vividreports: What a weekend!

These past few days have been extraordinary, which is saying something for us! It started when Ellen came down with a cold on Tuesday and then seemed to squelch it, but I started to come down with it on Thursday - feeling the effect enough to cause me to not go to the special Thursday River SIngers rehearsal with Kathy Bullock. But I too squelched it with immune system boosters of various kinds, and felt able to sing the two concerts on Saturday. I actually had more singing voice than I often have. It was a long day - starting with a 12:30pm rehearsal - we had not sung our regular repertoire for ten days because the entire week before the concerts was devoted exclusively to learning the five gospel songs Kathy taught us. So we had to get our heads back into all that music: Georgian, Bosnian, Macedonian, African, American shape-note, etc., - our usual range of music. We had a concert at 3pm - to a sold-out audience, and it was great. I had a short solo in a Muslim song that went very well. Then instead of joining with everyone for a potluck supper at the concert site - which would have taken more energy - Ellen and I went home and had a chance to eat supper and lie down to rest before coming back for a 7:30pm evening concert which was also sold-out and if anything even more high-energy and intense. Wow! John, Cynthia, Katie, Savanna and Brendon all came in the evening. We didn't get home until after 10pm, and I had a few last minute things to do to be ready for leading the service at Guilford the next morning, and then I was so revved up I had a hard time getting to sleep. I guess I got some sleep but not much, and was up a bit after 7am and at the church by a bit before 9am. Amazingly, the service went really well; I think the Spirit was holding me up! It was a long service - I tried to pack too much into it, but everyone seemed to respond to it and I got a lot of very touching words of appreciation. Then we came home for just a short break - working on the Spelling Bee from the Times - before we left to go to Shutesbury for Katie's 70th birthday celebration, which was a high tea, featuring the Tolles family tea service in all its glory, tea sandwiches (the dainty kind with no crusts) and scones with clotted cream and marmalade, and of course a birthday cake. We had a lovely time and laughed a lot. But we didn't leave to come home until almost 10pm and got home at 11pm. Then this morning was the final Osher lecture. I did get some sleep last night, thank goodness! It was a great final session with Meg Mott which featured some role playing, arguing various positions on the issue of a bill in the Vermont legislature calling for a 24-hour waiting period on the purchase of a hand gun. Another high-energy event! Afterward we treated ourselves to lunch at the Chelsea Royal DIner (fish sandwiches and Maple creamies!) and then a real treat - a walk on nearby Gulf Road trail which is a wild flower bonanza spot where we saw, e.g., coltsfoot, saxefrage, trillium, Jack-in-the-pulpit, and Dutchman's britches. It was a beautiful day for a walk - warm and sunny after days of rain. After our walk we went to four stores looking for a new kitchen sink faucet (ours is leaking like crazy) with no luck in finding one with the kind of handles we want. We ran into Clif Bergh in Brown and Roberts hardware store and got the news of their new granddaughter, "Maggie," born on Friday. Everyone is doing well, and Phoebe, Maggie's older sister (2 years old) wants to hold the baby all the time. Ellen will take some food to them tomorrow morning before we drive to Bennington to have lunch with Mary Anderson. You get the picture! And speaking of pictures, here are a bunch:

Kathy Bullock leading the Tuesday evening rehearsal at Westminster-West church

Kathy leading from the keyboard at Next Stage in Putney, our concert venue on Saturday

The women's section of River Singers taking a bow at the end of the concert

The table set for high tea

"Katie Tolles poured and a good time was had by all"

Katie blowing out the candles on her birthday cake

Spring green on the way to class this morning. Cool, rainy weather has slowed the progress of spring

Our teacher, Meg Mott, political science prof at Marlboro College

Peter Abell, a retired dentist who introduces each session at Osher. We meet at the New England. Youth Theater which is about to stage a play: thus the props