I was excused from work a half hour early tonight, so I decided to go to the inaugural Bryan City Band concert of the season.  One of my best friends has played trumpet in the band since high school.  The new director is someone I have known for the past umpteen years.  I just learned tonight that Emily was the band director of the city’s high school just prior to Mr. Krause’s assuming the position.  THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO!  (sorry, Terry).

As I was making my way to finding a spot to enjoy the magnificent concert, I heard Carol shout my name so I ventured over her way and enjoyed the music together.  Marches and medleys of tunes were the order of the day.  Of course, my favorite selection was “Marches from Broadway”  (imagine that).  But there are many more great marches from the Great White Way than “Before the Parade Passes By,” “Comedy Tonight” (wasn’t aware that that is a march), and “Seventy-Six Trombones.”  In a grab bag from “The Fifties” we heard another (“March of the Siamese Children”) as well as a reprise of those trombones and cornets right behind.

Next Wednesday (as I previously made known), I will be making my directorial debut.  The director told me to be at the high school for rehearsal Tuesday night.  We would run through my piece and then I could leave.  WHAT!?  Sounds like a waste of gas to me. Someone (I think it was either my oldest brother or my godson) suggested that we find a spare tuba.  WHOO HOO!  BRING IT!  So, if they remember to bring the horn, I will not only be conducting but sitting in to play as well.

So… come on, come all.  But, be warned, it is the week of the Jubilee so come early for prime parking.  I’m not excited or anything.

And don’t forget the big ball of rope. What does that have in common? Why would my mind put all of that in one dream? And why Susanne Pleshett?

On the explanation of dreams. I get some weird ones on occasion. I’ve never really tried to find any deep meaning or explanations to any of my dreams. I figure they are just my brain working a little overtime.

Baseball is easy to explain, I’ve been listening to some games and trying to find out when I can see a game this summer.

Philosophy — Blogging recently on this topic.

Dinner with the folks. Well I did see quite a bit of my family recently. We used to always gather at my folks house when they were alive, so that is also an easy one.

Big ball of rope? No clue

Susanne Pleshett? Well, I was talking about the Newhart show with someone recently, and she was much better looking than Bob Newhart.

Now if I can just figure out the BAD/GOOD stuff. I don’t thing that is going to happen very soon.

Tutankhamen was the son of Pharaoh Akenaten and his wife, Kiya.  Akenaten’s Chief Wife, Nefertiti, was Tutankhamen’s stepmother as well as his mother-in-law. You have to know that Egyptian rulers often married their siblings to keep the royal line going. It was a way to keep the throne safe.

Tutankhamen married Akenaten and Nefertiti’s daughter, Ankhesanamum. So therefore, if anyone is confused, Tut married his half-sister.

Nefertari, is not related to Tutankhamen, unless she is related to Nefertiti. Since there is no proof of her being related to Nefertiti, we have to assume that she is not related to Tut either. Of course, if she was related to Akenaten or Kiya, she would be related to Tut as well, but no proof of that has been found either.

As for the age of these people, it really depends on when you’re looking them up in history. Rameses II lived to be in his nineties, which is doing extremely well for that time period. Egyptians during that time only lived to be in their mid-thirties! He outlived many of his sons and his favorite wife, Nefertari. King Tut died early in life, about 18 or 19 years of age. Nefertiti hasn’t been found yet. People have many ideas of what happened to her, but so far, without her body and tomb, we can’t have any real answers. Nerfertari, on the other hand died somewhere in her mid to upper thirties.

I hope this answers the questions I have been asked. If there are any more, I would be willing to hear them and answer to the best of my ability. With new questions brings more knowledge to me, since sometimes I have to look them up myself! 🙂

I just woke of from a very strange dream. At first I was playing in a High School baseball game, but that soon turned into a ballgame with current friends and a few big league stars (and a couple of those are no longer with us). Then I’m in a play trying to discuss some deep philosophical point with Susanne Pleshett, she eventually morphed into many different people and I was still trying to discuss the same point.

I’m not sure what the original point was, but it was a discussion of what is good, and what is bad. And then when or how to make bad things worse, bad things better, good things better and good things worse. All very confusing, especially when it ended, I was trying to discuss this with my oldest daughter, while making a big ball of rope, just before a big family dinner at my parents’ house. Wonder what Freud would say about that dream…. 😉

Anyway, I woke up contemplating the Good/Bad discussion. My fuzzy 2 am brain just isn’t wrapping around the dream discussion at this time (It was very deep 😉 ) Maybe by putting these words down, I can remember the finer points to what was being discussed. Or, I will find out that it was only deep in the dream.. 🙂

Oh well, I’m going to think more on this latter, I need to sleep and I think I got out what was needed. Of course, I think I will need to re-read “When bad things happen to Good people”, or some other book of the same genre….

