For the last two weeks, I’ve been working on getting “my ducks in a row,” that is, taking care of my duties and responsibilities, and organizing my affairs… just in case. 

From the Grammarist: Get one’s ducks in a row and have one’s ducks in a row are American idioms, the origin of these phrases is murky. One possible origin is a lawn bowling game that was popular in the 1700s, which involved setting up duck pins, obviously, in a row. Another possible inspiration for the term get one’s ducks in a row is the way in which tin ducks are lined up in a shooting gallery. A third possibility comes from actual ducks and the way in which ducklings line up when following their mothers. At this time, the earliest found reference to ducks in a row, meaning to organize one’s affairs, comes from The Plaindealer in 1889.

You see, with all the coronavirus scare and fear of traveling, as of this point, I’m still going ahead with my trip next month to Atlanta, St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. You may think I’m being foolhardy (or worse), but the fact is that at this point, my trip is noncancellable as far as I know. According to the Moscow Times, “Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus and said the infected people were Chinese citizens who have recovered.” And yesterday, the Moscow metro began random checks of passengers’ temperatures at station entrances. Recently a Russian national was quarantined in a Moscow hospital after recently returning from northern Italy.

All this means that I’m in the process of updating my will, in addition to trying to thin out my possessions and collections. I’ve been meeting weekly with Shama Stewart (fka Vicki), a former Lutheran Church of Honolulu parishioner, who has become a professional organizer… and believe me, she’s put me to work (or vice-versa!) We happened to meet in the grocery store quite by chance (after a hiatus of maybe eight or more years) and struck up a conversation. Our kids grew up together — she had four boys, including a set of twins. Now she is a grandmother of ten granddaughters, with her first grandson on the way.

I finally am getting around to cleaning out Carl’s closet, and I was somewhat horrified to find all these party dishes. I had no idea he was hoarding so many boxes, and I’m pretty sure that none of them have been used. In addition to these, I probably have about half again as many stored in the buffet, and of course, many, many sets of formal as well as informal sets of dishes, in addition to at least five complete sets of silverware. And those of you who know me know that I have tablecloths and cloth napkins in all colors of the rainbow.

Meanwhile, I have discovered that I had about forty (40!) purses, about a quarter of them never used, about nine (9!) garbage bags full of bubble wrap, nine suitcases (three of them never used), three backpacks (one never used). I am happy to report that the bubble wrap was recycled and received happily by the UPS store, and the women’s clothes, purses and suitcases were given to the women’s shelter. I am discovering things I never knew I had, but in most cases, it’s “hello and goodbye!”

Last Monday’s concert, “The Court of Weissenfels,” was a grand success, both artistically and in terms of a full, enthusiastic audience. There were many stellar performances by singers Naomi Barrett, Melissa Glenn, Karol Nowicki, and Scott Fikse in addition to violist Alexander Peña and cellist Aris Doike and oboist Sara Ricer. Organist Mark Wong also played a transcription of Handel’s “Teseo” overture.

In my opinion, though, the real star of the show was violinist Darel Stark, who along with cellist, Aris Doike, played so many thirty-second notes in Johann Philipp Krieger’s Sonata in D minor— in fact, someone in the audience started shouting, “Bravo!” before we even began the incredible last movement. I was at the harpsichord for this piece, and as you know “it’s not my instrument!” but I managed. But it was Bach’s famous “Chaconne in D minor” for unaccompanied violin which Darel played from memory and with such bravura that brought the house down.

A fantastic concert on all counts!