Friday, February 27

I still didn't feel up to getting on the treadmill this morning, and of course, I missed water aerobics. But as the day wore on, I sneezed and coughed less, so surely tomorrow I'll be ready to resume normal activities.

We slept really late this morning, which was therapeutic for me. I didn't accomplish anything before lunch except planning next week's menu. After lunch, Hubbie and I went to the WDCS for groceries. When we got back, Mother and I chopped veggies to make tomato soup, using a new recipe...actually, we combined two recipes. The soup involves lots of steps, but the results are very tasty. We'll have this soup with grilled cheese sandwiches for supper tomorrow night.

For supper tonight we had baked talapia fish, with leftover sauteed potatoes, and no-salt English peas. Later, we went to a local college for a concert by "Afrodesia," a teaching group from our capital city. The group spent time in local schools, and performed a jazz concert for about 400 kids at the college this afternoon.

This evening, the crowd was minimal...only about 25 of us...but the group gave us their full two- hour concert, which included rock, pop, jazz, show tunes, and oldies. The group included three guys...one on piano and keyboard (the singer), one on electric guitar, and one on drums. Their music ranged from Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," to "Fly Me To The Moon," reminiscent of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, to memorable show tunes like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and "If I Only Had a Brain." We also heard Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great Balls of Fire," and other piano pounding tunes. The singer even did a great imitation of Louis Armstrong's gravelly voice when he sang "What a Wonderful World."

According to the state's arts council "...Afrodesia extends an open invitation into the newborn soul of righteous music. A fresh combination of decadent rhythms, universal lyrics, and untamed melodies, this eclectic band challenges audiences to make the world a smaller place..."

The band's leader/singer included a segment about how music was an integral part of building the railroad, where rhythm was necessary both to synchronize the manual labor, and to maintain the morale of workers, which led to the term "gandy dancers." To illustrate this, he beat an African drum and chanted a gandy dancer tune. Blues music derived in part from these tunes. It's too bad more people didn't attend this concert, because it was very good.

We got back home around 9 p.m. on this very chilly night. I think I saw spitting snow as we left the auditorium. Predictions are that we might have a smattering of the white stuff tomorrow morning.