I made a purchase for my nook reader over the weekend that made reading with the Nook just one step closer to the books it is replacing. And it does have the smell of a new leather bound book.

I picked up a protective cover for it. A nice leather cover that opens up like a book. Holding the leather gives the Nook a different feel. Less like a piece of electronic equipment, and yes more like a book. I was surprised at how close to a book it was when I tried to turn the page. I actually tried to flip non-existent pages in an electronic book. I’m not sure if it was the feel of the cover, or the material I was reading.

Anyway the book I was reading was another free download from B&N. The author is Lee Child and the book was the 9th in a series of murder mysteries with the lead character being Jack Reacher.

It was a gripping novel that had me not wanting it to be time to sleep. Very hard to put down. It also made me want to look up other works of this author. While I haven’t been disappointed in any of the free books I’ve had the chance to read, I did notice the special free selections seemed to be aimed at getting the reader to buy other books. Excellent marketing ploy. Free books to download on Fridays and for a limited time more free books to download when you go into a B&N store. Most have been a good first representation of a particular author/style. A couple have been books I wouldn’t normally look at, but I try at least the first chapter to see if I care for it at all.

Not much in the way of a book review, but I thought that it was interesting that I tried to turn a physical page after I put the Nook in a cover.

Ok, so it’s doubtful that our 6-year-old daughter Sammie is headed for the MLB after having had her first day of T-Ball today.  If sports skills and hand-eye coordination are hereditary, my kids are definitely not inheriting those traits from their mother’s side.  I wouldn’t mind having a kid in the MLB, but it’s not going to be something I’m pushing for or aiming toward, especially given my lack of athleticism.  But Sammie has been very excited about starting T-Ball for weeks, and we like to let our kids try as many activities as we can afford to take them to (time AND money-wise) so they can see what they like and where their strengths lie.  Sammie brought home the T-Ball flier a few months ago and said she wanted to join.  Of course, this is coming from the same kid who said the same thing about wrestling in the winter, but we knew she had no idea what that was about, and she was talked into doing Brownies instead.  So I was worried that she would get to T-Ball today and decide it wasn’t for her and want to quit on the first day.  But luckily, she seemed to have liked her first day of T-Ball.  We try to keep by the guideline in this family that once you sign up for something, you stick with it for the duration of your commitment.  You don’t have to sign up again, but you should fulfill your original obligation.

When we arrived at the ball field today, the head coach (and coincidentally also a  fellow small group leader for our church youth group) gave a spiel about how the 20th pick in the MLB draft last night was from our town and began in our same T-Ball program, hence my blog post title.  Our local guy was picked by the Boston Red Sox, a funny twist of irony for his father, the lifelong Yankees fan.  While immediate relation is enough to convert some lifelong Yankees fans to Red Sox fans overnight, whether the small town / county connection is enough for others remains to be seen.   😉

From what I saw, Sammie did a good job today in T-Ball.  She didn’t catch every one (any?) of the ground balls that were hit her way, but it was her first time ever trying anything of the sort, and she gave it her best shot.  She tried everything that was suggested by the coach, and didn’t sit out any of the activities.  She had fun, and as long as she sticks with it, I think T-Ball will serve the purpose for which we intended: a fun activity that gets Sammie out of the house for a few hours a week this month so the kids don’t kill each other – and she learns the fundamentals of baseball at the same time!

And our pastor thought of our family when our church had extra tickets for an upcoming Toledo Mud Hens game (minor league baseball), so I think this will enhance Sammie’s appreciation of that as well – looking forward to it!!

Here’s a video – I apologize if it’s hard to see, but the team went way out into the field, and I could barely see them let alone tape them when I had an almost 2-year-old and a 3-year-old to chase at the same time.  At one point, the camera dips down to catch my almost 2-year-old as he ran crazy – thought I’d tape him since I couldn’t seem to film Sammie playing any baseball.  She’s the one in the yellow shirt, and if you watch until  the end, she does throw a ball.

After my last post, I had some questions that were asked of me and I intend to answer them to the best of my ability.

Rameses II and Nefertari were one of the many Pharaohs and queens of ancient Egypt. Rameses’ line was originally one of the military. His grandfather was Pharaoh Horemhab’s general and was given the throne upon his death, as was Horemhab’s wish. Rameses II became known as one of the greatest Pharaohs in history.

