X's Travails

My mother fell and broke her shoulder and hip in April. She had surgery on the hip, and has been in a local convalescent hospital since that time. On top of that, she had a very mild stroke (TIA) a couple of weeks ago, from which she has mostly recovered. We went with her to the doctor today, and her bones have healed well. We are hopeful to bring her home within the next two weeks. She'll have to have more care than before, but it should work out.

Darn those kids!

They just keep getting older, without any consideration for what that means for their parents! Sofia, the youngest, turned 21 in January. Four adult children... what is this world coming to?

She is living the life fantastic in Padova, and has had the opportunity to make some very good friends and see a lot of Europe. Among her ports of call have been Rome, Assisi, Sicily, Milano, Budapest, Prague, Paris, London, Barcelona, Firenze, Venezia (for Carnival) and so forth and so on. Now she just needs to get to Monteleone!

Lia continues to thrive in the PhD program in Linguistics at Ohio State and in her marriage, while Morgan is exploring the job market for folks with Bachelor's degrees in Creative Writing. Derek, the oldest, will be giving a paper in Philosophy in Australia this summer (winter by their standards), and has been nominated for a 5th year fellowship at Princeton.

Not sure where we went wrong ;-)

Easter comes early this year...

Can't believe we're already at the end of Holy Week! At least in the western church calendar. (Cousin Саша advises that Orthodox Easter doesn't come until April 27!) It won't be this early again for over 200 years.

Over Lent I led a religious education class at St Mary's on Crossan and Borg's "The Last Week." It was quite an interesting experience, though quite draining. Everyone enjoyed it immensely, which was gratifying.

My Mass on Renaissance Basses is complete! It was a lot of work, but it came out very well. You can hear midi files of each movement and follow along with the PDF's on my website.

I got hit pretty hard with the flu bug a couple of times. This last one kicked in within an hour or so of the last Camerata concert on March 9. I ended up flat in bed for a few days, and even had to miss a day of substituting. All better now, and raring to go.

This week has been extraorinarily busy, with Camerata rehearsal on Tuesday, Bethlehem Lutheran rehearsal on Wednesday, Maundy Thursday at St Mary's on Thursday, and the Tenebrae service for Good Friday at Bethlehem Lutheran last night. Tonight is the Great Vigil of Easter at St Mary's, and tomorrow the Easter Sunday service at Bethlehem! Whew...

I've hired a few high school and middle school musicians to swell the ranks for Easter. It is a wonderful experience for all involved, and the adult choir members have really benefited from the injection of youthful exuberance. It has been a sheer joy working with the kids. We are going to be singing the Gloria Patri from Monteverdi's "Beatus Vir" as a call to worship, so the two violins and extra voices will really help make the piece exciting. We are also having a couple of the younger kids play the tone chimes on our anthem (which is a contrafactum Easter text on the traditional "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" tune). It warms the heart, I tell you!

My most recent PSA test was up a little bit, when it should have been down. The doctors are going to keep an eye on this. It's probably nothing, but we'll see. I had another blood test done yesterday in conjunction with my annual physical, so I'll get a second bite of the apple before the next regularly scheduled PSA in 3 months.

Happy Epiphany!

Time marches on. Christmas is over, and we are well into Epiphany. We had a nice trip visiting family on Coronado after Christmas, and then resolved to lose some weight in the new year. One of the side effects of my surgery in August was weight gain, and I was up 15-20 pounds from where I had been previously. I didn't worry about this too much during my recuperation - I figured that my body needed to heal, so it was not a time to try to lose weight, but we are far enough along now that the timing seemed right. It is harder this time around, but I am making slow but sure progress, and am down nearly 10 pounds from my high. At least I was this morning!

I am continuing the substitute teaching, and this week was particularly nice in that I was able to fill in for music teachers three days in a row. Some of the kids are pretty amazing, and we were able to bring some good musicality to their playing. This morning I had a beginning band with about 10 kids one period, and one of them came up to me at the end of class that he really felt they had learned something. Moments like that are really wonderful.

Busy times!

Sorry for my long absence here - a lot has been going on.

Most importantly, I had my PSA blood test in November, and it was down to 0.8 from about 4.0. This is excellent, and just what the doctor wanted to see. In PSA low is good, high is bad. Going down is good, going up is bad. Another milestone, and quite a relief.

We visited uncle Trevor and Faina on Maui again in October, and spent Thanksgiving in Columbus, Ohio with Lia and Joel-Henry. More on both of those anon, with a few pix to boot!

In the meantime, the concert for the Camerata Singers is next week, and I am singing in a small professional caroling group, so things are cranking up.

I am also working again - as a substitute teacher - and loving it!

Happy Birthday to Me!

And it really was! My wife brought me coffee and chocolate while singing "Happy Birthday" first thing in the morning. We had steak and eggs for breakfast at Holly's Lighthouse Cafe, and I even indulged in hash browns. My eldest daughter called me on my cell while we were there to wish me a happy birthday, and we had a nice chat.

After getting home, our contractor showed up with the new doors we've been waiting for. They are gorgeous, and we are so glad they are finally here.

