Conclave!

Literally, under lock and key...

We're doing the best we can here on the Monterey Peninsula. Luckily, our city has fewer than 5 instances of COVID-19 at this point, and possibly none. There are worse places to be stuck.

I'm finishing up my last year at Watsonville High School. Yes, I'm retiring. This was not the way I expected it to finish, but online teaching has been a real experience. It's all been asynchronous, and the students who have chosen to be active are actually doing quite well. The level of engagement is not that different from what it was in the classroom. The biggest difference is there are no behavior problems to deal with!

This year was also our 25th wedding anniversary. Oh, the plans we made. Death Valley, Bryce, Zion, Vegas to recreate our honeymoon, then a big party with all the children and grand-children in the Paderewski Room at the Paso Robles Inn this summer, followed by our first feraogsto in Italy, with the Sagra de Strascinati and Corteo Storico in Monteleone di Spoleto. The first two celebrations are cancelled, and it is almost certain that Italy will not be possible in August.

The Viola da Gamba Society Conclave in July has been cancelled as well.

So it goes...

Tempis fugit... Again!

I am sensing a pattern with my post titles...

Time flies when you're having fun! Teaching is an all consuming activity, that's for sure. Just coming up on my third year teaching 6th grade Math at E.A. Hall in Watsonville, and I've been enjoying every minute of it.

The last year has been an eventful one. My sister Karen died unexpectedly last October at the age of 77. Still trying to make sense of that.

Elaine and I spent Thanksgiving in Hong Kong with our son and his family. The weather was perfect, with little rain and lots of bright blue skies. For Christmas, we went to see our friends John and Cary in New Jersey. Cary is a distant cousin, and John is like a brother to me. It was wonderful to spend the holiday with them.

Spring break found us in Cabo San Lucas. It was our first time there. In fact, it was our first time being in any part of Mexico south of the Ensenada area. We survived a time share pitch, and shared some fun time on one of the bay cruises with a family from Paris and a Ukrainian couple from Chicago. On top of that, we drove up to Todos Santos and had a drink at *the* Hotel California.

Summer has been even busier. We started with several days on Maui visiting uncle Trevor and aunt Faina, staying in a couple of delightful yet incredibly different B&B's. After just a few days back, we left for our new "I Love America" tour, driving to Ohio to see our daughter Lia. We stopped in Arizona for a couple of days to see a recently retired colleague, and then headed east on I-40 and I-70 to Columbus. We stayed over night in St. Louis, where we took in the giant parabola. The return trip was I-70 clear to I-15 in Utah (beware that last stretch - no services for over 100 miles!). Did one night at the Luxor in Vegas, then off to see our granddaughter who had just flown in from Hong Kong in Santa Barbara.

We actually stayed put for a couple of weeks, dividing our time between home and our place in Paso Robles, but then flew up to Seattle for a couple of days as our granddaughter had gone up to that area to visit a brand new cousin. We saw the Space Needle for the first time, and took the Underground Tour. Highly entertaining and highly recommended!

This past weekend I attended my 40th Carmel High School reunion. Luckily, that was held locally. The attendance was quite good, and it was nice to see so many old friends.

Only two more weeks until school starts! Who knows, maybe I'll have time to make another posting before next summer...

The Ides of March

Well, almost. My brother Leonard Johnson passed away on March 14, 2013 at the age of 66. He was found expired in his apartment. We still don't know the cause of death, but all the indications are that he wore himself out on alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

Rest in peace, Leonard.

Kyrie Passamezzo Antico

Camerata's performance of my Kyrie was a great success! Here is the Sunday afternoon performance at the Butterfly Church in Pacific Grove.

Time continues to fly!

I have been remiss in keeping up with life's happenings here! In short, Seren and Derek now have a baby girl named Hadley, who is 11 months old today. We spent a wonderful Christmas with them this year in Hong Kong and Singapore. I am teaching 6th grade math in Watsonville and enjoying every minute of it. The Camerata Singers will be performing my Kyrie Passamezzo Antico in their March concert, so I am excited about that. Here's a link to an instrumental performance of it a couple of years ago.

Grandma and Hadley

Summer with the family

Busy summer so far. We spent a week with Derek and Seren in Paso, and are off to see Lia and Joel-Henry next week in Ohio! After that it's off to Portland to see Morgan. Luckily, Sofia is close so we saw her for the 4th of July. As you can imagine, all this travel precluded us from singing with the Bach Festival this year, but we've been working in a few meals with our friends from around the country.

