Home Stretch...

Well, look who decided to give a little update. My apologies, there really hasn't been much to share. The fourth of July intensity was high at NBNE, we had gigs upon gigs, with 5 Wind Ensemble concerts as part of the mix, which I like because I'm playing oboe, but the manpower required to get the whole band set up and torn down is a lot for us to deal with.

I took a short weekend trip down to Stamford, CT from July 4-5 to relax with Aunt Barbie and Uncle Bob, that was very nice, as always. I good soak in the hot tub eased my tired limbs, and Barbie and I got to scoot around in my Saab for ice cream and other tasty errands.

Then from July 7-11, in the midst of more gigs, Carlton and I got to teach Vacation Bible School at the Chapel of Hope here on base. We taught the music rotation all week, to three different age groups. Every evening at camp they learned a new song, and on Sunday at the Protestant service we "performed" our whole repetoire to a loving audience of parents, friends, and the hundred Officer Candidates who come to chapel every week during their rigorous version of boot camp. The theme of the week was "Outrigger Island" and our songs were written just for the event, as part of a packaged VBS that any church can order. It was really awesome to see God's work in these kids' lives and Jesus on their faces. It reminded me that we must come to Christ with the heart of a child. They really are pure and fearless you know, and have hearts that can love like no other. So that was a great week of communion and testimony with some of Newport's most precious citizens. Here's some in action:


Socially and spiritually I am praying for more support, as Carlton is still my only friend here, I miss having women in my life! As one of four girls I never thought I'd say that. SO I'd love to find a women's bible study like I had in SD, or at least some regular fellowship that can keep me accountable, growing, and grounded in Christ.

Last Saturday I went north to Massachusetts to visit Jackie S., my chaplain from NU. We had a nice dinner and I fell asleep watching Eddie Izzard give his hilarious history of just about everything, including Anglicans. Then on Sunday I went to Jackie's very urban parish, St. Paul's of Brockton for both her Morning Prayer and Eucharist services. She has a small, eclectic group of worshipers and an extremely talented organist who is an improv wiz, he's only 14 and will be attending Interlochen in the fall. The parish offers a free lunch to the poor six days a week, and is looking to expand it's services to include a day center for those who need a place for rest, resource, and encouragement. I pray they will come to know Christ in such an environment, and I believe Jackie and her parish are making strides in helping that to happen.

After church we ate lovely Greek omlettes at a diner and ventured up to Quincy, MA, where the Adams National Park offers awesome tours of the houses and history of both John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Unfortunately the tour did not include any Sam Adams, but ended with a dramatic thunderstorm.

And, in fact it has been raining - pouring really - for the last two days, culminating with a pretty scary power outage last night here on base. It was so dark and quiet, luckily I had contraband candles to light, and a bible to snuggle up to. Welcome to New England!

Of course yesterday's big event was Emily and Richard's wedding in San Diego. Notice, I was not there. Alas the Navy said 'no you cannot possibly go, we need you here to play your oboe for a Captain's retirement in the morning.' And so I stayed, and played this morning for a really great man, who incidentally was the skipper of the USS Blue Ridge before coming to the Naval War College, the ship our friends in the 7th Fleet Band cruise with. So it was special to him for us to be there.

Family has sent me some really beautiful pictures of the wedding, which I will eventually compile and put on my own photo page. In the meantime here is the link to Kate's photos. Here's one from Dad:

And of course one of the kids:

Alright I'm off to go schmooze down at the Newport Yacht Club, Aunt Barbie has been hassling/encouraging me to sign up for crew... it's how she met her husband! Everyone's got advice for me... I love it. God bless and if you are in SD I'll see you in a mere 7 days!!! Much Love, Jenny

Naturally Newport

Life in New England requires a very special relationship with nature. On the Navy Base, we have a large population of geese. In fact I would guess that between OCS and War College classes, the geese outnumber the humans here! The geese are lovely at first, and it's been fun to watch the babies hatch and grow this spring. There have been at least two rounds of goslings to experience. BUT, the geese POOP everywhere! Walking anywhere on base we all must keep an eye to the ground - you literally have to watch every step. Gross. At work we each have "clean-up" jobs that we take care of everyday, for example I clean the ladies locker room, third deck head, and the library. My friend Carlton has the honor of sweeping goose poop off the sidewalks around the property. It's the glamorous Navy! He also is the keeper of our fake Coyote, "Wiley" who is perched outside the band hall, supposedly to scare the geese away.
Here's how well that works: (phone camera)

Now that I have a car, another annoyance the geese bring is that they take over the road at times. One morning walking to work I took these pictures of the geese "roadhogging" as usual!

