Summer has been a blur so far.
David and I have worked very hard as usual. In May, Genie passed away and we were able to go to Texas for the funeral. It was good to see friends and family and Genie's service was such a tribute to her spirit. Jane's contribution alone was unbelievable and Gary and the kids wrote letters that made everyone laugh and cry.
We both had good experiences teaching Governor's School. I was able to pay off my Miata and David paid off our furniture. We are holding some back for our big trip to Utah at the end of this week.
I spent a week teaching a marimba camp in Memphis which I didn't really want to do, but it went ok. I got to spend some great time with Nancy which always does my heart well. The biggest thing is that while I was gone, David missed me. He seems changed since this time and we have grown even closer than I thought possible.
I have had several good rehearsal weekends with the Caixa Trio and the new commissioned works project (our 2nd) is coming together nicely. I am enjoying working on new music with the girls. We received a large grant for a DeSantis commission and I am still waiting to hear back on the status of the grant I wrote with Rob Smith for percussion trio and wind ensemble. JB Smith wrote a piece for trio and orchestra and sent it to us for free. All in all we have lots going on in many different areas and it's nice to keep growing as a group.
27 has two upcoming gigs in September and the 27 trio (me, Micah, and Matt) have written some new tunes. The House Band will be opening for us at the September gigs. Micah got t shirts printed for us and Matt put our albums on CD baby and I tunes.
27 and Caixa both have facebook fans pages now.
Sometimes with all the booking, media updates, and correspondence in general, it's hard to find time to just write music for the sake of writing it. Often the project with the deadline nearest is the only thing that gets taken care of. For example, this morning, I worked on a middle school mallet audition etude. Eric Willie and I are writing 5 senior prepared, 5 middle prepared, 5 senior sight reading, and 5 middle sight reading etudes. It's a huge project, but should turn into a good book for us as well down the road.
Other projects - David has built a pergola in our side yard. It is just amazing and I don't know how he learns to do all these things. David and I are so good right now and I have honestly never been this happy in my whole life. We talk and share and love and he is my partner in every way. He is feeling really good now too so I am hopeful that we are through the worst of our health issues. Perhaps our third year of marriage will be the easiest so far in multiple ways.
Dad is doing really well. I am so happy that we have both lived long enough to be really close. I am so proud of him and all he is doing. He is taking art classes and working at the Arts Coop. He is now adding the practice of making candles out of stones to his collection of special skills.
Helen, Peter, and Vic came to visit (we went there one weekend as well and also briefly saw Jim and Nancy). We rented a pontoon boat and I was able to get in my ski Jones. David pulled me like a pro. We will do that more often.
Just back from Chattanooga and the British Open weekend. So good to see the family. I left for 2 days to rehearse with Caixa in the Boro which ended up working really well logistically.
Oh, I have made a new friend and she is 89. Her name is Sue Foote.
Well, a few days at home and the next entry will be when we get back from Utah.
Almost forgot this:
Last but not least, you absolutely must view this video of David and me dancing.
It was made as part of a spoof for Governor's School in which all of the faculty have a dance competition. David and I didn't win, but we were pretty good. You click on the link and should be able to view the video from there.
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/dfeNoOUtow5hQ0wCIv8F
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