Never on a Sunday

Well, at least not this Sunday - didn't get a walk in today, but I did have a great time, singing in the choir - and it looks like I'm back to singing with my own gender again, LOL! Yes, this tenor is back to being an alto and without benefit of hormones or surgery:) It appears I can hit the high notes, so I'm back with the girls. Oh well, I will miss the wisecracking in the tenor section, but I can be bad again with Ann M:) in the front row with the altos.

I did, however get a walk in yesterday and it was lovely:) because it followed about two and a half hours of rehearsing various parts of Morton Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna. I realize I really have to focus on the second movement, which is chock full of some serious dissonances (i.e. one voice singing an A flat, whilst the other sings a G at the same time!) and there's one spot where the tenors have to pull an A natural out of their (ahem) nether regions, since the orchestra gives them no quarter! But practice was fun and I think very productive, in spite of my walking in on a room full of people from our church (St. John's), St. Bart's and the Cathedral in Baltimore who had already begun practicing. After exclaiming a huge "WOW!!!" and garnering a small bunch of giggles and guffaws for my outburst. I settled right down to make myself as invisible as possible, finding a seat among my fellow tenors and got down to work, not wanting to disrupt the practice any more than I had done already. The Cathedral's music director, Ken Brown, was with them, singing tenor (he lives practically down the street from St. John's, so it was an easy commute for him. Because there was another music director there, he took over the rehearsal for the second half and Nancy was able to practice her alto part. I sat down next to Dick, a tenor from the Cathedral choir and the person with whom I always seem to sit when we've had a part in services there. He's a really nice fellow. The Cathedral choir has always given us a warm welcome - I think because we are typical Episcopalians - getting down to business when we need to, but devilishly bad when we can afford to be, LOL!

I was grateful to see Barry, and later Drew, at the rehearsal. Between the two of them and Ken Brown's tenor, I had a better means of navigating the somewhat difficult tonalities during the In Te Speravi, Domine ("In Thee I hope, Lord" (lit.)). Nancy was of course wonderful and kept us all on task. Ken's style is a little different, but not so much that it was uncomfortable singing with him. He focused primarily on the notes and less so on the finer points of dynamics and tempo. But that will come later as we become more sure of ourselves with the notes and text.

After the rehearsal, Nancy and I went walking around Centennial Lake. The weather was cool, verging on cold, with a slight breeze. The colors were vivid, the lake still and clear and the foliage breathtaking. In short, it was a glorious day. I think we walked just a wee bit faster - or I hope so, unless I'm delusional. The walked helped her bs (not the term you think it is) and I was grateful for the exercise because I need it as part of getting healthier. After a brief trip to the store to return a damaged shirt, I arrived home feeling less tired, stiff and achy than I usually do - a very good thing:)! That and the fact that the walked helped Nancy made my day!

Last night John was home - no graveyard shift last night. We watched a movie on HBO (Michael Clayton) about a law firm "fixer" and his brilliant, but mentally ill fellow attorney. It was a somewhat dark drama, but it kept your attention and the cast was excellent: Tom Wilkinson, George Clooney, Sydney Pollack (his last performance) and Tilda Swinton. We had a really good dinner - very low on carbs and very tasty. I got to bed at a decent hour because I had choir for the early service today and John didn't get much sleep after his Friday night shift.

After choir today, I went to lunch with Nancy and Rennie and we talked our usual politics and about our families and friends. I really like Rennie and of course I love Nancy - so what better way to spend the afternoon?

Since John is bartending this afternoon at a late Redskins game, I figured I do some fried chicken (so healthy, right?!) for whatever of our offspring make it over this evening. Hopefully, we'll have leftovers for John when he gets back.

This coming week, I have no scheduled hearings (doesn't mean I won't have an emergency hearing, although that's unlikely). So, it will be a wonderful opportunity to catch up on filings, pleadings and other paperwork and a subpoena I need to serve on a willing (thank goodness) witness. So, that's all I have as far as the real world is concerned.

In my make-believe world of knitting (OK, now c'mon I'm just kidding), I restarted the Goddessknits.com Halloween Mystery Shawl. They are up to clue 4, but I'm about to start Row 33 of Clue 1. But I'm not complaining! I've got to stop adding projects to my list. At least I do finish one or two a month, so it's not that bad.

Here's what it looks like so far:

It's going to be a half-hexagon, with various designs depicting the holier side of Halloween. This portion of the shawl is reminiscent of the Yew tree, a prominent figure in graveyards and in some societies was considered sacred, its dried wood burned to contact the spirits of the dead. Well, I'm not doing that any time soon! But it's nice to have something like this - I'm not into bats and witches on brooms anyway:)

Tonight, I'm going to settle into some knitting after dinner and hope for the best next week.

Until then, dear 2.5 readers, may God be with you 'til we meet again.

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