Tea party

Sunday afternoon, Ellen put on a little tea party for some women friends - Robin, Eliza and Sue. (There were four others who couldn't make it). Ellen's family has a lovely old Spode China set which she brought up from her sister's, which looked very elegant. She made little quiches and strip sandwiches; Robin brought some date bread, topped with cultivated cream cheese. It was lovely and delicious. (I got to sample everything).  I greeted folks and then retreated to our bedroom where I read and dozed. I'm reading Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton (the basis of the Broadway show Hamilton!). Learning so much I never knew before!

         The table set for a tea party

       The tea set

         Strip sandwiches

            Mini-quiches

       Date bread with cream cheese

The past few days, I have been dealing with some kind of bug, so I've been taking it easy. We did go to church Sunday - our first time at Guilford for a few weeks. Friday evening we went to a local motel so we could watch the NCAA Final Four games - first Villanova trouncing Oklahoma, and then the Carolina TarHeels handily dispatching Syracuse. So tonight, Carolina plays Villanova - it should be an exciting, close game. I have a Carmina Burana rehearsal, but the game doesn't start until almost 9:30 so we can probably watch it somewhere - maybe a local pub. 

Time with Tamar

Wednesday, we finally had a chance to spend some time with Tamar. We have been away so much, and been so busy, it hasn't happened much lately. But Wednesday, we went to her school and met her after class, spent some time with her there, then went for an ice cream treat at Herrell's, then went to the Feinland's home, met Ben, and went for a walk with Theo, and then finally took Tamar to her piano lesson, which is just next door to where the Feinland's are having a new home built. Then it was time for us to come back to Brattleboro for a concert choir rehearsal. We had a good time!

Tamar had fun on the tire swing at Hilltown School

One of Tamar's art work pieces was on display in the hall.

There are nice trails at Pathways where you can walk the dog.

        A great boulder for climbing

Tamar looking at the site where the foundation of her new house is being excavated. They hope it will be done by the end of the year.

Wednesday had a shadow over it - Ellen could not find her wallet. She missed it on Tuesday, and had retraced her steps over the past few days, both in her mind and in reality, and we had searched house and car carefully, but it didn't show up anywhere. We were about to start calling credit card companies today when our friend Eliza called - she had found it behind a cushion where Ellen had been sitting and sewing on Monday. Hallelujah! 

Happy Easter!

We've just come home from church at Dummerston. A lovely service, and the choir was especially fine this morning. We sang three anthems this morning: William Billings' Easter Anthem, the wonderful Dutch Easter Carol, This Joyful Eastertide, and Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah. Plus an Introit, Prayer Response, and Benediction Response. A lot of singing. They were great.

    Easter Sunday Choir at Dummerston 

            Easter lilies galore! 

Normally, we would have gotten up at 5am this morning, and gone to the Guilford church Sunrise service to lead music, but because I've been fighting a cold for two weeks, Lise let me off the hook, and we didn't have to get up until 7am. In an hour or so, we'll head down to Shutesbury for Easter dinner with Katie and Savanna. We had a meal with John and Cynthia Friday eve. Last week was a full week, as Holy Week usually is. Right now, we are listening to a recording of Handel's Messiah made back in 1985 by the Blanche Moyse Chorale in Brattleboro. Both Betsey and I are singing in the Chorale, and the soprano soloist is a young Dawn Upshaw, just before she became a Met star. It is a magical performance in every respect. The choruses are awesome! 

Getting by

Well, I made it to Dummerston  Choir rehearsal last evening. It was a wonderful rehearsal, plus Ellen fixed a great little supper beforehand, and everyone was there (10 of us in all), and we had a good discussion of the whole issue of hymnody in the church (essentially a discussion of what the right balance is between old, familiar hymns and new, unfamiliar hymns, esp, what role new, unfamiliar, unsingable hymns should play in the church's repertoire (if any!). We are anticipating the fact that our beloved pastor, Susanna Griefen, is retiring on May 15th and we'll be dealing with a succession of people filling the pulpit. We thought it would be helpful to provide them with a list of hymns the congregation loves to sing, and some general suggestions on hymn selection. So we're going to work on that.

I came home pretty wiped out. It doesn't take much. I'm getting by just doing what  I have to do. 

Out of commision

The last few days I've been dealing with a bug of some kind. Congestion, coughing, runny nose, sneezing, etc.  Not the usual start-in-the-head, move-to-the-chest sort of thing, but more the opposite. I've been in bed most of the time since Tuesday. I made it out to lead choir rehearsal last evening, and got through without much coughing, but then when I got home my nose started to run like crazy. So today I'm in bed staying warm again. Bummer! So much I want to be doing!   

Alone

Tonight, I am home alone. A rare experience. Ellen left early this morning to  drive to Philadelphia to attend a funeral for her friend, Janet Mustin. She will spend the night with Wallace and return tomorrow (Monday) evening. Saturday evening, she and I drove to Northhampton to borrow the Feinland 's Toyota, so I would have a car today. We set our clocks and didn't get to sleep until after 3am, DST. Up at  6am. Short night!  I stayed up when Ellen left this morning to work on Carmina Burana, and then went to church in Guilford. The choir sang Bobby McFerrin's Twenty-Third Psalm, and Durufle's Ubi Caritas, two favorites. I stayed after church for a presentation on a book by Robert Putnam, titled, Our Kids: The American Dream In Crisis. One of our lay leaders, Dunham Rowley, made the presentation, and tied it in with issues we are facing with the children in our church and the local community. A really important issue.

After church, I came home, fixed one of the lunches Ellen lovingly prepared for me before she left (as she always does), did some more music practice, talked on the phone with my friend Paul Jones, who lives in D.C., and then hightailed it back downtown to Centre Church for a dramatic presentation, by heart, of the entire Gospel of Mark, by the minister there, Bert Marshall. It was powerful. Bert answered questions afterward, and then, John and Cynthia (who were also there), and I got supper together at the Coop, and I went to the Carmina rehearsal in Putney. It was for men only this time, working on the In Taberna movement, which is basically a bunch of drunken medieval monks singing their hearts out-quite fun to sing! But, boy, there are a lot of Latin words, and they are sung at breakneck speed. 

After that I came home and watched a fascinating Rick Steves program on The Holy Land, which covered Israel and Palestine in some depth. He said afterward that he had tried very hard to create a program that was fair to both sides, and that since both Israelis and Palestinians (some, not all) had been angered by the program, he figured he had probably found the middle ground. He was brave to attempt it, and it gave a very vivid and intimate glimpse of life in that very controversial part of the world. 

Now it's time for bed. It will feel lonely! But it's just for one night. 

Yesterday, Ellen and I found time for a walk, and were surprised to find a Witch-Hazel bush in bloom, though I guess some species are winter-bloomers. I'll close with that:

Witch-Hazel in bloom on Black Mtn. Rd.

A little set-back

Yesterday, Ellen woke up with a terrible migraine headache and spent the day throwing up! It is so rare to have her be that sick, and there wasn't much I could do but keep her supplied with fresh, cool washcloths and a clean bowl! But it eventually subsided and by late afternoon she was able to drink a bit of sweet tea, and a little later tolerated a piece of toast. She slept pretty well and today has been up and been her usual self, and we even took a walk.

Meanwhile I worked on Carmina Burana and plan to go to rehearsal Sunday night. I also listened to the ACC Tournament on my cell phone and had the fun of hearing North Carolina defeat both Pittsburg and Notre Dame resoundingly, playing at the top of their game, pretty much. Tomorrow they will play Virginia for the championship, and then it's on to March Madness! Go Heels !