HOW LUCKY ARE WE...

JAZZ IN THE PINES

I realise I have not posted for a while. I seem to have been caught up, as well as bogged down, with all sorts of things, including pre-Christmas activities. I really needed to get things back into perspective!!

So when Tina suggested we head down to Kingston yesterday afternoon, for a Jazz concert, we jumped at the chance to blow the cobwebs away and totally relax for an hour or two.

Actually, the term "blowing away the cobwebs" takes on a whole new meaning when you are sitting just a metre or two away from these magnificent big brass instruments!

Each year, Norfolk Island stages a big "Jazz in the Pines" Festival, which attracts large numbers of Jazz lovers from all over Australia and New Zealand. Performances and concerts take place all through the week in different venues, and many, including this one, are free.

When we went to the airport on Thursday evening to meet my sister, there were three musicians in the terminal, entertaining as people were coming through customs! My sister said there had even been a jam session on the plane!

The concert at Emily Bay started at lunchtime, and went on right through the afternoon. There were fish and chips, and masses of salads available to buy for lunch.....Ten dollars for all you could eat!

 Lots of visitors and locals took advantage of the opportunity to sit back and enjoy it all, in this most picturesque setting. Now I have a confession, that I am not a great fan of jazz music. But I do love to see Jazz musicians perform, in a spirit of joy and total immersion in what they are doing, so much of it ad lib as they take their cues from one another. There has to be real bonding in a jazz band.

You can see why they call it Jazz in the Pines!

 Ricky Robertson is a "local", and always takes the opportunity to come over to Norfolk Island with his family and his band at this time!

 Andre is one of our Governmental Ministers, but music is his first love, and he enjoys being at the "controls".

 Here are my sister Sally, her husband Roy, and Bernie feeling totally relaxed.

And even young Jasper seemed to be loving it.

 Now, how lucky are we, being able to enjoy this sort of thing, totally free, in magic surroundings, and just five minutes from home??