April is almost over!

Just an hour left. Then it will be May day. April has been good - many beautiful days. It has been cool, spring is retarded. Yesterday, however, I did sit on the deck, and it was lovely. Today, Jack Wesley returned to be with me while Ellen had lunch with Elizabeth Christie. Jack and I share many threads. There is always much to ahare.

A thriving magnolia tree

Tom Goldschmid

Looking ahead, there is a memorial service for Tom Goldschmid tomorrow at Westminster-West church. Tom had pancreatic cancer, which can be terribly painful. All the more amazing that his life partner, Kathy Leo, our long-standing Hallowell leader, could describe his death as "beautiful." Here is an excerpt from his obituary: "Tom died the way he lived, making choices throughout his journey with pancreatic cancer that always considered quality of life. He spent his last seasons doing the things he loved when he could. He continued to work with wood. He sketched and painted, and wrote prose and poetry in his journal. He spent time with friends. Most importantly, he spent time with his children and grandchildren as often as possible. He always showed up wherever his son was working on a building site or landscaping site to collaborate or just share lunch. And he dropped in on his daughter in the greenhouse or in the field at Walker Farm weekly. He loved his partner’s children and grandchildren as well. Being a grandfather was one of his greatest joys. There was no limit to Tom’s love. His love was inclusive and reached far into the community." Tom was an architect, a woodworker, a musician, among many other things. Not long before he died, he brought the chair I am sitting in - my recliner chair - in his pickup truck, from Bellows Falls to our house, and thanked me profusely for asking him for his help. He was a very special man. We will miss him very much, but his spirit is very much alive among us.

Tom Goldschmid (1949-2025)

Tom and Kathy.******************************** LATER The actual service was beautiful. Tom's family was there and many spoke and/or sang. Tom was bountifully honored and appreciated. There were more people packed into the church than I have ever seen!

The church as people were gathering.*********************** We got there early. I got to see people I haven't seen for years, even decades! People came up to speak to me I did not recognize, but they graciously let me know who they were.

Tim Merton was there to play the cello.

Jason Leo sang and spoke.********************************************** John and Cynthia came over on Monday for supper. We had a good visit. Otherwise, pretty quiet. Ellen has read aloud over 150 pages of Marilyn Robinson's Lila, which is an amazing "prequel" to Gilead.

Spectacular!

The daffodils/narcissus have blossomed forth on Shirley's grave in spectacular fashion. About as many blooms as we've ever seen. Looking out the window right now, here at the house, it doesn't look very much like spring. No ferns, no tree buds. So that makes it that much more amazing to see these photos. Yay Shirley! And thank you Ellen for taking these pictures!

Change in plan

Yesterday, we had planned to be prisoners in our home for the much of the day. That is because Zach told us he had arranged for a tree service company to remove 3-4 very large, tall white pine trees that are right next to the road - our driveway - using a crane to cut them up from the top down, carefully, piece by piece, because they are very close to power lines. While they were working, the driveway would be blocked and we wouldn't be able get out in the car. There is much about these trees to be admired, and I have done so for the past 50+ years, so we were saddened by this news, but I have also been concerned because they are vulnerable. They are rotting - one in particular has become like a hollow shell - and the biggest one is a tangle of five separate trunks and probably not that sturdy. If one wère to break off under heavy wind and/or snow, it would completely take out the power lines and make quite a mess. Iț's sort of a wonder that hasn't happened already. But ---- the tree people never came. I don't know why. In a quick phone call to Zach, he spoke of a "mis-communication." i didn't press for details. No definite date in the future has been set, apparently. So we can Still admire our trees.

In this picture you can see clearly how close these trees are to the power lines.

These are big trees!

This is a complex tree!

Close-up is amazing.

It's a wonder this one is still standing.

It will be very interesting to see this taken down! That will have to be some crane!****************** Thanks to Ellen for these pictures.

A visit from Jack Wesley

Today is Wednesday, which means Ellen had the afternoon off and Jack Wesley came to sit with me. Ellen had lunch with Katie at the Upper Bend Cafe in Turners Falls, MA, and then they went to see early wildflowers at a place in Sunderland, MA, including bloodroot and trout lily. Meanwhile, Jack and I had a good talk, especially about him and his wife, Julie's, connection with the Guilford Church - very reviving for them -and then John arrived to do a job for us and he joined in the conversation, and Jack asked about John's background, and we heard all about his work with whales and his connection with Roger Payne, who was the original whale song recorder and guru. He also shared a lot about the legal issues around Cynthia's ownership of a share of the land where they live in Westminster - the Ashling Association - which Jack was quite interested in because as a lawyer and then judge, he had been involved in such situations, and immediately grasped the nuances. John had come over to see if a TV signal booster he had bought would make it possible to move the TV from the upstairs bedroom down to the livingroom, which makes a much longer kead-in wire from the antenna, and thus a weaker signal. It worked, and he installed the wire so that now we can move the TV down any time. Which means I can watch TV from my chair and won't have to go upstairs. So, all in all, a good afternoon. Jack got a good picture of John with me.

