Soprano or Bass clarinet???

I had orchestra rehearsal last night for our Christmas services at church. I was on the slate, so to speak, to play bass clarinet as there were two clarinet players joining us. Last night was our second rehearsal and I was asked if I would play (soprano) clarinet instead as the orchestra leader just found out that one of the clarinetists cannot be with us. I, of course, willingly said yes, even though I do very much enjoy playing my bass clarinet (love that low sound). So I had the choice that night to play clarinet parts or my bass clarinet parts. I chose to play my bass clarinet parts. I thought it would be weird to play clarinet parts on bass clarinet considering the ranges and sounds of both instruments. As it was, I could hear most of my bass clarinet parts being covered by the low brass players. I got my clarinet parts today so I am going to enjoy practicing them this week for our next rehearsal.
Hope you all are having a good week so far. TTFN

Turkey and Halibut

First of all, I hope you all had a nice thanksgiving. I did...we were supposed to have my aunt, cousin, brother and sister-in-law over but my aunt was sick so she didn't come. We did have turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes (YUMMM!), rolls, and other good stuff to eat.
This weekend I went with my family to the coast. I was looking forward to it since I had not been there since Labor Day weekend. Okay, I went there late September with some friends too, for a day. The weather was nice...we left Friday morning (got Friday off work) and came back Sunday afternoon/early evening. Saturday my sister and I spent some time on the beach looking for rocks and agates and found some nice ones. There was no wind at all which was nice. Sunday was sunny as we spent a little time shopping and ate lunch at Mo's. Here comes the halibut...oh, but unfortunately I decided not to have the halibut and had fish and chips instead. Oh, and we got to see the sea lions which had come back to their 'get-out-of-the-cold-water-and-sleep-in-the-sun-place-on-the-docks'. Some were not sleeping at all and had a conversation...I'm surprised they did not wake up all the sleeping ones. All in all it was a nice weekend to have gotten away for a couple days.

Earth-quaking missions with a passion

It was a hit!!! My niece was in the school play that was performed this last weekend called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. If you haven't seen it or read the book, I recommend you do so. I went to the play Thursday night and saw half of it Friday night as I had worked late on Friday. All the kids did a great job and I thought the lady who cast the play did a great job. I enjoyed the costumes the kids wore as they were from the 1970's. One question: do you (a wise man) like ham? Okay, so that wasn't the main point of the play but ham had a part in the play believe it or not. It took the place of frankincense as one of the gifts the three wise men brought to Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus. I don't think that ham was the wise man's pure and holy passion (see last post). It was nice though that he did bring the ham so J, M, and BJ would have something to eat.
The service was good this weekend in church as it was our annual global outreach weekend. It is very good for us as a church to remember all our brothers and sisters that are out there doing His will by being disciples. It makes me think of a few friends that I know that are out there serving and it gave me that continuing hunger to go on another mission trip next summer. I had already been thinking about it since I went on one three summers ago. It was really neat to hear some stories from a few of our own on how they ended up where they are and what is happening over there.
Here is an odd thing that does not go with the rest of what I just said...there was an earthquake earlier today (?) off the coast, 6 miles deep under the water measuring 5.8 on the scale. Oh, and I just recently read about the cyclone that hit Bangladesh last Thursday and the last number I heard, over 2300 people have been lost. I read that a few countries, including the US, are sending money and supplies over that way to help the ones in need. My heart goes out to them.

Pure and Holy Passion

Who / what is your pure and holy passion? Well, for me, it would be halibut! No, just kidding!!! To be serious, though, it is Christ the King. Last Tuesday night at Bible study, one of our songs we worshipped to was Pure and Holy Passion. That was one of the weeks I got to play my clarinet with the worship team. I immediately fell in love with the song the first time we sung it in church. Saturday night I was on my way to church, listening to the radio in the car, singing along with what song was playing. I switched stations to find another song that I liked but didn't so I turned off the radio and started singing what came into my head. You guessed it...it was Pure and Holy Passion! I must have sung that the rest of the way to church. During the worship part of the service, the second song we sang, after I had got seated was...Pure and Holy Passion! Isn't it cool how He puts songs in your head for a reason?!!
The message was great as it so reminded me of when I was in Mexico! It was on the passage in Matthew chapter six, a section of the sermon on the mount and this part is on laying your treasures up in heaven and seeking first the kingdom of heaven. While I was in Mexico on my mission trip a couple years ago, we did devotions every morning after breakfast. Those of us that wanted to could volunteer to lead one. Our theme was the sermon on the mount. I chose to do the part on...treasures in heaven and that very same passage. So I was listening close to what Stu was saying about seeking Him and His kingdom over the earthly kingdom.
After we had 1.3 and dinner, I was on the way home and I heard Steven Curtis Chapman's song Magnificent Obsession. Okay, I get it. I love that song, too of course. I will leave you this moment with one verse:
"Whom have I in heaven but you? and earth has nothing I desire besides you." Psalm 73:25
I know that if I desire Him and His kingdom, He will give me what I need. Hmm...that just reminded me of another verse...
"Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Psalm 37:4
May He be the desire of your heart.

