My organ was fixed yesterday by the time I arrived mid-morning. I practiced but not before nailing down a final list of choral pieces to learn and perform between now and Advent II (Dec 6).

Eileen took advantage of the cooler weather and made Sweet and Sour Pickles. We both love these. I regularly buy them at the grocery store. But there’s nothing like home made food. She was surprised to discover that we still had one jar from her canning last year.

You’ll notice the window is closed. It was cool yesterday and is still very cool this morning so we closed the windows.

I gave my student his piano lesson yesterday. I keep trying to disabuse him of his sheepishness about wanting to learn some Liszt. We figured out that he is four years younger than my Mom. Great guy. I stopped at the bank on the way home and cashed the check so Eileen could have cash for the Farmers Market if she goes today.

I am monitoring our bank account online daily. I wonder if I should cease mentioning our money problems since Sarah the daughter confessed that she has been using my Netflix logon and offered to buy her own subscription and share her logon with us. I demurred. Financial stuff between family is not a good idea unless absolutely necessary.

I carefully refrain from talking to Mom about our financial situation. I know she will tell me to take money out of her account to help us, but I’m dead set against doing stuff like that.

Eileen pointed out that she is in her second year of retirement and that we seem to have enough money if we can just manage it properly.

I share this sentiment. I have to force myself to think like a grown up since I think the whole idea of life as an economic venture has more false about it than true. At least for me.

I continue to spend copious amounts of time playing carefully through Schumann. For some reason this really works for me right now.

I finished Chapter Six of Finnegans Wake this morning. This is taking more time since I am reading larger chunks and then cross referring between the text and my resource books. It’s fun. I try to keep up reading books I have checked out of the library. I’m almost done with Hindmarsh’s book on Evangelical Conversion Narratives.

Hindmarsh account of narratives written in the 18th century about people struggling with their faith outside of the Anglican and other liturgical churches is fascinating. I’m toying with doing further reading about this topic. William James has a chapter on conversion in his Varieties of Religious Experience.

I’m also working on Give Us the Ballot by Ari Berman. This work about the recent struggle to make sure black people can vote is riveting. I’m up to the 90s now and still very engaged. I’ve renewed the book once and that’s all one can do at the public library. I’m hoping to finish it so I don’t have to return it and check it out a third time.

I’m also dipping into poetry books I checked out or interlibrary loaned. I’m enjoying Ron Padgett and Cynthia MacDonald’s work. Devin Johnston left me a bit cold, so I’ve stopped reading him. I finished The Lunatic by Charles Simic. It had some good poems in it.

I am also enjoying Essays at Eighty by Donald Hall. I mentioned it to my student, Rudy, yesterday and he was very interested and asked me to email him a link.

Lower Blood Pressure Guidelines Could Be ‘Lifesaving,’ Federal Study Says – NYT

You might’ve seen this news story. I find it tremendously discouraging since I’m trying to keep my own blood pressure below 140/90. It does sometimes fall down into the new low range. This morning it was 127/105 which I think is pretty good but is still above the new guidelines. I don’t know what to make of a high diastolic number like 105. My doctor doesn’t seem too worried about that number.

A Stolen Car Found, With the Help of Cold War Technology – The New York Times

Quick thinking policeman installs a phone app on his phone and finds a stolen car and phone. This article also gives some history of how GPS was developed. Cool beans.

As near as I can tell, my daughter Elizabeth, her husband, Jeremy, and my grand-daughter, Alex, have just arrived in Beijing after a long trip (It’s Friday evening in Beijing). I hope their planes were on time and the trip home wasn’t too grueling. I admire their stamina and appreciate the trouble they take to keep the families connected.

Much to my delight, I discovered the string parts online to the last movement of Bach’s Cantata 142. I counted measures to see how well it fit the anthem I want to have the choir sing on Sept 20th (their first Sunday). It was an exact fit.

I think this unresolved aspect might have been part of the reason I had choir nightmares the night before last.

My violinist was unable to come to our rehearsal yesterday, so Dawn, the cellist, and I went through the music for the 20th.

We decided on two lovely piano trio movements for the prelude and postlude: one by Mozart and one by Haydn. We read through the Haydn in its entirety. They are both pretty doable and shouldn’t require extensive prep.

The missing note on my organ’s pedal board had not been replaced as of yesterday. I hope he gets to it soon. The organ music I scheduled for the weekend needs some rehearsal, but it doesn’t work very well without that note.

I stumbled across a band yesterday. As I sometimes do, I clicked on music that other people are listening to. i can see this list on my Spotify software. A Hope College student who has good taste and is a musician himself was listening to this group.

I was intrigued to see that they not only had done originals, but did a cover of Radiohead (Kid A) and included two classical pieces on their album: Passepied by Debussy and a Scriabin piece.

Later when I was exercising I stopped reading the paper long enough to listen closely to see if they did a straight transcription of Debussy (I was exercising to their music). It’s originally a piano piece and one I like and practice. I was weirdly pleased that they did a straight transcription, albeit loosely and musically played with the melody, counter melodies and accompaniment tossed back and forth  between their different instruments.

See for yourself.

Thinking about anger and distortion on Facebooger, here’s my quote for today.

“The ability to analyze others’ arguments can also serve as a yardstick for when to withdraw from discussion that will most likely be futile.”

Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments,
p. 4,

I have pretty much decided not to argue with angry people on Facebooger but at the same time not to let their misinformation and hate go completely unchallenged. Tricky balance.

