Concert Under the Stars

Tonight we returned to Central Park to enjoy another performance by the Corvallis Community Band. Tonight's theme was All That Jazz! The music was great, as usual, but what I'll remember was despite this being the first time that we brought chairs for ourselves, partway through I got the urge to lie down on the cool grass and watch the stars come out as dusk darkened the sky. Today was a scorcher, but tonight was just the perfect temperature for an evening performance. No breeze, not warm, not chilly. I encouraged Joshua to be my co-conspirator and lie down next to me, though it was not the same kind of relaxing experience for his antsy body! He saw a plane blinking across the sky, far far away, and squeaked out to his daddy to look. (Thankfully the train's not-so-distant whistle helped to muffle Joshua's minor lapses of 4-year-old reverence.) He persuaded Leif to join us, and although Joshua and I got a little punchy at times (which was marvelous too), it was so peaceful to feel the cool grass beneath our heads, listen to the clarinet-dominated performance, and gaze out into the sky to find emerging stars. We both remarked that sadly neither of us could remember the last time we simply lied on our backs and star gazed...yet we both know tonight will be far from the last time that we enjoy this summertime treat.