Crossmen and Planet X

Dave and I got to see Joshua and the Crossmen last night. Their show, entitled Planet X, features music from Holst, Beethoven, Strauss and Louis Armstrong. It's a good show. The music and the drill are both enjoyable and the crowd seemed to get into this year's show more than they did last year. The show they did last year, Metamorphosis, was pretty good but it was rather abstract and conceptual. The corps seems to be doing well and their scores are getting better as time goes on. They may have a good chance to move up a couple of places in the rankings this year.

After the competition, the Crossmen and the Boston Crusaders played America the Beautiful. This was followed by the Crossmen playing some encore items on their own. The crowd, meaning those who stayed after the scores were announced, really seemed to enjoy the encore.

Here is Joshua after the competition and getting ready to march in for the encore:



Here is Joshua playing America the Beautiful:



Here is Joshua playing during the encore:

Baseball Hall of Fame

Dave and I spent much of yesterday at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.


After spending a few hours browsing through the displays, we went to Doubleday Field (allegedly the site of the first "official" baseball game) to watch some teens play ball.







All of you baseball fans need to put Cooperstown on your list of places to visit. It's a picturesque little town nestled in the beautiful mountains of upstate New York. The town, the museum and the countryside are all worth visiting.

Farewell to a Friend

About a year and a half ago, I wrote about two friends who taught me an awful lot about what marriage means. This afternoon, I will be attending Betty's funeral. Since the last six months or so of her life were filled with one physical ordeal after another, her family and friends are taking comfort in the thought that she is not suffering any more and is now in heaven with her Lord.

I will miss Betty. In spite of her physical sufferings, she always had a wonderful outlook on life. Having spent more than 35 years as a Salvation Army officer in appointments throughout the southern USA, she always had humorous and touching stories to share. I will miss her stories, her laughter and her disposition. I'm glad I've had the privilege of knowing her for the past five years.

Rest in Peace, Betty.

Northern Virginia Baseball Options

All right! Collegiate league baseball has come to Northern Virginia. Major League Hall of Famer Cal Ripken has started a new league in the MD-VA area. One of their teams is located just down the road from us in Alexandria. To top it all off, I have access, through work, to free tickets to any home games I want to attend. I can also get tickets for guests. Even if I couldn't get free tickets, the cost for an adult ticket is only $5.00. That's barely more than the price of a gallon of gas! I'm looking forward to getting out to the ballpark a few times this summer and checking out the action.


The Washington Nationals Major League team is nearby too and their grandstand tickets (nosebleed section - available only on game day) are also only $5.00. Joshua was hoping we'd get to a game before he left town for the summer. As it turned out, the weather sucked throughout the only weekend that would have been possible. We saw them a couple of years ago in old RFK Stadium and had an enjoyable time. They've got a new stadium this year, so maybe we'll take a trip out there one day and check them out again. The biggest drawback to that idea is that they are playing really poorly this year: last place NL East, with a 26-42 record.

29

6-9-1979 --> 6-9-2008 = 29