The international as well as the local news is consumed with information about the Maui wildfires where the death toll has risen to 80 and the number of structures destroyed estimated at about 3,000. It’s all a nightmare for the residents of Maui as well as to the entire state of Hawaii. The historic town… Read More Comfort among the ashes
[UPDATE] By now, the whole world has heard about the devastating wildfires on the island of Maui, here in Hawaii, and the horrific fires which have completely flattened the historic town of Lahaina, with 93 persons confirmed dead and nearly 3,000 buildings destroyed. Among those buildings lost was Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, a parish of… Read More RIP Beckerath organ in Maui
I’ve been home for a week now, and fighting jet lag (as always); in fact, it’s 3:44 am and I’ve been awake for an hour. So I thought I may as well do something useful and tell you about something that happened on the way home. We only had one stop in San Francisco between… Read More Is your name Kathy?
Today is the last day of the Three Choirs Festival and we have only scratched the surface on the number of events that are presented. I didn’t want to give you the impression that the only events I wrote about are the only ones that happened — quite to the contrary! I just counted up… Read More Last days in Gloucester
Two Passions have been scheduled for this year’s Three Choirs Festival, Bach’s St. John Passion and the other by the little-known composer, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, called Die leidende und am Creutz sterbende Liebe Jesu. In the morning we attended a most interesting lecture by Dr. Paul Ellison titled “A Passion to Rival Bach’s?” I was… Read More In the presence of greatness
A jewel in the crown. That’s how the organ of All Saints Cheltenham is described in our program, as one of the “jewels in the crown of instruments,” but I believe you could say that about the entire church, which is lavishly decorated in Victorian French Gothic style, and is known as a place where… Read More A jewel in the crown
Today we had not elected to purchase tickets for any concerts during the day so we had free time until 5:30 pm Evensong. As we were riding the bus on the way to Gloucester the other day, a sign caught my eye and I suggested to Bill that we tour Coventry Cathedral, the site of… Read More Excursion to Coventry
As is typical at the Three Choirs Festival, the second day is spent going to a Festival Eucharist, Evensong and a concert. Yesterday’s Eucharist featured the Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor, and I couldn’t help but think that I am so so sorry that my husband, Carl, didn’t live long enough to revel… Read More Hog heaven in Gloucester
Yesterday there was a rail strike which “derailed” our plans for getting from Edinburgh to Gloucester efficiently where the Three Choirs Festival is being held. Instead of a 5-3/4 hour journey we had to endure a 9 hour bus ride. I was trying to determine which was worse, a 9-hour plane ride or a 9-hour… Read More On the way to Gloucester
(Please note that I’m using the British way of naming this place: no period after “St” and no apostrophe in Andrews) On this our last day in Scotland, only a small group of six of us went on the optional excursion to St Andrews, mostly known as a place for golf but also the site… Read More A day at St Andrews