Orioles and the House

Life has been busy as ever. Most of my free time has been spent working on the new house. I'm pretty sick of painting but the place is looking great. Recently we played two concerts that went over well.  One was in Portsmouth, Virginia and what a beautiful location! I really enjoyed walking along the waterfront and eating at a spectacular German Beer Garden. Mmmmm I am a fan of the Belgian wheats! 

This past weekend the Field Band's barbershop quartet, "Soundoff," was invited to sing the National Anthem at an Orioles game. A group of us tagged along for support and had a great time.

Camden Yards is such an historic park. Of course there was plenty of opportunity to rub elbows with the mascot down on the field! 

Yeah Baltimore!!

Thought I'd add a few shots of the house now that it is starting to come together. Here is the master bedroom. I love my new duvet! 

The kitchen was where I spent most of my money and attention since cooking is one of my big hobbies. I had to get rid of the white cabinets- just not my style! I love the red. The wall on the other side of kitchen, (will post more pics later), is painted a lovely green color and has a new wine rack. I had granite countertops installed and got a new stove. It is definitely my favorite room in the house and look forward to cooking up many yummy meals for friends in the future!

We are gearing up for Summer Tour and I'm pretty excited. Lots of fun gigs. I'll be blogging from the road as usual!

May Update

May has been a busy month! Thought I would share some moments from the past few weeks. 

First of all, Star Trek was AWESOME! I was very excited to see this film, as a longtime fan of the franchise, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here I am posing by a sweet advertisement poster.

One event that definitely kept me busy this month was performing on the Field Band's Chamber Music recital. They needed some people to flesh out the program so I hopped on board at the last minute and decided to put together a piece I had always wanted to try- "Pearls" by Roland Szentpali. It was definitely good for me to have something like this to work at. An added bonus was the opportunity to play in such a lovely sanctuary. 



I've been working on lots of projects for the new house. Here I am in Pier 1 admiring an advertisement that had a euphonium in it! 

I got a nice sunburn 

sanding my cabinets outside. I know Summer is coming when I can't be outdoors for more than an house before I turn a mighty shade of pink. 

My first big project in the house was the kitchen. Here is a picture right after I had granite installed and painted the cabinet bases. I'll have finished pics up soon! 

Meghan

I know I haven't blogged in a while. Things have been busy, but one thing that has been weighing on my heart is our family's deep and terrible loss of dear Meghan. I wanted to take the time to share some of my favorite memories with her. 

Meg is my niece. 

Here she is with her Dad, my brother Tommy, and my Dad, her Pa-Paw. Meghan and I were only about a year apart so we grew up together, part of the crazy, wonderful Veronie clan. 

 When we were little Meghan and her sister Paige would come visit us in the summers. We would swim for hours in the pool, pretending we were Ariel from the Little Mermaid. We spent hours on the trampoline, and could often be heard singing silly songs, such as our own arrangement of the Chili's Baby Back Rib song. 

 

As we grew older it was fun to see each other head off to college and learn about life. I always told my friends proudly that I had a niece that was a "Miller Light Girl," and would show off the text-picture she sent me of her in her cute uniform. That job was perfect for the outgoing Meghan because, as she said, all she had to do was hand out drinks and get to talk to fun people. 

Meghan was creative, energetic, wild, and always fun. She had such a beautiful voice. Every time I hear Tim McGraw's "Johnny's Daddy" I always think of her and Tommy singing together in the car. We might have been known to occasionally bust out a few Karaoke duets at holiday gatherings! :) 

Meghan was the person who would always greet you at the door and hand you a glass of wine. She was hilarious, vibrant and so caring. She would do anything for her sister and I'm pretty sure she adopted my brother as her own from birth. 

She was getting her teaching degree and was working with kids. She really seemed to enjoy it, I think it went perfectly with her playful spirit. Our family aches without her but is comforted and grateful for so many hilarious and warm memories. Miss you Meg! XOXOXO

Soldier's Chorus at Morgan State

This weekend the Soldier's Chorus gave a fantastic concert of music by African-American composers at Baltimore's Morgan State University. The Concert was guest-conducted by renowned musician Dr. Robert Morris. It is always so great to be able to experience a performance as an audience member. Usually I am sitting in my chair right in front of the chorus when they are singing with us on tour. It was such a pleasure to hear my talented colleagues, and I feel very lucky to be able to work alongside them. 

I thought I would include a few more pictures of my house! This blog entry will just have pictures of the first floor. Here is a view of the foyer and living area. 

I love the big stairwell!

This is an aerial view from the top of the stairwell. The right hand side is a dining area and the living room has the bay window. 

Here is the kitchen. I'm planning on getting new countertops put in and painting the cabinets before I move in. It's lots of work and planning, but I can't wait to see it all put together. 

More updates with the other floors later! 

House and Happenings

Wanted to do a quick blog and mention some recent happenings. I'm very excited to be closing on my first home later in May. It is a three story townhouse near Ft. Meade. Now I have to get busy picking out paint colors and getting my stuff in Baltimore all packed up and ready for one final move. Here is a picture of the front of the place. 

Here is a snapshot of me with my friend Tracy  when we are out and about. It has been nice being home from tour and catching up on doing fun things with friends. We saw a movie about opera auditions on this night. Interesting! 

On a more somber note, today we laid to rest former commander and conductor of the US Army Field Band, Colonel Finley Hamilton. I only had the opportunity to meet the Colonel a few times, but he seemed to be a very gracious man, and somebody very enthusiastic and dedicated to music and country. 

The Field Band had the honor of playing music at the Colonel's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. It was a very moving experience. 

Here I am in front of the "Pershing's Own" band building, where we rendezvoused before the ceremony. 

Easter Weekend

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit my family in Texas and Louisiana over Easter weekend. It was great to see everybody and just relax after a long tour. Here I am doing some decorating for the festivities. 

One of the best parts about going home to Texas is enjoying my Dad's cooking. Here we have some friend catfish, (caught from Lake Conroe of course), shrimp, homemade hush puppies, coubion and, my favorite, lemon meringue pie! 

On Good Friday we drove down to Lake Charles, Louisiana to visit with some of the family who reside in that neck of the woods. 

Of course, the Veronies know how to take celebrating to the next level with a good, old-fashioned crawfish boil! 

Dave pulls some fresh steaming ones off the boiler. Doesn't that look amazing?

Here I am with Dad digging in. It was a great trip and I was so happy to see all the family. 

Chambersburg, PA

It's hard to believe that Spring Tour 2009 is over! When I look back to my posts from the beginning of our journey, it seems ages ago, but really the time has flown by. 

We had a very patriotic background for our final concert in Chambersburg. It was a good show and the last performance with the Field Band for several members. I'm really going to miss MSG Pat Lipphardt, who will be retiring after we return to base. 

The next morning we were up and off at 0700. A short two hour ride back to Ft. Meade, quick off-load of the equipment, and we were done! The first thing I did was head to the commissary to stock up on groceries. It is so nice to be cooking at home again. This week I'll be looking at houses and traveling to Texas for Easter. Hope everybody is doing well out there. Thanks for following along on this tour adventure!