A Journey

How do you reconcile months missing...? 
I had an idea, last Fall (nothing happened), and then a well deserved vacation in January (nothing happened), and at last, arriving home I put the pedal to the metal and booked a date for an organ concert.  April 15! I invited other organists, but everyone was feeling the pinch of Lent and Easter, and their own concerts... so I soldiered on alone.
What I came up with was a list of pieces I love that don't exactly fit worship services, and a lot of work!  Suddenly I was spending 3 hours a day, and that's what it took. I cut pieces, and at last I was down to 2 weeks BC (before concert) with a one hour program, scrambling for posters and programs to be printed.  The big day came, I dressed up in my sparkles and entertained myself and about 75 others with the King of Instruments.  It's a great instrument, especially the new one I'm playing now. Literally, bells and whistles included, 1,188 memories to access, a library of hundreds of sounds, and a lot of buttons to push (so many that you need all four limbs).
Now a week later, I'm ready to punish myself start again, and hopefully in less than a year, I'll have another hour of favorites to share.
Thanks to everyone who attended!  You are the BEST!

Program:  April 15, 2018 - 5 PM
Pisgah (c. 1970) Dale Wood (1934-2003)
Christ lag in Todesbanden (c. 1922)
Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
Christ lag in Todesbanden (c. 1720)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Toccata in G minor Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) 
Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Andantino (1857) César Franck (1822-1890)
Suite Gothique (1895) Léon Boëllmann (1862-1897)

I Introduction-Choral 

II Menuet gothique 
III Prière à Notre-Dame
IV Toccata (RIO)

(the following with Mick Hesse, trumpeter-extraordinaire)
Ave Maria (c. 1970)
Vladimir Vavilov (1925-1973)/arr. J&L Dokter
Sing of the Lord’s Goodness (c. 1990)
Ernest Sands (1949-2016)/arr. Jeffrey Honoré

It’s time!

The mid January blues are approaching, that thing that wants to make me flee from the here and now every year, yet I'm full of optimism and looking forward!
I've taken a little rest from my usual life; yes, that is what 24 hours of travel does to me, which is exactly how much time I spend in transit from NM to Norway-time to reflect and plan.
So here's a little wrap up of the last months of 2017:
Paint-by-Number sunsets, at the winter solstice.

                                              ↑

We have many gorgeous sunsets, year 'round, but this one caught my eye, and I pulled over on the highway.  I noticed a circular cloud, though this photo doesn't do it justice.  Maybe you can see it, too, if you enlarge it...click on it.  It's closest to the horizon and just above the first oncoming headlights. I tried to mark it with the arrow.  

Then there was this bad boy... This spider was so large that I saw him while driving, turned around, and caught up with him.  He was hanging out near Navajo Dam.

Then there was lace.  Knitted lace!  I bought the yarn in Lerwick, Shetland, a year ago, and have tried a few patterns.  This one is a keeper, though other projects have jumped the queue, and it is now languishing in the cupboard.  I started the sleeve.

A week long visit in October from J and C from Norway.  Here I'm entertaining with my new toy, the Rodgers Infinity 361, which was scary to play in October, and now is my BFF!  The latest is that my granddaughter wants to take up trumpet!  Good grief!  What did I do to deserve that?

And lastly, the winter sun peeking over the peaks, January, Bergen, Norway.  A panorama shot where you see more than 180º of horizon. The buildings on each side were behind me.

Happy New Year, everyone!