The house we won't be buying

We got together with John and Cynthia today and went over to New Hampshire to see a house that is on the market. We had made an appointment with a realtor for 3:45 pm and we were there on the button for 3:45, but it got to be well after 3:45, and no realtor was in sight. But the person who did show up was the son-in-law of the owner. Somehow he had gotten word that we were coming and he came over to welcome us. He invited us in and we looked around and then began to wonder what had happened to the realtor. To make a long story short, the realtor we had an appointment with was not the realtor with whom the house was listed, and the realtor with whom it was listed did not want us to be there. We ended up talking to both realtors on the phone and the one with whom the house was listed was very angry and told us to get out of the house immediately. So we did. But we had seen all we needed to see to know that this was not the house for us. It was an interesting house, very handsome from the outside, and in a very historic environment. But up close, it was clear-it was not for us.

      A view of the house.

The house overlooks an historic stone bridge 

Christmas memories

We have had a full and rich Christmas week ! It started Sunday morning singing in the Dummerston choir. We sang a rarely heard carol by Alfred Burt, Some Children See Him. Sunday afternoon, Jim and Mary arrived from Maine and stayed with us Sunday and Monday nights. Ellen prepared lovely meals, of course, supplemented by things Mary brought from her garden. Christmas Eve day, Ellen, Jim and Mary went to a holiday pub sing at MacNeil's Pub and I visited four people who were "shut in," - a neighbor now in a nursing home, a friend in another nursing home, another friend in the hospital and a fourth friend confined to a wheelchair at home. They all appreciated the visit and in some instances I sang some carols too. I also brought little bags or plates of Ellen's cookies! What's not to like!

Christmas Eve we all went to two services: 7pm at Dummerston and 11pm at Guilford, and sang in the choir in both. Two very different services, each lovely in its own way. That was a full day!

Christmas Day we all went to Katie and Savanna's for the full Tolles/Feinland family gathering, 14 persons in all. Singing, stollen, gift exchange, dinner, plum pudding, games -  a lovely day. Jim and Mary went on to her family and we got home very late. 

Wednesday, we went to John and Cynthia's after noon for a relaxed and quiet day of talk, good food, music, gifts. Very nice. We talked about Tuvan music, places to live, etc.

Thursday we joined up with Katie, Savanna and Brendon and drove to Cambridge where we met Jim and Mary at Sanders Theater for the Revels, which this year had a Scandanavian theme, mostly Finnish, and was very special. We all ate snacks in the car coming back. Another late return home! 

Friday was a quiet day. It was icy in the morning. We stayed home. Afternoon I went to the pool. In the evening, Ellen drove Nancy Tierra to Bradley airport and I stayed home and worked on Mozart and Allegri. 

Today we pick up our winter CSA and later we'll go over to NH to look at a house with John & Cynthia. Tomorrow Tamar and Max are coming to make gingerbread houses. 

What a week! 

        Plum pudding!

John playing the Igil, a two-stringed instrument used in the Republic of Tuva ( near Mongolia). He got to know Tuvan throat singers when they came to Bellows Falls to perform a few years ago.

Gluten-free Christmas cookies Ellen made for John.

Before the show at the Revels in 

Sanders Theater at Harvard U. Right after snapping this photo, an usher came up and told me I was not allowed to take pictures in Sanders theater. Not even before the show!

The lobby at Sanders Theater. It's ok to take pictures there. 

Christmas Day

Breakfast at home Christmas morning

        Our decorated tree

Village scene that Ellen and I helped make at K&S's. 

Exchanging presents : l. to r.: Max, Ben, Katie, Ellen, Krystal and Dan

                 Christmas dinner

Another full week!

The weeks are flying by - but that's the way it is during the holiday season. The main event this week was a trip to Maine to visit Jim and Mary in Owl's Head. I used time in the car to work on my annual Christmas letter. That was a very nice visit with yummy meals. Our original plan was to go from Owl's Head down to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, on Thursday, to the Lessons and Carols service at the Church of the Redeemer, and then go to Katie and Savanna's to spend the night Thursday night. But I got a nose bleed just as we were about to leave and It delayed our departure so much that we wouldn't have been able to get to the service in time. So we went directly to Katie and Savanna's. Then this morning we were in a good place to go to Hilltown charter school for their solstice program which Tamar was taking part in. After that we took her to lunch at Friendly's. Fortunately my nose behaved through all that. 

Earlier in the week, on Monday, John and Mary Carnahan came for lunch. It had been months since we had last had a good chance to visit, so there was a lot to catch up on.

Last night the Dummerston choir rehearsal was cancelled due to fog of all things! It had rained most of the day. No white Christmas this year, I guess! In place of a rehearsal, Ellen started working on Christmas pudding and I worked some more on my Christmas letter and we listened to Christmas music. A nice evening. 

A moment from the Hilltown Mummers play, Tamar at bottom left. 

          After the play

Today, Saturday, I spent a couple of hours with John at his place just talking. That was very nice. We talked especially about the whole housing issue. There are many facets to it, but I think we are in essential agreement. After that I went to the pool - first time in a week or more - and then Ellen and I went to a pub for supper so we could watch UNC play Kentucky. Unfortunately, UNC got trounced! Then we came home and Ellen made cookies while I got out more cards and letters. We listened to a Blanche Moyse Chorale recording of  Bach's Christmas Oratorio  -  very beautiful. I was so blessed to sing with the Chorale for 30 years in its heyday. 

