While my colleagues at the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM) were meeting this week for their biennual conference in Philadelphia, look what popped up in my Facebook feed!
It was a picture of my husband, Carl, and me with my sister, Doris Au MacDonald and her duet partner, Sharon Dennis (aka The Braeded Chord) at the ALCM conference 10 years ago in Valparaiso, Indiana! Doris and Sharon were at the Philadelphia conference this week where many attendees remembered us. Doris wrote: “There are lots of new people but lots who still know you and Carl.” We had been going to ALCM events since 1987 and while I retain my membership in the organization, it’s been awhile since I’ve attended one of their conferences.
Doris was able to tour the Wanamaker organ in the Macy’s department store where she sent me this picture she took of a young Marcel Dupré, who apparently was part of a small group who were instrumental in designing and enlarging the organ.
And look what Doris did as part of the conference!
In a couple of days, I’ll take an early bird flight to San Francisco, and then to London; spend a night at the airport then head for Glasgow, Scotland, where I will be on tour for the next 9 days with my friend, Bill Potter, from the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. After the tour, we’ll take a train to Gloucester and attend the Three Choirs Festival, which will mark my fifth Festival. We’ll meet up with my friend Joan Ishibashi, who will spend the week with us, then we’ll drive back to London together as Bill and I return to Hawaii.
Speaking of Britain and the UK, Howard Daniel shared the following graphic on Facebook, which I then shared on my feed. It was George Bernard Shaw who famously wrote: The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.
Enjoy!
By the way, in case you’re interested, last Sunday I left Nuuanu Congregational Church with plenty of time to spare and arrived ten minutes early (!) to play the service at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. After the service, I met up with Sachi Hirakouji who is visiting Hawaii for the summer! You may remember her name from our Organists 1-2-3 program, where with Jieun Kim Newland, we played music for one, two, and three pipe organs. What great fun we had!
What an enjoyable read, Enjoy your trip! jb
Randy and I haven’t attended ALCM conferences in awhile either, but we sure remember with deep fondness the ones we attended with you and Carl- especially Honolulu! Have a great time across the pond! Many cheers and blessings to you, with love!
Robin, how nice to hear from you! Instead of going to AGO and ALCM I have been traveling internationally… but I hope to add AGO and ALCM back to my schedule in 2024 and 2025. Hope to see you and Randy again some day.