Did a Woman Answer Her Phone on the First Row of the Symphony Hall During the Concert? GASP! Yes! Today, a friend and I went to the Jacoby Center Concert Hall to hear the magnificent Jacksonville Symphony. In a deep voice from an announcer cell phones were to be turned off and no flash photography taken. We had the very first two seats on the center-front row right there in the front. How did that happen? Talking about some of the best seats in the house. We were right there! Literally, we had “front row seats”.
The concert began in usual fashion with the lights being brought down a bit, the announcer giving the 5 minute start alert and then everyone was seated and ready. The orchestra members were in place and the Conductor came out with a round of applause. Excitement was certainly in the air.
After the conductor told a bit about the pieces to ne heard, the music began and before long a cell phone on the front aisle went off. I noticed the woman fumbling in her purse to find it, I thought to turn it off but “NO”, she answered it. In the middle of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air from Orchestral Suite No 3 in D major BWV 1068, the woman began speaking to a person on the cell phone! Thankfully, the call was short but not without the front-seated violinist raising his eyebrows twice as he stroked his bow onto his violin.
Gasp! She answered the call. I’m still flabbergasted.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Category: Art, History, Things to Do, Visit This | Comments Off on Cell Phone Rings at the Symphony and She Answers! (From the Front Row)!
The Jacksonville Symphony performed today in the Jacoby Symphony Hall where the majority of the over concerts are held by the group. Upcoming performances are listed on their website and include those such as Mozart, Vivaldi & Handel, Florida Blue Classical Series, The King, Queen & Prince of Rock and Roll, Brass, Organ & Percussion and more.
The Jacoby Symphony Hall opened in 1997 at the Performing Arts building. It was fashioned after the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna. It was designed by KBJ Architects, Rothman, Rothman and Heineman architects. According to the group’s website the hall is in the shape of a shoebox seating 1,800 people. Dressed in all black, the beautiful music performed was stunning for all to hear.
The organ used in the symphony is a Bryan Concert Organ. The JS had this organ rebuilt and installed in the new concert hall. It was originally constructed in 1914 and was known as the Casavant Opus 553. After being rebuilt is has 6,215 pipes weighing 20 tons. It was named in honor of the Bryan family, long standing Jacksonville Symphony lovers.
The Symphony roots date back to 1949. According to Wikipedia, it is “one of the longest-standing orchestras”. While the Jacoby Symphony Hall is greatly used, the group also performs in schools, senior citizen centers while also appearing on NPR and Performance Today.
The Jacksonville Symphony is known to have a great many listeners exceeding some 200,000 in which many are young people. The concert today lasted one hour from start to finish and the music was from Bach to Mozart and beyond. Today, I wore all black but according to their own acknowledgement, wearing “diamonds or denim” suits you just fine. The major request is that “shoes and shirt” is work at all times.
The hall was named in honor of Robert E. Jacoby, a philanthropist of Ponte Vedra Beach Florida. To order tickets to the Jacksonville Symphony, visit http:/ /jaxsymphony .org. You won’t be sorry and, take a friend or the whole family! Hey, get a whole group going!
Two things and then three miracles. I don’t know how God works but wow and you’re just not going to want to believe these stories but you decide. Here goes in order.
First, our Dad’s home was built in the 1960’s. As a result, everything is not “code”. It’s not perfect, first because my Dad built it and he in himself worked outside of the box. (Literally in this case.) This week, there was water outside of the home in an unusual place thus the problem was a need to have the septic tank pumped which was promptly done. When the guy came to pump it, he told me the septic tank should not be this close to the house, that people should not ride over the drain field and that a new lid was needed. I explained that because we recently had a barn built and had to pull a permit that they “grandfathered” the septic tank in due to the situation and it was approved having worked well for over 60 years. Over time, we knew that regardless, we would certainly do what we could to upgrade so we immediately squared off wood 28 ‘’ x 35” and bought the cement for creating a new septic tank lid including rebar to secure safety. Meanwhile, since all of the walkway brick had been pulled up, the guests in the apartment needed a nice and most importantly, safe walkway for coming in and out. The day of the clean-out, we put a temporary entrance but I was not satisfied regarding safety so in the next days there were plans to make a safer and more sturdy walkway.
After leaving the house, and while taking home a worker, I was driving and saw a large piece of about 4 inch in thickness wood on the side of the road. It was a really nice walkway about 4 x 6 feet in size. A mental note was made of its location but I was tired and still had to take the worker to his home so on I went. After dropping him off with it raining and me being totally exhausted, I almost did not go back to look at the walkway but instead forced myself to go return… Good thing too. The walkway was going to be perfect. In the rain, it was heaved-ho into the back of the truck. Miracle # 1.
