Archive for the ‘Singing’ Category

Choir SingingEnglandFamilyHolidaysSingingSongs

January 10, 2023

A Village Christmas, Part 2: The Tor, lambs and love

From the Castle Cary train station, we “did a shop” in Street (that’s a town.) It seems to me that we “did a shop” almost every other day. And the washing machine was going 24/7—more about that later. On that first day, Sue took me around Clark’s Village, an outlet mall built on the site  Read the Rest…

Choir SingingEnglandFamilyHolidaysSingingSongs

January 8, 2023

A Village Christmas Pt 1: Preliminary Drama

When I told people I was spending Christmas with my cousins in an English village, I heard a fair amount of “that sounds magical.” I don’t think my cousins think of themselves as magical even if they do live in a place with things like fairy soap, fairy lights and fairy cakes        Read the Rest…

Choir SingingFriendsSingingTelevisionTravel

May 10, 2022

The Do in Berkeley, Part Two

I crept about my routine at the cold Airbnb, bringing my tea up to my room and putting on the space heater. I had finished Empire of Pain and was into The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Later I met Suzanne on my way out the door. “You’re so quiet,” she commented. “Well.” I didn’t  Read the Rest…

CatsLife During Covid-19PianoSingingSongs

February 22, 2021

Fill the Damn World with Love

I yelled at the cat. That’s when I knew things had gone too far. It started when I began practicing to sing “Fill the World with Love,” a song from the musical Goodbye Mr. Chips (by Leslie Bricusse). I always get a little choked up when I sing it so I was practicing singing through  Read the Rest…

FamilyFriendsHolidaysLife During Covid-19SingingSongs

December 18, 2020

Have Yourself a Merry Little Winter Holiday

I used to call “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” the alcoholic’s Christmas carol because of the line about “next year all our troubles will be out of sight.” Pure denial, fantastical thinking. Wasn’t that mean of me? It’s a perfect song for this year and I regret my former attitude.  If you’re not busy  Read the Rest…

FriendsLife During Covid-19SingingTeaching

November 30, 2020

Pandemic Project Number Three

I’ve talked about learning to sew for years. I want to be able to make clothes in the colors and styles I like rather than forcing myself into procrustean fashions. This pandemic and the stay-at-home orders (and my lack of work and ensuing free time) has been a boon to me, a self-learner. I’ve been  Read the Rest…

Life During Covid-19PianoSingingSongsTeaching

November 20, 2020

Fudging the Variety Hour

I’ve been trying to get back to writing for six months. Nothing propels me so much as the need to confess a scorching embarrassment or to shapeshift something painful into something funny. So here goes. My story starts about a month ago when I took my octogenarian friend Kay to what I call the Green  Read the Rest…

FriendsGardenLife During Covid-19SingingSongs

May 17, 2020

Three Small Goobers

Entering our third month of Sheltering-in-Place here in Seattle, I locate myself in the week by when I last showered: I showered today, I showered yesterday, I can’t remember when I showered or that’s really a funky smell. My hair has entered a new length division where it now looks reasonably good. I love hearing  Read the Rest…

Choir SingingEnglandFamilyFriendsMoviesSingingSongsTelevisionTravel

November 18, 2019

Welcome to Port Wenn

Welcome to Port Wenn! If you are a fan of the series Doc Martin, you’ll appreciate the reference. If you aren’t, read on. We went other places, too. The day began at the cottage in Morvah with the usual tea and breakfast and me asking Sue and Wendy what they remembered from the day before  Read the Rest…

FriendsSingingSongs

January 31, 2019

Verdi Poisoning

My friend Karla is from Holland, land of liquorice. Black liquorice. If you consider red vines to be liquorice you can stop reading right now even though this post isn’t about liquorice at all. Karla told me they have a saying in Holland “liquorice poisoning.” That’s when you spend all evening (or days) with your  Read the Rest…