Carl and I are in the Seattle area for the next two weeks visiting special friends, and of course, many are people whom we have met through our music. We are staying with our business partner, composer Peter Hallock, who at age 89 is still as sharp as a tack, but doesn’t get out as much as he used to. However, he is able to walk unassisted, without a cane or walker, and he doesn’t need oxygen or any of those accoutrements of old age.

Our first dinner was with long-time friends Bonnie and Roger Smith, who both used to sing in the LCH choir in the 70s! In fact, one of the first Bach cantatas I played at LCH, Bonnie sang the soprano solos and Roger was in the tenor section. They moved away from Hawaii in 1975 but have come back frequently to visit. In fact the Smiths surprised us when they were in the congregation at Carl’s last service on August 21, 2011. For many years, Bonnie sang in the Roger Wagner Chorale, and then in the re-named Los Angeles Master Chorale after Roger Wagner retired.

One thing I only learned at dinner was that when Bonnie gave her master’s recital in voice at the University of Hawaii, Carl was her accompanist. Apparently she took an unexpected repeat in the music and Carl went right along with her!

Today we had lunch with Jason Anderson, who succeeded Peter Hallock as the director of the St. Mark’s Seattle Compline Choir. Jason, as you may recall, wrote his doctoral dissertation on the life and works of Peter Hallock. The Compline Choir will be singing at the American Choral Directors Association convention next month.