If you read my last post, (Upended) you know what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks: taping up boxes, packing up glassware and moving just about everything I own into the guest room while my kitchen, office and master bedroom got the heat treatment to kill the termites. I actually finished all the packing in about two weeks and even packed the last box a couple of days early! It took about 75 boxes to crate up most of it.

Here is a gallery of the cabinets I emptied

I hope you’re suitably impressed! That’s a lot of cabinets!

What has been a bigger job, though, was putting it back. I made the decision early on to try to only put HALF of what I owned back, and indeed, I’ve taken 40 that’s right, forty boxes of mostly glassware to my local Goodwill. I mean, who needs 3 punchbowls, 4 ice buckets, 21 cocktail shakers, a dozen saucepans, and 200 wine glasses? Not to mention all the aperitif glasses, old-fashioned glasses, martini glasses, numerous sets of every day dishes. You would have thought this was a full-fledged restaurant! (And it was!)

I finally threw out all the spices that my husband had collected in 60 spice bottles — which had not been opened since he stopped cooking 12 years ago. Here they all are in my sink, awaiting washing before I took them away.

I’ve also taken the opportunity to clean out my closet and my collection of wallets, purses, and suitcases. I’m embarrassed to tell you how many I had of each, and how many had never been opened or used. Or how about those I only used ONCE and never again! I think I had something like 60 purses and 20 wallets!

I also gave away the pans that Carl used to cook escargot in all its garlicky goodness. He introduced me to this French delicacy but I’m afraid I’ll never cook it myself.

And the liquor cabinet had also been untouched in 12 years! It took four cases just to box up all the gin, whiskey, vodka, rum, scotch, etc., and luckily it found a good home.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of Joshua Yuen-Schat, my former organ student who started lessons with me when he was in sixth grade and continued through high school. In addition to Joshua, I also taught organ to his brother, Daniel, and sister, Naomi. I’m happy to report that Joshua still plays and has a church job in Colorado. The wedding was held at the beautiful Koolau Ballroom in Kaneohe, with spectacular views of the Koolau Mountains, and featured Native American music for the entrance and exit processionals—a first for me. I also was impressed that parents of both bride and groom accompanied their respective son and daughter during the entrance.

My former boss, The Rev. David Gierlach, was the officiant. In the photo above, Joshua’s bride, Cassie, is reading the vows she wrote from her cell phone!

Of course, I’ve had musical responsibilities during this time of my apartment upheaval. In the last few weeks in addition to creating the season brochure for Early Music Hawaii, there was a postcard mailing, and update of the website. Speaking of the website, I apologize that our Early Music Hawaii website has been a victim of constant malware attacks, and it was only recovered today.

Here’s what the back of the postcard says: With the shifting tides of Reformation and Counter-
Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries, regional aesthetics mingled to produce music of profound beauty. Journey through two transformative centuries of sacred and secular sounds in the German-speaking world, featuring some of the period’s most notable composers from southern Germany, northern Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Isaac, Lassus and Senfl developed intimate Renaissance polyphony, performed a cappella or with viols. They inspired the richness of the early Baroque in the music of Erbach and Lechner and the more ornate and elaborate works of middle Baroque composers Kerll and Gletle.

In addition to accompanying the choir on several anthems I’ve been working on Johann Pachelbel’s “Prelude in D minor” and Paul Hofhaimer’s “Ave Maris Stella” which dates from the 15th century!

Tomorrow night we’ll resume Thursday night choir rehearsals at St. Mark’s and in case you know of any singers who want to become fabulous sightreaders due to the quantity (and quality!) of choral literature sung, we’re looking for sopranos, especially!