Singing

Layne has been reminding me lately of the blessings of being in Idaho, for me.  He thinks I have had more opportunities for growth here than I've had for awhile.  I suppose he is right.  I've had a chance to speak at a woman's conference, we are serving a local mission that is different from anything we have ever done before and I belong to a singing group that is stretching me.  Singing has not been my strong suit. I often sang to my children and they often begged me to stop.  I sing in the Church choir under pressure from Layne.  Singing next to daughter Audrey (a beautiful and accurate alto) was my choir salvation in California.  I only sing in groups, never solo except in the shower.  I am not musically trained and only guess at reading music.  So it comes as somewhat of a surprise even to me, that I find myself singing a short solo with my community singing group, the Treble Clef Singers.  We are in the process of performing our annual spring concert all around the Treasure Valley to various senior centers.  It is a safe place to sing as the audience is always appreciative and not critical.  So I'm singing to them!  Layne continues to be the token man in our group, singing two solos himself.  He does a superb job and the ladies love him.  He tends to steal the show!  It is pretty all-consuming for the two weeks of performing but seems worth the investment as we are both doing things we've never done before with music.  Growth is joyful.  Even musical growth.  And I'm thinking, perhaps I can sing after all.  Passably at least.

                                                Layne singing part of "When I'm 64".

                                   Layne and me dancing and singing to "Sweet Violets."

Layne is quite taken up with yard work these days.  He loves his time outside, moving the dirt and planting the vegetable garden.  I feel happy that he has much on his "to do" list.  It is good to have productive things to do and he is all about being productive.  Since selling our condo, we are making some plans for home improvements that we can now afford to do.  I'm so excited about this.  I feel the encroachment of time.  It seems to me that whatever it is that I want to do in this life had better be addressed pretty soon.  Time ticks by at a frantic pace and I often feel that I'm not keeping up.

Primary elections here come up this week.  As this election got closer I expected to receive sample ballots in the mail as we always did in California.  But it isn't done here.  Where do we find out about the issues and the candidates you may ask?  I am certainly asking that question.  Still.  The election is somewhat of a mystery to me.  We can't seem to find a sample ballot, even online.  How then are we supposed to vote intelligently?  I wonder.

Breezes and thunder storms add to our warming days here.  We are surrounded by beauty.  I am filled with gratitude for it all, except for the lack of election information.  I'm a bit ticked by that.