Roger Brown remembered.

I don't remember exactly when I first met Roger, but I was Assistant Minister at the church he and his parents attended, back in 1957-1960, and that is probably when we met. His father, Maynard Brown, was a local pharmacist, and was the brother of Stuart Brown, who built our house, back in 1973. So I knew the family. Back then, Roger might have been in school, or at least not living at home. Roger was unusual in the breadth of his interests. He had a particular interest in science, and the interface of science and religion. He also had an interest in China, and studied Mandarin. His ministry was mostly as an intentional interim, and he served 12 churches in that capacity. I have never been close to Roger, but this retired clergy group has given me a chance to know him better. He is a thoughtful person, and we are very much diminished by his death. Roger has a brother David, who is a UCC minister in Oregon. He will probably be here for Roger's funeral, which will be next spring.

Roger Brown (from his Facebook page).

Oliver!

New England Youth Theater produced the musical Oliver! this past weekend, and Ellen and I went to a 7p.m. performance on Sunday. We had a special reason to go - Peter and Mary Alice Amidon's grandson, Desmond (son of Stefan Amidon and Zara Bode), was cast in the lead role of Oliver Twist. He may have been the youngest actor in the whole show, but he did well. We have heard him sing many times at church. I like Oliver as a musical - John was in it in a community production in Appleton, WI back in 1972 or so (he was ten or eleven years old) and think there was a high school production when John was at BUHS. We've also seen a previous NEYT production. The choreography was especially good in this one. The soloists were all capable, but none stood out - if anyone did, it was Nancy. Fagin was played by a girl, and she did well with a very demanding role. Desmond did himself proud and it was most enjoyable throughout. I was in the front row and practically in the play itself. I snuck a few photos - didn't want to be a distraction.

"Food, Glorious Food"

Work House Gang

"Will You Buy?"

Oliver with Artful Dodger

The weekend.

Friday noon, we went to Greenfield Community College for a Holiday concert of the GCC Community Chorus, of which Brendon is a member. The program was a mix of anthems and carols, from the Gaudete of the 16c. Piae Cantiones to Deck the Halls to Winter Wonderland. The choir was singing in the lobby, and there were no panels to focus the sound, but they made a sweet sound. Of course Katie, Dusty and Dorothy, and Karen and Brian were also there. Nice little fan club for Brendon.

The GCC Community Choir in the lobby Friday.

Brendon in his place in the choir. *********************** Friday evening, Ellen had to spend about 3 hours at the church dealing with cookies for the Bazaar. While Ellen was away, Andy Davis came and spent that time with me and helped me with supper and hydration, and other personal needs. I skipped the Friday eve news programs on PBS and spent the time talking with Andy. We spent some time listening to music too - like Kitka, which he had not heard before, and Maddy Prior, whom he knew of and had heard in the past, but had not heard the specific CD we have. We had a good time together. Saturday, I was pretty tired after a full Friday and not much sleep Friday night. So I didn't go anywhere. I could have gone to the Bazaar, but didn't. Actually, both Ellen and I stayed in bed late and listened to Friday news programs on the phone, and then I spent time either in my comfy chair by the fireplace, or in bed, dozing, or doing exercises. Ellen was mostly in the kitchen, and we listened to more music from the "Christmas Box." A quiet, restful day. Ellen did go out shopping, and I had a little time alone. I managed fine. Today, Sunday, we considered going to church and set an early alarm, but I felt sort of "woozy" when I got up and decided to stay home and attend church via live Zoom. So we had church in our living room. Later, early evening, we will go to the New England Youth Theater to see the musical Oliver, starring Desmond Amidon, Peter and Mary Alice's grandson, Stefan's son. Very musically precocious. More on that later!

More snow.

Today there was to have been a gathering of our retired clergy group to discuss Wilkie and Noreen Au's Aging with Wisdom and Grace, chapter 1. But last night it snowed quite a bit - 3-4 inches anyway, and I had questions about going out at all. Lee Moore, another member of the group, also expressed concerns about the forecast. So I shared my concerns via email and eventually there was a consensus to scratch today. We will meet next Monday. So today is an unexpectedly open day. Ellen is baking cookies for the Guilford Church Christmas Bazaar, and I am the D.J. - i.e., I select CD's from the Christmas Season Box of CD's to play while Ellen works. So far, we have heard Kitka, Maddy Prior, the Boston Camerata, a CD Ellen and I made in 2004, and Peggy Seeger. A nice variety, if I say so myself. I just bought tickets for John and Cynthia, and Ellen and myself, to attend an Irish Christmas concert by John Doyle at Next Stage on Dec. 19th. That should be fun! Tomorrow we will go to a Greenfield Community College Chorus concert that Brendon is in. I suspect every day this month will have something. I will need to monitor my energy carefully.

