Could it Be? Or Could it Not Be?....

My vote is for "not" so far as this whole spring business is concerned.  Yesterday we had rain, hail, and a snow shower... followed by sunshine bright enough that it caused quite a few prangs on the highway during peak hour.

Then this morning, this is what greeted us....

Oh well.  At least it was a beautiful sunrise.... You'd think I would have learned by now that the winters here are always reluctant to had over to spring, but apparently not.

A Spiky Start to the Day

What an unusual frost we had this morning. I just took these photos (it's about 10.30am), and thought you might like to see some of the nifty stuff Nature brings us here in Boise.

A Tuba Christmas

So this last Saturday, December 5th, Daniel and I ventured to downtown Boise for A Tuba Christmas. Neither of us had ever heard about such a thing, but apparently there are about 200 of these events happening throughout the country on the given day.

Tuba, euphomium and sousaphone players from university bands, high schools bands, and even just those who like to play said tubas, euphoniums and sousaphones, gather somewhere public for a free performance of Christmas carols.

It was pretty cold (somwhere around freezing, I think), but the band and the crowd remained undaunted! Daniel and I were smart enough to grab some hot drinks on our way there. The warmth of those hot drinks lasted about, oh, two seconds, but nevertheless...

They played a selection of well-known carols for our entertainment, and it really was fun (if a little bloody cold).

Something I didn't know before Saturday is that a band of tubas warming up sounds like I imagine a herd of elephants might sound when they are waking up.

Did I happen to mention it was COLD?!

One of the best things about it, apart from the music, was the age range of the players; from this little guy, who couldn't even hold his instrument upright, right on through the spectrum.

They also played indoors at a church after this performance, but somehow I think the cold made it more worthwhile (now that I am inside where it's a bit warmer).