To add to the timing, daughter, Kami, will finish her presentations at Gen Con in Indianapolis the evening of the 4th.
Even better our long time friend Cindi now lives in Gas City, IN, less than 5 miles from Wesleyan.
Cindi remembered Kami from the old days and immediately offered her home as our base. I’m sure you can see the plan that quickly formed! Cindi has a paved driveway with electrical outlet and also wanted to attend. Tickets were ordered right away to ensure we could all sit together.
But first we need to do the nasties with Rufus. Dayton is in Montgomery County which offers a ‘state-of-the-art’ dump station. Simply insert a crisp $5 bill into the iron-ranger to access the facility.
The route to Marion is on US 35, which passes Wilbur Wright’s birthplace.
We settled into Cindi’s driveway for the 1st of 2 days of Drum Corps competition.
Between the evening events, we enjoyed catching up, the $2 Tuesday movie (Lion King) and a long walk in Marion’s fabulous park.
The park is on the Monarch Migration Route and has a beautiful butterfly area, altho no monarchs were here during our visit. It also has some of the most expressive fun bronze work I’ve seen.
a young girl pitching overhand to her male opponent is one of my favorites
a young boy offers a drink of water to his dog
Lots of fun with our wonderful hostess, but it’s DCI that provided the timing. The best I can describe the DCI performance is to think of an energetic halftime band performance.
There is a 5 minute window for the performers to stage their instruments and props
Then KaBoom! - most start with a tremendous attention-getting downstroke. Got my intention.
Each of the competitors are judged by the music, percussion, brass, dance, etc. and their interpretation of a theme. Poetry
the lure of the Sirens
There’s 15 groups here from 13 US states, Canada and Ireland. Too many pictures to post each group. So how did Gold do?
Gold’s theme was ‘The pursuit of happiness’. With the ultimate conclusion happiness is not love nor money but found within.
How did Kg do – ever see the movie ‘Cool Runnings’? It’s not the individual but the support and pride of the team. Kg tweaked a knee and ankle and is out for up to 8 weeks.
As the pivot for the cymbals and performing the cartwheel, she needed to be choreographed out. She was the lightest and the cartwheels were eliminated, but the pivot was required.
Here’s a picture of Kg helping set up the marimbas in ‘the pit’. From a key pivot to a gaffer, always there to help.
Gold finished 2nd in the preliminaries, but dropped to 3rd in the finals. Good enough to join the world championships at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis this weekend.
Kg accepted her disappointment with dignity, grace and courage and excelled in her new role with Gold. IMHO - she is a world champion.
Today’s Ohio Fun Fact: Barn Quilts began in Adams County, Ohio in 2001. Barn Quilts have become the largest grassroots public art movement in history. The Barn Quilt Trail now includes 43 US states and 3 Canadian Provinces.
ref: http://barnquiltinfo.com/history.html
ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilt_trail
What fun time you had, too about about KG's knee but she soldiered on in a different capacity.
ReplyDeleteLots of barn quilts all over this area of Ontario as well.
We're feeling Kg's disappoint not performing,but she's making her contributions known in other ways. It was indeed a lot of fun.
DeleteSorry to miss Gen Con (and Kami) this year!
ReplyDeleteWould have been fun for you two to meet up again.
DeleteFran and I will hunt you down in CO when we pass thru.
Wow, what a show. Good to see Kg still involved and sorry to hear about her injury.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a covered dump station before.
Kg will heal and knows she needs to heal. The disappointment will pass. But Gold has moved up to 22 in the World standings and Kg dressed for the photos - still not marching, but totally included.
ReplyDeleteI'd never seen a covered dump station with an iron ranger before either. And it smelled like a pota potty in there!