August 8, 2009. Western Head, N.S. The Evening.

The evening had two distinct parts, both enjoyable and both special. The first part was dining at The Best Coast Coffee Gallery, the place we used to call The Broad Cove Cafe. Friday night they serve one meal and you pay your money and take your chances. We took the early sitting, as they were full up for the seven o'clock session, so other than dining early, we enjoyed our dinner. Except in Nova Scotia they call the evening meal Supper so we ate our supper at five-thirty, It was fun and festive. The waitress even wore fancy clothes, a black lace top with spaghetti straps, which made her look very elegant indeed. The lady owner chatted with us along with the folks at the five tables, so along with the excellent food, it was like eating at home, except easier. We will go again to their Friday night meals, in fact, we have booked our reservation for next Friday and will take Pat and Mal. We left in time to make the second part of the evening, held at the Wesley United Church in Petite Reverie.

Then and Now, an Evening of Trombone Music, featuring the 'Airin To Blow' Trombone Quartet. It started at seven o'clock and they played all evening, finishing at nine fifteen. It was wonderful. The music was old and the music was new, but these four trombone players played the most difficult pieces and played them well. They are all young, well kind of young, probably between 24 and 30 years old, and all well trained. All have music degrees and all have numerous jobs scraping along teaching and performing and leading. They teach part time at three universities and all play in numerous different groups, so playing for two hours last night was not hard on their lips. They were playing as well at the end as they were at the beginning. I was brought up listening to the sound of the trombone so it was lots of fun picking apart these players. They were all very very good, but some were better than others. The best piece was a newer piece by Flor Peeters, 'Suite Quatuor Pour 4 Trombones', and the last was a Salvation Army piece, written by Neville McFarland,'Singing All The Day'. Unfortunately, the church was not full, but the young folks played their hearts out for the half full church. We who were there appreciated every effort.

Ken commented on the way home that the two parts of the evening were equally enjoyable, which is often not the case. But last night, we just got lucky. I was sorry that my brother was not here and also Mal to enjoy and appreciate the music.