Well yesterday went by and I actually felt sick for reasons OTHER than eating too much. In fact, I ate much less than everyone else. I woke up on Thanksgiving Day to a nagging sinus headache and a sick to my stomach feeling. Darn kids! They've been passing the flu and a cold around the school and it figures I would succumb to it only when I have a four day break. I swear- last year I had the flu on Christmas Eve and Day and this year it's Turkey Day. At any rate, I eventually started to feel a little better and the food was good.
Here are the things that I love about Thanksgiving-
1) Parades. I know that not everyone in the world likes them and I know that there is a new generation of kids who don't watch them anymore, but I am a sucker for a good holiday parade. In the middle of feeling terrible I watched the annual Macy's parade and loved it. I do have to say that the musical numbers left something to be desired, but the marching bands completely made up for it. It's been almost ten years since I graduated high school and left my marching band career, but I still get excited about bands. They did not disappoint.
2) PBS plays interesting programs. Not that PBS doesn't have interesting programs at other times, but it always seems that I catch Barney, as opposed to a cool salute to the American Musical, you know? Yesterday I caught the tail end of the Broadway show "Blast!" which is a lot like marching band (seeing a theme?). I actually own the DVD and Chris and I saw the live show a few years back at the Wharton Center on MSU's campus. It rocked my free world! Directly after this little nugget of joy they played the DCI National Championships from this past August. That really ruled. I haven't seen this in a while. For those of you who are not familiar with DCI- it stands for Drum Corps International. Drum Corp is like marching band, but without the woodwinds. Only brass instruments, percussion (including all the pit instruments like bells and timps and stuff), and a color guard. If you like a basic marching band then the DCI will thrill you to pieces. Heck, if you just like a cool show with good music and some extremely talented kids (ranging in age from 14- 22), then you will like drum corp. So I watched part of that before hopping into the shower to get ready for dinner. I also used the DVR to record the stuff I missed.
3) The left overs. Need I say more?
All in all, despite being sick, this year was a nice Thanksgiving. I liked last year a bit better, but that was mainly because Tripper, Melinda and the kids were here and that made it more fun. Some day when I have an endless supply of money I think I will either fly my whole family here or make sure that I can be up in Michigan. I do miss holidays at the Cottage with everyone. Then again, this year it would have included lots of snow and I am not so sure I would want that. :) I liked that it was mid 60s yesterday. :)
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4 comments:
The snow was awesome!!! Right out of a holiday song, but with the holiday gone, so is the snow. It is raining today so it is all gone.
No snow here... goes to show you that the weather is too weird around here. 15 miles from here they get 4-5 inches of snow.
I still listen to the Madison Scouts from 95 and 96 (when they won) with the latin music. Most of it is stuff they and we played in HS. Maleguena, Malaga, etc. Good crowd pleasing stuff. In fact, I think Chapman lifted our 91 show right from the Scouts. He then rearranged it a little for us.
If you didn't know, he retired this past year. Mike Lewis is in charge now. I haven't been in a while, but he is a fellow Chippewa and I'm sure does a good job.
I have a copy of the Scouts version of Maleguena that I play for my students each year when it comes to journal writing. Nothing blows the mind of a fifth grader like that music. It's on of two songs that really shows a kid the emotion that goes with music and how to write. The other one is Appalachian Spring. That one shows them the complete opposite and ALWAYS makes them think of spring time and the mountains. You should see their faces when I tell them the name of the song. :)
At any rate, I don't miss the snow. I don't miss the driving in it and I really don't miss those "surprise snows" where you still have to drive in it. The beauty of the South is that if it snows, we don't drive!
I like the Blast! version of the Simple Gifts/Appalachian Spring. Good stuff. I knew someone who played in Blast! when it came to the Fox a couple years ago. He was a trombone player at Central... smart as a whip, perfect pitch, but lacking in ... interpersonal skills. :)
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