rehearsals

It is better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the ungodly, or something...so we are told, at least, not so?

And so this evening (I didn't manage to make good my escape from the office in time) I AM the doorkeeper, in charge of jumping up when the buzzer sounds, to admit a whole retinue of young singers -- well, young = twenty-somethings mostly. They are here to rehearse.

Every year on New Year's Eve, Most Holy and Undivided hosts a very special concert...the group assembled first ten years ago in support of a doctoral candidate in choral music who was specializing in the music of Pierre de la Rue. (The fun part of advanced work in choral music, as I've come to see, is that one needs collaborators!!!)

In the succeeding years although the members of the group have scattered hither and yon around the planet in the manner of their generation, they somehow manage to reassemble in Prairie Metropolis around about Christmas...and as they're all here anyway...why not have another concert?

The music is generally speaking either "early" or "contemporary" -- a cappella -- there is champagne and Ghirardelli chocolate in the intermission... and over the last six or seven years this has become a very hot New Year's Eve ticket indeed, in these parts.

They're all in the nave, not far from where I sit, getting properly "tore in" on a Kyrie. And they will rehearse intensively from now until Monday evening, when the place will be packed to the doors. Their concert always ends with an audience-participation version of "Auld Lang Syne."
I can hardly wait.

Morning...

Good morning to all!
A very Merry and blessed Christmas to everybody!
God bless us, every one!

here we go

Driving in to work this morning under a BIG, FAT, FULL moon...casting great shadows in our yard in spite of "city lights" all around us. Pretty excellent stars, also. We had a tactful dusting of soft snow overnight... Number-One Son shovelled the walks in the wee small hours...
The faintest promise of daylight in the southeastern sky.
I think we're ready.
Field Marshal Viscount Slim ("Slim of Burma" if any WW2 aficionados are reading) used to say that all engagements with the enemy were fought uphill, in the rain, at the point where two or more maps joined. Christmas is a bit like that: uphill, in the snow and ice (at least in this hemisphere), and at the point where two CALENDARS join, just to remind us that life is real and life is earnest and we weren't put here to enjoy ourselves; or at least, not MERELY to enjoy ourselves.
May you all have the right calendar in hand when needed over the next two weeks!

Frankly...

I'm thrilled.
The national pension and continuing education office exerted themselves and yesterday in the mail, among the Christmas cards, was a cheque representing reimbursement for a summer course I took two years ago. In Rome. Which is partly why it took me so long to send in my claim. Like...SURE this was continuing education. Not a holiday. Nope. Education all the way, yup.
Anyhow, blessings be upon our much-maligned bureaucrats down there in National Hindquarters, Christmas is now FULLY FUNDED, folks -- or as my beloved Dad used to say,
"Throw the cat another canary, the heck with the expense!" (Not just the cost of the course, but the plane fare also...huzza!)
I sally forth this afternoon to find mildly staggering gifts for the offsprings. Cuz they're first-rate offsprings.

turning it around

A week or so back I decided it was time to be deliberate in taking vitamin supplements daily, bought myself one of those little weekly seven-compartment boxes (which the Daughter Unit mocks mercilessly as a sign of senescence)...I don't know what set this in motion, perhaps consulting with the optometrist about nutrition and vision. His advice was very common-sensical.

It's too soon to be confident about this, but yesterday I was aware of there being a LOT more energy at my disposal than has been the case for a long time. Usually when I get home ... everything falls off the to-do list except "the couch" and "the remote" and promptly lapsing into a kind of coma.

But not so last night -- I made a foray to the supermarket, bought a huge order of groceries, got them all out of the car (except the two frozen turkeys in the trunk, which are coming to NO HARM where they are -- it's ten below again) and into the house, cleared space in the fridge, got the perishables put away, loaded and ran the dishwasher, DEALT with a great pile of paper.

Maybe I've turned some kind of corner here. I did realize this morning that I had gone down to the front door and fetched in the paper and the milk without stopping to think about navigating the stairs! H'm! And I've got through 24 hours without outraging ankle, knee, or hip.

Or maybe it's just thinking about what holiday baking I could, realistically, do this week and next, that has improved morale.

Bright sunshine today in the bitter cold -- at the winter solstice here the sun gets no more than 15 degrees above the southern horizon. I'm not even sure of that number, it may be 11 degrees. Ah, but starting tomorrow!!!

Favourite Things

I have been tagged for this by I am Chorus. So here goes...

1. Reading...I am a print addict.
2. Writing letters and receiving them.
3. Fresh clean bed-linen.
4. Long soaky baths that smell good.
5. Driving across the country -- it's hermitage-time.
6. The mountains, especially in the East Kootenays, especially Radium Hot Springs.
7. Jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, Sudoku puzzles (they all have SOLUTIONS!).
8. Sleeping in -- AND staying up irresponsibly late -- and waking up very, very early.
9. Prairie skies.
10. Baking bread (and eating it).
11. Making soup (and eating it).
12. My kids -- and their spouses!
13. My honorary grandson.
14. My six nephews and four nieces.
15. "A fine Episcopal mass in a modest and sunny sanctuary..."
16. "The St. Matthew Passion and a big choir leaning into it like sled dogs on the tundra."
[the last two I cribbed from Garrison Keillor, upon whom be peace]
Peace be upon you all, too.
I tag Yearning for God, Rev. Dr. Mom, and seeking authentic voice.

Home Stretch

Some more fun from Dave Walker, blessed be he. Find more cartoons you can re-use on your blog from weblogcartoons.com.

I stayed home yesterday, horizontal too, most of the day; I am still feeling the after-effects of the late-September sprained ankle, and Sunday those effects settled in the knee, disastrously...to the point I had to go and filch a stick out of the Sunday School costume cupboard just to be able to get about in the chancel at all.
A parishioner caught up with me in the evening at the annual Choir Party, and lent me the very stylish walking stick her son had made for her, during some bygone incapacitation. Her take on the situation I like: "if we have to be in pain, we can at least be elegant."
So with everybody's urgings ringing in my ears, in four-part harmony, I took Monday off. Our office is closed on Mondays too, nobody picking up phone messages; I had stuffed my pager in the bottom of my bag; and last night at midnight #1 Son said, "Mom, I think your purse is vibrating..."
Oh help. Four ignored messages. Today is catch-up-and-apologize time.
The day's bed-rest was very helpful; and leaving the house this morning I "stepped funny" again and twinged the knee once more...this is so very boring!