend

It's Sunday, right in the middle of the Pamlico Chorale performances. We sing under the direction of this wonderful lady:

 She's a retired high school choral teacher and very gifted director. The chorale (a volunteer community group) has worked hard this semester preparing a quite diverse group of songs for our spring concert.

The first concert was last night, and the second will be this afternoon at 3:00. Then I'm FREE from worrying about musical rehearsals and concerts until next fall! Yay! I do enjoy it, but it's work and a bit of stress (in a good way). I have a small solo in one song ("Shall We Gather at the River"), and I play the piano on two very fun pieces (a Broadway medley, and "Always Look on the Bright Side") when our usual accompanist is playing her saxophone with an ensemble band. It's a busy, fun concert. The audience was quite pleased last night.

I inadvertently took a bit of a blog break. What else has been going on? A bit of this:

 After riding this:

 With this girl:

 Eating this:

 Ahhh. I took along my iPod shuffle and earbuds, and the mellow-voiced Andrea Bocelli and I enjoyed the calming effect of the waves and sun. Too cold still to swim, but it was lovely nonetheless. My family is sick of hearing Andrea Bocelli, but I will never tire of his voice.

Did I tell you Adam is teaching an astronomy class at the local community college? Finally the skies cooperated and shuffled their clouds away, and he held two star-gazing classes this past week. This is the moon and Venus.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning he sat with a faithful handful of students in a dark field and watched the Lyrids meteor shower.
And he continues to ply his hand at boat improvements.

The bright white deck looks quite nice with the new wood.

He's fitting all the wood in temporarily and then will secure it down with sealant.

Rub rails and toe rails going on:

Checking the location of the motor mount:

A boat has so many important pieces of hardware. Each one must have its little wooden block.

Adam had me sit on the back of the boat at my usual spot at the tiller. I used to straddle a cleat uncomfortably, but now he'll place the cleat differently so I can sit easier. Climbing up into the boat is a little tricky -- up a ladder. I know the boat is heavy, on its four stands. I know it's not going to tip over with my weight. But stepping gingerly onto the edge of the deck, and reaching my foot over to the ladder, takes a little bit of Piglet courage :)

Have a grand day, you all! I'll be back when I have a chance. Julia and I are finishing her school year and will get her applied to the dual enrollment program at a community college near here for next year. Wedding preparations are in full swing. Lots of travel and fun ahead for our family. And the summer promises to be rather busy with Anna and Peter both home, and a local move perhaps in the works for us! Stay tuned!