Picnic Time!

Last night I had eight people come to the choir: 4 sopranos, 2 altos, 1 tenor, 1 bass  Wow!  Pretty impressive. I also gave the cantor one of the binders, so I passed out 9 of the 12 binders.  Not too shabby.  We worked on the two rounds because I had no piano or keyboard.  There is a piano in the back of a big storage closet, but it's buried under a lot of tables and things.  Also I was told it hasn't been used in over a decade, so even if we got it out, it probably would need a good tuning.  The tuning would probably cost more than buying a small electronic keyboard.  I might buy something under $100 and make it a donation to the shul. We'll see. No matter what, I think the eight people had a good time last night.  Hopefully, they will come back in two weeks for the next rehearsal.

My mani/pedi got cancelled yesterday because my nail tech is sick. I really like her a lot, so I hope she is feeling better soon. I have another appointment already scheduled for two weeks from now, so I'm just going to wait for that one.  The good news is that I suddenly had all afternoon free to do something else. I chose to make a memory album.

"A what?" you say? 

For some time now, I have been wanting to document a lot of my things in photos and stories. I have a lot of jewelry, a LOT OF JEWELRY, and some of it has special sentimental value and stories attached to it.  Once, when we still lived in Laurel, I tried to tell Evey some of the stories.  She said I should just stop because she wouldn't remember them.  I did stop, but ever since then I've been worried about those stories.  Many of my pieces belonged to my mother or my two grandmothers.  I want my children to know those stories and keep those stories and memories alive because it keeps the memory of those people alive, too.  So I took photos, NINETY OF THEM, of all of my jewelry yesterday.  Then I put them in a Picasa Web Album, like always, and wrote long picture captions explaining where I got the piece and if it had any monetary or sentimental value to it. 

I discovered two things. One, I have a LOT OF JEWELRY, a ridiculous amount of it, and I don't wear most of it.  Second, I have forgotten where some of it came from.  Sad for me.  On the other hand, those stories that are important to me about some of the pieces are now documented for all time.

I sent the email link to the album only to Mark, Lowell, and Evey.  I don't know if they will look at it or read any of those stories now, but maybe after I'm gone, they will be more interested in it. I know it sounds morbid, but sooner or later the two of them are going to be going through those jewelry boxes, trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.  I hope this album will  make that task a little easier.

Today, Mark and I are going to a picnic.  Our NARFE chapter is holding its annual picnic at a park in Hillsborough County on a reservoir.  They are providing smoked chicken and pulled pork.  We are supposed to bring side dishes or desserts to share and our own drinks.  Of course, since Mark and I are eating the chicken or pork, we are bringing a main dish to share.  Mark made his southwestern bean salad.  He hasn't made it in a long while because it's full of carbs and calories. It has brown rice, black beans, corn, and many other goodies in it.  It's a cold salad, hearty, delicious, full of protein and carbs.  I have no idea what the other people are going to bring, but I plan to do my best to use portion control today. If I eat a reasonable serving of the bean salad and mostly stay away from the dessert table and any chippy-type things, I think I can come away from the picnic and not feel guilty.  It's a park, too, so we are going to take a long walk on a trail.  That should be fun and burn up some of the calories.

Then tonight we will have dinner at Denny's and the Solivita movie.  The movie tonight is My Week with Marilyn, which we are both looking forward to seeing.  I hope everyone in "blogland" has an equally fantastic day planned!