Concert review

Nursing a cold which is still in the getting worse stages. Ungh. But hasn't stopped me from biking. Am enjoying my daffodils,
Last night we went to see Grasstowne. Natural Drift was the opening act.  ND played for about half an hour, and then Grasstowne came on.  The whole evening was most entertaining. I was surprised at the age of the crowd, it was a pretty old group. We were about the youngest folks there, except for the band members.
I'll follow the format they often use on the sports page when rating football games, using my observations from the previous ND concert. Both bands have same five instruments, bass, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar. GT all male voices, ND malse plus one female voice.
Costumes:  GT=F, ND=A.  GT: Three band members looked like they were wearing their Saturday chore clothes, old shirts with the tails hanging out and faded jeans. One wore a black shirt hanging out. The mandolin player wore jeans and a nice shade blue shirt and black vest.  He was the only one that looked at all spiffy.  ND: Men in dark suits, ties, and cowboy hats, Samantha in boots and skirt with western flair.
Stage presence: GT=F, ND = A.  GT: the five band members were spread out across the stage with the bass in back.  Members did not share mics and hardly related to each other, or did so in an extremely low key way.  None of them projected much personality. Hardly ever smiled. Didn't seem like they were having fun, more like they were just doing a job.  Two of them in particular seemed bored to be there. Only two members of the band even spoke to the audience.  GT: All of them look like they are having fun. In fact they seem to be having a great time. Samantha bobs around and smiles.  The group shares microphones and are constantly relating to each other, forming different duets and trios depending on whether they are doing vocals or instrumentals. Everyone in the group makes an effort to engage the audience and speaks at different times to the audience.
Vocals: GT=F, ND=B.  Note my friend Pam liked the main GT vocalist, but I did not.  I thought his voice was overamplified and I really did not care for the style at all.    With ND, even though they sing some things with a country twang, with Samantha their vocals are generally quite a bit more interesting, often singing three part harmonies. Samantha has an interesting voice, being just about in the tenor range.
Musicianship. GT=A, ND=A.  Both bands have very compentent players and on average were pretty equal.  The mandolin player for GT is phenomonal, but everyone else seemed pretty average.
Repetoire: GT=D (for all the George Jones songs- way too much country for my taste).  ND=An entertaining mix of songs.
Overall: would not go see GT again, would go see ND again.

Green and wet

 

We  missed two days of biking due to the cold rainy weather, but we ventured out yesterday around 11am.  We were sprinkled on the whole ride, but the rain made for some picturesque settings.  We got about 4 inches of rain over the past week.

Cribbage

Been on a cribbage playing jag ever since Christmas.  T and I play one game a night.  Mostly it's an excuse to linger in front of the fire in the evening, instead of going back to work in the office.  So far I have won 21 games, and T has won 9.  Eventually I know the odds will swing into his favor, but by then maybe it will be spring and we'll have other things to do in the evenings.

I thought I would see if my cribbage luck would rub off on my Dream House raffle ticket, but no dice.  I was disappointed but not surprised.  I finally looked on the website to see who had won (not that I would know this person) and I was surprised to find out they hadn't had the drawing yet. The paper had been running the "get your ticket by' date, which turns out to be two weeks before the drawing.  I checked to make sure I hadn't thrown out my ticket and I still had it. So it's going back on the cribbage board and hopefully some of my cribbage luck will rub off on the ticket.

Pesto chicken pizza

Still working away on my plan to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  This has been a multiyear project.  I've lost 18 pounds in a year and a half and still have 5 pounds to go.  My progress has been slowed by Christmas cookies and chocolate. It has taken a long time to wean myself off of treats since Christmas. I finally got back on the "no treat" wagon, but then Valentine's Day came along, and I totally fell off the wagon again.  I haven't gained weight you understand, I just haven't made any progress toward my goal. I was sure I was back on the wagon today, but the chocolate I bought my daughter for Valentine's Day and haven't given her yet was too much of a temptation, and I ate her chocolate! Oh well, I can replenish it before I see her again.  I will be sure to get something that I can more easily resist!

Ted broke his big toe during morning warm ups two weeks ago.  He is much better, but the break has curtailed our field work, although not bike riding.  Luckily the stiff boot he wears for biking protects his toe from strain.  We've had two of the windiest rides in the last 9 months or so in the last week.  First the wind was blowing a gale from the north, and then yesterday it was blowing from the south.  I just about got pushed off the road into a ditch.

Today's ride was much nicer but cold! First we saw this rainbow that made a complete arch and was slightly doubled.  The moon is also almost full, and it was just coming up as we rode up the hill. Unfortunately, my photos of the moon and Ted didn't turn out very well.

One advantage of not eating as much as I used to is that dinners last a lot longer.  Ted is also eating less these days, I guess to keep me company. I am actually able to come up with things I want to make ahead of time, and have a waiting list of dinners I would like to make.  Part of that might be that it is soup season, and I have all my dry beans lined up in jars on the counter right now, serving as a constant source of inspiration.
One of our favorite pizza's at a Mediterranean restaurant that we visit occasionally is pesto chicken. We recently started making this ourselves, out of pesto we made from our garden bounty last summer and froze in ice cube trays, the way you always read about.  We use boneless skinless chicken breasts that were cooked in the roaster (super easy).  Of course since Ted made this, he added on a bunch of other vegetables, and I used my favorite calzone dough recipe for the crust, substituting in one/third whole wheat flour. We made two pizzas and used one chicken breast per pizza. Yum!  The two pizzas will provide four dinners.  And I already know I want to make Jane Brody's lentil and spinach soup next.