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Category Archives: Art
Day of Jazz – SUNY Oneonta
Last Saturday, I spent the entire day on the campus of SUNY-Oneonta. I do not live all that close to Oneonta. It is approximately an 80 mile drive one way. The child known as Number Five does attend the college, though, and is in several performance groups. Last year’s Day of Jazz was held in the Black Box theatre on campus but this year’s was set for the Hunt Union Ballroom.
This year’s schedule included a few high school jazz bands and several community college and other college jazz bands. SUNY-Oneonta’s New Orleans style jazz band played outside Hunt Union as the cookout was happening. The other college band members and the high school band members could grab their horns and play along with their directors and guest artist Ray Vega.
Most of the photos in this slideshow are outside shots. Saturday, April 9th, happened to be a gorgeous day so I wanted to be outside as much as I could.
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One Last Look at Myrtle Beach
Trips, for me, tend to be big photo opportunities. I did not realize before heading south to Myrtle Beach that there had been a huge air base there for years. As is the case with many municipalities that had former military bases, Myrtle Beach has put together a small park to honor those who once served there.
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As you may recall if you visit my blog frequently, the War Bird Park is at about mile five of the marathon and had a band playing at it during the marathon. My youngest, who had been down to Myrtle Beach several times, says that he thinks the planes are different than there were last time he was there.
Myrtle Beach
I did spend a bit of time – most of Sunday – playing tourist in Myrtle Beach. The marathon had not totally killed my legs. I could walk around and walk I did.
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Snow & Winter in Upstate New York
I have to say that the winters now are not as harsh as I recall from my childhood growing up in upstate NY. We do not get as much snow nor as much cold – as I am looking for my gloves to put on as it is so cold that typing is making my hands cold – as we did “back in the day.” That said, I was out shoveling Friday morning so that the car could get out of the driveway after a two hour school delay. The snow and the moon just appealed to me so you have winter in photos.
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Homemade Ornaments
Thanks to Heather at Then Heather Said, I joined a homemade ornament swap this year. I absolutely love to make ornaments. I have been letting my crafty self go and ignoring it quite a bit but not this Christmas. I love to make things – especially ornaments – but do realize that making just one is usually a pain so I let Heather know that I could make and mail three.
Of course, I had many different ideas of what I was going to for the ornament swap. I have all kinds of craft items from shrink plastic to clay to paper to inks to card stock to …that’s it! To dominoes. Here is the a quick tutorial.
Items needed:
De-glazed dominoes (if ceramic)
tissue paper
white glue
cup
water
paint brush
ribbon
E6000/super glue
1. Deglaze the dominoes. If you are using those old-fashioned, ceramic-type dominoes, they come with a glaze on them that needs to come off. Soak them in some water with bleach in it and then wash with dish soap and let air dry. I do this as soon as I get home with my dominoes so my children realize these are not household toys.
2. Mix plain white glue (Elmer’s works great) with water so it is really runny. I really can’t say the exact proportions but you do not want it to feel like it is glue, more like paint.
3. Use the paintbrush to “paint” some of the glue mixture on the domino(es).
4. Put small torn pieces of tissue on the domino where it has glue mixture.
5. Paint over the tissue paper.
6. Repeat until the entire domino is covered.
7. If you have a particular item you want on the domino, cut it out and place on the domino following the directions above.
8. Let dry.
9. Put super glue/E6000 on the edge and put ribbon along edge.
Kenny Rogers
I have to apologize as I have been remiss in actually getting the thoughts out of my head where you all can read them. The holiday season is busy. The mileage is cranky up for my marathon training – 41 this week which I am just not sure how I am going to get it in with Christmas this week. No real excuses except I have been ignoring my blog.
When I first heard Kenny Rogers was coming to Binghamton to do his “Hits and Christmas” show, it was bittersweet. Even though my dad has been gone for almost two years, I know this concert would have been one he would have been arranging his schedule around. He would have been willing to work earlier in the day and go back after the concert if it meant he could go to the concert. I thought I should get tickets and go but I then decided I really couldn’t afford to go this year.
Then, a week before the show here in Binghamton, my friend Christine – who lives in Ontario – tweeted that she was taking her parents to see Kenny Rogers. I was torn again. I really wanted to go but knew it was not in my budget this December. Christine told me that the show was fantastic.
The day of the show I received a message from a co-worker of my father’s. He had two tickets if I was interested. He indicated he couldn’t find anyone interested enough in country music that wanted the tickets. I was a bit thrown by that as I don’t think of Kenny Rogers as country. You see, I remember Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. I have actually – admittedly it was past their peak of success – seen them in concert. The gist is that karma was on my side and I ended up with two tickets to the Kenny Rogers show in Binghamton so my 23 year old daughter and I headed out for the concert.
The show was absolutely amazing. Rogers – who is 72 and has 6 year old twins – had a little trouble moving on the stage but his mobility did not hinder his voice at all. He started the show with a set of about 40 minutes that was his hits. He sang all the favorites from his country career (oops, I guess he is country) – “The Gambler,” “Islands in the Stream,” “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” “Coward of the County,” “Lucille,” and many more. He had a guest that sang a couple of songs also. One of my favorite moments was when he sang the First Edition song “What Condition My Condition Is In.”
There was about a 20 minute intermission before the Christmas section of the show began. This is the part of the show that is personalized to the area Rogers is in. It included five young (elementary school age) children who came out and sang with Rogers’s guest. It also included the concert choir from Binghamton High School who sang with Rogers and his guest. Can you all tell I can’t remember the guest singer’s name? Ooops! Notes are a necessity once you reach a certain age. I absolutely loved the Christmas portion of the show. There was not a song I would recommend removing at all.
I would highly recommend one of Kenny Rogers’s Christmas shows to anyone. Next year I will be looking for when he is going to be local.
Special thanks to Chris for the tickets and to my daughter Elise for the photos as I didn’t haul my Nikon D3000 to the Arena with me.
Sand Sculpture – NYS Fair
I should have sat down after two days last week at the Great NYS Fair and posted all of these various “things” that caught my eye. If I had the web cam that was showing the sand sculptor working on this sculpture would have been active. I am not even sure if there is a final photo of the sand sculpture on the fair web site.
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