On Saturday morning I gave three organ lessons, which finished at 12:00 noon, then rushed home—my neighbor was already in the garage waiting to take me to the airport for my flight at 1:45 pm. At the last moment, I decided to fly to Los Angeles where my son and daughter-in-law held a “gender reveal” party, which seems to be the “in” thing for prospective new parents these days. I didn’t arrive until after midnight on Saturday, but was able to help in the preparations for the party which started Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm.

The decorations were all made by my daughter-in-law and my son prepared much of the food (his dad would have been really proud as Stephen diced watermelon, jicama, and cucumber and shredded carrots for a Mexican salad—all done with a simple paring knife and old-fashioned hand grater. Yes, it took him hours! )

We were all given pink and blue stars to vote for what we guessed the gender would be, and as it turned out, the box was opened to great fanfare and a countdown. Everyone screamed as blue balloons popped up—meaning of course, that it will be a boy!

It’s the day after the party and I have just gotten off the plane back in Honolulu, only to get ready for my trip to Bloomington, IN and New Haven, CT on Wednesday. That means I’ll have only one day at home—one day to repack my suitcase with much warmer clothes, plus play for St. Andrew’s Priory Chapel at 9:20 am and Punahou Chapel 10:45 a.m. Oh, I’ll also teach one organ lesson on Wednesday morning. You see, I’ll be visiting long-time friend Dana Marsh at Indiana University in Bloomington and attending Joey Fala‘s last graduate degree recital at Yale, a trip I’ve planned for a long time.

In the meantime, I formatted the program for the Early Music Hawaii concerts, which will take place after I return.