sunset | Change Is Hard

It was busy around here last week. A steady stream of contractors and appointments filled our days. I had a rehearsal on Tuesday night and a concert on Friday evening. Husband had places to be and people to see too.

The calendar (paper, and hanging on a bulletin board in the back hall) daily squares looked black with scribbled appointments.

Friday was particularly bad for me. I thought I was on edge because of the pending concert. There’s always things to worry about when a concert looms. Would we come in together on that one tricky entrance. Would we all end together, or were we supposed to fade out on that other difficult piece.

Friday we had two contractors working on things inside the house and two contractors working on stuff out in the yard. None of it went exactly as planned and I was stressed.

*Friday was the last day of school and the students left messages in chalk on the sidewalk outside.*

Even our concert venue was causing stress. We’d been booked at the local Jr. High which has a fine auditorium and where we’ve played many times. But at the last minute the school system told us we couldn’t perform there, as the school was going to be renovated, beginning on the very night we were to play!

We told them we only needed 2 hours, but we got bumped anyway.

Our director, a retired middle school band director, got us approved to play at the middle school’s cafetorium. Yep. A cafeteria with a stage, probably similar to where most of us ate lunch growing up. I hadn’t played in a cafeteria since I was in 7th grade.

It didn’t feel promising.

But our group is resilient, and in the end it wasn’t half bad. The stage was acceptable, the dusty blue velvet curtain made a pretty OK band shell, the custodians had the lunch tables put away and 200 chairs set out.

And our audience showed up.

*Our intrepid leader, retired Clarkston band director, Ms. Roland.*

Most importantly, after my long week, it was cathartic to sit in the middle of a group of musicians and hear the music swell around me. Of course I lost my place a couple times when I was listening instead of concentrating. Or when I was letting my neck muscles relax and forgot to count.

But last night I listened to the recording and I’m pretty sure no one will be able to tell that one third clarinet didn’t play all her notes.

*Our guest conductor, Dr. Klena from Oakland University.*

Our concert was titled “Three Women and a Podium” and was filled with music composed by women. I was proud to be a part of that, and I enjoyed playing under the baton of each of our three wonderfully talented conductors.

*Our Associate Conductor, Ms. Scheu, Director of Bands at Oakland Christian School.*

On the drive home after the concert, the sun set in a most spectacular way. I stopped in a parking lot to watch. I thought about the week and the evening and the fact that I didn’t play everything.

And I decided I was happy with what I did play and I was very grateful that I could, finally, exhale.

I hope you all find your best way to let the stress of everyday life fall off your shoulders.

And if you’re somewhere nearby some of the Clarkston Community Band musician will be playing next Saturday at the opening of the Clarkston Farmers’ Market. I hope to see you there!

School’s out, the Farmers’ Market is open – – it’s officially summer!

Here it is already a week since we drove home from our UP adventure and I still have more to show you. Maybe I should stop talking and just let you look.

*Oh! I almost forgot! I had whitefish tacos with pickled onions for lunch, our first day, in Paradise Michigan!*

On our third and last day in the UP we got headed west toward Grand Marais where I assured my friend we’d find more stones.

*If you stop at the little places along the way you’re liable to find the most amazing things.*

But along the way we drove up to Deer Park, north of Newberry, and then along Lake Superior’s coast and stopped at a delightful little beach with the prettiest stones!

*Just a little stretch of perfect beach.*

I don’t think I found any flat white ones, but my friend found quite a few beautiful souvenirs.

*They’re even prettier when they’re wet.*

And we left a souvenir for someone else to find too.

*I hope this doggie has a new forever home now!*

And then we headed over to Grand Marais.

Many people searching this beach are looking for agates. I wouldn’t know an agate from a rubber duck, so I just looked for flat white stones to paint. I didn’t find many of those either.

*The sky was almost as mesmerizing as the water.*

But the weather was beautiful with big fluffs of white clouds dressing up the sky and we had a great time wandering.

*There were lots of rock hunters out on such a beautiful day.*

We didn’t stay long, we were hungry and still had miles to go to get to Munising, our next stop. But we left a painted treasure for someone to find before we left.

*A fish and his food wait for his person to find him.*

It’s kind of a long way to go for a sandwich, but we enjoyed the glimpses of Lake Superior that we found along the way. We were hoping to stop at a couple of waterfalls in Munising before heading back to Whitefish Point for the sunset.

We ate at Subway, noting exotic, but filling. And of course we stopped for a visit with Munising’s Bigfoot, where we left another treasure.

The traffic was terrible in Munising, backed up for miles coming into town from 3 directions. We decided to nix the idea of getting in line to get out to one of the waterfalls, and headed to one that was on the way out of town, Wagner Falls.

*The wildflowers, Joe Pye, goldenrod and queen anne’s lace were so beautiful this trip.*

There’s a short mostly flat boardwalk back to the falls, and we were lucky that there weren’t many people stopping for a visit.

We took a few pictures…

*The roots were pretty too, but I wish people would be kinder to nature.*

…and then hid our treasure and were on our way back toward Whitefish Point.

We had a long drive to get there before sunset, but we arrived early enough to appreciate the golden light on all the driftwood, and the clouds streaking the sky. This could turn out to be a stunning sunset!

*The light was like this for only a few moments.*

We wandered the beach, noticing how pretty everything was in the evening light…

*Black ‘sand’ filled the crevices in the lighter sand. Art created by nature*.

… and how the beach moves and changes every day.

*A little bit of art in the middle of nature’s art.*

We found a couple of places to hide more treasure and then waited for the sun to settle down and set.

*Is the sky going to get prettier? Or is this it for the evening?*

Most people left the beach once the sun was below the horizon, but we were out there for the long haul (and to find Yooper Lights) so we waited in the cooling air to see what would happen next.

And we were rewarded by intense color and beautiful shapes. It just kept getting better until it finally died into grey. The sun was done for the day, but we weren’t.

*The last of the sunset and the beginning of the search.*

After the sun was down we looked for Yooper Lights (stones that glow in inferred light) along with a few other late night stone addicts.

Though we didn’t find any that night, the night before, on a cold windy evening, we witnessed a young boy and his dad find a stone that glowed. The boy was soooo excited, jumping up and down in the cold Superior waves. We got him and his dad to show us what the stone looked like, and in the midst of the conversation the boy turned and looked at us, his eyes wide and said:

“I really wish I was wearing long pants!”

We roared in laughter, in all the excitement he’d been running in and out of the water of the coldest lake around without a care. Until he stopped to talk to us.

*Saying goodbye to Whitefish Point. We’ll be back!*

And that’s kind of the way our whole trip was. We didn’t always find what we set out to see, the perfect rock, the perfect view, the perfect sunset.

But the excitement of the whole experience kept us motivated to continue the adventure regardless. And though there were moments we wished we were wearing long pants, on the whole, it was a perfect summer trip. Mosquitoes and all.

And just think, there are all those treasures out there just waiting to be found.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: sunset

Musical exhale

And Day Three