Careful events

We are very careful how we live our social life. Even though we are vaccinated we are wearing our masks a lot. But of course everybody has a bubble. Family and friends you know are also vaccinated and also always very careful. 

November 19 - Caleb turned 8. It was a Friday and birthday boy doesn't come home from school before about 4:30pm. It was dark when some of his friends came and they were mainly outside. The newly built treehouse of course was a hit. Even the dog Stella knows how to climb up.

Well, there has to be a cake and singing. 

Sarah had also prepared some games. Gosh, she knows how to plan a party.

We never gave up our season tickets to the Richmond Forum or the Virginia Opera. The opera had started with a very special performance.

September 19 - in the afternoon we went to a Topgolf place (driving range) for Wagner's "Das Rheingold". It was truly a different kind of opera experience. We sat on a kind of balcony with roof, had wine and nibbles and a good time. The orchestra and singers were live and we enjoyed it.

November 21 - back in the "proper" place we saw and heard La Bohème. It was a shortened version. The stage never changed but the music was exquisit. Very well done and we enjoyed it a lot. 

Thursday November 26 - Americas favorite holiday and also our anniversary. 46 years! Happy blessed years! 

We didn't celebrate Thanksgiving Holiday very traditionally. Sarah had to work. Wade took the boys to his parents for two nights on Wednesday since she wasn't going to be home anyway. She planned to come to us for one night right after getting off work at 3:30pm. James went earlier to their house to get Stella so Sarah didn't have to go back there which would have been in the wrong direction.

Stella is quite comfortable with us.

We had an easy meal and "chilled". Shouldn't holidays be like that?

A note: this is the first blog on my new computer. MacBook Air ... so far I am very happy. Because of the "supply chain problems" I could not get it in the store (and have them set it up) but had to order it and was a bit afraid to set it up myself (with James' help). But I decided to tackle it this morning and found it easier than I thought. Yeah! Of course I could have taken it to the shop still or call support but didn't need to do either. Feeling good. Not too old for technology!

Season Tickets

Just some thoughts about it. We moved to Virginia in 2008. Soon James heard about the Richmond Forum and we booked season tickets starting with the 2009-2010 season. Those tickets were even then not so easy to get and we were in the very last row high up. James really had trouble sitting there with his long legs. Uncomfortable is not the right word. In the following season we were lucky though and got much better seats and now are very happy. It's a good thing we did that because there is a long waiting list for it now.

We have heard many interesting people talk about important subjects and have only one time been disappointed. Here is a link to the past speakers.

Saturday Feb 22 we saw and heard Peggy Noonan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Wall Street Journal. She also has written several books and was a Special Assistant and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan and worked later for President George H. Bush. She was not only very interesting but also very humorous. I like it when I can laugh a lot.

The next day we went to the Carpenter Theater for the Sunday matinee at 2:30 pm because the other season tickets we have are for the Virginia Opera. In the beginning we used to say "oh, this would be nice to go to" or "that would be nice to get tickets for". But we never got around to get the tickets so obviously didn't go.

Ones you have tickets you try to go to all performances, even if you have never heard about that particular opera or composer. And every time when we had no expectations we were so surprised and had a wonderful time.

The Richmond Opera also has a special feature. We try to never miss Dr. Glen Winters' "Opera Up Close" pre-curtain talk forty-five minutes before the performance.  He is so interesting and very funny too. He gives us inside to what to watch out for we would never know and it makes it for a richer experience. We are at awe about the quality of the productions and especially the singers. I was wondering why I had never heard of Cinderella by Rossini. I think it is probably not that easy to find a singer who can do that lead roll. It was unbelievable. So glad we have those season tickets or we would miss all those incredible performances. Why did us to take so long to get into it.

Yes, getting the season tickets was a very good thing to do. We would have missed so much because we never got "the round toit".