August in Cambria

The time to plan a vacation is earlier rather than later.

That's why Bob and I have just reserved our own slice of Cambria, California for late August, right after the end of the Long Beach Municipal Band season.

We've spent the past 3 summers in Cambria enjoying ourselves while doing absolutely nothing but take naps, eat, take more naps, hiking a little, eating, then getting to bed so we can wake up and take more naps.

Naps. We like naps.

We're trying a new property this year:

We know we will enjoy this view:

Here is the living room:

I'm looking forward to curling up in this bedroom with a good book:



All this and more comes for the price of a medium okay hotel room.

Be sure to contact CambriaVacationRentals.com for your own slice of Cambria.

It is truly heavenly.

Quintet, Etc.

Friday found me at La Habra High School with the quintet.

We were very impressed with the attentive, enthusiastic crowd of high school musicians who attended our concert.

One of the day's highlights came when bassoonist Rufus and I mistakenly made our way into the Attendance Office instead of the Administration Office. We were curtly told to go stand in line, on the assumption that I was bringing a tardy Rufus to school.

That was worth a giant giggle.

Here's my chair:

Later in the day I was blessed to find myself lounging in the afternoon sun at the Ritz Carlton in Dana Point.

This picture sums up bliss to me (if you ever get the chance, drink deeply of the delicious water shown):

Meanwhile, Bob has been texting me from beautiful Ridgecrest where he is giving away free CFL's and educating people on energy conservation:

He's been gone since Friday, but he'll be home later tonight.

Tomorrow will find us both at APU for the quintet concert at 7:30pm. Bob will be engineering and I will be praying that my flute speaks eloquently.

The concert is free.

Please join us!

Hunter

My brain's RAM is still full.

I did a lot of driving and playing yesterday.

Work = Good

Bob is up in Ridgecrest until tomorrow evening.

Work = Good

I've got a quintet recital on Monday that I need to practice for.

I think I'll head for bed and see what a full night's sleep will do.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with another picture of my great nephew Hunter:

There are a lot more where this picture came from, but the thought of getting something organized and up on the blog is more than my limited brain RAM can process right now.

Maybe later.

Burned Out

Sorry.

I am so burned out I haven't had a creative thought in my head since my brain exploded after opera.

Why the explosion? The music didn't arrive until 2 days before the first rehearsal, and it was hard. It is certainly possible to cram all that music into one's brain in that amount of time, but it comes at a price.

Burn out.

I hope to snap out of it soon.

Meanwhile, please bear with the blog silence.

My brain is weary.

A Great Meeting

I had an uneventful drive up north to Atascadero yesterday.

I was on my way to meet my new great nephew Hunter for the first time.

Here he is at 20 days old:

He's pretty laid back:

Here he is posing with his mama Heather as Great Grandma snaps away:

His mama is in love with him...

...as is his Great Aunt Fluteprayer:

Aunt Bethany is dreaming of the day she will have her own little one:

Proud papa Coach Matt poses with the rest of the family:

Tomorrow a big family bar-b-que is being held in Hunter's honor.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm...bar-b-que!

Cruising

I just booked a short cruise for my dear husband Bob and myself for our 3rd anniversary which is coming up in May.

We were not considering a cruise at all. I usually jump on the anniversary plans in January, but I was sick and practicing hard for my recital. By the time we started looking at places to go, it turned out that a 4 night cruise would cost less than returning to the place we stayed in Yosemite for our first anniversary.

I've been on a couple of cruises and really enjoyed them (even the Force 7 gale in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Vancouver). Bob has never been on one and is unsure of the pleasure to pain ratio involved. God bless him, he is going WAY outside his comfort zone to find out if cruising is something he could get used to.

Our cruise is booked and paid for (it took about 3 minutes start to finish). I plan to spend much time like this:

I'll let you know how we like it.

Prince Caspian

I'm re-reading Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis as I again make my way through all of the Narnia books.

I'm looking forward to the movie, which is arriving on May 16.

Here's Prince Caspian himself:

If you haven't read the Narnia books, do yourself a favor and dive into one today. You won't be sorry!