Night of Opera

I sang with an awesome bunch of friends last night - here are some clips of some of the songs

When I am Laid - from Dido and Aeneas
Ah quel diner - from Perichole
Ah perdona - from Clemenza di Tito
Crudel perche finora - from Marriage of Figaro

Video from Reunion

This the song that has gotten stuck in my head the most from the weekend reunion

20 years!

This weekend brought about a 20 year reunion with my college chamber choir. 20 years ago we toured Eastern Europe just after the fall of the iron curtain. It was a life changing event for all of us and though most of us have lost touch over the years, we fell back into our friendships with the ease of a worn pair of jeans. We spent 2 days rehearsing songs we took on tour, some well remembered, others not so much. On Sunday afternoon we put on a concert of the songs we deemed polished enough for public performance. Considering the gap of 20 years the concert was pretty darned good. Many parents and friends were in the audience along with many kids watching their parents sing for maybe the first time ever. It was truly an exhausting and memorable weekend. I sincerely hope it is not another 20 years before I see all of these wonderful friends again.

New Place - it will soon also be filled with boxes!

Moving

My sister and I are leaving a house we love, but it is growing too small and the owner wants to sell it. We love our neighbors and hated the idea of moving. We did some detective work on an empty house in our neighbor hood - literally three doors down from our current place - and we discovered that the owner was very interested - excited even - to rent to us. Awesome. We get to stay in our neighborhood and we don't need to rent a moving van. We also have about a month to get stuff moved over. All of these things are great. We have just started the packing process and I am already HATING the sight of the boxes. Unfortunately, we don't have a room in which to store the boxes so the walls are literally closing in on us. Eventually, it will all be worth it, but at the moment I am feeling anxious...I think it is my claustrophobia kicking in. Will post some pics when things begin to get moving. I am going to try to talk my sister into letting me get some stuff moved over this weekend. I could definitely get some bookshelves moved over and the dining room would be an easy move. The rest of the weekend plan includes a 5K - weather permitting - to support the robotics camp at Georgia Tech - good times.

Racing a Plenty

Racing a Plenty
Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

I ran another 5K this morning - one benefiting the local Ronald McDonald house. It was a nice course mostly flat with two passes over an overpass so a bit of a challenge with two uphill climbs - the second of which was about 1/2 mile from the finish line. I felt good about my time - 29:29 and when I got home I went to put my number with the other pile of numbers I have. I thought it was an impressive pile and I know there are at least 3 missing...so I took a shot of them. Unfortunately I haven't kept great track of my times, but last week I started posting the times on the back of the numbers - maybe this will keep me motivated to get faster and faster. Next week I will run my 3rd race of the month and it is a flat course, so I am hoping for a good finish. Hopefully the pollen count will be down by then. It was very high this morning - I had pollen on my clothes when I got home from the race!
Since finishing the race this morning I have planted my basil for the season, and am going to try growing leaks in a big container - we shall see how that goes. Last year my tomatoes did terribly so I don't know if I am going to try again. I had beautiful leafy plants, but no fruit...I may just stick with the herbs this year.
I am thinking of going out and enjoying even more of this beautiful weather today - sunny and high of 73...just about perfect!
Happy Spring everyone!

Easter Weekend

I had a great day on Friday. I ran at Forsyth Park and enjoyed all the beautiful blooms. After my run I strolled around the park and took pictures. Friday evening I sang at a Tenebrae service. Saturday morning started early with a 5K race on the beach at Tybee Island. It was a nice morning, but harder to run in the sand than I thought - the last 1000 yards were in the deep sand and I felt like I was trying to cross country ski in flippers, but I managed to make it through with a respectable time albeit not my best. After the race I went downtown to pick up some honey. We have the terrific local honey store and I was almost out of Tupelo Honey - my absolute favorite. I walked down to city market and saw the mascot for our local baseball team, the Savannah Sand Gnats. I ended up shooting a scene with Gnate - the mascot - in which he tries to make friends with me by offering me a praline and I take some Off out of my purse and try to spray him. Probably I will get booed at every home game for trying to kill Gnate the Gnat, but it was fun nonetheless. I finally got home and had lunch and then joined my neighbor on the lawn for an afternoon beverage. We watched the birds frolic for a while and then both decided it was nap time. I came in and watch some baseball and collapsed on the couch. Tomorrow it is Easter and I have to sing the sunrise service at the Isle of Hope Marina and then the 11:00 service before finally getting to enjoy some time with family and friends for Easter dinner. It has been a fun weekend, but I feel as if it won't be as restorative as I would hope to get me ready for the busy week ahead!