The Upper Bend Cafe in Turners Falls, MA (photo from the web), where Ellen and Katie had lunch today. They like it a lot.

Trout Lilies.

Julie and Jack Wesley (and me behind Jack), a picture taken in 1993 at Jack's inaugeration ceremony as a judge.

A recent photo of Jack and Julie with Howard Dean, who was Governor of Vermont back in the decade of the 1990's, and ran in the Democratic Primary of 2004 for President. Julie worked as his liaison with the Vermont Legislature when he was Governor, so they know him well.

A picture Jack took of John and me.

Holy Week

The old and the new. An ancient rite with new developments. Maunday Thursday the retired clergy group met in the morning and discussed "staying engaged." I suggested it was more complicated - even paradoxical - this time of living and dying. Staying engaged, yes, but also disengaging, or "decathecting" as death gurus say. That is the challenge. Thursday eve we went to a simple supper (soup and bread) and service around the tables down in Zeller Hall at the Guilford Church. Good Friday, we went to a Union service at Guilford - a scaled down 'Stations of the Cross, which took us outside most of the time. i made out ok in my wheelchair. The liturgy, which dealt with dying and disability, I found quite moving. Friday evening, I led choir rehearsal for Easter at Dummerston - not easy for me physically, but it was satisfying. Today has been quiet.

Clergy group: clockwise: Me, Lee, Bixby, Jeff.

The daffodills are about to burst forth in bloom on Shirley's grave.

MaundayThursday meal.

One of the stations of the cross.

Stefan singing at the inside portion of the Good Friday service.**************

Easter morning we had a good choir - they sounded great!

A week glides by quickly!

Well, here it is, Wednesday again! Dwayne Johnson was here with me a week ago; today it will be Fred Breunig, who has been here on a previous Wednesday - maybe in late February. Mike Mayer came by for a couple of hours last Thursday (4/10), Friday evening we did not go to Kathy Bullock's second rehearsal; we went to the first on Tuesday and enjoyed it very much, even though we knew we would not be singing in the concerts over the weekend. John was able to go with us to the River Singers concert only on Sunday, so that is when we went. Saturday was a day at home for me. Just as well, because we got several inches of wet snow late Friday night and early Saturday morning. It was John's 64th birthday (!!) but he was not available for a celebration, and the weather didn't cooperate anyway, so we did that Sunday- after the concert we went to Panda North - our "go to" restaurant for birthdays - for a birthday treat supper. Cynthia was on a trip with a friend, so she was not able to be with us. Saturday was also the day of Roger Brown's memorial service, my friend who had been a member of the retired clergy group. But because of the snow, I did not go. It was held at Centre Church, which does not have an ideal set-up for wheelchair access even without snow. So I sent several emails expressing my love and sympathy and regrets for my absence. I'll hear about the service from Bixby, Jeff and Lee tomorrow at our clergy group meeting. Last Sunday was, of course, Palm Sunday, and Ellen and I ended up going to Dummerston and singing in the choir, under Mary Westbrook's direction. It was a small choir, and Mary kept it simple - an arrangement of Ride on! Ride on in Majesty!. We will be at Guilford this week for Maundy Thursday (6pm supper and service) and Good Friday (noon service built around the stations of the cross). I lead the choir in Dummerston on Easter, with a rehearsak on Friday evening. After church, we'll go to Katie and Brendon's for Easter dinner. Life is full! We also have a new schedule at home. We are now both reading aloud every day - Ellen is reading a novel, and I am reading the Gospel of Luke. Ellen just finished reading Marilyn Robinson's Gilead.

Palm Sunday at Dummerston is also a special Boy Scout Sunday. Our pastor, Shawn Bracebridge, is also a Boy Scout leader, shown here in uniiform at the coffee hour after church.

River Singers chorus in concert Sunday afternoon, taken from where I was sitting.

Kathy Bullock, singing with the River Singers chorus. When they are singing one of her songs, she would be at the keyboard.

My plate of Mala Tofu at Panda North. I love this dish and always order it.

Enjoying our meal.

My 64-year-old son, John.

