Another busy time, not enough postings here to keep it interesting. I apologize to the one or two of you who come to this page...

Anyway, getting ready to go to the first rehearsal of the York Singers for their summer session. I saw notice of one concert on August 25th in Ogunquit, and I'm guessing there will be one or two others that we'll do. Small group, all a capella, as I mentioned earlier.

Went to York Beach for the weekend, and the weather wasn't exactly beach weather. Lots of wind, and not a lot of sun. Went for a nice walk along the beach one day, and on Monday went along shore road on my bicycle up to Ogunquit. A 17 mile round trip, counting the scenic side trips I took, though it didn't amount to much of a workout. I'll bike to work tomorrow unless the weather is really bad tonight.

Got word today that I was promoted! Now a "Principle Software Engineer", for all the title's worth. Boston Cream pie for a mini-celebration today. The money is pretty good. Hope I meet expectations. Certainly feel that it was due, but I guess that's always the way that goes.

Next week will be another busy one, as Beth approaches graduation. Awards night, Baccalaureate (sp?) and then graduation on her (and my) birthday (the 13th)!

Yesterday's concert was good, though our performance wasn't as technically precise as the previous Sunday's. But the addition of Darryl's percussion instruments added a lot to the experience. Certainly acceptable.

After the concert we went to a party at house in York Harbor that is right on the water, and beautiful. A new house, with open concept living room/kitchen, a deck running the length of the house, sun room, high ceilings, full-house stereo, etc., etc. I probably can't afford the taxes on the property, never mind the upkeep. The owner is in the chorus, a very good singer, and a gracious host.

This week I'll start singing with the York Singers, a much smaller group that sings all year, but I only sing with them in the summer. All a capella, and generally much more difficult music than in the community chorus.

Snow's done, almost all gone already. Too much excitement!

The snow is accumulating. Well, sort of. Things are getting white, anyway. Not sure what's going on, but I guess tennis is not going to be an option today.

Busy week... got behind in posting anything.

Saturday was Beth's prom, and you can see her pictures by clicking here. The weather was great, and she said she had a wonderful time.

Last Sunday's concert was far superior to the Friday night attempt. Even surprised Wendell, our director. One more concert tomorrow, and hopefully we can do as well.

Biked to work on Thursday, which was cool (39 degrees) in the morning, and warm (73) in the afternoon, with lots of wind again. Good workout.

This morning we're having snow showers! May 18th! I put a short video here, but it's a 2.6 MB avi file. [Are there free tools to compress these?]

That's all for now.

Last night was our first of three concerts, and the second two are bound to be better than that one. There is just too much music for the group, which by definition of "community chorus" is comprised of people of many talents. Sometimes one of those talents is singing ability...

Anyway, we missed a few entrances -- sometimes just one set of voices at a time, other times as a group. We'll certainly be reviewing the trouble spots before tomorrow's concert.

Dover High Prom is tonight. Nice weather, except for the wind. [It's really been windy this spring, although the monthly averages don't show it.] Beth is going with Dan Ball, who has had the distinction of playing saxophone with then-president Clinton. (He's the one with his back to the camera.)

Seacoast Community Chorus rehearsal until 10:05 last night, home after 10:30... Makes 5:15 AM seem very early. Peter had another tennis match, I made supper, started a load of laundry, prepared for and went to a church finance commitee meeting. Rather busy time. Concerts Friday night, Sunday (Mother's Day) afternoon, and the following Sunday.

Beth has her prom this Saturday. Kate (niece) graduates Saturday morning from college -- good luck Kate! We won't be making it to the ceremony, though -- sorry about that. We'll send a check, though.

Anything else? O yeah, we have lots of ants in the house, which we haven't had in any of the prior 20 years we've lived here. Strange. Must be global warming!

Very nice bike ride to work this morning. No wind, and not too cool. 39 in Dover when I started, but in the 40's in Portsmouth an hour (actually 56 minutes) later. The ride home was windy, although generally a tail wind, and warm -- up to 80 degrees. Next chance for a ride to work looks like Friday, based on the forecast.

Beth explained her pictures from her trip to France. They are very nice, and I'll scan some in and post them if she doesn't mind. I know they'll just be typical tourist pictures for most people, but for many of us they'll be the only chance to view these parts of the world. She had a great trip, and a wonderful time.

OK -- finished getting the pictures of the Variety Show up, although I was going to wait for Beth to put in any text that she might want. The pictures are here. Fun stuff.

Beth's last ("last" as in "it's her senior year") variety show was last night (also tonight and tomorrow). I'll put up a couple of pictures later on. My camera is pretty poor at that kind of picture-taking, however, so they aren't all that great. I'll see if I can tweak them a bit.

The show was fun -- a real mixed bag of skits, singing, humor put on by the high school kids. They do all the choreography, writing, directing, etc. and manage to entertain the audience for a couple of hours. A great effort!

Peter, my son, won his first official tennis match as a high school varsity tennis team member (he's a freshman) on May 1st. A snippet of the article in Fosters is here. He has played some other matches, but those hadn't counted towards the team scores. Great job!

Rainy and dreary. Took the afternoon off to register the truck. Seems to cost more than the old one!

I rode my bike to work yesterday and was going through Pease when the crazy guy was trying to chase down the Pan Am jet getting ready to take off. Four Portsmouth police cars screamed past me a little before 6:00 AM (I know, a bit early). The plane took off right at 6:00, though, so they didn't feel there was too much of a threat, I guess.

The bike ride home was another major effort, as the winds came up and were in my face all the way. I wondered if I would make it over the General Sullivan bridge, it was so bad. Took 56 minutes to get to work, 1:09 to get home, and I pushed pretty hard all the way.