It's all fun and games until someone loses a wiener

Thursday, December 7th, 2017
Venice, Florida

Spoiler alert

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I am pleased to report that my health has not taken a turn for the worse in the four days since my last blog post. As such, this post will focus on non-health topics. If those doesn't float your boat, then you can stop reading now and return to your regularly scheduled programming.

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Venice, Florida

Alison and I are in Venice, Florida this week in preparation for Cam's graduation from his Physician Assistant program this weekend. Joining us down here for the celebration are assorted parents, siblings, aunts/uncles, cousins and future in-laws. The formal graduation and celebration will be on Saturday. Until then, we will all be enjoying the weather (sunny and warm so far), ocean (dolphins abound) and bike paths (flat, flat, flat).

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Music

Tony Glausi  is a brilliant trumpeter in his very early twenties that has already garnered some impressive accolades (​first prize in the 2017 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Solo Competition, first prize in the jazz division of the 2017 ITG International Trumpet Competition, and first prize in the jazz division of the 2014 National Trumpet Competition).

I was first introduced to Glausi's music when he was featured in an otherwise a capella version of Circle of Life. Since then, I've found a bunch of other material of his. Below are two of his Christmas-themed videos. Both are terrific and favorites of mine. (It is at this point that Alison will usually point out that her Jewish husband has an unusual penchant for both Christmas and gospel music.)

From the archive...

... I've found the pictures from three of our previous trips down to Florida:

• In 2001, my sister Liesl and I vacationed with our collected kids in Orlando
• in 2004, our family visited Alison's sister Terri and her family in Panama City
• in 2010, Alison and her cousins visited her ailing Uncle Bill in Tarpon Springs

If you are interested, click on any photo to explore that trip.

Orlando 2001

Panama City 2004

Tarpon Springs 2010

Terracotta Army

Last week, my friend Suzanne called me late one morning and (effectively) asked if I wanted to play hooky for the afternoon, to include lunch and a trip to see the Terracotta Army at VMFA. One of the benefits of semi-retirement is that the decision to say yes is pretty much guilt-free.

For those new to these warriors, they were created for and buried with Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Comprised of more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 670 horses, they were intended to protect the emperor in the afterlife. Along with the emperor's entire mausoleum, they took 38 years to construct starting when the emperor rose to the throne at the age of 13 and finished a couple of years after his death. The exhibit focused mostly on the world that the figures represented, rather than the archaeological aspects of their discovery and exhumation. I would have preferred less of the former and more of the latter, but that's because of my far greater interest in archaeology than history.

All is right with the world

There are certain things that I run across and think... "wow, in the microcosm of this moment, all is right with the world." They immediately buoy my spirit, something that's been especially welcome during  my health crisis of the last six months. The accompanying video is one of those things: Grammy-winning Hilary Hahn performing a Bach violin solo during a recent episode of A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile.

My recommendation is this: find a quiet time and place, free of life's distractions, turn up the volume and listen closely.