Fri., Dec 16th, 6 pm. I put the tree up yesterday and added ornaments today. Carol is here practicing piano. We printed over 200 cards and are getting ready to send them out. Tomorrow I play a concert on bass with the Maplewood Community Concert Band and SwingTown. I founded these bands about 10 years ago and no longer conduct them, and they sound better than ever.I gave myself a Chanukah present of a pbone...that is a plastic trombone. It weighs ounces, not pounds. Friends own blue, red and green bones, so I chose Orange/Yellow in hopes of soon playing in an all shades section. Hah!! My good bass is still the traditional brown. We played Beethoven's 7th two weeks ago. A demanding workout. I put new Bel Canto strings on the bass for clearer sound and intonation. There go the Church bells from St. Joseph's Church. 6 pm each night they ring and play Hymns...this time of year Carols. We'll play Carols next week in a few locations for old folks and hungry folks. I'm still writing this on my MacBook but am readying an iPad for this task soon. Finished 2 new "Bridgeworks" today as gifts for friends here in town. These are collages made of violin, viola, cello and bass bridges. Next we'll do some more painting so we can get ready for some shows in the New Year. We're off to Captiva Jan. 3rd. I just got notice our Cruise from last year "Symphonic Voyages.com" went bellyup. That's a shame because it was so good last year. Well I go see Dr. Berman in 2 weeks and am looking forward to good numbers. I feel good. Have lost some weight on purpose and exercised my way out of the sciatica issues with the help of my PT therapist. Been back to the Y 2x for circuit machines and swimming. I hope we get back to dancing at Captiva to the sound of the Modulatoes, a fun party band from Cincinnati. My own bands are slow this time of year, but we play Jazz Guitar Trio Monday nights, Big Band Mon and Tues mornings, Country Band and Blues Band and Brass Quintets on the weekends. Having fun. MerryHappy Chanukarismas and a Great , Healthy, Prosperous New Year. Keep in touch. JIMBO