I'm still involved with the job search. Slim pickings in education this year in this area, and a lot of people trying to get employed. I was fortunate to get a temporary gig at a middle school in Monterey for the last quarter doing 7th grade math, which was a lot of fun.

Almost finished!

Student teaching is all done. 8 weeks of kindergarten was a challenge and completely exhausting, but I got a lot out of it. My master teacher Kathy is incredible. I am amazed how many things can be made from cut out tracings of little hands! Everything from turkeys to menorahs, Santa Clauses to Christmas trees. Every once in a while my legs would feel very heavy - I would look down to see what was up, and there would be a small person clamped to it! ;-)

The California credentialing process includes four "performance tasks." I got back my final score today, and I have amassed the requisite number of points. All that is left is the presentation of my portfolio at the exit interview, and it looks like that will happen tomorrow. Then all I have to do is find a job...

October update

Student teaching has been great fun. I have been lucky enough to be in with an excellent master teacher in a 6th grade English/History core at the local middle school. There is one week left to go with her, and then I get a new assignment. Don't know what that is yet, but I should find out soon! As far as my actual schooling is concerned, there is only one more class session to attend. I still have two of the four "tasks" to complete, but the hard part of those has been done. These "tasks" are basically write ups of a series of practical situations one would encounter in a classroom. They are the result of California trying to raise the bar as far as teacher credentialing is concerned, but most people think they are simply irritating busy work. I count myself among their number. Still, if all goes according to plan, I should be completely done by Christmas.

On the fun side of things, we just got back from visiting uncle Trevor in Hawai'i. Always a pleasant experience.

Bach again!

Hard to believe, but it is time for the Carmel Bach Festival once more. This is a bittersweet year, as Maestro Bruno Weil departs after 19 years at the helm, along with several other marvelous people. They will certainly be missed. However, it is wonderful to see all of our old friends as they take refuge from the heat of their home turf in this foggy utopia! This is really a nice group of people, and I look forward to making music with them for the next several weeks.

Elaine and I are especially honored to be participating in an adjunct concert this weekend by the group Bernardus. Countertenor Jay White and vielle player Craig Resta will be performing a selection of medieval love songs from the troubadours at St Mary's in Pacific Grove. Elaine and I will be doing selected readings as part of that presentation. It is looking to be a real treat! Come if you can - it will be at 7:30 pm, and entrance can be had for a free will offering. Can't beat that!

More Good News!

Just got my latest PSA results - down again! That's two times in a row, and the drop was by about half. This is exactly what it should be, so I am extremely happy about it.

School is now out for the year, so there is time to breathe again. My next credential class begins next week. It is completely online, so we have the freedom to get out and about without worrying of making it to class.

Camerata had a very successful concert a couple of weeks ago, and I was glad to be able to be part of it again. John, our conductor, was gracious enough to include my newest choral composition, and people really liked it a lot. It is an arrangement of a liturgical version of the Russian "Ave Maria" called "Bogoroditse Devo." I heard it in its liturgical form on a recording of the choir of the convent of St. Elizabeth in Minsk, and fell in love with it. The first verse in my arrangement is simply what I transcribed from the recording, and I build upon that in each successive hearing. Hope you like it.

Life marches on

Ended the first week of a two week position for 7th grade English. It is a lot of fun. My credential program is going pretty well, and there are only a couple more weeks left in the present term. Luckily there are no classes on Tuesday for the next term, so I'll be able to return to the Camerata Singers.

My oldest daughter presented a paper at a linguistics conference in Berlin last week. I am bursting with pride ;-)

Good News!

Today was my first checkup with the doctor for my prostate cancer since the fall, and it was good news. My PSA, which had been creeping up, has fallen dramatically. It is now 1.13, down from 1.9. Down is good. It has been a long time since I received good news, so I am ecstatic, even after - well, in the middle - of an extremely busy and exhausting day.

Off to my class in how to teach social studies!

Overdue update!

Darn that Facebook! That's where I've been doing most of my updating, so I apologize to anyone who likes to follow along here.

No news on the medical front, but it is getting time to have a follow up with the doctors. Not my favorite thing to do. I feel fine, and have not been experiencing any problems.

I am continuing in the credential program at Brandman University (nee Chapman), and just took my most recent round of CSET tests. These were on Preliminary Educational Technology and were pretty lightweight for anyone with decent computer experience. Oddly enough, they didn't ask about keypunches or batch processing in Watfiv...

Unfortunately my class this term falls on Tuesday nights, which means I have to take a leave of absence from Camerata. 8 weeks with no singing! Que lastima...

