For it's Christmas time...

Here we are at Christmas Eve! Elaine has had her surgery for varicose veins on the right leg and is doing very well - next Monday will be the left one. I'm in the middle of preparing my "famous" lasagne for tomorrow's dinner, and am going to try a recipe from Petroni's "Il libro della vera Cucina Fiorentina" for Gamberi in dolceforte (Shrimp in Sweet-Strong Sauce) as well. It uses cinnamon, lemon juice and raisins, so should be quite festive!

Tonight the service at Bethlehem Lutheran is at 7 - the choir will be singing four anthems, two of which will be accompanied by handbells. The ringers have been working diligently to prepare, and it should be a lovely offering. There is also a piece by Rameau to which the text "Wake O Shepherds" has been attached that will feature the flute stylings of high school student Lauren Anderson.

The service at St. Mary's is at 10, and the choir will be singing several of Kirke Mechem's "7 Joys of Christmas."

Busy times, but good! Hallelujah!

December tidbits

Can't believe it is already December. The Camerata concerts are over, and were very well received. Still, there seems to be ever more competition for the scarce choral concert dollar...

I'm giving Vonage a shot, and managed to get it up and running with only 48 minutes with a customer service tech on the phone! Trying Skype and Google Video Chat with a webcam as well. Brave new world.

Elaine underwent the knife today for phase 1 of varicose vein treatment. The procedure is minimally invasive these days, and essentially consists of "shrink wrapping" the offending veins with a laser on the end of a long fiber. Pretty cool, really.

Now if we can just get that apartment rented!