Westward, Ho!

Our friend, Luke B.'s adorable little calf, Bessie. I think the judge likes her! =)

Once again, performing arts was our main thing. =) We spent Thursday morning, Friday afternoon, and Saturday afternoon doing the three "stages" of performing.

I played a piano solo of "The Love of God." One of my all-time favorite hymns. =)

The first day was auditions and passed without mishap. The second day, however, when I got up to play, I notcied something was wrong with the keyboard. I couldn't play like I normally could - it felt weird and sounded weirder. Turned out there was a problem. Well, someone had used the keyboard from the previous day down on another stage and forgotten to return it. So I was playing on a reserve keyboard... which, unfortunately, did not have weighted keys. If you play piano, you'll know what I mean by that... if not... (Weighted keys are necessary for playing classical music, as they reproduce the feel of a real piano's tension. Non weighted keys are lighter, as all they do is transmit electric currents. So there's a totally different feel.) After Mom talked to the superinendent, she talked to the judges... who must have forgiven my "horrid" performance and gave me a blue ribbon anyway! (actally, I and my family were the only ones who noticed any difference, since they'd heard it played every day for... a while!)

Sarah and I did a piano duet called "The Grand Finale." It was lots of fun!

And we came away on Saturday afternoon with a Grand Champion ribbon for my solo... and Reserve Champion for Sarah and my duet! Wow!