Austin Band Camp June 2010

Connor auditioned for the University of Texas at Austin High School Summer band camp Honor Band. He submitted a recording of the audition music in May. He was accepted. Yay! We are so proud of him. After a week of camp, the Honor band performed a concert on June 26, 2010.

The Honors Band

Connor is on the far right on the back row.

He was so far away, it was hard to get a clear picture of him.

First we heard chamber concert peformances by many smaller groups of honors students. Connor was in the Tuba and Euphonium Quartet. Here is a recording of their performance of Dances by John Stevens.

The Honors Band played two pieces. The first piece in the Honors Concert was Overture to Candide.

Overture to Candide

The Honors Wind Ensemble was conducted by Professor Jerry Junkin, Director of Bands and Conductor of the Dallas Wind Symphony. He gave a very interesting introduction to the second piece in the performance.

Introduction to the 2nd piece by the conductor

And the second piece the Honors Band played was Symphony No. 4 composed by David Maslanka. This is almost half an hour long, so I had to upload it in three parts.

Symphony No. 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Our first guest did not stand on ceremony; she stood on 18 or so inches of snow! Neither did she wait for an invitation but helped herself to the seed on the ground then supped at the source.

We have seen more deer around the house this year. With all the snow cover, they must need to forage in a much wider circle this year.

Also joining the feast were at least 20 hungry turkeys milling about.

No one seemed to be in charge but soon they wandered off to the neighbors in a neat orderly procession as if this was a progressive dinner.

And then, to top it all off- a first sighting of a Northern Shrike!!

He/she remained aloof to the bounty below but perhaps the view was better up there.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Here are a few pictures from today, our second day of snow. It really is quite warm- 32 degrees and so very quiet with only the sounds of the wind amongst the trees.

Merry Christmas!!

Surprises abound!

Last week, one of the irises, obviously confused, put forth many blossoms. It has withstood the wind and rain and now, the snow. We are certainly not bored with the same old, same old here in South Dakota.

Updates from the far North

After a cool and much appreciated summer, we have transitioned into fall. There is a crispness to the air and the leaves are turning to their fall colors. Then, just to keep us guessing, Mother Nature blesses us with a different form of precipitation. We are grateful that this is a quickly passing decoration that only portends what is likely to come later; much later if we have anything to say about it.

Cello Day V

Cello Day V was on March 14th, this year, but I hadn't seen that someone posted video of it on Youtube until just this week.

Enjoy!

-Andrew

Spring in South Dakota

 Last week gave us temps in the mid 50's for two days thus tempting our sensibilities about the anticipated change from winter to spring.  We awakened this morning, in a slight panic about not remembering to "spring forward", to a winter wonderland of light, fluffy snow which did not cause any sort of panic.   However, by 3pm this afternoon, the warm sun reduced the white cover to nothingness.  To spark a memory of spring, we only need look inside at the prolific blooms of our indoor garden- orchids, African violets and poinsettas galore!