Dad and I went shopping yesterday so that mom and I could head downtown today. It was library book sale day--it's held once a month--plus the farmers' market was going on. We also hadn't gone to the Boardwalk Shops during Windmill Fest and I wanted to see what was there. Mom was unaware that they change every year, so she agreed to go ( Read more... )

This weekend was scheduled to be hot and humid, but that didn't deter mom and me from wanting to go to Windmill Fest. It's our tradition, heat be damned. Our first stop was to be the farmers market, so I grabbed a big ice pack from the freezer and stuck it in my cold bag in my trunk. That would at least give any food a fighting chance ( Read more... )

This has been a very long week in a lot of ways, and I'd been looking forward to today for some time. Then the morning sucked, in the process sucking the life out of me, and by the time I was to leave, I had no interest in doing anything ( Read more... )

I went out last night to do something that I'd neglected to do last year--check out my college's pep band at one of their basketball games. I've now seen the marching band several times over the past couple years, which isn't surprising considering they actually have a performance during halftime. With basketball, they're literally relegated to ( Read more... )

Back in my book selling days, there was a series of religious books called Left Behind. I never read them, because…no, but they were pretty popular for whatever reason and that's one of the series that, all these years later, sticks out. Or, well, just plain sticks. I'm sure I've forgotten most of the books I've sold ( Read more... )

For the better part of two years, I was involved with a bequeathment to our band's library. Most Thursday nights, during the indoor band season, I was back behind the practice area, sorting through music so old and musty that I had to wear a mask in order to not leave with a headache. We had a small group involved with it, which got smaller as ( Read more... )

We were back from our break this week, just in time for another wave of heat and humidity. This is my week to stock up on camp stuff--and make sure to get my parents a card for their upcoming anniversary (it's a milestone one!)--so on Wednesday I found myself at Target after work. First odd thing: Two Target workers standing outside talking to ( Read more... )

We hadn't really talked this week about meeting for library work, but several weeks ago, Harold and Marian and I discussed that this would likely be our last session before the summer season started. I'd emailed Amaryllis our plans, then left it alone. We're adults; we shouldn't have to baby each other. The only one of us who didn't come ( Read more... )

The director was not at band on Monday; he'd gone fishin'. I knew he was going fishing, because that's part of why we didn't have library last night, but I wasn't aware he'd be gone the whole week. Hey, he deserves time off like the rest of us. This meant the assistant director was in charge this week, and we played through the music we'll do ( Read more... )

Somehow I got to the band building really early yesterday, over 20 minutes early, like I mistimed when I should have left to get there. Oh well. There was a jazz band rehearsal, so I knew the building was open, and I happened to see Marian arriving shortly before I reached the door, so I knew she was there. I could hear her unlocking the gate as ( Read more... )