That same day, after leaving my daughter and son-in-laws home, I saw a nice table on the side of the road. It was too heavy for me to lift so I asked my kids to drop by on their way out and help me get it. While we were there, the worker who was riding with them was looking through the other items left and grabbed a small drawer. They came with me to the barn where we would off-load the table. I said in passing that I had lost the key to my riding lawn mower. The worker said, “Hey, I found a little drawer on the side of the road today. It has keys in it. Maybe one will fit your lawn mower. He tried the first and then the second, the third and in a total shock, the fourth key turned the lights on and then cranked the Craftsman riding lawn mower. The odds? Miracle # 2
I’m sorry to say, but this worker has not been honest and has stolen a circular saw, drill and battery, and a metal cutting saw from us. We, even he is well-aware of the whole debacle but we have needed his help and after discussions have kept him while being on the watch of his behaviours. When he cranked the lawn mower, and found a key that worked, he handed over a key to me. Naturally, I was in such shock that it fit, I had to try it myself. The key did not work. He had given me a key that did not crank the mower. In hind-sight, was it so he could later come remove the lawn mower or an accident? I say the latter but… you decide but in our mind it was “Miracle # 3” that the key was tried and found not working so that success could occur later and the lawn mower not be stolen.
How does God work? BTW, we’re trying to help the worker find God so maybe there will be a Miracle # 4. Pray with us.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Category: Faith, Family, Random Posts | Comments Off on Three Miracles Already in This New Year
Truly, I love stuff. As a wanna-be historian, collecting things is almost a way of life. Having rentals provides a place to decorate with the stuff and store the stuff. In one rental, I’ve begun to add shelves high on the wall. There has been the “Whitehouse” rental where everything in it is President-related. Everything from the security phone, photographs, Christmas ornaments to the Lincoln bed was collected. Then there is the “Farmhouse” where there is a pig collection, horse collection, frog collection, sign collection and on and on so, I’m all about stuff.
Because of so much “stuff”, space has been affected. There are 3 storage areas which we use for everything from wedding things to lawn equipment, over 100 chairs and tables to seat those 100 people so we’re now thinking of building yet another storage area. That’s where the scripture comes into play and I’m wanting to focus more on treasures in heaven rather than things on this earth.
So, that is my new year’s resolution… I’ll tell you how it’s going as I get a better grip on it.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Category: Faith | Comments Off on Treasures in Heaven or Stuff…
I have apologized time and again to my daughters for the amount of “stuff” they are going to inherit. There is a meme on the internet of a father standing in front of an open storage compartment filled with stuff. He says to his son, “One day, you’re going to inherit all of this”. The son is not impressed. Neither will my girls be. Oh my.
It could end that I spend every dime of their financial inheritance but for sure, I’m leaving behind my stuff. For example, a great amount of money was spent when I sold a property and bought a lake place and a mountain cabin. Then there was the Homestead property of my parents where we converted our Dad and Mom’s barn into a chapel and continue to work on it. There are the rental storage areas full of plunder to keep them going and of course, my own personal stuff. They will be shaking their heads and rolling their eyes. Again, I’m sorry.
I’m often reminded of the scripture that warns us not to store up treasures on earth but in heaven. That is going to be my new years resolution. I’m going to downsize and focus more on heavenly treasures but I can’t imagine I’ll get rid of that much to begin.
I am guilty of earthly treasure worship but in 2023, there are plans to work on that error. That won’t involve my journals though. I won’t part with my fifty- plus handwritten journals but will in fact possibly expand them with spiritual writings of growth and glory. There are probably more than fifty journals at this writing, but who’s counting. When I die the girls, out of curiosity might begin that task of counting them. They will be worn out too because for a good many years, a new journal was begun every year and sometimes even two or possibly three. Again, who’s counting?
So, what would be so interesting that a person would write daily. Well, in all honesty, there are days I don’t write in my journal. When I was in a working environment and had a desk it was easy to jot things in a book every day but being retired, the schedule is so up an down, I may not write for a week or so but when a writing happens, it is more of a factual entry of things occurring in real time.
During the pandemic, a Pandemic Journal was kept, so it will be of interest to pandemic historians. As a staunch conservative, all of the scare tactics will not be in there but can be compared to the majority of untruths put out by current left news outlets in their pandemic files online. What a difference they will read.
While it has been in me to write even as a child, my yearly journal endeavors really began in the 1980’s. Since photography has also been of importance, all American presidents since Ronald Reagan have been written about and photographed, including the trips and observances.
Highlights in my journals have been the raising of two girls, their lives and events but in between, having witnessed history, I’ve followed, photographed and journaled about Condi Rice, Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, the home of Martin Luther King, his children, and gone to the funeral of Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Jacksonville Mayors, American Presidents including Carter, Reagan, Obama and Trump, visited NASA with the famous astronauts and the list goes on, including the visits with Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince and King of England. Ha!
Today, January 1, a new journal was begun. The old one was put among the others for another day and in “my stuff” for my girls. “Girls, I’m sorry for all of the stuff” but you’re more valuable to me than all of the folks covered in the journals. I’ve told all about you in those writings so enjoy…
Meanwhile, I’ll keep you posted on my effort to focus on Jesus not stuff.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
