Christmas Music

The picture above is of our advent calendar, bought in Kenya several years ago. There are little animals in the pockets; they come out and get hung on the tree one at a time.

The holiday season is upon us and Roger and I have been enjoying Christmas music. Last Saturday we went to a concert given by a local choral society, Cappella Cantorum, performing a new Gloria that had been commissioned in honor of a friend of ours who died in 2004. They also sang Rutter's Gloria, which was very different. I have a very high standard for choral music after several years of listening to Theo sing in the Hopkins Concert Choir; Cappella didn't seem to me to have quite the same discipline--still it was a lovely evening. Then on Sunday we had the annual "readings and carols" service at our church. Our choir is good, they had good instrumentalists and there were a number of lovely touches such as the children's bell choir (still struggling a bit; playing bells is HARD) but very good when they got it right. The high point, though, was Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion, from the Messiah, sung by a real opera singer, Patricia Schuman, who is also a member of our parish. I don't know really how to write about it--it was staggering to hear. I notice, Googling around, that she has also recorded the Messiah so perhaps I'll buy it for us. Her husband is also an opera singer but he seems to have been away; their ten year old son sang also and he's well on his way with a nice true voice and an ability to project. I've asked Theo to find us a church with good music for Christmas Eve but he points out that it is not possible to search for "Episcopal churches with opera singers in the parish" so it's not likely to be as good there in Denver.

In January we have a concert by Patricia and her husband, David Pittsinger, to look forward to; they are the first event in our (very good) local winter concert series.

Garden work

The "hardscaping" of our yard has mostly been accomplished; the pictures are of new fencing in the front (the old fence will go in back to replace a very rotted split rail one.) It looks, in our view, very elegant--perhaps a bit excessively elegant for this neighborhood but it will definitely make the vegetable garden look more organized and planned next summer. We also had the old concrete walk taken up and granite paving stones substituted both on the walk and on the surface of the steps to the front door. Something very odd happens to this granite, though--it absorbs some element from the soil and changes color in splotches. I have a picture of the change but it just clutters up the post so I won't include it now.

Odds and Ends

I am very much enjoying Frances Partridge--I just ask for the diaries by name and my library is able to turn them up. I have finished A Pacifist's War, which you ought to look at, Jean; it would go well with the history as recorded in Vogue Knitting books. I am now on Everything to Lose, which takes us through until the death of her husband.

And I am happy to report that Theo managed to go skiing without having to claim to be sick. He is greatly enjoying his season pass although it sounds as though Jenni doesn't get as much time for it as he does.