Odd Combination

 This was homecoming weekend for Grace College. As part of the program, they incorporated a concert by Symphony of the Lakes.

It was in the Winona Heritage Room (formerly known as Rodeheaver Auditorium). We learned about it through the Grace promotional email for homecoming. It was open to the public, however, and advertised in the local newspaper. You had to buy tickets from Wagon Wheel which oversees the orchestra. 

The program was titled Goin' Home. I really enjoyed Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95. The second movement is known as Going Home.

 After intermission, the 2023 winner of the Young Artists Competition played with the orchestra the 3rd movement of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in Minor, Op. 21. Chloe Park's age was not given, but she must be in high school as the competition is open to middle school and high school students. She played a difficult piece very well. 

The Symphony decided to end with the No Name Quartet, a gospel quartet from the area. Several of its members were graduates of Grace College. Before they sang, they mentioned this was the first time in 20 years of singing that they had sung with an orchestra. I would say that they should have stuck with their recorded backgrounds. It was a very odd combination of gospel quartet and symphonic orchestra. Several of the songs the quartet did were with recorded background. That sounded normal. The orchestra background seemed very strange, especially the last song Packin' Up. It was a cacophony of hurried mushy sound and you could not make out the words of the song. 

Still, it was a nice evening out.

Early Fireworks and Heat

Many of the towns in our area are having the fireworks celebrations on July 6th. Winona Lake chose to shoot theirs off last night, June 29th. Preceding the fireworks was a concert by the Symphony of the Lakes orchestra.

We took our lawn chairs and made ourselves comfortable for the concert in a big grassy area where the Billy Sunday Tabernacle used to stand. It was near 90 and steamy; everybody sighed ah and smiled at each other any time a breeze came up. 

 The program was titled Salute to America. It included the national anthem and an armed forces salute playing the songs of the various branches of the military, inviting those who had served to stand. Not as many as in past years since many of the WWII guys have died.

The rest of the songs fit into a theme of what makes American music unique. Jazz (Duke Ellington songs), Copland's variation of the Shaker melody from Appalachian Spring, songs from Oklahoma, Sousa march, and a John Williams piece from E.T. representing cinematic music.

 After a rousing rendition of Stars and Stripes Forever, folks picked up their chairs and/or blankets and headed toward the Boathouse Restaurant next to the water. In years past, you could see the pyrotechnics reflected in the water since they are shot from barges in the lake. It has been several years since we attended (we can see some of the high ones from our house), and we were disappointed that the barges were further south behind the buildings. We would have been better off to go to the town park. Still, it was a beautiful sight in the sky.

The concert ended about 9:45. The official fireworks didn't start until 10:15. It doesn't get dark here until around 10 p.m. However, there were some very nice fireworks as we waited for the big show. A man in our church lives on the point next to the canal entrance. Every year he shoots off a lot of fireworks prior to the official show. I was amused at the comments around us. Visitors thought this was the official program with a 15 minute pause for the grand finale. My husband asked Jim how expensive his pre-show fireworks were last night. He said $1000 but that somebody else paid for them this year. 

I expect to hear booms in our neighborhood this week into next weekend as people shoot off their purchases.

This afternoon at 4 p.m. our electricity went off. According to the Grace Village staff, they were informed by the electric company that a transformer in the area was out. Someone said power was off all along Highway 30, too. It was 88 degrees outside. It was off until 5:10 p.m., then around 6 p.m. we had about 5 minutes of outages with intermittent surges of power. Not too good for the computer, but the protective power strip kept it from being fried. Right now around 8 p.m. the AC runs once in awhile. Hope it keeps working thru the night.