In another move to normalcy, this week I’m hosting Jason Anderson and Sal Salinas as houseguests. You’ll recall that Jason is the second director of the Compline Choir in Seattle, succeeding Peter Hallock in 2009, our former business partner in our music publishing business, Ionian Arts. Jason wrote his doctoral dissertation on “The Life and Works of Peter R. Hallock (b. 1924),” completed in June 2007. Jason also came to Honolulu for my husband Carl’s funeral where he acted as one of the pallbearers. He also vacationed here four years ago but spent part of his time cleaning out my storage unit! I “see” Jason quarterly over Zoom for board of directors meetings of the Hallock Institute.

Jason and Sal are my first houseguests since the pandemic, a whole year ago. Because Jason is also the Organist and Choirmaster of St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church in Issaquah, WA, he and I compared notes on what churches are doing during the pandemic. He solicits individual recordings of his choristers weekly and synthesizes them into a choral recording which is broadcast for the Sunday service, along with his organ music and the hymns. The spoken part of the services are live-streamed while the musical parts are pre-recorded.

On Saturday, we were all invited to the Kailua home of Frank and Sue Haas, at whose home Jason stayed when he came for Carl’s funeral. We were all happy to see one another as this was the first time any of us had visited a friend’s home since the pandemic, and most of us already had our second doses of the vaccine. We did wear masks when we were not eating!

Jason and I posed for this picture at my condo’s recreation area.

This morning Jason and Sal reorganized my storage area by replacing warped and water-logged pressboard shelves with new steel shelving units. As a “thank you,” I took them to Assaggio’s, one of my favorite Italian restaurants. This is the photo I took of them across the table.