KOST-ing At Disneyland

Blogging friend Darleene generously surprised Bob and me with 4 tickets to tonight's KOST 103.5 Pre-Holiday Party at Disneyland.

Disneyland was closed to everyone else. Only a fortunate few had the run of the park.

We were among the first to ride It's A Small World. It officially opens tomorrow after a LONG refurbishment.

Former flute student Amy and trombonist Mas were able to join us for the fun:

Amy and I were good girls this year:

Santa had a few things to tell Bob:

A wonderful time was had by all.

Thank you Darleene and thank you KOST 103.5 for a memorable night at the Magic Kingdom.

More pictures here.

Wings Over Long Beach

Despite the smoke-filled skies Sunday, Bob and I had a marvelous time at the Wings Over Long Beach Air Show at Long Beach Airport.

My brother Ken, the Executive Assistant to the Director of Long Beach Airport, was hard at work:


C-17's are really big:

I love this C-17 interior shot:

How about this B-52 Bomber:

It's got lots of engines:

These people are standing inside the bomb bay:

This is the rear of an F-16:

Each and every one of these planes flew over our home on their way out of town Monday morning. SO FUN!!!

To see all the airplane goodness click here.

Smoky Dusk

Although we are several miles from the Brea and Yorba Linda fires, our neighborhood seems to be directly down wind.

The dense clouds of smoke have created dusk at 10am.

Ash is falling like snow. Although our landlord blew ash off my car earlier today, it is already wearing a new coat:

Aside from the fallout, we are quite safe and nowhere near the fire areas.

Our prayers are ongoing for all involved.

Total Eclipse

The skies overhead are dark brown. The light filtering through has the same quality as during a solar eclipse.

Although we are many miles away from the new fires springing up in Orange County, the smoke and ash has quickly and heavily engulfed our neighborhood.

I will be making my way out to San Bernardino shortly for a rehearsal and evening concert with the San Bernardino Symphony. The route that I would normally travel is in the midst of the Corona/Yorba Linda fire and is completely shut down. I'll be heading north, then east on the 10 in hopes of a clear journey.

My prayers are with friends beFrank and and Darleene who are covering the fires for KCAL9/KCBS2 as well as all those who are fighting the fire and who have lost their homes.

I'll keep you posted.

Veteran's Day Salute

Grab your hankies and head on over to Epi's blog.

Thank you for your service, Epi. God bless you and God bless America.

Dancing with the Gunn

Yes, I admit it.

I watch Dancing With The Stars.

So sue me.

One of the dances on the show tonight used the theme from Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini. Here is the man himself with a BURNING band:



Smokin'

Brain Exhaustion

I'm sorry for my lack of posts.

My brain is exhausted.

Otherwise, things are fine.

School is fine. Only three teaching weeks remain in the semester. Yes!

Bob is fine, but out of town until tomorrow evening.

My brain is not fine.

It is exhausted.

It seems to be overheating and in need of some serious drool time.

I think I'll try some of that right now.

Meanwhile, I'm fine.

Really.

Fine...

Disneyland Play Date

Former student Amy and I met at Disneyland before the park opened (we're flutists; we're early) to talk shop, ride some rides, and have lunch.

We're both enthusiastic fans of the Taco Salads:

After a loooooooong, enjoyable meal laced with shop talk we headed for the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters where Amy cleaned my clock:

She tried to coach me on the finer points of racking up the big scores, but clearly I still need A LOT of practice.

You can bet I'll be polishing up on my Astro Blaster technique before we meet again...