I’ve just come through a spate of losing things. At least I hope I’ve come through it because it’s been disorienting. I have always had a sharp memory and bloodhound’s talent for finding things, particularly if those things have sugar in them. The first casualty was a music book. It’s a collection of songs, many  Read the Rest…

On this last day of a moody year, I think it would be a good exercise for me to review all the good things about the spin cycle of the last month, otherwise known as the holiday season. The holidays begin in October when I start the fall quarter of the OK Chorale and All  Read the Rest…

Has a Windows Help Desk notification ever interrupted your computer work and/or game of Solitaire? It descends like the Second Coming with beeps and sirens and flashes. It tells you your identity has been stolen and your bank account is in the process of being emptied. It’s alarming and to one whose mind has been  Read the Rest…

I’ve been feeling a little wassail drunk with music this season. I usually look forward to it and don’t mind the iterations of Hark, the Herald Angel and his pals like Round John Virgin. After all, it’s only for a month out of the year, two and half if you’re a musician. The Chorale started  Read the Rest…

I’ve got malaise. It’s partly due to the way it doesn’t get light in the morning, it gets gray. It’s partly due to having come off an exceptional burst of creative energy in which I sang the Queen of the Night, finished my first novel and helped put together a second volume of the All  Read the Rest…

When I was a child I often wailed “What can I do?” My father wailed back at me “The perpetual cry of youth: what can I do?” Irritated me no end but there you are. I am feeling a little of that angst this month because I am between quarters so no choirs to direct  Read the Rest…

Monday, August 21, the day of the eclipse brought a holiday atmosphere to my neighborhood. I was working on a watercolor sunflower and trying to not dip the paint brush in my cup of coffee when the light changed. Shadows got long like they do in the afternoon when the sun is low. Then as  Read the Rest…

For reasons I have no desire to remember given what it wrought, my creative energy was surging in the month of June. I proposed to my All Present team that we do a second volume of songs for our song circle. In the past, we’ve just swapped new ones in to replace ones that the  Read the Rest…

A few months’ ago I confided in my friend Tim my desire to have a dog. “I’m going to give you some advice,” he said. “Don’t. You’re a cat person.” I positively bristled at this: You’re not the boss of me. Don’t tell me I can’t do something. Adults don’t tell other adults they can’t  Read the Rest…

It all began with an email from Tim, my gardening friend. He’d been here working in the garden and then suddenly he wasn’t. Then I got an email with the subject heading “READ BEFORE WEEDING.” He related that he’d uncovered a hornet’s nest and had been stung numerous times so had gone home to treat  Read the Rest…