Today Travalon and I were running a little late, and then when we got to church, the parking lot was full so we had to figure out where to park. We figured we'd never get a seat, but somehow they were just finishing up the Psalm when we finally got there, and they had set up a bunch of chairs in the narthex (or whatever you call it in modern churches), and there were two chairs in the back row just for us. Lots of cute kids at Mass today, and two baptisms. Then I stayed for the Care for Creation meeting, which I haven't been able to make in months, since Tiffy is usually in town the week they have it. Travalon brought me lunch from a new coffee shop, and it was delicious. Then we took a walk on some nearby paths that go over bridges. It was cold out, but tolerable and sunny.
It feels like forever since I've been to a Brazilian drum lesson. They have been doing a thing where, if we show up a half hour early, they teach us how to use other percussion instruments, so a bunch of us jammed before the lesson. My one buddy was there with her Bears sweatshirt, just rubbing it in, but I can't really hate anyone from Chicago since my whole maternal family is from there. She's part of a mixed marriage, so one of them was going to be disappointed last night. We are practicing for the big Carnaval celebration next month, and I was surprised they would let me join when I've missed the first lesson of this session, but they all seemed happy to see me. I am playing the surdo, the big drum that sounds so cool - I prefer that to the littler drums, except the teeny drum, but nobody is playing one of those. We practiced our song over and over. I'm hoping they let me sing too - I had three semesters of Portuguese thirty years ago, and I can carry a tune.
While I was doing that, Travalon was playing Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. He beat Bald Bull once (and Bald Bull beat him eleven times), but then he was defeated by the next opponent, Kid Quick. He says, "Kid Quick knocked me out quickly!"
Also, he wanted me to post a photo of the Puerto Rican chicken dish he had last night.
Tonight I went to band practice for the first time in weeks. Mandy was pretty mad at me - she was out of tune, and she kept slipping back out of tune for the first twenty minutes of practice. Turns out the rest of the band hadn't gotten together either while I was gone, and both fiddles had the same issue, which makes me wonder how mad my violin will be at me when I next get to play her. Instruments are like people - they have to get back into the swing of things after a long absence. It took a little time, but soon I was playing chords as if I hadn't been neglecting the mandolin to play Irish fiddle for a couple of months, and even driving there and back (which I had been dreading) was kind of fun by the time I got back to my neighborhood on the North Side. It seems like I hadn't played with the band for quite a while, even more than the three weeks we were traveling, but when you've played with people for so many years, it comes back to you. I hadn't wanted to leave my warm, cozy house to venture out into the cold and drive all the way across town, but I'm so glad I did. Besides, our accordion player had to come a lot further, and she wasn't complaining about it. It's good to have the band back together.
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