My Life, my photography, my passions
Icicles aren’t as easy to photograph as I thought. I tried to get the glistening of the sun and the drops melting off, but just couldn’t get it right. I do like the stained glass window of the church in the background. This was taken at the Christian Church in Elmwood, Nebraska. Between Elmwood and Murdock (6 miles away) we’re a community of less than 1000 people, but we have five churches which are a crucial part of our lives.
I’m taking some time out to be a Mom. My son sang in last weekends Honor Choir during the BOCH Festival. This stands for the Honor Band, Orchestra, and Choir at the Holland Center Festival, which was held in Omaha Nebraska Sunday February 22, 2011. He is a senior in high school and sings Bass II. He is right of middle, in a white shirt and tie. You can see him can’t you?
Only last year did he even begin to start participating in honor choirs and events. It wasn’t for a lack of talent. Mrs. Colbert, his choir director, had been begging him to audition for years. Now he has the bug and has two more honor choir concerts in the next three weeks. Maybe it was singing at Carnegie Hall last year that did the trick. Whatever it was I’m enjoying it immensely.
Students were selected by audition and chosen from hundreds of students across the state and even some from Minnesota and Missouri. It’s quite an honor. Hence the name Honor Choir. Only two whole days were spent practicing their music, but remember, these are the most talented voices in the state. They were long days, singing for six hours a day and only one piece was in English. (just why do they do that?) But the result was simply wonderful!
Elmwood-Murdock high school had 15 students accepted into the choir, half in the Women’s Chorus and the other half in the Mixed Chorus. The photo above is bother choirs combined for the final number performed with the band and orchestra. America the Beautiful.
When the audio selections are made available I will post them for your listening enjoyment. For now, just call me a proud Mom. Yeah, he’s going to hate this post if he finds it, but at least I didn’t give his name.
This old neglected homestead catches my eye every time I drive by on Highway 34 heading to Lincoln Nebraska. Depending on the season and time of day, it looks lonely, forlorn, beautiful, stubborn, or even sometimes as if it’s playing hide-and-seek.
It’s my goal to capture each of the personalities from the same vantage point and mark the seasons.
I loved ice skating when I was young. During the 1970’s in Connecticut the best skating was outside, a field would ice over and all the neighborhood kids would gather with skates and hockey sticks. Cities and parks would sponsor outdoor skating rinks by flooding fields and bonfires would be lite to keep skaters warm.
It was wonderful. I learned to skate with my Dad. He skated backwards and held my hands. Didn’t matter if the ice was bumpy, or cracks made one fall down. It was the whole experience. Even when it snowed, then shovels came our clear the skating area. Always thought figure skating inside was cheating in a way, although I liked the smooth ice, it’s just not the same.
This rink at Eugene Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Nebraska combines the best of both worlds. A prepared, maintained surface gives the luxury of skating on “good” ice, while the open air pavilion maintains the natural feeling of skating outside. I taught my daughter to skate here and it’s a annual tradition around Christmas to spend a few hours on the ice. The park is located halfway between Omaha and Lincoln and we are very lucky and fortunate the park is so close, skating in the winter and swimming in the summer.
Today I’m being indulgent, and being a very proud Mom. If my son ever see’s this he’ll be mad, trust me, but I’m going to post it anyway. Tonight was Elmwood-Murdock High School Winter Concert and this was taken during song Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. He’s the tall Bass in the back.
My youngest son is a high school senior and his choir director always said he had a wonderful voice. But he really didn’t take notice until a couple of years ago. Maybe it was singing in Carnegie Hall (yes, the one in New York City) that he realized “Hey, this is pretty cool” .
Then he began to sing out. He has since auditioned for several honor choirs in Nebraska and just got accepted to the UNO Honor Choir and the Hastings Honor choir.
Yeah, this picture is not the best quality, too far away, low res, but remember I said I’m being indulgent. So the image is small. But isn’t the point of the project is to chronicle your life? Oh course it is, so no apologizing. On with self promotion!
My main job during the high school concerts is to run the video camera. That’s my other hobby, video editing. To hear Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus visit my YouTube channel. I promise you it’s pretty amazing. Yes, they lost the Santa hats.
