And we're off....

Or will be in a few hours.  Skibo and I leave after the school day is over, spending two days at camp.
Wish me luck --- it's my first time chaperoning!

Yours, in tow,
N.

Banding together

Last night we got to attend Boo's second band performance.  She's been learning the clarinet since last Autumn, and the progress that she (and the other hundred or so students from the four elementary schools in our district) have made since the Christmas concert is incredible!  At Christmas they were essentially playing in unison, with very few chords: today they were playing pieces in which there were more complex harmonies, and pieces with complicated stops and starts.  Mostly the tempo was still all in unison: but still, incredible progress!
We're looking forward to next year when she and Skibo will both be in band together, although we don't yet know what he's going to play.

Yours, immensely grateful for the incredible teachers giving Boo this amazing opportunity!
N

Huge loss to the acting world

I was very saddened yesterday to learn of the loss of one of the all-time great actors of the small and silver screen:  Bob Hoskins was so good in so many things that all over social media friends were posting their favourite movie or show or scene, and there were countless different things being chosen: Roger Rabbit, Mona Lisa, The Long Good Friday, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Mermaids, to name but a few.
Personally, I remember him best for one of his earlier stunning TV appearances, in Pennies From Heaven in 1978.  According to Wikipedia's page for the show, it was his breakout role: and even now, 36 years later, I can still recall how good he was in it.

Yours, raising a glass to his memory,
N.