We just returned home from the Sheboygan Symphony. Last year, our conductor, Guy Bardo, who was really excellent, decided not to continue with the orchestra. This year has been a year in which after the board narrowed the applicants down to four, each planned and conducted one perfomance. The conductor this evening was the only woman candidate, Cornelia Kodkani-Leammli, who impressed me. We had an opoeist, Mark Fink, as the guest artist. The whole performance was very impressive.

I saw several friends, notably, Steve Naffin, my old choir director at Blessed Trinity, and his friend and mine, Bob Fleming, the artist, who did so many beautiful hangings in Celtic designs for the church. He is venturing into expanding his art, notably, as an example, I received a St. Patrick's Day card from him that I was sure he had designed with the most beautiful St. Patrick. He is, Steve said, going to do a series. I told him to be sure to let me know when they are ready for ordering. You might want to see the Patrick. I love artists.

I was thinking about the desert the past couple of day. I do miss the desert. It was always such a treat to go out there for a weekend or more. The kids could run themselves silly. I remember one year we had all the kids there pile into Neil Minter's Jeep. He had a CJ6 which is a bit longer than the standard CJ5. Then we took 8 milimeter movies of them piling out one by one. I believe we had 20 some kids in that vehicle. It was quite a sight. We, my ex and the kids and me, belonged to the Orange County Four Wheelers. The club prided itself on being a family club. We even would say that we had 25 FAMILIES as members.

I also remember a trip when we took the boys bikes along with us, as we were going to the high desert with dirt roads versus sand. We were camped in a valley with high hills all around us. I looked up to the top of a hill with a trail winding down to camp and saw Bret just plunging down the trail from the top. All I could do was hold my breath and pray. He made it obviously. That was only the beginning for him. At 15, he could outdrive many of the grown men.

Have a sweet Sunday.

Mary