Well, the rest of last week sort of flew by, but not necessarily in a good way.
Tuesday’s rehearsal went okay for me. The solo horn player didn’t show up, so I tended to play a bit louder than I normally do, hit most of the high notes that have been eluding me, and actually got a compliment from the director. There were a bunch of holes in the band, however, and it’s really tough to tell what we’re going to sound like in New England in a couple of weeks.
I dearly hope that we don’t suck.
Tuesday was Betsy’s last rehearsal with the band. She’s spent most of the last few weeks getting ready to move to Texas, and moving day was yesterday. I had dinner with her and John on Friday night – and retrieved the carpet shampooer that I’d lent them (minus the upholstery attachment, which has apparently been sent to Texas – doh!), then said goodbye and wondered where I’m going to find another cemetery/football/music/literature friend to hang out with going forward.
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| Ocmulgee River, Macon, GA 12/26/2010 |
She’ll play with the band two more times (in VT and MA at the end of the month), and then she’s back to TX to start building her new life there. With any luck, she may be able to get back to the east coast sometime this fall to shoot a football game or two with me, and we’re still on the brass band board together – but I guess most of our interactions going forward will be via phone or email. Don’t see many early-morning treks to middle-Georgia cemeteries together anymore.
Sigh.
When I got up to feed the cats yesterday morning, I glanced out the kitchen window and was delighted to see that my back yard was chock-full o’ kittens! There were three half-grown ones and three very tiny ones, all of whom were having a ball rolling around in the dew, chasing bugs, jumping on each other and generally being adorable. I only noticed one watchful mama kitty, but I’m fairly sure that there must have been another one somewhere. When I opened my (upstairs) window to try to take some pictures, however, all seven of the little buggers scampered.
About an hour later, I decided to give my front lawn a much-needed mowing. I’d hoped that, by starting at 8:00 AM, I might be able to mow the thing in relative coolness. “Relative” being the key word there. 85 degrees is, after all, relatively cool compared to 95. It’s still incredibly hot when one is pushing a mower around and pruning trees and picking up sticks. By 10:00, when I put the mower back in the shed, I was completely soaked in sweat.
I got a little surprise while re-shedding the mower, however. One of the tiny kittens – a little ball of tuxedo – had decided to explore my shed while I was mowing, and I surprised it when I barged in with the mower. It cowered in a corner of the shed for a few moments before seeing an escape route and hurtling out into the sunshine for an instant before barreling underneath the shed. Had I been thinking more clearly (I think I was suffering from heat stroke at the time), I might actually have closed the shed door and tried to adopt the thing. Not sure how my two cats would take to a new baby brother or sister, but I’ve decided that (unless I can get a pure-bred Maine Coon) my next cat will be a tuxedo; and that one was just TOO cute.
After mowing, I went grocery shopping and then spent most of the rest of the day on the couch downstairs, alternately napping and watching Angel (my current series du jour).
This morning, I’ve down a couple loads of laundry and am trying to decide whether to do some housework (dishes to be washed, carpets to be cleaned, furniture to be moved, etc) or practice my horn (either tuba or tenor) or just go out somewhere – to take pictures or to play darts or maybe a bit of both.
Before I decide, however, I have to do some more laundry.
TWD