Last night, I ushered a really good concert at Hill Auditorium. Wow! was the general audience response. Well, except for the people who left early because it was "too loud". Um, it was Brahms, and *not* the lullaby. It is loud, and brash, and intense. And wonderfully performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. There was a moment of unintended levity, when the violin soloist broke a string! There was a slight break while she went backstage to restring her violin and the conductor filled in with a bit of conversation. Then she came back, and the ensemble re-started the measure before the string broke.

My earworm for the week, Livingston concert on Sunday and Brahms yesterday notwithstanding, is from Randol Bass' arrangement of the Night Before Christmas (the best narrated version I found -- other videos are either overwrought or the guy sounds like he's reading a poem, not speaking in rhythm).

And in a partial failure of my plans, I failed to buy dried apricots last week when I was at the grocer, so I have to do that today on my way home from rehearsal. Because I can't not make apricot bread. Some of the other things I can skip, but not that.... So today is laundry and start packing, although I can do some of that around the baking tomorrow. Maybe I'll sort the living room while things are baking....

(edit for grammar. why I didn't catch it when I proofread, I dunno.)

or, What *was* I thinking?

Sunday's Livingston concert went pretty well, I thought. I needed at least one more rehearsal to be really comfortable with my part, but that's what happens when I switch parts 3 rehearsals in. The director took the mambo piece a little bit slower than the "speed run" we did at the last rehearsal, and it went OK.

Perhaps as a carryover from the LCCB concert, I flailed through the first bits of Farmington's rehearsal, but I got it together before we'd finished the first piece. (Later in the rehearsal, we ran a piece that most of us are familiar with, so we're not buried in the sheet music, and DC likes to really work the tempo and dynamics. He did, and the band was following him, and when we finished it, he paused, started to speak a couple of times, then took a deep breath and said "next piece". There was really nothing he felt necessary to fix, or even bring to our attention. Those are rare. I hope we play it that well in concert....)

Tuesday I wrangled the election reimbursement form, and sent it off to the Election Director at the County. Then I had to send her the pdf with all the timesheets/invoices/expense claims that I'd forgotten to attach. Then I came home and tracked down another copy of a receipt -- I got reimbursed for it, so I turned it in to Expenses, but somehow it's no longer attached to that expense sheet. But it was at Staples, and I was signed in to my account....

Wednesday I shoveled heavy wet snow off the top of the driveway before it froze into a slippery mess. (Driveway is still slippery, but at least it's not bumpy _and_ slippery!) This morning, I traipsed off to a County Clerk lunch meeting and did errands on the way home. (I was in Ypsi, stupid to come home today and drive back tomorrow.)

Stage rehearsal for Farmington tomorrow night, and concert on Sunday. Tomorrow and Saturday, I bake, do last minute errands (cat food!) and laundry, and pack, because bright and early Monday we leave for NC. (I really like to be through Charleston WV by the time rush hour starts, partly because if I do that we're out of the mountains before it gets dark.)

now with added snow and cold (gosh, you'd think it was December or something). Yesterday there was a large hawk hanging out in the trees in the backyard. The only other birds out there were the sandhill cranes, who just don't care about hawks. Even the neighbors' chickens were staying in their pen.

I was late to FCB rehearsal on Monday -- traffic came to a halt on 96E, a quarter of a mile past an exit. The wreck was at the next exit, 2+ miles down the road. 30 minutes later, I get to the scene of the crash, and all that's left is a sedan about a foot narrower than it should be, a flatbed tow truck, two fire trucks, four police cars, and about 30 feet of missing guardrail. Roads were clear and dry, so I dunno....

LCCB rehearsal went pretty well (good thing, because the concert is Sunday!). There is one passage where I'm not gonna try for all the notes. I'll go for the afterbeats that the other two are missing, and say "good enuf". The biggest issue with the mambo bass line now seems to be the tempo that the director wants to take it at.

Have nearly wrapped up the November election. Tomorrow, I'll track down the last bits of information I need to submit the reimbursement request, and then I think I'll be done with that. whee!

Sunday starts the busy slog into the holidays. Two concerts, two rehearsals, two work meetings, one concert to usher, two days worth of baking because the day after the FCB concert we are off to NC to spend most of a week with Mum. And two different performances at church. One will be fine, one will not. Probably.