Relaxing at the park

Sometimes you relax while watching the kids play. Sometimes you take a break while walking the dog. Whatever the circumstances, these park benches are a nice place to stop and sit a while.

"There are �bus bench� workouts and �park bench� workouts. A bus bench and a park bench look exactly the same, but your expectations sitting in them are radically different."
~ Dan John 

Editor's note: We'll be taking a break for the month of August. See you in September!

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Family concert in the park

If you were one of the several hundred concert-goers that attended the Downey Symphony concert at Furman Park this evening, you enjoyed an hour of beautiful music in a peaceful atmosphere. The theme of the night was "Broadway Film Tunes." As always, Downey Symphony was superb in its delivery of these familiar tunes.

They also performed their usual tribute to service men and women by having audience members stand if they or a family member was in the branch for which the theme song of that branch was playing. An audience favorite.

The concert was made more enjoyable because of the family atmosphere, which was demonstrated by another standard of these concerts. Sharon Lavery, the music director, announced that she had run out of energy and needed the help of the children of the audience to come up and conduct the symphony for the last tune, which was a John Phillip Sousa classic march.

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The Wiseguys are back!

This past Wednesday night, we were swinging to the sounds of the Wiseguys�an 18-piece big band orchestra. The lead singer did a great job of keeping the show going�he has a Frank Sinatra sound, it felt a little like we had stepped back in time. The whole band was fun to watch�clearly all the band members are having fun up there.

One cool thing was the live feed on Facebook. It would be a great way to catch their show if you couldn't make it to the venue.






"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." 
~ Victor Hugo

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Choose your exercise

Even while the Marine band is playing at the other end of the park, people are taking advantage of the many forms of exercise available. There is the strength-building exercise equipment that uses your own body weight, the tennis courts, and the path around the park for joggers and dog-walkers (the dog is out of sight).

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Be our guest

This week's Concert in the Park at Furman Park featured the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wingband, which is one of my favorites and a regular in the concert series. The park was crowded as usual. With tunes that ranged from the melancholy "Shenandoah" to a medley of tunes from Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the band wowed the crowd to an enthusiastic response.

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Suave the Band

The Downey free summer concerts began last Wednesday at Furman Park. The first sounds this year came from Suave the Band, Latin Dance. And, there were plenty of people who wanted to dance.



It was a lot of fun to watch the dancers moving to the beat and clearly having the time of their lives. One of the understandings of the word Suave is confident or self-possessed. These dancers were definitely "suave."

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Big sisters

This little girl was definitely taking care of her little brother as they walked around the park.

"My first job is big sister and I take it very seriously!"

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I won't grow up

For me, the best part of any park was always the trees. Which ones could be climbed? Which ones had the perfect seat for surveying my surroundings?

�If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I won�t grow up.� 
~ Peter Pan

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