Our tree is up!

Ellen is at a Solstice party at Katie and Savanna's so I'm home alone (the party is for only one gender). It seemed like a perfect time to put up the tree! So I did, and put on the lights. I think it looks pretty nice. 

This was a full music day - 1 1/2 hours at Guilford in the morning rehearsing for Christmas Eve, and 2 1/2 hours at the BMC in the afternoon rehearsing the Concert Choir: Mozart and Allegri. All good! Now I'm about to do the dishes before Ellen gets home. 

A full week, unphotographed

I haven't been very good about making visual images this week. Lots of opportunities too - last night, at a Hallowell rehearsal; earlier yesterday at Katie and Savanna's house, making paper snowflakes (mine didn't come out all that well, so maybe they are better un-photographed); Wednesday evening at a Concert Choir rehearsal; Wednesday afternoon at a Centering Prayer event at the Guilford Church; working at home on gifts, cards and my Christmas letter; meeting John and Cynthia Monday at the West Townshend Country Store before going up to Windham to look at a house together, etc.

Right now,  it's Friday, and I've been sitting in the Subaru waiting room for four hours! Our Impreza had developed wheel bearing problems, and needed other services as well, so it's been a big job and I'm told it will cost $900! Ouch! But on the other hand, we make a lot of long trips, and have now put on over 215,000 miles, so some wear is hardly surprising.  Everyone else in the waiting room has come and gone, and I'm left here all by myself. Sigh!

Here I am, waiting patiently

BTW, the River Singers concert last weekend went very well. I got a lot of very nice comments on my solo, which was gratifying.

Concert tonight!

I'm in the Green Room at Next Stage in Putney, Vermont, where River Singers is performing tonight. Our leader, Mary Cay Brass, is talking with Val about the announcement of one of the songs. 

        Val and Mary Cay

I'll be singing a solo in a Sufi chant titled Jahac Hrabrosti. 

The Sixth night of Hannukah

We are at home enjoying listening to the Western Wind Hannukah CD, starring Theodore Bikel as narrator, while we burn the candles in the minorah. Hearing Western Wind also brings to remembrance Ellen's friend Adrienne Asch who was their manager for a while. Western Wind sang at her memorial service. That must have been five years ago, about this time of year. There are many occasions when we miss her voice and thoughts so much.  

Doing ok

When I made my last post on Monday, I was in bed with a cold. But Tuesday I got up and had a quiet day, which included working on music for the evening River Singers rehearsal, and then went to the rehearsal and actually sang my solo reasonably well. We even were able to go early to the soup and bread meal before rehearsal, and met John and Cynthia there. We've arranged to meet them  next Monday morning to go look at the house in Windham which I wasn't able to see last week because I was in bed.  

Wednesday evening was a rehearsal of the Brattleboro Concert choir. We sang through the entire program: the Allegri Miserere Deus and the Mozart Requiem.  The Allegri still needs a lot of work, and the concert is only one month away. We don't even have any rehearsals during the holiday season. So I hope that we can rise to the occasion.

Today, Ellen is in Northampton where she picked up Tamar after school and is going to spend some time with her. So I'm having a quiet day at home. I just fixed myself some lunch, and I've been listening to a recording that I made of the rehearsal last night. It is a little painful to listen to, but it is revealing, and is giving me some guidance on what I need to do to improve my own contribution. I can't fix everybody, but I can try to do the best I can.

Yesterday morning, we took a break to watch the entire funeral service for George  H. W. Bush. I can't say that I was much of a fan of the 41st president when he was in office, but in today's situation, it seemed important to honor some of the qualities which he had which are so absent in the current president. And as a minister, I'm always interested in seeing what people decide to do in a funeral service. I especially loved hearing the hymn Eternal Father, Strong to Save, the so-called "Navy Hymn," which I have always loved. Though I will have to say that the choral arrangement that they used seemed a little over the top. I think it would've been better just as a congregational hymn. 

Today I believe is the fifth day of Hanukkah. Earlier in the week we got out the menorah, and lit candles the first night, Sunday night. We will probably light the candles again tonight when Ellen gets home. Our beautiful menorah comes from my father, who was a Chaplain in World War II, and was given this menorah by a fellow chaplain, a Jewish rabbi.

Home in bed

Last Friday I came down with a cold and I've been in bed since then keeping warm, taking fluids, taking echinacea, drinking Mullein/coltsfoot tea, etc. Feeling better and hoping that I'll have a voice for tomorrow's rehearsal with River singers.

I missed out on a tour Saturday of a house in Windham, Vermont with John, Cynthia and Ellen and a realtor, but Ellen brought back a full report. She and Cynthia especially loved the house. John was a little less enthusiastic but still open to the possibility. It does have major issues with water in an unfinished basement. But it has a lot of nice features and 70 acres of beautiful land and views!

       The house in Windham 

I also stayed home from church Sunday morning but Ellen took the choir music and all my instructions and everything went well. She played the recorder with a couple of the pieces, Mary W-G directed, and I'm sure it was beautiful.

I have a feeling I'll be using my bottle of entertainers secret throat spray to get me through rehearsal tomorrow and at the concert this weekend. I'll be singing a short solo in one of the songs. Entertainers secret gives immediate relief from hoarseness. I just ordered another bottle of it. I learned about it from my otolaryngologist.

        Entertainers Secret Throat Spray