AGEHR Conference 07

Last night, I returned from a 4-day conference with sister Sue and her church handbell choir that was held at the Univ of RI. We had a full-schedule of classes and rehearsals culminating with a fantastic public concert on Sunday afternoon. There were about 800 (more or less) handbell ringers representing nearly 100 (pure guess on my part) individual handbell groups set up on the floor of a hockey arena. If you've ever seen handbells playing, you will recognize the fact that these handbell choirs were standing at long tables on which the bells rest. The entire floor of the arena was filled with these tables, allowing just enough room behind them for standing and a chair on which to rest between pieces. First, that's an awesome sight by itself; secondly, the sound of those bells ringing at the same time is incredible. For a conductor to be able to pull synchronized music from such a huge space is short of miraculous. We returned home tired and inspired. (Wish I could attach a sound file here!)

Today, we had a large crew at our home for a family cook-out so that cousins could spend time together. Beth, Mark and 4 of their 5 children (mostly grown by now) came up on Saturday from NC for a week's visit. With such a short time here, we made phone calls and gathered all families in the area for food, badminton, horseshoes, laughs and reminiscing. There were plenty of small children running around the yards, swinging on rope swings, riding a space trolley and exploring nature. Beautiful weather completed the scene. Memories were made today.