I worked through a first draft of a Kyrie based on the Passamezzo Antico ground, and then had lunch with the husband of my church's choir director. He works in the same area of law I was in - Workers' Compensation - and we have a lot in common. It was thoroughly delightful.

Elaine and I went to Macy's in the afternoon to participate in a fund raiser for the Camerata Singers, and we had two couples over for dinner: Pauline and Anthony and Marcia and Mark. I made my infamous lasagne, accompanied by heirloom tomato carpaccio and marinated zucchini a la Colle del Capitano, the recipe of which the mistress of that establishment was gracious enough to share with me. Good friends, good food, good wine, good conversation. We had a wonderful evening, and we capped it off with a shot of Belarusian Vodka that was the gift from my cousin Sasha.

Now it is time for bed, and I am confident I will sleep well.

Huzzah!!

I had my CT scan this morning, and the doctor said that everything looks very, very good with my implants. He has to send the results out for a formal reading, but it's celebration time!

The half life of the radioactive element is about one month. That means if the initial radiation dose was 1024 (a completely arbitrary number for easy illustration), after one month it is 512, after two months it is 256, after three months it is 128 and so on. After one year it is 1!

I go back to the urologist in December, and to the radiation oncologist in March. They'll do a PSA test at that time, and that should give a good indication as to my condition. The only chance of a problem (a very small one) is if the cancer has already metastasized to somewhere outside of the prostate. This was caught very early, so it is unlikely. When it happens, the cancer tends to go into the bones or into the lymph nodes. I had a bone scan soon after the cancer was diagnosed which was clear.

It is not 100% that I am cured, but in the very high 90s. Out of 130 patients, this doctor has only had the recurrence show up in 1. Not bad odds.

I have to admit it's getting better...

a little better all the time. (That would make a cool song lyric, huh?)

I feel almost normal now, though I get a little tired from time to time. Last night I only had to get up once - that was the first time since the surgery. Hallelujah!

The "plumbing" is not as sensitive, although I do feel a bit of an ache from time to time.

It is very encouraging.

The biggest problem this week was the spam a site called Quechup sent out under my e-mail address. I had to send out several hundred warnings/apologies. There are still lists that won't let me rejoin because of *my* abuse. On the bright side, I've reconnected with several people I haven't talked to in years as a result, but it wasn't worth it.

Vacation photos

Being used as a dartboard has been distracting, so I never got around to posting the photos from our Ashland trip.


The Sundial Bridge, Redding, California


Mt. Lassen, California


Our lunch view from Wooldridge Vineyards, Applegate Valley, Oregon


Black Butte, California

For more, see my Flickr site.

Torna al'Italia...

My youngest daughter is now in Italy, doing a year at the University of Padova (that's Padua for you non-Italian speakers). She flew out there the same day I had my surgery, and very graciously left me a "get well soon" message from the tarmac at JFK. Of course, the best laid plans of mice often go astray...

[... and men! It's "of mice and men."
"Men? What have men got to do with it?"]

Her flight got in late, she missed her connection, and didn't make it to Padova until 11PM instead of the scheduled 1 PM. On top of this, her luggage has yet to make an appearance, and she chose to fly in her pajama pants. A new pair of pants was her first purchase - cheap and funny looking, she says. Of course they're funny looking - they are pantalones! That even sounds funny!

She has a new cell phone (one that works in Europe) and apparently can receive calls for free. We shall see. In any event, despite all this she is delighted to be back in Italy, and I am very happy for her.

Convalescing

Doing better today. I had to wear a catheter the first night, and that wasn't fun. It was so uncomfortable that the only place I could sleep was in a reclining chair. Luckily, that worked pretty well.

The nurse told me to call the doctor's office in the morning to see if it could be removed. Even though I called right when the office opened, the medical assistant thought it might be too late for that day. She called the doctor (who was in his Hollister office) and he gave her the go ahead, but it had to be right away.

This was, of course, the first day of school where my wife teaches. Luckily, the principal is very sympathetic, being a prostate cancer survivor himself, and took over her class so she could leave immediately and take me to the doctor's office. It was very efficient, and she only missed the one class.

What a trouper - I feel incredibly blessed.

I survived!

Surgery came and went yesterday, and the doctors told my wife they were very pleased with how it went. I'm still a little woozy from the anesthetic, but not doing too bad overall.

I'm going to sit in my comfy chair!

Surgery approaches...

I go in for my surgery on my prostate on Tuesday afternoon. The doctors I have been seeing for the treatment will both participate in the implantation of the radioactive seeds. The procedure should last about 2 hours, and I will be under a general anesthetic. However, it is outpatient, and if all goes as it should I will be home Tuesday night.

On the exact same day our youngest daughter flies to Italy, where she will spend about a year studying at the University of Padova. Keep us all in your thoughts!

Time flies....

Well, the Bach Festival has come and gone, and was a wonderful experience. The high point was our St. Matthew Passion on the third and final weekend. Something magical happened, and everything clicked in a way that let to the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Libby Walfisch, concertmaster, brought out a level of subtlety and emotion for "Erbarme dich" that was stunningly beautiful. Joanna Blendulf's viola da gamba playing was superb as well. Audience and performers alike left the performance in tears. I will not forget the feeling soon.