On a more positive note, Elaine and I had a terrific trip to visit Derek in Hong Kong over Christmas break. We were there for 10 nights and enjoyed every minute of it, seeing many of the sites. Probably the most impressive was the giant Buddha at Ngong Ping on the island of Lantau. That is one big Buddha! The cable car (overhead tram) back down to Tung Chung was remarkable as well. It was very cloudy, and there were times we were practically fogbound. I would love to do it again on a clear day. From some videos I have seen you get a view all the way back to Hong Kong Island.

We stayed in an apartment in the midlevels with a gorgeous view of the skyline. It was right off of the "travelator", which is a combination moving sidewalk and escalator that goes down the hill in the morning and up the hill after 10 am. It was a godsend! We would go back in a heartbeat, despite the 19 hour flight.

Tempis fugit...

Here we are at the end of October! Time just whizzes by, that's for sure. Several news items to report. First, I've been doing a long term sub for the local high school music teacher. It has been great fun being able to do the band and orchestra there. There is also a music technology class that is pretty cool, involving software packages like Garage Band and Sibelius. The rest of the assignment involves teaching beginning instruments (flute, clarinet, trumpet, low brass, high strings and low strings) to 5th graders at the two local elementary schools. It has been exhausting, but a wonderful experience. This coming week will be the last for that assignment.

I'm into a new term of the teaching credential program at Brandman University (nee Chapman), and am taking two courses. This is very time consuming, so I suspect I will be working a bit less on the substitute circuit for the next 9 weeks.

In music news, the choir at the Lutheran church is no more due to financial considerations, so my tenure there has ended. It's a shame, but times are hard. I am confident they will pull through and restart the program when they can.
On the positive side, that frees up Christmas for me, so we will be able to visit Derek and Seren in Hong Kong over winter break!

The Camerata Singers are putting together a wonderful program for the winter concert, and we are really enjoying the experience.

Lastly, we went to visit uncle Trevor and Faina in Maui last week. It was wonderful to see them, and to enjoy the various activities and sights that the valley isle has to offer. It is always hard to come home after that!

September Doings

Hard to believe it is September already. Some things are cranking up - some are winding down. The new school year is going strong, and I even had a shot at a permanent position. A person with many years of experience got the job - I was just happy to have been allowed to interview. On the other hand, I will be doing a long term substitute job in music locally, so I am looking forward to that.

The Camerata Singers will be starting in about a week. In the meantime, one of the other local choruses, I Cantori di Carmel, will be performing my a cappella arrangement of "We Three Kings."

The choir at the Lutheran church had its first outing of the season on Sunday, which was received well. Unfortunately, the economy has hit this church very hard, and they can no longer afford to have a choir. We'll sing twice more, and that will be it. I have enjoyed it greatly, and will miss the wonderful fellowship that we had.

It was fun while it lasted!

The Carmel Bach Festival wrapped last night with the Best of the Fest, followed by two very nice parties. Hard to believe it is over already! We had a wonderful time renewing old friendships and making new ones. Genuinely nice people, all.

I am constantly reminded of what a small world this is. One of the new chorale singers has a middle name that is the same as the last night of a woman who was in Quad (an eating club) with me at Princeton. Turns out she is his aunt! He texted her with a snapshot of me, and she responded directly saying "of course I remember him!" It was a gratifying moment.

Another such moment happened this morning, when another one of the chorale members sang at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Paul graciously agreed to sing my Sanctus Romanesca with me. I made an arrangement for two bari Suchtones and organ from the original SATB a cappella version. It was received very well by all and sundry. Such a wonderful opportunity to perform with such an incredible musician. I'm still on cloud 9!

A Bounce

My PSA has gone up again, to about 1.8 (after a low in December 2007 of about 0.8). This seems to be a bounce. The doctors are telling me that this is unusual, and they are not sure what to make of it. If it goes over 2.0, they may want to do another biopsy. However, what I've read on the internet indicates that this is not uncommon. In any event, it is disconcerting.

Carmel Bach Festival!

It's that time of year again, and we are coming to the end of our first week of intensive rehearsals. The professional chorale members are terrific, as usual, and it is a joy to renew friendships with them and the instrumentalists. Each of the performers has a separate page, including the members (such as I) of the volunteer chorus. Here's mine!

He's a doctor!

Well, almost. Our son Derek's dissertation was just accepted by the powers that be at Princeton. Only thing left is the defense!

Congratulations!

Third time is the charm!

I have been trying to meet with a student to tutor him in reading this week. This is an assignment for the class in teaching reading I am taking for my teaching credential. The first two times he did not come as he was feeling poorly - I am hopeful that today it will finally happen!