The weather has been absolutely crazy. In the span of a week we have had 2 blizzards, below freezing (well below), rain and today it is clear and sunny. As a matter of fact rehearsal was canceled on Monday due to the weather. The rain was starting to freeze and it was just not good conditions to travel in. I don’t mind winter, I actually would like it if we ever got consistent weather. Although it is kind of nice to know we are on the back end of it. Which means performances are near. OK, maybe not just around the corner but 4 months give or take. Usually we start in the middle of May. I don’t know when the first one will be this summer, but I am looking forward to it.

I know it’s been a while since I blogged and I’m sorry about that. I can’t really claim lack of time so I’m going with the excuse of same old, same old. We have been doing A LOT of detailing on old songs. You would be amazed at how easily your brain changes things and you don’t even realize it. We were going over Toco Band the other night in rehearsal and I tell you I thought I was playing most everything OK. Well when you single the sections out I realized I could use a whole lot more practice. It’s really hitting home that you can never practice enough, there is always room for improvement. So what you do is give 110% and keep on going.

Happy Thanksgiving. OK a day late, I know, but maybe I was a little busy eating pumpkin pie. Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving which meant no rehearsal. I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I know I did. There is always something that we can be thankful for. Even small things can have a huge impact. So my challenge is make Thanksgiving an everyday holiday and now is your chance to start. I want you to tell me something your thankful for and think outside the ordinary. No saying family or friends, you have to think of something specific. I’ll start…hmmm…OK I am going to go with technology. Yup, that’s right. If it wasn’t for technology (the web) I wouldn’t be able to to write to you. So I guess it’s a no brainer. I am thankful for technology & the web which makes it easy for us to stay in touch.

We took a short break off from rehearsals and now we are back at it. I really enjoyed the break after the full summer! Rumor has it that there might be a new song coming. Of course that is a rumor so who knows when it we would get it, but I definitely would like to learn something new. I absolutely love the last song we learned (High Mas). It feels like it took us to a whole new level and I can’t think of one person in the orchestra who does not love it. I know that when we perform it you feel even more energy. ENERGY, that’s the best word I can think of to describe it. It’s a crazy feeling to try and explain. It’s a thrill and the fact that you are sharing that with 69 other performers makes it even cooler. You look around when you are playing, you make eye contact with someone and you just know.

This past Saturday we were in Fergus, ON, for their 175th Annual Fall Fair. 175 years! That’s a long time. The weather was pretty good. The skies were clear and the sun was out, but it definitely had the crisp feel of a fall day. The whole event was pretty interesting. They had the Golden Helmets there, unfortunately we missed them. They had already finished their demonstration by the time we arrived to set-up. For those of you who don’t know who the Golden Helmets are they the OPP’s precision motorcycle team. Think the Snow Birds or the Blue Angels on motorcycles. OK, maybe not as cool as fighter jets but they are still pretty impressive. They also had an OPP helicopter and the Lumberjack Company was doing a demo competition. Hats of to the guys who hustle up those poles while carrying chain saws. The big event was in the evening, a truck and tractor pull. Pretty incongruous steel pan music and tractor pulls, but music is for everyone, right? I have to give credit to the audience they really enjoyed us and we had a good time. Plus the event was pretty easy work wise. They already had a tent and a stage set-up and we could pull our truck right up to the stage, so unloading was a breeze.