Music on a Sunday

At least once a Christmas season it so happens that we "lose" an entire day to musical wonder, and this year that day was today.  We started the morning with the Bach Magnificat in church, which we sang at both full morning services.  Then, after a quick lunch it was off to the Faber Piano Institute for the holiday piano recital performed, in part, by Jon's piano students.  It was a first for Jon, and for each of his students, and it went over perfectly.  After the recital, and a quick nap at home, came the end-of-semester concert for the RC Singers, the university choir group that our friend, Kristin, conducts.  Jon is, technically, the piano accompanist for the group, but he also filled in a couple of other parts, including tamborine on one song and tenor on a couple of others.  One thing we can say for sure, Raspberry will not suffer for lack of music in life!

Tree shopping

We visited a new tree farm with Cortney's parents, Curtis, and Patty for this year's Christmas tree hunt. It turns out that our traditional spot closed forever! The new place didn't have the quality of Scotch pines that we were used to, but it did have the perks of free hot chocolate, cider, and popcorn! Cortney's parents found a good tree to cut themselves, but for our house we decided to wait to see the pre-cut selection of a nursery in town. Our gamble paid off, as we found just the right shape for us. We've been enjoying that Christmas pine scent ever since!

Countertenors are real

We are being social in the cold snowy nights. We began Saturday evening with a wonderful holiday dinner with Jon's business group in a reserved room at a nice country club. We shared cocktails and conversation and a really nice meal. Long before the dinner was planned, however, we had tickets to the annual UMS performance of Handel's Messiah at Hill Auditorium so we had to leave the dinner party early to race over to Hill. We made it just as the orchestra was tuning up. We met up with the Lilly Resident Ministers from church, with whom we had bought group tickets (they're a really fun group of seminary grads our age). The performance was beautiful, as expected, but the real standout was the moment that the countertenor stood up and sang. Not only was he the most animated and excited performer, but he had a falsetto as rich as any female opera star. After the show, we all went out for coffee and took bets over whether the countertenor's speaking voice was as high as his singing one. Then we bid each other goodnight until we would meet again at church a mere seven hours later.

Let it snow, let it snow...

Thanksgiving dinner has come and gone making it time to celebrate Christmas in our household!  Actually, we cheated because we started last night.  We couldn't help ourselves.  It was snowing and cold and it looked like the holidays!  Since we had put the lights up several weeks ago while it was still warm they were all ready to go and there was nothing to keep us from turning the timers on, so we did, and we don't regret it.  We actually got several inches of snow through yesterday and today.  Last night we kicked off our holidays with Christmas music, a movie and a fire.  And what better way to celebrate Thanksgiving morning than with pancakes and Ghostbusters.  We made sure that we each got on the treadmill this morning, too, so that we would be able to eat more at dinner, and it was a good thing.  We did dinner at Cortney's parents' house with all the usual trimmings.  Her dad did the turkey on the smoker (really there is no better way!), and there was stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry salad, waldorf salad, squash, wine, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and various coffees.  New and different this year was the addition of Patty, Curtis' fiance, and her family.  We had a wonderful time sharing the holiday with them, and the excellent desserts they brought, too.  Patty's father evidently has a sweet-tooth from which all the rest of us benefited.  In addition to the pies we had Death by Chocolate cake and riced pudding.  They also brought a traditional Peruvian drink called Chicha (I think) that is made by boiling purple corn to extract the joice, and then adding sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and apple pieces.  The drink has a relaxing and calming affect, yet is non-alcoholic.  We enjoyed it, and we had a wonderful time learning more about their traditions and their family.  Now, again, we are relaxing off the effects of a tryptophan dinner with a fire and a movie. 

Happy snow, happy holidays! 

Birthday Week

The birthday celebrations continued this week on Sunday with a delicious dinner at Cortney's parents' house with Patty and Curtis. Dad H provided the smoked ribs and Mom H provided the chocolate/whipped cream cake roll. Jon thanked them for the special menu and for the gifts: a one-of-a-kind safari-themed shower curtain and—at last—a replacement for the garage door opener we lost  awhile back. On Monday, just the two of us marked the occasion yet again with a dinner out at Red Lobster, where the waiter revealed the secret of their cheesy biscuits: just Bisquik, cheddar, and Italian herbs.

On Thursday, we got tickets to see soprano Renee Fleming at Hill Auditorium, which we preceded with dinner at Cottage Inn. Fleming was performing the title role in a concert presentation of Richard Strauss' Daphne. We were especially interested in this performance because we were in the middle of reading her autobiography. Indeed, we were very glad to hear the beauty and finesse of her voice.