Despite the weather being chillier, we’ve had beautiful, blue, sun-filled skies that offered the illusion of our temperatures appearing higher than they were.

Wednesday was a doubleheader for Dayton Live. I spent the morning hours at Schuster Center for the Young People’s Concert hosted by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and then I spent the evening at Victoria Theatre to house manage the Asian percussion ensemble that offered a visually brilliant spectacle.

Thursday, I retreated to my bedroom for most of the day until it was time to have lunch with Mama Kay and Mary at La Pinata in Centerville. By 7 PM, Kellen and I were heading to Wright State University to attend the production, THE 25^th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE. It was hilarious! I have three favorite directors: Joe Deer, Greg Hellems, and Megan Wean Sears. I do not make it to nearly as many theatre productions as I desire, but when I know one of these three is involved, I try my best to attend. SPELLING BEE is Joe Deer’s final production at Wright State before his nearing retirement and there was no way I would miss this. Thank you, Joe!

Tonight, I shall serve as house manager for a local production company’s children’s show in the PNC Annex, across the street from Schuster Center on the southeast corner of 2^nd & Ludlow streets. I return to Schuster on Saturday evening for another event with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and The Three Tenors.

March 2024 has five weeks that fall on teaching days, and when this occurs, the studio is closed for one of those five weeks. Therefore, my upcoming Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are free, and I am looking forward to these three days out of the teaching studio. I am, however, pushing myself to research and write. A new book on the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair has arrived, A PRELUDE TO A CENTURY: The 1904 World’s Fair by Patrick Murphy, and I am loving it more with each page turn.

Today, my birth father, Danny Lee Jolliff, would have turned 82.

Make it a great day!