A blissful month of summer vacation has passed. I am trying to savor every minute of it! Today was my last day of teaching at summer band. Tim, the teacher who conducts the bands, was feeling ill today so I stayed after my lessons to direct the 4 bands so that he could go home. It was quite hot on stage and with the effort of conducting about 10 scores with zero preparation, I was working up a sweat! It went well, though, and I enjoyed hearing the full instrumentation since I usually work just with the clarinets. I kind of enjoy the spontaneity of teaching, when situations come up like they did today and you have to run with them. I am always such a planner, and sometimes it's very refreshing to wing it and be able to feel confident about what I'm doing. The jazz band rehearsal was particularly fun and they did a great job. As usual I feel a little sad to say goodbye. I guess I'll get used to it over many years of children coming and going, but I hope I always retain the sense of joy and pride and curiosity that I feel for them now.
I had a fun day last weekend with Heidi. We made mimosas and had brunch in her little garden and spent the day at Island Beach State Park and Seaside.
Warren and I are getting ready to take off to the Cape for a few days as soon as his program is over on Sunday. Hooray! I hope it will be a relaxing and adventurous time.