Another Wednesday guy

If you follow this blog, you know that for several weeks now, Ellen has done something out there in the world somewhere on Wednesday afternoons to give herself a bit of a respite. She doesn't want me to be alone for an entire afternoon, so she got word out asking for people to come stay with me, and many responded. One who has not come before - who in fact has never been at our house before - came this past Wednesday - Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne and his wife, Rachel, moved to Guilford from Iowa a few years ago and have become pillars in the Guilford Community Church. Dwayne is multi-talented, genuine and enthusiastic "doer." Dwayne heads the church's Building and Grounds Committee, and is constantly involved in projects and concerns with the physical plant and surroundings. He spearheaded the creation of the Guilford Community Park which now surrounds the church building and has made a beautiful and useful environment for the church which many people are now using. That includes the striking post-and-beam pavillion which is frequently used by the church, as well as by many others, and has frequently been pictured in this blog. Dwayne also revived the "men's breakfast" tradition, and 20 or so men now gather at least once a month on a Saturday morning to enjoy good food, fellowship and discussion of a topic Dwayne usually selects. On top of all that, Dwayne is a fine trumpeter. He will be playing the trumpet along with the singing of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus on Easter Sunday. His wife, Rachel, is an accomplished pianist and often is the accompanist for church services. They have been a wonderful addition to the life of the Guilford Church for several years. I was very glad to have the chance to have Dwayne sit with me in our livingroom and get to know him better. Ellen used the time to meet her sister for lunch in Turners Falls, MA, so a good time was had by all.

Dwayne Johnson, with Rachel (from his Facebook page). *********************** Wednesday evening, we had our last class session in Psychology on Zoom from Swarthmore College, led by Prof. Andrew Ward. This final session was on Clinical Psychology, particularly on the difference between Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, the former more Freudian, the latter more Jungian. That is an over-simplification, but it has some truth in it. It was a topic people could relate to, many having been to a therapist.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We are in a spell in which we seem to be going out to some special event every day. Thursday morning we drove to the Country Diner in the Enfield mall near Bradley Field (CT) where we met my son-in-law, Rob Shay, who had flown in from Colorado to attend a conference dedicated to 17th Century music at Yale U. He had time to see us for a couple of hours before going on to Yale, so we met at the Diner for brunch. It was the perfect place - no one rushed us and I had two large blueberry pancakes, two eggs fried "over easy," and two strips of bacon, all delicious. We hadn't seen Rob for some time, years in fact. So there was a lot to catch up on. I was particularly interested in the work he is doing for Bärenreiter Publishers editing MSS of operas by Henry Purcell - Rob's academic speciality. He is currently working on King Arthur, a challenging project because the MSS are in more disarray than, e.g., Dido and Aeneas, his first project, now published. There are a lot of variants in the existing MSS, none of which were made by Purcell himself. So Rob has to decide what note to publish, and include a footnote. He is gratified that several well-known Europaean orchestras have recently performed Dido and Aeneas using his new score. It is demanding work, but he enjoys it. Here is a little quote aboutDido and Aeneas: "Probably no opera has received as much scrutiny note for note as Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Small in size, it nevertheless makes a great emotional impact and carries prodigious historical weight. However, a clear and complete picture of its origin, date, and musical score is bedevilled by a dearth of contemporary musical sources and archival details. In dealing with this state of affairs, Robert Shay’s new edition of Dido and Aeneas for Bärenreiter offers a model of clarity. Shay begins his Preface with the most succinct and lucid history to date of the ‘Origins of Dido and Aeneas’ (pp. iv–viii with full references). He weaves together the history of opera at the court of Charles II and modern theories on the date of Dido with the four earliest documents pertaining to the opera in the order of their discovery: the undated Chelsea libretto for Josiah Priest’s boarding school for girls, the epilogue by Thomas D’Urfey published in 1690 that was spoken at a performance at Priest’s boarding school, the libretto of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis for performance at the same school indicating its previous performance ‘before the KING’ (in 1684), and a letter written from Aleppo in 1688 asking whether ‘Harry’ had prepared a keyboard version of the overtures to ‘the mask he made for Preists [sic] Ball’, describing the overture that survives at the head of Act I in detail. Admitting that the ‘picture of Dido’s early existence thus remains shadowy’, Shay significantly concludes that while ‘circumstantial evidence’ points to a court origin, the possibility remains that the premiere of the opera ‘occurred in 1687 or 1688 at the Priests’ school’."

At the Country Diner with Rob. ************************************** Friday, we went to a concert given by Andy Davis at the Marlboro Community Center, which is the ground floor of the Congregational Church in Marlboro - a new venue for a concert because for decades, that space has been a play school. The concert was all songs composed by Andy himself. Some we had heard before, some were new. It was a delightful concert - Andy is a prolific composer and he is good! I got to see several people I haven't seen in some time. We had to navigate some steps coming in - not wheelchair accessible - but when we left, some men got out a portable ramp, and we used that.

Andy at his concert Friday. Saturday, we went to a concert Brendon was singing in - given by the Greenfield Commmunity College Chorus. That venue was new to me - St. James and St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Greenfield. It was very nice and we got there early and were right up front. The concert was of "classics" in music spanning several centuries: Di Lasso, Bach, Brahms, Barber, etc. Brendon had a solo in a spritual, Every Time I Feel the Spirit and he did well. The pieces were well-chosen and it was very enjoyable. The church was very accessible, which we appreciated.

Top: The GCC Chorus at St. James Church. Bottom: Brendon with some chorus mates.