Apple of Sodom

I am not familiar with this poisonous plant that is native to Sodom and the Dead Sea area in Israel. Chris, Kory and I hiked Puu Waa Waa this morning. After a week of desk work we were ready to stretch our legs and the three miles up hill and three miles back down really did the trick.


The yellow dots are Sodom's apples which are growing near the top of the Puu Waa Waa cinder cone with the Kohala Mountains in the background.

Getting the band together

Weekend before last I had the privilege of playing Brahms Symphony #1 with the Kamuela Philharmonic. This symphony is an incredible, benchmark piece which was a thrill to play. It made me forget how exhausted I was and how much my back hurt after two solid days of rehearsal and performing the hour-long piece. Playing with a group of this caliber is really amazing. I feel blessed to share the stage with such talented and dedicated musicians. What an opportunity! I was especially inspired by the three young solo competition winners we accompanied before playing the Brahms.

These past couple of months have been a whirlwind. I just looked through our pictures from Okinawa so I could remind myself that it wasn't a dream. We did, in fact, go to Japan. We returned just in time for the Christmas party season, then I was preparing for the Brahms concert. Now I can take a deep breath and catch up on the blog.

Preparing for our dress rehearsal Sunday afternoon.