I got really excited this morning when I saw this from the Washington Post: Oh, I’m not excited about hearing that there’s a new covid variant called omicron on the horizon, in fact, it was reported that there’s even a case of omicron in Hawaii. What I was excited about was that the White House… Read More Pulling out all the stops!
Last Sunday, I spent the morning at Nuuanu Congregational Church where they honored organist Jieun Kim Newland for her several years of service. It was one of the first services in which the church has resumed in-person services. Everyone had their temperature taken before entering the church and every other pew was blocked off. There… Read More Social distancing
There was a time when the initials WMD meant “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” Those three initials were in the minds of those who lived during the Gulf War with Iraq, March 20, 2003 – December 18, 2011. The United States was at war because officials believed Saddam Hussein was developing Weapons of Mass Destruction or… Read More WMD
The subject of churches reopening and permitting in-person worship services has been all over the news in the last couple of days, and in Hawaii, Mayor Kirk Caldwell has said that May 23rd is the day that services may resume. In-person spiritual services will once again be allowed starting Saturday, as long as worshippers follow… Read More Churches reopening, but …
The term I hear over and over these days is “the new normal.” Just last January I was telling someone how grateful I was that I didn’t have to depend only on Social Security and could still earn money in my retirement by playing the organ for church services, by teaching and by accompanying for… Read More An uncertain future
It was just about a month ago that I dragged out my sewing machine and started making cloth face masks—an activity which has consumed me 10-12 hours a day for the last few weeks. The motivation for sewing masks came from my son and daughter-in-law, who complained that the Los Angeles mayor had mandated the… Read More From Honolulu with love …
In the years that I was in church music, Holy Week was known as Holy Hell Week in our household, in that we had nine choral services to perform in the time between Palm Sunday and Easter Day. None of the services was identical; each had its special chants, hymns, anthems and motets—the choir probably… Read More An Easter weekend like no other
Our local newspaper, the Star-Advertiser, runs a feature photo on Sundays titled “Back in the day.” Last Sunday, when I opened up my paper, I was so surprised to see this! Unfortunately, it’s not only the tradition of theater music that’s dying… it’s organ music in general. There are simply fewer organists to go around… Read More Back in the day
Yes, that was me standing in front of Fabric Mart this morning, waiting outside for almost THREE HOURS to buy fabric to make face masks. It was because Mayor Kirk Caldwell had mandated that Honolulu residents wear face masks when going outside. I also had talked to my daughter-in-law the night before and heard that… Read More Three hours!
Today is April 2nd, and before the coronavirus crisis was upon us, I would have been packing my suitcase and getting ready to get on an airplane to Atlanta, and then to St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. Now, my tour has been rescheduled to 2021, and I’m trying hard not to feel badly about spending… Read More Grounded!