The P-Bone Superstar

In case you didn't know this, Don brought his P-Bone along with him on our trip.  If you don't know what a P-Bone is, think trombone, but then think plastic and red.  Yes, Don has a red, plastic trombone, called a "P-Bone," and it plays beautifully and sounds just like a trombone.  He brought it because it is so much lighter than his "real" trombones and because it comes in a cloth carrying case.  He was hoping to get to play it some while here, and yesterday was the big day.

Every Thursday, at 5:00 p.m., at a building called the Small Guild, there is an outdoor concert given by a group called the "City Big Band."  It is a typical big band -- five saxophones, four trombones, four trumpets, and rhythm.  Most of the players look to be college aged, so I imagine it is mostly students from the Music Academy here in Riga.  Anyway, Don went up and spoke to the director, and it turns out that they were missing their third trombone player, so Don was asked to step in and play.  He was in 7th heaven!  He was even introduced to the audience.  Here's a picture of him playing.

We took a boat ride on the canal today.  There is a canal that runs through Riga, and there are boats that you can ride on that take you through the canal and onto the Daugava River.  It was a very restful and relaxing ride.  The Daugava River is deep enough to support all types of boats.  There was a cruise ship parked along one of the docks, along with a ferry boat that travels to Stockholm.  We'll have to consider going there while we are here.  Here's a picture of the canal boat.

I wanted to show you a picture of my foot.  There are two pictures actually.  The first one is how it looked right after I fell, and the second one is how it looks now.  The first picture makes the swelling look a lot worse that it actually was.  As for the bruising, you would think that it would be on top of the foot where the swelling was, but it is down by the toes and along the side.  It still hurts a bit, but not too bad.

We're off to another concert now.  It's Church Music Night, and a lot of music will be in a lot of different churches all evening long.  We are going to St. Peter's Church, where I hope to hear an awesome choir that we haven't heard yet.  After that, who knows? 

See ya!