A joyful noise

Ah, the month has already started to get away from me! God has sent amazing opportunities and experiences in these last two weeks:

1. Seeing Old Blind Dogs in concert. A long-standing Scottish traditional (with a twist) band that comes to Rochester as part of their N. American tours, this band was last here in 2019. When they're in town, they come to Lovin' Cup at RIT (my alma mater). The show was intense and engaging; absolutely spellbinding. So much talent, passion and always with humor. I went with a group of old friends of mine, and together we were a rowdy crowd. Good vibes. You can stream OBD's latest album here.

2. Having a 30 minute lesson with my fiddle hero Jonny Hardie of OBD. After the concert, I asked him a couple of questions, including whether he ever does workshops. To my great surprise and amazement, he offered to give me a lesson before the next night's concert. I drove home that night in the clouds, but the next day at school my stomach was all butterflies. I showed up and felt ridiculous with my ancient fiddle case and my old n'busted instrument. I sounded awful; I was nervous and unable to easily read the music because of my glasses (that's a whole, 'nuther story). Nonetheless, he was gracious and patient, and in the span of 30 minutes gave me some excellent pointers on my bowing, which I correctly knew to be my main problem. I came away from that incrediblely awesome lesson with a boatload of inspiration and focus. And no, I didn't get a picture. It was too precious to reduce to a photo op. 

3. Marching as colour guard for the Rochester Scottish Pipes and Drums band in an itty bitty homecoming parade.  One of the office staff (who will sadly be leaving us next week) is involved with this group through her husband and son who are both pipers. They needed someone to help to carry the banner, and I volunteered. It was really a blast. I'm going to start working with them more often, and hopefully next season will be able to function as a regular in their colour guard. Huzzah!

4. Pilgrimage to The Shrine of the North American Martyrs with 35 middle schoolers (and two other adults, thankfully).  This was just yesterday, so I'm still processing the experience. I promise to write more soon. For now, suffice to say I was moved to tears at several points during the day, feeling again a connection to St. Kateri and being powerfully impacted by the story of the martyrs. I was also impacted by the 6-hour round-trip bus ride with said middle schoolers - a joyful noise indeed.

Old Blind Dogs at Lovin' Cup 9/27/22

 Elias Alexander, whistle and Jonny Hardie, fiddle

The man and his fiddles

Gotta work on that footgear tho

Heading to Elmira this weekend to catch up with my new friends from the "Babbo" shoot in August and enjoy the foliage. I'm very grateful to have a long weekend! Oh yeah... and I have a ton of grading to do, as is usually the case.