Monday, December 19, 2005
Madison Driveway, Tucson, AZ - Dec 12-19
We attended three nice concerts while in and near Tucson. First was a Holiday Card to Tucson from the University of Arizona School of Music, an excellent free concert at St Augustine Cathedral, a truly gorgeous setting which, next to San Xavier del Bac, is the most recognized church in the area. Also, a concert by the all-male Reveille Tucson GMC. Just thinking how wonderfully the voices blended in traditional and less-well-known carols gives me goose-bumps. Lastly, a free concert at the University by the U of A Chamber Orchestra and Symphonic Choir. 
This got off to a strange start when, after the orchestra was seated and tuned, someone noticed the soloist for the opening work was ... incapacitated? missing? unable to perform for some reason at any rate, necessitating a complete rearrangement of the stage for what was the second work. The soloist was eventually found and able to perform (remarkably well) at the end, as a quasi-encore.
At the end of October, Doug's dad Gayle drove out to California to visit with JoAnn, his college sweetheart. They had been having a relationship by phone for about 15 years, and the reunion was so successful that she arranged to fly to Tucson. 
Unfortunately, her visit coincided with the flu epidemic in Arizona, which we both got in spite of both having had shots a month earlier, as well as Gayle (who also had a flu shot) and, thankfully to a lesser extent, JoAnn. Doug was practically unconscious for 36 hours, coming to just in time to try taking care of now-sick Willie. We still haven't fully recovered, with the flu hanging on as a maddening tickle-cough.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 8:22 PM 
