Taking suggestions

We have to re-audition for the chorus every two years and because I joined in an off year, auditions are already coming up. I have accepted the fact that I will be nauseous from now until it's over. In the meantime I need your help: I don't want to bore anybody with the same old same old arias and sacred texts and boring old tunes. I'm taking suggestions. Do you have a good song for me to sing? Gary thinks I should go with Peter McCann's Do you wanna make love (or do you just want to fool around). That's a good one, but I think there are better ones out there.

Christmas comic

(Click picture to enlarge)

What was I thinking / H is for Helper / TH is for ?

Choir practice last night. If I do say so myself, we sound kind of awesome after only three reheasals. But last night when I walked into rehearsal I wondered were we really going to be able to sing well the first concert on Sunday? Then I looked more closely at the schedule. A-ha. I missed a couple of things. Before each concert it appears there are two extra 2.5 hour practices. I totally missed that. So I had to cross off my list not one but two ladies' nights out this week. Next time...

And then Hope. She's only four and we admire her work ethic. Give that girl some corn to shuck, windows to wipe, carpet to vacuum, dogs to feed, YMCA towels to fold and watch her go to town! She was my tag-along this afternoon and in each and every errand she made herself useful:

1. Dress-fitting (choir dress). The sewing lady seemed to be impressed with wee Hope's quiet help. She stood beside the woman while she stuck pins in my dress, stepped a little closer, and before I knew it, Hope was putting the pins in the hem and marking it with chalk, then pulling out the pins and putting them back on the pin cushion. Just doing what the lady told her to do.

2. Hair cuts. Things were slow at Fantastic Sam's so when Hope asked if she could sweep up the hair after her hair cut and mine the owner said, "By all means!" She swept it into the dust pan and carried it all to the garbage. All by her little self.

3. Grocery shopping. We try not to shop at Byerly's because it's so freakin expensive. But it is soooo luxurious I can't help it sometimes. Plus they bag your groceries and I'm from Iowa where bagging your own groceries is unheard of. (That's one of the bigger adjustments an Iowan has to make when she moves to Minnesota, by the way.) So we shopped for a few items (kettle corn) and then Hope asked the clerk if she could help unload the car cart. And she did. About 15 items including two 12 packs of La Croix that she lifted herself.

She was a hard worker today. Hope, we salute you and your work ethic.

And then there's Hank. He's turning into a great reader and a good student who gets his homework done right away. Every afternoon when he gets off the bus, the first thing he does is open up his library book or magazine and sits on the couch to read.

But we have some learning to do:

MOM. Danny said the TH word to the teacher today!

(The TH word?)

He told her to SHUT UP!

Text of one of our songs

Beneath These Alien Stars

by Vesta Pierce Crawford

Beneath these alien stars-
in darkness I have stood alone.
More than mountains come-
between me and my home.
The desert wind has waved my hair.
Desert sands have etched my face.
And the courage of the mountains-
has bound me to this place.
And something of its peace I've won;
I have stood with only God-
between me and the sun.

Now you get to imagine the music to which those words are set. It will be part of our first concert on October 1st.

Downtown Choral Festival

400 singers from eight choirs in a circular balcony surrounding the audience. It was a hoot.

This didn't work out very well

Audioblogging choir rehearsal via cellphone appears to have limitations. Listen at your own risk. It's awesomely beautiful live. I suppose I will post a decent recording when I get the CD.