Best laid plans and all that

I sing in a local community choir. It’s great fun and it’s been a fun way to meet more locals (and to learn new things like making sour dough bread, but that’s another story). This past week we had the opportunity to record our work in a professional studio. Very exciting. We travelled in convoy to the studio and piled into the room, ready to warm up and sing. We were all trying not to notice all the microphones and working out how to respond to the very ‘dead’ sound of a studio. Warm ups began and then we were ready.

Well, most of us were. My voice vanished. During the day, my voice had deepened a tone or two, but that was it. There was no sign I would lose it. But lose it I did. Between one warm up and the next. So my contribution to the recording was to observe and to press the ‘record’ button when signalled to do so. Down side: I didn’t get to sing. Up side: I was able to hear the entire choir from an audience’s perspective. And I was able to take this panoramic pic of everyone getting set.
I guess there’s never a convenient time to get laryngitis, but this felt quite dramatic. Almost poetically so. And they say fiction is far-fetched!
The recording went well although I don’t think any of us are considering auditioning for any of the telly singing shows.

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Gooney Bird over Melbourne

Last night, we took the Gooney Bird flight over Melbourne. It was a dinner flight and we began with champagne, and finished with port and chocolates.
The Gooney Bird (aka DC3) first began flying in the 1930s, only thirty years after Wilbur and Orville did their thing. This particular Gooney Bird was one of the last production models, and was owned by the military until 1989. It’s done relatively few miles compared with jets of today.
We had picked the best night of the year to fly. It was clear with just enough clouds to make brilliant the sunset.

We took off from Essendon Airport, headed for Westgate Bridge then turned right.

Locals might recognise Altona’s Cherry Lake and Kororoit Creek

past Werribee to the sea to the sea …

Once we reached the heads, we crossed coasts and travelled up the Peninsula to Melbourne. In the bottom right St Kilda Pier. To the right of the bright lights, Albert Park Lake.

The Gooney Bird seats 28 and includes a lounge.

This is Melbourne’s first passenger terminal (just the bit with the fence). Tiny. Hard to imagine really.
Most of the passengers had flown on Gooney Birds before. We met two people who like us had travelled from PNG to Australian boarding schools. For one, the smell and sounds took her back to those days. Others had worked on them and/or flown them.
Our trip was a gift from our sons. It was fabulous.

Truly Tan

On Saturday, at the Abbotsford Convent, Jen Storer launched Truly Tan, the first in what will be a series for middle primary readers. Tan, the main character, is the oldest of four girls in a family who have just moved from the city to the country.

Although you can only see the front few of the audience, there was a large crowd here to help Jen celebrate. There was talking and laughing, singing and even dancing. Go Jen! Go Tan!