About to depart

Well, we have been busy packing and cleaning this morning. I completely emptied out the car, vacuumed and cleaned it, and then repacked everything. It looks very nice. Betsey had a late morning in bed and is now enjoying a late breakfast - egg-over-easy with toast, followed by Ellen's plum and pear galettes - a sliver of each, made with spelt flour, which are extraordinarily tasty.  Rob went out for errands, and will be back soon. Ellen has been doing wash after wash to get the bed ready for Katie, when she arrives on next Wednesday. Rob will have the long weekend off, so he can be here through Monday, and they have set up care for next Tuesday and Wednesday, so they feel they will be fine for the next few days.  It will be hard to leave; these past few days have been very special and I feel very close to my daughter. But it will be good to return to our Vermont life and friends too. And it feels good to know that Katie - and Gertie, who is a very important part of the healing process - will be here soon. So we all feel very blessed under the circumstances!

Dummerston Calendar?

I got a call from Jody Normandeau in Dummerston yesterday. She is putting together a town calendar for 2016. Several months ago she had put out a call for photographs to use in the calendar - scenes in Dummerston - and I sent several to her. They were kodachrome slides I had taken back in the 1950's. Amazingly, they still look pretty good. She called to say that she wanted to use two of my photos, but needed them in a larger format than I had sent originally. So I sent them. I'm not 100% sure they are going to make it into the calendar, but there is a good chance they will, and she said that the one of the covered bridge might even be the cover photo. Cool!

Here are the two she asked for:

The West Dummerston Covered Bridge, c. 1958

Dummerston Church Youth Group clearing Flaherty Pond for ice skating, c. 1958

Healing day

Thursday was a day of healing. Betsey had a session with her Qi Gung healer, Lyria Pascal, which is always good. But then in the car, coming home from that, Betsey shared some of the practices she has gained from those sessions: the "Breath of gratitude" in which she breathes in gratitude and breathes out all the dark, negative thoughts and feelings, and the "four affirmations" which she attributed to an old Hawaian ritual - ho o pono pono, (which are familiar to Ellen and myself from other sources) - thank you, I love you, I forgive you, please forgive me, (or please cleanse me - a variant I had not heard before). For her to share those was healing for me.

Then in the afternoon, the Subaru got healed - the 90,000 mile check-up, which is big, and accordingly costly, and meant I had to wait in the Subaru customer lounge for 3 1/2 hours. But we know everything is ship-shape for our return journey, so it was worth it. And I had my laptop with me and lots to do. 

         Betsey with Lyria Pascal

I got home from the Subaru place just in time for supper, which Ellen had prepared: stuffed delicata squash with Brussel sprouts. Yum! We got our little walk in late, mostly in the dark, but it was very pleasant. 

Today is our last full day! Betsey has just come back from a PT session, and is doing some office work. I'll go out in a bit and do errands. 

Mussels on the patio

Rob outdid himself yesterday evening when he prepared a meal of steamed mussels in a savory wine broth with grilled bread to dip in the broth, sausage bits, a cucumber salad, and grilled corn on the cob. It was a perfect evening for outdoor dining so we ate on the patio - the first time we have done so. Since eating mussels is a little messy, this was the perfect choice. The meal was capped by a vivid sunset. Bravo Rob.

                    Betsey at the patio table - Rob is at the grill. 

                             My bowl of mussels

                       A beautiful sunset on the front range

We watched the third episode of Big Blue Live on PBS later after we had retired to our bedroom. Some great scenes of a blue whale. An amazing creature!

Blue whales can grow up to 100 feet long, weigh 180 tons or more; they are the largest animal on the planet.Thanks to my son John, who noticed that my earlier photo was of a humpback whale. I think this one is a blue whale.

Today, Dawn will take Betsey to her Qi Gung healer for a 10am appointment, and Ellen and I will pick her up at 11:30am and bring her home for lunch. She plans to spend some time doing office work on her computer and then resting in the late afternoon. It should be a good day for her - she always has better energy after her energy-healing session.  And I'm looking forward to seeing the draft of my Tolles book that I had printed up at Staples yesterday. It wasn't done until late afternoon yesterday, so I'll pick it up today.

