Orchestra Tour Send-Off Concert

 On Tuesday, the high school had their tour send-off concert. The first three songs are the Chamber Orchestra and the songs they have prepared for Regions, and the rest of the songs are the Tour Orchestra and the songs they have prepared to perform while on tour.

The Emerald Falcon

Of Glorious Plumage

Elementa: 1. Flights of Fancy, 2. Terra, 3. Fire and Ice

Next the Tour Orchestra came on the stage. We really lucked out and were sitting in a place where we could actually see Ev!

Since they are going to Washington D.C. for their tour, they had several songs that they learned with an American theme.

Appalachian Festival

Arlington Sketches

Rhythm Dances

Point Lookout

Danse Bacchanale

The girls did a great job in their performance, and are very excited for their tour trip!

Travel Home

 On our travel day, Nora drove 3 out of the 4 hours to get back home. I drove the last hour so she could take a nap.

We stopped at the Thunderbird for a nice breakfast, and also got some pie to bring home to Mike

It was a really fun and wonderful trip!

Best Friends - Day 5

 On our last day of volunteering, Nora and I had a morning shift in Dogtown. We went to a different area this time, and got to meet some new dogs.

This dog is Memo - he lives in the kitchen room of his building. He takes a little time to get to know new people before he is comfortable having them in his space, so we were introduced to him outside of the building, and then took him on a walk. He is more interested in sniffing, exploring and digging than walking a long distance, so we just followed his lead.

When we got back to the building, we washed and dried the dishes from the AM feeding

Memo supervising us

Next we helped clean out the indoor runs of the building

After we finished cleaning, we took another dog out for a walk. His name is Junior, and he is 12 years old, but you would never know it because he is a very energetic and muscle-y dog. Since he is so big and strong, they put two leashes on him so we could both hold one. It started snowing, but that didn't slow Junior down at all. 

Lastly, we took a dog out for a car ride. They gave us a big bedsheet to put over the seat in our car, and we took a dog named Trinity for a ride. She enjoys spending time with people, and this is a fun activity for her.

For our last afternoon shift, we were at Cat World and asked if we could go to Morgaine's Place

Nora and I scrubbed out litter boxes

Ev helped take some syringes out of their wrappers

Last time we came, there was a cat named Aurora that loved to hang out outside of the bathroom. She is still there, and she still loves the bathroom

Next we got to socialize with some of the cats. The cats in this building LOVE attention

There was a cute "teenage" kitten in one of the rooms named McGrew. He wanted constant attention and climbed all over everybody. Hehe

The cats were very excited when the wand toys were brought out

This shy little kitty just watched and snoozed from one of the ceiling beams

In one of the rooms, the caregivers warned us not to pet a cat named Bingo. We thought that meant that she liked to keep to herself, but Nora was surprised when Bingo came and sat in her lap. Later on we clarified with the caregivers - apparently Bingo loves to sit in laps, but doesn't love to be pet. Hmmm

For dinner we went to the amazing Rocking V Cafe

For dessert we had the chocolate butterscotch toffee crunch cake - and it was GF!