Noreen and Wilkie Au, authors of Aging with Wisdom and Grace.

John Doyle, Irish Musician

Maddy Prior, British folk singer.

Thanksgiving weekend - plus.

Heavy snow cancelled our plans to have Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday in Shutesbury with Katie and Brendon. Ellen and I had a quiet day at home; no stress. Friday, John and Cynthia came here for a Thanksgiving meal, but Katie and Brendon couldn't come, so no turkey, dressing and gravy leftovers! John is vegetarian and gluten-free, so we had Ellen's wonderful walnut and cheese balls in a non-meat gravy, squash, mashed potato and mushroom gravy (J&C brought that) Cranberry sauce (Ellen's home-made version), pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and cranberry crisp (J&C). A delicious meal! Much to be thankful for.

Thursday snow scenes from our deck.

My Thanksgiving dinner: Two walnut-cheese balls, cranberry sauce, squash, bell peppers, mashed potato with mushroom gravy.

Thanksgiving dinner with John and Cynthia. **************************** Saturday, Ellen went to Doris Feinland's 90th birthday celebration down in Stamford, CT. I stayed home and John spent the day with me. A lovely day reading and visiting and eating leftovers! I'm a lucky guy! Sunday, we went to GCC for church, but did not sing in the choir. In the afternoon, we had a River Singers rehearsal. By the time I got home, I was exhausted! Monday was a quiet day of reading Toni Morrison. Tuesday, last night, was Sing Nowell, the new version of Nowell Sing We Clear. Eight members of a new generation have joined with Andy Davis and Fred Breunig. They are fantastic! Everyone misses Tony Barrand, but this group is a worthy successor to NSWC.

Andy Davis, Arthur Davis, Guillaume Sparrow-Pepin, Fred Breunig, part of Sing Nowell. Andy and Fred are original members; Arthur is Andy's son; Guillaume is son of Lise Sparrow, former pastor of GCC from 2003 to 2021.

The group Windbourne which is now part of Sing Nowell: Jeremy Carter-Gordan, Lynn Mahoney Rowan, Lauren Breunig, and Will Rowan. Lauren is daughter of Fred Breunig. Lynn grew up in the Guilford Church. Andy, Fred, Arthur, Lauren, Lynn and Guillaume all have strong ties to the Guilford Church.

The full group, with Emma Schneider and Laurel Swift added: Andy, Jeremey, Guillaume, Arthur, Lynn, Lauren, Emma, Laurel, Will, Fred.****************** Katie and Brendon joined us for the Sing Nowell concert, as did Nan Tierra. I managed pretty well in getting from the car to my seat in the Latchis Theater and back out to the car again, despite icy conditions under foot outside the theater. Today (Wednesday) we will have our Swarthmore class on Toni Morrison - specifically, tonight, on her novel, Beloved, part 1. It's an amazing book, but also bewildering at times, so I'm looking forward to learning from Phil Weinstein's lecture. Tomorrow, our retired clergy group meets, and we are now discussing Wilkie and Noreen Au's Aging With Wisdom and Grace. This is also the week leading up to the Guilford Church Christmas Bazaar - cookie-making time! Maybe not quite so many this year. The other thing that is happening is that the University of North Carolina "Tarheels" men's basketball season has started. I haven't seen them on TV yet, but I've heard a couple of games on the iphone radio app. They play Alabama tonight. That will be after Toni Morrison. At some point we'll go to Cliff and Eliza Bergh's house and watch a game on ESPN.

Scenes from Black Mountain

John looking out from the top of Black Mountain

Granite and Moss.

Aslan's table: an allusion to C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the. Wardrobe. Aslan is a Christ-like lion who is sacrificed by the dark forces of Narnia on a rock which is split in the process. This formation on the mountain reminded me of that story. I will add more scenes from Black Mountain from time to time.

John at the top. People have built seats out of available chunkcs of granite over time.

Black Mountain scenes