Plus one night a family of the geese came over to grill steaks at my place:
The other part nature I am getting to know in New England is the WEATHER. It can go from 82 degrees and pouring rain to 40 and dry in minutes. In Newport, even on the warmest days we have an onshore breeze similar to San Diego. But as you know thanks to George Clooney and his fellow fishermen, New England is host to some of the craziest storm systems in the country. Today we had flash thunderstorms, hail, and rainbows all along the horizon. It was scary and beautiful at the same time. I look forward to the colors of autumn and even the harsh, wet winter. I think my experience of Chicago winters will serfve me well this year! Here are a couple shots from my camera phone today - it was breathtaking!

(That's my cutie car in the middle)

Until next post, be well, and for goodness sakes don't be taking pictures on your phone while driving across bridges...!

The Dogs of Bunker Hill

Today NBNE marched in the Bunker Hill parade in the Charleston section of Boston, Mass. It is a long parade which winds up, down, and around the Bunker Hill memorial, lined with colorful row houses, gas lamps and green trees. Instead of marching "air clarinet" today, my Senior Chief had the brilliant idea of letting me take photos of the band instead. So I did, almost 300 pictures! While shooting the band, I started a side project of capturing the many dogs along the route, and found that to be much more enjoyable, so here is a little sample before posting them on my photos site.

And a couple of the band, I guess...
Go Celtics!!

Viva Puerto Rico!

Hello and welcome to my latest update!

This past weekend at Navy Band Northeast we had an exercise in parade EXTREMES. Let me explain. On Saturday we left Newport for Charleston Massachusetts, where we marched in a VFW parade through a corporate park. It was 90 degrees and humid, and there we were playing Anchors Aweigh while marching through the parking lots between various office buildings. There were about 12 people there to cheer us on.

Then, we drove straight down to New York City and checked into the Hotel Pennsylvania for the night. Some friends and I revisited an Irish pub that our band frequented during Fleet Week, and I enjoyed a festive round of strange and various drinks with friends. Meanwhile a heat wave was really settling in around Manhattan, and walking home to the hotel we knew the next day's parade might be a bit hot.

So, on Sunday morning we muster at 1000 to form up for the Annual Puerto Rican Day parade. The parade runs north up 5th Avenue, from 46th street to 91st, including the entire length of Central Park. It's a long one. And its 95 degrees and rising. We are wearing dress whites, that's long sleeve polyester, ladies and gentleman. I thought I was going to melt into the Subway grate and never be seen again.

If you have always wanted to experience Rio's Carnival, or Spain's Running of the Bulls, you may not have to travel so far -- a parallel experience is this Puerto Rican Parade. Over 2 million spectators and a few thousand participants converge on 5th Avenue every year to proudly and loudly celebrate the Puerto Rican community in New York. We were warned about rowdiness and violence, but the 2000 policemen and 5 miles of barricades insured our safety.

So we are staging our band and ready to join the mayhem at 1100. Not until 3:30 PM did we step off!! We had to wait almost 4 hours for our spot to open up in the parade, that's how big this thing is. Every Puerto Rican has some kind of noise maker, from whistles to air horns, to a super loud Latina scream, and they use them unabashedly. No disrespect of course, the culture is obviously passionate and excited to be from the Carribean island state, and that's cool with me. Here are some photos from the event, then I have more to share below.






Marching up 5th Avenue was actually really fantastic, despite the constant stream of sweat running down my spine. I imagined such a parade in 1945 for V-day, with sailors, soldiers and marines returning from Europe to a mayhem of ticker tape and adoring women. Then when it got really hot I remembered how beautiful 5th Avenue is at Christmastime, with the giant illuminated snowflakes strung across the wide avenue, ice skating at Rockefeller, Christmas windows in the stores, and fresh snow on the ground. I will definitely be back in December to witness the magic this year!

So that was our two extremes in the art of performing a parade. It was a crazy weekend.

And... yesterday I bought this car! It's a Saab 9-3, and I think I'm in love with it. Be blessed.

Home Again

Back home safe, thanks to our good drivers - a truck tried to run us off the road today! My photos from fleet week are online at MY PHOTOS link on the right. I'm working on getting internet at home, so there will be more videos and pictures of my gig last night when that happens.

Last night it was so fun to play oboe again, I really do love it. I think I finally found the right job, huh. Love and peace to you! God bless, Jenny

FOX News with NBNE

 

 

 

 

Concert for Donald Trump and Friends

NBNE at the Metropolitan Club
-sorry had to remove YouTube videos, but there are some on the "my photos" link.