We began our journey at 8am, enjoying a bright drive to Hope, BC. After a quick break, we were back on the road to Kelowna. We arrived to an overcast day, which meant that we had Gyro beach to ourselves for some needed play time and outdoor rehearsal.
At 2:30, we arrived at Cottonwoods Care Home, where residents, guests and staff had already packed the recreation room, ready for our performance. It was quite emotional, to be able to brighten everyone’s day, and to lift spirits. Watching residents there sing along to What A Wonderful World was just more evidence that music memories are very deeply ingrained in the mind. And after every song, we could hear people saying things like “beautiful!” and “bravo!” Such an appreciative and generous audience!
We had an hour to check in to our hotel before we had to leave again. This is the nicest hotel we’ve ever stayed at while on tour! All thanks to Sandy for wrangling the deal.
The evening was spent with OCC Youth Choir, meeting and singing and rehearsing together. The fun connection here is that their conductor, Taylor Bone, sang in Coastal Sound Children’s Choir and Youth Choir for many years… and now here she is leading this new Youth Choir in Kelowna! Full circle. She is nurturing a lovely, warm and heart-full group of singers. We are all super excited for our collaborative concert on Saturday night!
Dinner tonight turned out to be fantastic. Basil Leaf Thai, across the street from the hotel, made take out orders for us, which we ate in the hotel eating area. The few singers that didn’t do Thai food, had Tim Horton’s. Everyone seemed to enjoy dinner, and looking over at everyone munching away on delicious Pho and Curries, smiling and chatting, chopsticks flying… I was reminded what a neat group of people these youth are.
We are all so excited for the next few days! Things have quieted down in the rooms now… so I’ll sign off until tomorrow.
