Catching Up (Or At Least Attempting To)

It's been 6 weeks since my last post, and the first finger of my left hand can't believe it just typed that number.   But don't let the absence of posts deceive you into thinking there hasn't been much going on... au contraire, BRP readers!    Ever since I returned from our wonderful California tour, life has been jam-packed, stuffed to the gills, and spilling over with responsibilities, work, and other generally adult-sounding words.   Oh, almost forgot... also add 'relocating'!

Yes, the Wilson family has moved.   We no longer live in the middle of nowhere southeast of Vienna; we now live just on the outskirts of the middle of nowhere northeast of Vienna!   I kid, I kid.   We live just outside the city limits of Vienna in a nice little town that is much more practically located for all our family activities and for my work commute.   We made the decision to begin looking in this direction several months ago, and God blessed us with a wonderful house that is not only in a better location but also less expensive. 

We moved on April 4th, just about three weeks after I returned from California.   Three weeks sounds like a normal amount of time to pack up a house and move, right?   Well, it is.  But add to that a jazz concert at the Musikverein, playing 1st trombone in Aida, Arabella, and Elektra in the opera, and two Philharmonic blocks, and you begin to get an idea why it took us every second of that 3 weeks to get packed up.   During that time I would go to the opera or concert each evening with a car fully loaded with stuff that I would take by the new house and unload late at night once the performances were done.

Nearly three weeks have also passed since moving day, which is again a normal amount of time to unpack and get settled in a new place.   But again add to that a Wagner Ring Cycle (including my first time playing bass trumpet in the Staatsoper), a run of Parsifal, and another Philharmonic block, and you understand that basically the new house and the opera house have owned me for 6 weeks.

I do not begrudge it, though I'm glad the stressful and busy time is coming to a close.   And it looks like it's just in time for the wonderful Austrian Spring weather!   The boxes are all unpacked, the light fixtures and photos hung, and the back yard is even beginning to resemble the nice outdoor space that it will eventually be.    And waaaaaaay at the bottom of my 'TO DO' list, right next to "remind friends and family that you still exist and you still love them", is the entry, "catch up on blogs".  

So my goal over the next couple of weeks is to do just that.  I've got a backlog of topics that I really want to share with everyone, and I'm going to try my best to tell you about everything that's been going on.    In the meantime, you can check out The Vienna Wilsons for some photos of the new place.