Just a week or so ago, “upended” was the answer to a crossword puzzle clue. I didnʻt know it at the time, but my life was going to evolve into chaos, and be completely upended. I have been dealing with the problem of termites in my apartment for the last ten years. (Yes, I have… Read More U-p-e-n-d-e-d !
My schedule at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church has changed recently so instead of playing a Sunday High Mass and Sunday afternoon Vespers and Benediction, I now play a Saturday Vigil Mass with Benediction instead of Sunday Vespers. Before the schedule changed in July, Father Paul Lillie suggested that I play the same prelude and postlude… Read More Second chances
I had too much luggage. It was a little unusual, because in the last few years, I traveled with only a carry-on, a backpack and a purse. However, since we were going to be gone over three weeks, I packed a medium-size check-in bag, and a wheeled carry-on. I also had a shoulder bag in… Read More The long trek home
When we went out this morning, Bill reminded me, “It’s cold today. You’ll need your jacket!” and for the rest of the day, we battled downpours, raining cats and dogs, umbrellas turning inside out from the wind, and a sore back (for me) — due to a sudden lurch on the metro yesterday which threw… Read More Paris in the rain
On our bucket list was to attend a mass a the newly-restored Notre Dame, and we decided to go to the 11:30 mass in spite of it being cold and rainy this morning. However we both got up early, bought a day pass for the metro which we loaded on our phones, and walked right… Read More A four church day!
Some of you know that more than five years ago, my daughter-in-law challenged me to learn Spanish. At the time, my grandson was learning to talk, and his first language was definitely Spanish. I went whole hog into learning Spanish, and using Duolingo, a popular learning app, was only a part of the process, which… Read More Adventures in French Land
We are at the Saintes Festival and each day, the festival office sends us a link to a PDF of the program with artist biographies and the order of music. However, what is missing are any texts or translations, so Bill Potter has taken the time to research as many lyrics as possible to compile… Read More A massive wall of sound!
Today the first concert we booked was not until 6:00 pm, so we decided to drive to La Rochelle, a seaport town about an hour away. In case you’re wondering, I am doing all the driving while Bill Potter is doing the navigating. I am absolutely terrible at reading maps so it’s better this way,… Read More A day in La Rochelle
World-class, first-rate, wonderful, excellent, fantastic, amazing … We attended three concerts today, in fact, all five concerts that we have heard so far at the Saintes Festival have been over the top incredible. Unfortunately for us, the Festival actually began on July 12th while we were still on tour in Vienna, so we missed quite… Read More Running out of superlatives …
Our taxi driver was already waiting for us when I came downstairs at 3:20 am and within half an hour, Bill and I were at the Prague Airport with hundreds of other people. Our flight to Amsterdam left on time, but midway through the flight, the crew moved us to the first class seats because… Read More From Bordeaux to Saintes