Last night was the District 97 instrumental festival. This is the one time each year that our village middle schools hold a combined concert, combining each of their bands and orchestras.
The schools’ music directors alternate which school’s concertmaster sits as concertmaster of each combined orchestra. West was concertmaster of hers and you can see her in this video, just left of the conductor:
The other school’s concertmaster sat as concertmaster of Ben’s combined orchestra. Ben’s next to him i.e. behind him from the audience point of view – so you can’t really see him.
It’s Steve’s birthday today. He opened his presents this morning, then we had birthday cake for breakfast.
This (birthday cake for breakfast) has become a family tradition. It started because of a birthday when Steve wasn’t going to be around in the evening (he probably had a business trip). We expect him to be around this evening, but we decided to go with the tradition anyway.