Happy Birthday, Buddy Boy!

I�m back! My watch is set to Eastern time, my stomach thinks it is still in Mountain. What to do? Our trip was excellent; well, let me rephrase that: Apart from getting a queasy stomach from rough airplane landings, our trip was excellent. Just to refresh your memories, the purpose of the trip was to hear the world premiere of the symphony I described in this entry. We arrived in Calgary on Tuesday evening, arriving at the hotel we thought we were supposed to be staying in, only to discover that we were in fact not staying there, but were shuttled to a different hotel. This was a problem for two reasons: a) the new hotel was a farther walk from the concert hall; b) we were not going to be able to get the CPO rates and the room was $200!!!!!! So Hubby made some phone calls, and we were able to check into the first hotel the next day (the problem of the day before was that they were totally booked, but an opening was available the next day). They were both really nice hotels, but considering the first one was closer and less than half the price of the second, we preferred that one.

At the very first read-through of the symphony, the orchestra demonstrated how prepared they were. The guest conductor was also amazed at their professionalism, especially with a new work, and the rehearsals went very well. The orchestra had even booked an extra rehearsal, which is almost unheard of, the day of the concert, and the CBC recorded the dress rehearsal as well as the two performances. The conductor loved the piece, the players loved the piece, and the audience loved the piece. At the dress rehearsal I wept, the ending affected me so. It will be broadcast on the CBC and as soon as I find out when, I will let you all know so that you can tune into their ReaIAudio facility on their website.

We also managed a trip yesterday to Drumheller to see dinosaur bones at the museum there. I was most impressed by the drive as the geography changed from flat prairie to rolling hills to eroded hoodoos. I wish we had had more time to explore, and this gives me incentive to go back and spend more time there. We were taken there by a couple, the husband of which was a highschool buddy of Hubby�s, and with whose half-native, half-Scottish wife I formed an immediate bond. We have decided that we are going to travel to Malta together to visit the goddess ruins there.

As for cowboy hats and pictures thereof, I�m afraid I didn�t take any. That doesn�t mean there was any dearth of cowboy-hatted and cowboy-booted individuals walking around, but there weren�t as many as one would expect. There were more destitutes on the sidewalk bumming spare change, and they made a far greater impression on me.

It�s Buddy Boy�s Sweet Sixteenth birthday today, and we are headed out presently to Da T0ni for a steak dinner (for him, not us) and to present him with a plethora of gifts, none of which is what he actually wanted. Oh well. Them�s the breaks.

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from coldandgray :

Welcome back. HB to your young man.

from zuzus-petals :

Welcome home and many congrats to your husband for a successful world premiere! - Zuzu

from time2 :

Welcome back El.

from bindyree :

When I was sixteen, I had accumulated the sum total of all human knowledge. If Buddy Boy is similarly afflicted, I wish you all the best of luck. Anyway, many happy returns. :-)

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