On the way to AAM Atlanta

I finally made it to Atlanta after a redeye flight to Los Angeles, a few days with my son’s family, and then another redeye to Atlanta, where tonight is the opening Vespers service of the Association of Anglican Musicians. The greatest thing about attending conferences like this one is the opportunity to compare notes and check in with colleagues to find out what’s happening in their part of the world. It’s also been a chance to see people I haven’t seen in a long time, as well as to meet for the first time.

I actually arrived on Friday about noon and was met at the airport by my husband’s sister and her husband, Carol and Ted Rodi where we got caught up on family goings-on.

With Carol and Ted Rodi. Carol is my husband Carl’s younger sister.

They drove me to midtown Atlanta where I checked into the Georgian Terrace Hotel. I am sharing a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with my former organ student, Clayton Logue, complete with a kitchen and washer-dryer! Clay used to live in Maui but has now moved to Wisconsin. He was the one who purchased my first pipe organ.

The lobby.

I had dinner with and met (for the first time) Michelle Shaw, who I’ve known for years from my Cada Día Spanish class but never met in person until now. Can you believe it’s been 7 years since I started learning Spanish and joined the Cada Día class!

We ate in a South American restaurant.
Ceviche with mango chunks, shrimp from Argentina.

On Saturday night I went to a performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2, played without intermission, and conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann. The performance was excellent, but I have to admit that at times the sound was massively loud.

This morning, I met my organist friend, Jieun Kim Newland, and we took an Uber to the Church of Our Savior, an Anglo-Catholic parish. Unfortunately, the priest whom Jieun knew, Mother Melanie Rowell was away on vacation.

With Jieun Newland

Lunchtime was spent with Ian McFarland and Ann Lillya, former members of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu whom I saw most recently in Cambridge (2017). After eating a Southern barbecue lunch, they took me to their current church, St. John’s Lutheran Atlanta, formerly a historic mansion. I marveled at the enormous size and elegant furnishings of the building. They even had Petit & Fritsen handbells!