Postponed!

It's a bit hard to believe that almost two months have passed since my last blog post. After re-reading that March 27th posting, I realize that one thing has changed: I have postponed the May 24th deadline for the publication of the Complete Book of Stories. After our Maine "work vacation" I began to experience some clear signs of stress. I made a list of everything weighing on me, and that deadline was one of them. Since it was a self-imposed deadline, it seemed foolish to get stressed over it. So for the time being I have put the editing of that book on hold. We are about to go on another major trip out west - the usual places, and perhaps some not so usual- and I hope to resume the editing during that trip. My new deadline is Shirley's birthday, September 10, 2011 (she would have been 79 years old).

I have completed the "Shirley's letters to her parents from Wellesley" project for her freshman year - 40 letters all told. Since she was working at a YMCA Day Camp on Staten Island and living at home the summer of 1951, there are no letters until she returned to Wellesley in September. So that project is on hold. However, one new development is that I am hearing from some of her housemates who I contacted, including her roommate. That is adding a new dimension and may result in some "supplements" that I'll send to Katie during the summer months. By the way, if anyone is interested in more details on this project, email me at crockett@sover.net.

The Chorale's concerts took place last weekend. I think everyone was pretty happy - we had two good audiences and they seemed to really enjoy the music (which included Heinrich Schutz's Musicalishe Exequien or German Requiem. This coming Saturday there will be a Memorial Service for Blanche Honegger Moyse, our esteemed Chorale founder, and director for over 30 years (who passed away earlier this year at age 101!) at which the Chorale will sing the final chorus from the St. John Passion and two chorales. Many former Chorale members are returning for that - it will be a wonderful reunion and a very emotional time.

Also, River Singers had a rousing concert to a packed church last Saturday. For a taste of that, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4w83FTWNbs - it is a video of a Rawandan song we performed with Apollonaire William, a local Rawandan graduate student.

Next Sunday we will sing Handel's Oratorio Israel in Egypt, which is a marvelous work.

And then we get ready for our trip. Stay tuned!