Waiting

Here I am at Staples. I just put in an order for a draft copy of An Untold Story, which is the title I've given to my Tolles MS project: a forward, introduction, the MS itself and a detailed chronology of Frederick Tolles life, including a "fairly complete listing of all his published works." 216 pages in all. (His MS was 279 pages by his system of pagination but my pages are longer. However I have imbedded his page numbers in my transcription.) That will be ready to pick up later this afternoon.

Betsey was taken to work this morning by Dawn; we pick her up at 1:30. At the moment, Ellen is at Marshall's, a discount  store, getting something for Betsey. I'm waiting for her to pick me up. 

Big day went well!

Well, Rob's convocation went really well. We understand that in the past, his predecessor presided over a very dry, dull affair with lots of emphasis on rules and regulations. Not today!  Rob started out with a game. He had devised a True/false quiz about the life and work of the English Baroque composer, Henry Purcell (the subject of Rob's doctoral dissertation). He had everyone stand up, and if you thought the statement about Purcell was true, you put your hand on your head. False, you put your hand on your tail. Wrong answer - you sat down. Last one standing was the winner. It took at least a dozen or more questions to winnow the audience down to about six people standing, and eventually a student won the prize -  a $20 campus gift card. There was a lot of laughter and cheering. It was a great idea.

Then three department heads each introduced in turn a new faculty appointment in their department. Jeremy Reger was introduced as the new vocal coach in opera, David Requiro, cello, and Jennifer Hayghe, piano. Each performed, and wow, were they good! Jeremy Reger played the score of Strauss' Dance of the seven veils from Salome, and pulled  seven large, colorful veils from his sleeves  and pockets as he played. It was hilarious. David Requiro played the Largo from a sonata by Chopin, and it was beautiful. Jennifer Hayghe played an incredibly difficult, passionate piece by Scriabin and brought down the house.

Then Rob laid out a vision for the college - not "his" vision but one that has been forged collaboratively over the past year in a series of meetings and retreats, consisting of 5 pillars which build on the past strengths and uniqueness of the college and at the same time take it in new directions. It was quite an event! And many, many people came up to say hello to Betsey and tell her how glad they were to see her.

           Before the convocation

             Rob at the podium giving his talk

After the convocation, we waked a good little distance over to a private dining room for lunch for special guests, donors, advisory committee members, etc. We got to talk more with David Requiro, the cellist, who sat across from us. 

                                       Gathering for lunch

This was a very nice day, but tiring too for Betsey, and when we got home, she got a pretty long nap. Ellen made her wild rice salad with grilled chicken for supper, plus "green" soup (peas, lettuce, leeks, parsley, etc., blended). Yum! We had a nice walk after supper, as usual. 

For a CU summary of Rob's talk today go to 

http://www.colorado.edu/music/about-us/news/dean-robert-shay-delivers-state-college-address

Big day for Rob

Here we are at Whole Foods - not the BIG Whole Foods, but a smaller one near where Betsey's Qi Gong healer lives. We just dropped Betsey off there and will pick her up in an hour + from now, so we're hanging out here. I 'm in the little cafe at the moment .

           Whole Foods cafe

                                 Whole Foods check out 

The BIG Whole Foods in Boulder makes this one look like the corner grocery!

After we pick Betsey up we're going to the College of Music for a convocation where Rob will give a talk on "The State of the College," in which he will assess where the College stands today in the world of music programs in higher education and lay out his vision for the future. So this is a big day for him! 

Yesterday evening, Betsey and Rob gave Ellen and me lovely thank-you gifts in appreciation for our help over these past weeks. That was a very nice! 

Yesterday Betsey had a 9am meeting at work, we hung out at Alfalfa's and picked her up at noon, we came home and had a bite to eat and she rested downstairs. Ellen fixed supper and we had a "together time" with John and Cynthia by Skype while we all watched the Big Blue Live whale program on PBS. That was all a huge technology challenge which was moderately successful, but it worked for quite a while and it was really fun to see J&C! And we saw some whales too.