Bellingham Bells Baseball

It was a beautiful evening and we decided to go to the Bellingham Bells baseball game. This is a West Coast League team and is made up of college players from Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. It gives them a chance to experience what life would be like in the minor leagues with the demanding schedule, long road trips, and the use of wooden bats. Tonight was Armed Forces Night and they also had fireworks after the game celebrating the 4th of July.

 As you can see, WE WON!!!

The Addams Family

We went to the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle with Skeet and Jan to see

The Addams Family.

It was excellent and brought back memories of the TV show.



Cats

For Christmas we gave the kids tickets to "CATS", which means they have waited a few months to get the real present. The Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham is bringing us some high quality entertainment and we thank them for that. It's amazing how cat like the people were and the singing, dancing and costumes were great to see and hear. Barbra Streisand is singing the version of "Memory" that you are hearing as background for this blog. In the play it is sung by Grizabella, who is a cat that has returned to the Jellicles (that's the cats). She is now old and looks nothing like the young glamour cat that left them to venture into the outside world. All the cats shun her and claw and hiss at her. She wants to return and be accepted by her old friends. They continue being cruel until she appeals to them once again in the song "Memory". She is finally accepted as they see how she has suffered. This is just one small piece of the play, though a major one. It gives you an idea of how the most popular song of the show fits in.

The Color Purple

We went to see "The Color Purple" at the Mt. Baker Theater. How lucky we are to get such quality Broadway productions in our little town. This was one of the best shows I have seen, and the cast was outstanding. Oh, and could they ever sing. With the schedule they keep I am surprised that their voices hold out from day to day, but it didn't seem to be a problem. They were in Olympia the night before Bellingham, then they were headed to Tacoma the next day for a matinee and an evening show and then on down to Portland. It's one or two shows a day for months. This tour will end in June or July. That's a lot of singing!

Joseph

Our good friend Cindy is a music teacher and an over achiever. Instead of having a relaxing summer off, she decided it would be great fun to do a summer production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat". Here you see Jeremy (Joseph) and Cindy (Director) showcasing one of the plays posters.

Laura, Cindy's daughter, was the narrator for the production. This was quite a role as she had to tell the story in song. She will be telling us about a person who is a dreamer and can interpret dreams of others.
In biblical times there was a man named Jacob. He had 12 sons, but his favorite was Joseph. He gave him a beautiful coat of many colors.

The other brothers were very jealous and were going to throw Joseph in a pit and leave him there to die. While they were doing this they saw some Ishmaelites approaching. They quicky changed their minds and sold Joseph off to slavery in Egypt.

In Egypt Joseph worked for Potiphar and was a good and faithful servant.

However, Potiphar's wife wanted to seduce Joseph. He tried to get away from her, but they were caught and Joseph was thrown in prison.
The narrator continues the story telling us how Joseph interprets the dreams of two other prisoners - the Pharaoh's butler and baker.

During this time the Pharaoh is also having strange dreams. The butler, now free, tells him about Joseph.

Joseph interprets the Pharaoh's dreams and tells him there will be a time of plenty followed by famine. The Pharaoh is so impressed that he makes Joseph his second in command.

Back in Canaan, Jacob's family is having a hard time. They decide to go to Egypt to ask for food. They appear before Joseph, but they do not recognize him.

Joseph does not make it easy for his brother's. Remember, they were going to put him in a pit to die and then sold him as a slave to get money. Joseph eventually accuses his brother Benjamin of stealing his precious golden cup. The brothers defend him and Joseph eventually sees that they have changed their ways and are now good men.

Joseph reveals himself to his brother's and everyone rejoices to be back together again. Jacob is happy to have his son back and once again gives Joseph a beautiful coat.

We thought the play was fabulous. We enjoyed it so much that we are going back to see it again on Sunday. It makes it even more special for us in that many of our friends are in the production, or helped in some way to make it great. Of course there is Cindy, Laura and Jeremy. Bruce, Cindy's husband/Laura's dad, was in charge of set design and construction. Wilma was the light and sound operator. Then we had Rick, Bonnie and Doug on Keyboards. Doug also added a little tuba. Eric was on percussion and Matt played base. A couple Lutheran pastors, Joel and Lydia, were also in the play. Char made his coat. Isn't it perfect? Ron and I made the sheep and camel. We didn't paint them, but we did cut them out. I always think of us as the "groupies" for our talented friends.

Laura and Jeremy, our stars in many ways.

Michael Buble'

We went to Seattle with Amber and Jerad to see Michael Buble'. We saw him in Vancouver, Canada a couple years ago and he puts on an amazing show. We are already looking forward to seeing him again.

The group Naturally 7 opened the show. They must be doing a good job as they are the same group that opened the show in Vancouver. They are an acappella group, but not really. I'm trying to remember just how they worded it. They said an acappella group has no music, but they have music. The catch is that the music is made with their voices. They call it "Vocal Play" and they are truly amazing!

And here's Michael Buble'! He is such a personable guy and has great contact with his audience.

He is from Vancouver, so feels Seattle is pretty much like home. Many of his family members were at this concert, from Grandma and Grandpa right down to a nephew.

His final song of the concert, "Song for You", can leave a tear in your eye. You don't leave many concerts like that. In Vancouver he stepped to the front of the stage and began singing his closing song with no microphone. GM Place became immediately quiet as everyone wanted to hear. His Seattle performance was similar. The key lyric is, "We're alone now, and I'm singing this song for you." You get the feeling that he is truly singing his songs just for you. Thank you Micheal for another wonderful evening.

PS If you want to see Michael Buble' sing "A Song for You", click on this link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAuwdcADcIU

The Lion King

Ron and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on February 22. The kids gave us a trip to Seattle and The Lion King. What an amazing time we had. We got to Seattle early so we could do some shopping after we checked into our hotel. We had a delicious dinner at P.F. Chang's and then it was off to The Paramount theater for "The Lion King". What a production. The puppets were incredible. We are still talking about how they were able to work some of them. On Sunday morning we went to Pike Place for Piroshky's and then to the original Starbucks for coffee. Of course we had to check out was new at the market. There are always lots of people and excitement there.

Michael Buble

We attended the Michael Buble concert at GM Place in Vancouver, Canada. We went with Amber and Jerad and had a wonderful time. Michael puts on a great show and I think this was extra special for him, as he lives in Vancouver. Don't let the picture fool you, we were not this close. My camera just has a great zoom. Amber bought the tickets in September, as soon as they went on sale. However, they sold so quickly that these were the best seats available. Though we were high up, next to the last row, we were right up front and had a great view.