The In-Between Time

There is no rest! We are off on another adventure out of the country later this week – assuming all goes well! The last time we prepared for a visit to this particular country, there was a bad accident on the trail just a week before we were scheduled to travel. It disrupted all plans. Hope things do not go awry this time. This time we have the uncertainties of travel during the time of COVID.

Meanwhile, life has been moving a fast pace in the time in-between. Two wedding celebrations, including the one during the trip to Colorado (that I wrote about), and two different singing gigs dominated.

Thankfully, I have also been able to put in a couple of volunteer sessions at Manna in the time in-between, and meet up with friends who I had not seen in a while. As I might have mentioned in the past, this is the place I come to to clear my mind of my worldly concerns. It is amazing how it happens!

We have not been able to go for Sunday walks during this time, but we made time for the weekly bike rides. Talking about the canal and the towpath, this is the time of the pawpaws. There was fruit lying on the trail the last time we went out, and I could even smell it in the air.

The second of the music gigs that I mentioned above was the participation of the chorus in the Gaithersburg Labor Day parade. I have not done anything like this before. It was a very gratifying experience even though the conditions for singing were not very good. We were on a float, we were moving forward steadily (the audience changed even during the course of a song), we had to keep changing the direction we were facing to sing to people all around us, and we did not have a good amplification system, especially for this kind of a setup. Nevertheless, folks seemed to appreciate our presence. They smiled, they waved, and they clapped their hands. Some people attempted to sing with us. Older folks perhaps recognized some of the barbershop standards. The kids in the passing audience stared at us with wonder. Perhaps they will remember us. I had a blast.