Yesterday, my long-time friend from the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Bruce Bengtson, his sister and brother-in-law and I had lunch at the Ono Steak and Shrimp restaurant in Waimanalo. I had never been there before and relied on my phone’s GPS to find the restaurant. The parking lot was filled to capacity which should have alerted us that seating inside was pretty tight. We had no choice but to sit outside at picnic tables, but even then it was crowded. Apparently this place is popular with the locals.

I ordered the steak and shrimp combo which was highly recommended by my sister. It was delicious, but too much to eat in one sitting.

Before we had even ordered our food, we were asked by a blond-haired woman with a dog whether we would be willing to share our table, since there were no more seats available. Sure, no problem.

I would say she had only been seated about 2 minutes, when Bruce told me that they had gone to St. Anthony’s in Kailua for church. I don’t know what else we discussed, but then the woman with the dog interrupted us:

“Excuse me, are you organists?”

Now how did she know that? It so happens that Bruce’s sister, Katherine, is an organist in Anchorage, Alaska, and Bruce is retired after 40 years as organist-choirmaster at Luther Memorial Church in Madison, Wisconsin. I don’t even think we mentioned the word “organ” in our conversation, at least, I don’t remember saying so. The fact that this anonymous woman picked up the fact that we were three organists from Hawaii, Alaska and Wisconsin after hearing only two minutes of our conversation is truly amazing!

This woman (sorry, I didn’t ask her name or take her picture) said she sings in the Windward Choral Society under Susan McCreary Duprey, and I told her I have played performances of Handel Messiah with the Kona Choral Society under Susie for the last 5 years, in addition to playing John Alexander’s Requiem with the Windward Choral Society. So this woman and I had been in the same performance together!

I really am sorry that I didn’t ask her name.

Bruce and I figured we had known each other since 1987 when we attended the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians convention in Rochester, NY. In 1992, my husband Carl decided to visit Bruce at his church in Madison as part of his sabbatical. Carl stayed on for a further week to visit other church programs in Wisconsin. A large number of Bruce’s “Alleluia” proper settings found their way into the Lutheran Church of Honolulu choral music library.

Bruce has visited Hawaii numerous times—twice to play two all-Bach recitals in Hawaii, both at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, in addition to visiting during Epiphany and playing one of the organs during the Epiphany service.

We took this picture on the Kailua beachfront yesterday.

Bruce’s sister, Katherine and her husband, Herbert, have been renting a Kailua duplex  right on the beachfront every January for the last 25 years, and Bruce has joined them several times. It was good to catch up on Bruce’s doings since he has retired (Read the newspaper article about Bruce’s retirement “40 years!“) You may remember that I saw him quite by accident in Leipzig when I was on a Bach and Luther pilgrimage tour in 2015! (check out my post “Mecca for Bach pilgrims“)

Bruce Bengtson is here! (Leipzig 2015)

I returned home from California on Friday afternoon and my weekend was consumed with preparing a dinner party for residents of my condo’s 35th floor. I am glad to report that the party was a grand success, but exhausting, especially the cleanup! Yesterday I spent the entire morning cleaning up the kitchen as well as putting all my Christmas decorations away.

But, as I heard someone say recently, New Year’s Resolutions begin on January 7th!