Elaine and I took about a week to venture north to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival again. We took in two plays (well, *half* of two plays - they just start too late for us to last past intermission these days...) They were "Distracted" and August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean." Both were done extremely well, and we enjoyed what we saw. The main reason for the trip was to see our friend Pat and attend her recital with other friends from long ago. The recital was delightful, with some wonderful viol playing. I was happy to get the chance to play viols with all of them afterwards just for fun.

Death for 5 Voices...

...or more!

Elaine and I went to sit in on the dress rehearsal for the Chorale's a cappella concert at the Carmel Mission on Monday night. The major work is the Tenebrae of Don Carlo Gesualdo di Venosa, a Renaissance composer who was known for extreme chromaticism, and even more for killing his wife. Even though quite shocking in its day, the Tenebrae sounded right at home when sung in conjunction with Poulenc's 4 Motets in the time of Lent.

The Chorale has a wonderful sound, and it was a treat to be able to hear them in that acoustic without the sound being sucked up by 400 people! They did a very nice job with very difficult music - which is a fraction of what they have to sing for the festival. They are certainly earning their money this year. Director Andrew Megill has deftly brought disparate singers together from across the country and made them sound like they'd been singing together for years. It was a real treat.

Laughter in our mouths...

The last two weeks have been intense, with rehearsals for the Carmel Bach Festival occurring daily, and sometimes twice a day. It was very tiring, but rewarding. It is such a pleasure to make music with world class performers, and being able to sing for Maestro Bruno Weil is an amazing privilege.

The volunteer chorus (of which I am a member) is singing in Bach's Cantata 110 on Saturday evenings, a Christmas offering that opens with the text "our mouths are full of laughter because God has done great things for us."

On Sunday afternoon we are presenting the St. Matthew Passion, one of the most incredible pieces of music ever written. For me, some of the most sublime moments come in the two arias accompanied by Viola da Gamba. Joanna Blendulf is a tremendously gifted artist, and handles both of these very difficult pieces with aplomb and grace.

Our opening weekend just concluded, and the audiences were very enthusiastic. Two more weekends to go!

(Image from OMM.de)

Independence Day

We spent a wonderful Independence Day holiday. There was a Bach rehearsal from 4:30 to 7 PM the night before, and afterwards we met up with our friends Jackie and Mike at Ribera Beach for a barbecue. They have a tradition of hanging out there with a bunch of friends every July 3. It was wonderful. It was so warm that I had to take off my jacket. I can't remember the last time I could do that at the beach in Carmel. There was nobody else there - probably due to the long access staircase. Absolutely gorgeous, with clear skies and a brilliant sunset. As darkness descended, the stars shone with unusual clarity, and Venus and Jupiter stood out from the background like searchlights.

Next day we went out to Spreckels to see the little parade they have and have yet another barbecue at our friend Patty's house. The sun was out in full force, and the postage stamp size town was packed to the gills with visitors. If we hadn't been able to park in Patty's driveway, we would have had to park at least a mile away. Amazing. The parade was cute and the food was all American - hamburgers, foot long hot dogs, potato salad and apple pie. It was absolutely delicious - Patty is a waitress here in town, and one of the best. She always gets significantly more than anyone can eat, and takes whatever is left to the woman's shelter afterwards.

At 5 PM or so we attended our third barbecue in as many meals at our friend Lisa and Robin's house. This time we brought ribs marinated in beer, sage and honey, and there were grilled vegetables and chicken to boot. The fireworks at the harbor didn't start until after 9 PM so as to be visible in the dark. That was way past our bedtime, but we heard them! We haven't had such an enjoyable fourth in years.

Did I mention...?

...that my daughter was getting married?

Just in case you were wondering, the wedding was lovely at St. Joseph's, and the bride and groom enjoyed a cruise to Seward, Alaska for their honeymoon and now are safely ensconced at home in Ohio.


Proud papa with his girls



The happy couple



Comes the pretty young bride...




The first waltz

D-Day!

The rehearsal was wonderful, and the dinner at Il Pirata in Capitola delicious. It is going to be a lovely wedding!

As W.S. Gilbert noted in The Grand Duke:

Won’t it be a pretty wedding?
Will not Li(s)a look delightful?
Smiles and tears in plenty shedding –
Which in brides of course is rightful.
...
Oh, ‘twill be a pretty wedding!
Such a pretty, pretty wedding!
Such a charming, charming, charming wedding!

The Big Day minus 2 and counting...

Saturday was a Bach Festival rehearsal day, and that went well. We really like Andrew Megill, the new chorus master.

Sunday was a real treat, as both of my daughters came to visit for Father's Day. We had a lovely dinner at the Cellar Door, watched Doctor Who, and had a fun time all around. Sofia is still here, but even Lia stayed over one night. It was the best Father's Day ever!

Getting ready for Lia's wedding on Friday. Not anything really for us to do, but emotionally it is a big step!