La-Dee-Dah...
Saturday, March 4, 2006
March forth! – yet again. Somehow Collette could never forget that 03.04 equaled “March forth!” every year after that one March 4th six years or so previously after she, OLeif, Diana, and a number of other English kids had performed at the Family Arena in a small orchestra. Diana was giving a presentation of her violin concerto for whoever was gathered in the atrium. And on short notice, Mr. Mather had asked OLeif and Collette to play first violin (as none of the other first violinists had shown up). However, despite the fact that neither had before seen the music, they were asked to read the part off of a score the size of a pocketbook. The notes were barely visible. Somehow they scratched through the performance. And afterwards, Mr. English took them both along with the English kids to Schnucks for a box of ice cream sandwiches which they ate outside on the parking lot. And that was when he said it was March 4th, so they should “march forth.” Of course it had nothing to do with any of the other events of the day, and it was rather silly, but somehow it had stuck.
In any event, Friday night was spent at the coffee house for OLeif, Collette, Joe, Shakespeare, Boy, Augustus, Curly, Rose, Molly, and for a short time, Jo-Jo and Puddle-Jumper. As for the conversation, Collette did not hear much of it, but there were occasional outbursts of laughter of unusual.
And seeing that it was Saturday, there were things going on. OLeif and Magnus were headed to help Shepherd and Malaya move, out in Chesterfield. And Collette was to attend a fine arts tournament at Pillar (along with Rose and Joe). So Collette had a healthy breakfast of a slice of salami and muenster cheese and a shot of cranberry-grape juice and club soda. And they were off for the day.
Arkansas – the second time around. Collette would have to have been about seven. But she remembered little. Perhaps the only scene she still had in her mind was Dad returning the key at the end of the week while they waited outside in the old Bailey Mobile (puffing blue smoke) brown Chevrolet station wagon. It was cooler then, and the woods were brown; it must have been late fall when they visited.
Colorado, however, Collette remembered more of the journey. Grandma Snicketts had accompanied them to another timeshare – two stories, with a fantastic staircase leading up to a rather open master bedroom. Collette loved the skylights the best and she and Carrie enjoyed spinning in the two easy chairs by Mom’s and Dad’s bed. Below, she remembered the kitchen where Mom opened a can which popped rather loudly, nearly exploding in the high altitude. But first they had passed through Denver in a rented mini-van. The Bailey Mobile with the clothes-iron print on the ceiling would likely not have survived the journey. As for their arrival in Colorado, Collette only remembered an expansive everlasting plane which suddenly brought a teeming metropolis far in the distant heat haze, and beyond them, the dark shadows of mountains. She remembered anxiously looking out the windows in excitement as they began to climb into the peaks. The first time she had remembered seeing snow on the heights, or any heights for that matter. And there was the Great Divide, winding twisting roads. Beautiful woods and streams and snow… One day, on the way to the Grand Canyon, she took to altitude sickness and had a wracking headache. Yet it wasn’t enough to keep her from staring in awe at the majesty of the great gulf. It nearly took her breath to see such a marvelous chasm stretched out before her. That was the day she had to wear her big purple coat with the horrible purple hood which gave the illusion of the shape of her head being a triangle with a smashed point on the top. But except for the headache it was a wonderful trip, aside from Dad accidentally closing the car window on Grandma’s fingers on the way back home across Kansas. He did, shortly afterwards, however, contract one of his giggle attacks over the whole situation.
Meanwhile, back in Chesterfield, the tournament had gone well. It was still enjoyable to see the kids from choir get together and share some songs and thoughts. This time, Bob Buckle was included with the choir students, giving a speech on the importance of voting. And in the end, Curly received a small trophy for voice (with Wallace and Starr also in the top five) and Ariel Ernie took the same award for solo drama. It was a small crowd, but it was enjoyable to watch the arts amongst amateurs as well as professionals.
“The New Testament is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.” – Augustine