Nefertari and Nefertiti are two different people and were queens next to two different pharaohs. I’m not sure if they were descendants of each other, since there is no evidence remains of Nefertari’s family and Nefertiti has all been erased from history. Though I find it interesting that I can find more sites for Nefertiti than I can for Nefertari, who Rameses II painted on so many walls.
I don’t think that Nefertiti and Nefertari were common names in the time period, but I could be wrong. There might have been plenty of people named Nefertari and Nefertiti among the common people, but at least in the Royalty, they were not common names.
I am not sure if Nefertari was named after Nefertiti, though the similarities makes one think so. There was only 57 years between the end of Akenaten and Nefertiti’s reign and Rameses and Nefertari’s reign. That gives the time for someone close to Nefertiti to have a child and name her Nefertari, in remembrance of Nefertiti, but we can’t be sure at all.

More answers to come…

Last weekend’s storms in the mid-west left much destruction, injuries, and at least seven deaths in Ohio.  Perhaps most tragic of all, the graduation exercises at Lake High School (near Toledo) had to be postponed and moved to another location.  The back wall of the gymnasium ripped off.  Not so tragic in and of itself, but one of the seven who lost their lives was the father of the class valedictorian. Their home also destroyed. Mere hours before what is supposed to be a happy moment in the lives of young adults, family, and friends was put to a violent halt.

My little corner was spared such devastation, I knew the wind had picked up. There was lightning, rain, but no sirens went off.  Many of the surrounding neighborhoods issued warnings but I guess we were under the dome.  Walking to work Sunday morning, there was no standing water, downed trees, or any of the disastrous signs of the damage that Mother Nature wrecked on several communities in our area.  The worst incident I heard of was a customer whose newly purchased picnic umbrella had been whisked away.  We were lucky.

I love a good thunderstorm; however, when it brings destruction, injury, and loss of life it makes me stop and think about the awesome power of things  which we have no control over.  May God be with those seven individuals and their families and the communities who were in the middle of the wrath.

It’s 1am and I can’t sleep.  Why?  We are right in line for our second round of severe weather tonight.  Round one was kind of fun.  The two older kids were still awake, and they came downstairs panicked at the Tornado  Warning that was flashing on their tv.  It turned out to be for a different county, but then one was issued for our county a few minutes later.  But it soon became clear that our town  would be spared – a few very soft claps of thunder, and we were done.  The tornado sirens blared, so we dutifully went to the basement, but before we could even get everyone down there, the sirens were off.  So right before bed, I checked the radar again, and round two is headed straight for us.  I’ve had the news on while laying in bed, and after all of the very serious reports of damage and that which is yet to come, I gave up on sleep.  My husband and I came downstairs to  watch the radar on the news and…  wait.

I’ve got a comforter and some bottled water and snacks waiting by the basement door; it looks really bad.  I hope I’m over-reacting, but better safe than sorry, I guess – and it’s 1:30 in the morning so it’s easy to panic; I’m tired.  Plus, preparing for disaster keeps my mind of the feeling of impending doom from outside.  The county just north of us has a Tornado Warning.  It feels like a pressure cooker outside – the humidity is stifling, and the wind is picking up.  So far they’re saying on the news that tornadic activity is heading straight for our town, but weather is very unpredictable.  But even if we don’t get a tornado, they said to expect winds 80-90 mph.  Did I mention we invested in an inflatable pool for the kids yesterday?  😉

I’m praying for the safety of our family and friends who are spread all over this county and the next one over.  I’m praying for our old house and for all of the tall trees around it.  There are reports of heavy damage (possible tornado) in the county to the east, and we have many friends who live there – praying for everyone.

Well, this thing appears to be in our county now, and no tornado warning for us.  The wind is howling, so I better go before I lose power – I have flashlights and battery radios, think we’re well prepared…  just difficult to decide at what point it’s safer to panic the kids by waking them and taking them into the basement…  always a tough decision.  I’ve lived in the midwest all my life, but this is so much harder when you’re the parent and the one who has to make the calls.

Stay safe everyone…  I will leave an update on this post tomorrow, but so far, it looks good for us – the storm turned due east at the last minute…

*UPDATE* –  Yes, the storm turned away from us at the last minute – a miracle.  So other than being extremely tired, we are unscathed.  Some friends I saw at church today are ok too, so I’ll have to do some digging about the rest of the area, but I think everyone is ok!  Time to catch up on that sleep…