Colorado Rockies

Yeah, so the Boston Red Sox won the World Series....again! (sarcastically) They had won it in 2004 also. Hope I am not spoiling the news for anyone that has not heard yet. Yes, I am not much of a baseball fan but I guess I think the world series is somewhat exciting. As you might could tell, I was rooting for the Colorado Rockies...go Rocks!!! This is weird because a few years ago, I was liking the Red Sox (because of their team name), but I think I was rooting for the Rockies, in part, because I didn't want them to be swept away by the Sox and I didn't want them losing on home plate, so to speak. I only got to watch from about the 5th inning on and I did get excited when the Rocks scored or when they had that sweet double play to get two Sox players out in one play in the 7th inning. I really wanted them to win that game last night so it would go to a game 5 so they would have at least won one game in the series. I should be happy, though, that the Rocks made it to the Word Series, and that Jacoby Ellsbury (from Madras) got a championship in his first year in major leagues.
My weekend was good. I went to a recital with my dad on Friday night to hear a friend (she plays the oboe) that I know from church plus another lady that plays the horn. Saturday, I went to Sean and Amy's wedding which I thought was very nicely done. Then I did a little shopping and went to church afterwards. We had 1.3 at Carrie's house...that was a good time. Sunday I enjoyed as I stayed home and did laundry, etc.
TTFN

Just how many Mona Lisa's are there???

Bonjour! Je suis parlez en francais...I am speaking in French...I will have to do some refreshing of the memory. I only wanted to speak in French as the subject in my title is about the Mona Lisa. How many of you have seen the real one? I have, in person, really I have. I have actually seen some prints of her picture, so there are obviously more than one. To answer my question, it may not be answered easily. One may never know how many lovely Mona Lisa paintings there are out there. There should only be the one, in my opinion. This came up very briefly on Saturday night as I was talking with a friend. She started laughing when I remarked, 'which one?'.
Work last week was actually kinda slow since we had a few days to get payroll done which is a few days too long. We are used to getting it done and having only a couple days to go thru it.
Friday night I went to a friend's dinner party and then the bachelorette party. We had a good time although I was a little more quiet than I should have been. All in all, it was a good night.
Saturday night was cool as we were a quite small group in 1.3 and yes, I actually learned something (not that I don't learn anything). It was really cool how we all interacted in the discussion. Then we went out to dinner at a good Chinese restaurant close by.
Hmm, I will leave you with the thought of wondering just how many Mona Lisa's there are in the world. Good thinking!
A tout a'leure (see you later)

Whatnots

I must mention, from my last post, that I do like football (if you couldn't tell already). I am one of those few gals that like football. I like watching pro more than college but I still watch the college games some. I have watched football since I was a kid, many times with my dad, and still do. Oh, since I am on football, my Chicago Bears lost to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. It was tied up at 31 and Minnesota went for a field goal right at the end and won 34-31. So close!!!
Well, last week was month-end at work for me which I thought went pretty well, at least on my end of things. This week is payroll time. Today was a slow day at work which was nice...it is nice to have slow days every once in a while.
I went to my friend's Bridal shower on Sunday and had a good time. I know she had a good time too. It's getting close to their wedding day, believe it or not!
Tomorrow night is Bible Study which I look forward to, seeing all the ladies again and checking to see how they are doing and getting to know them better. I am going to try and be more open this year, although last year I did pretty well at growing in that area.
Have a great day tomorrow! Oh, and a happy birthday to my nephew!!!!!!!!
TTFN