I have spent quite a bit of time with Finnegans Wake the last couple of mornings. Most of this time I am reading Joyce’s text aloud. This helps. Plus I seem  to be getting the hang of it a bit. I know I miss a lot of subtle allusions. But I’m not sure they are that integral to the story. It’s like reading something and not looking up every word you don’t recognize. You can get a lot of obscure gist this way.

Anyway, then I skipped the rest of my morning (Greek, poetry, theology) and decided that since Eileen purchased a bunch of lovely veggies at the Farmers Market yesterday, I would do some cooking.

First I pick the music.

This morning it was Ligeti.

I think he was on my mind since I mentioned him to Julie the ballet teacher. I had a ready made playlist on Spotify. So I put it on and set to work.

The first thing I wanted to make was a quiche.

This involved setting out all the veggies and cheese and yogurt I wanted to use. Then making a crust from scratch. Then I lightly browned mushrooms, onions, garlic, pepper, summer squash and broccoli. Combined everything and put it in the oven.

Here’s how it came out (just like a cooking show, eh):

Then I poked around until I found a quick bread that used the same temp as the quiche: Herb and Garlic Olive Oil Scones.

We are on an austerity budget right now, checking our account daily online. We lived over our means during the summer and are now literally paying for it. Part of the problem is the high deductible our health insurance. My eye doctor bill came back to be paid in full as did labs and my semiannual check up.

It all means Eileen and I are learning to live within our means. Our lives are good we know: food, a place to sleep, a good companion, alcohol and music to play, books to read and access to the internet.

I’m pretty sure we can afford to live on less and keep doing most of this, but it will require more vigilance.

Cooking at home is usually cheaper than convenience food, definitely cheaper than eating out and usually better in both cases.

I have been spending a weird amount of time with Robert Schumann’s piano music. I own the three volumes of the Dover edition which were edited by his wife and Brahms. Like Mendelssohn I find him a bit more fun to play than listen to. But of course his composing is impeccable. And like Brahms, he is harder than Mendelssohn. This week I read all the way through Papillons (accurately as possible if under tempo). Now I’m working my way through the next opus in my book: Studien nach Capricen von Paganini, Op. 3. It’s quite good and not just a bunch of flash as I always thought it was.

Last night I had nightmares about choir rehearsal. This is not good. The usual herding of cats that it can be in real life was exaggerated into a farce of dream with an Alice in Wonderland flavor: trying to get people’s attention, getting them in the same room at the same time in the right sections, somehow contriving to assemble the piano in order to accompany and other fun stuff. Most of the people were people I didn’t recognize. Ay yi yi. I hope I can survive this year.

The Spirit and Promise of Detroit – The New York Times

Detroit was very good to me. I sometimes say that we got out just in time. But I’m ashamed that I say that because there were so many good things that happened there for me: schooling, performing, going to museums and book stores.

Stonehenge researchers ‘may have found largest Neolithic site’ – BBC News

I know this story is being covered by lots of news sources, but I still think it’s cool. Especially the idea that they don’t have to dig but can do the excavation using “remote sensing and geophysical imaging technology.”

Achingly unacceptable: the bad language that bugs me | Jeremy Butterfield | 

Bookmarked to read.

As I age, I find it harder and harder to let go of things that upset me. There was an anti-Obama/anti-woman meme posted on Facebooger yesterday by a family member. I attempted to engage him privately about the double offensiveness of this meme, but he responded with anger and further derision.

I find myself wondering where all the hate comes from. I continue to believe that people make sense to themselves. But the hate is still upsetting. Then I have difficulty not thinking about it. Good grief.

It could be that Facebooger amplifies the emotions and fools people into thinking that hate is harmless or shared by many. 

Anyway, it’s the next day and I’m still thinking about it. It reminds me of similar anger I have experienced first hand from radicals. I can remember one in particular who was very angry at me for not hating the “pigs.” He told me after I had been struck by a policeman I would change my mind.

I hope that’s not the case. At any rate, I haven’t been struck by a policeman yet.

I can remember driving a friend home from a high school ball game (what in the world were we doing there? Did I play in the marching band that night?). As I turned on to the main highway and past the policeman directing traffic, my friend leaned out the window, gave the policeman the finger and said, “Right there, pig!”

All of these people. my family member and friends from the past, seem very unhappy. It would be easy to do some armchair psychology on them and think they were generalizing their unhappiness on to the objects of their hatred. And it’s probably partly that.

But in truth, I don’t understand it. And I watch myself vigilantly and try to stop my self from stupid anger and incoherent reasoning. Not that I succeed all the time. 

The Anti-Party Men: Trump, Carson, Sanders and Corbyn – The New York Time

Brooks often leaves me in the dust with his conservative perspective. However there are some insights in this article that I find helpful and even pertinent to what I’m thinking about this morning: trying to understand the anger and confusion.

“These sudden stars are not really about governing. They are tools for their supporters’ self-expression. They allow supporters to make a statement, demand respect or express anger or resentment.”

“…in the ethos of expressive individualism, individual authenticity is the supreme value. Compromise and coalition-building is regarded as a dirty and tainted activity. People congregate in segregated cultural and ideological bubbles and convince themselves that the purest example of their type could actually win.

I also like this online comment:

“Our ancestors worked for centuries to build a society; in a few decades, we tore it down and put up an economy. They were citizens; we are just consumers.” Matthew Hughes commenting on Brooks article

I agree with many of the online commenters that including Sanders in his list is an obvious attempt to undermine an experienced and idealistic statesman.

Chosen by Mississippi Democrats, Shy Trucker Is at a Crossroad – The New York

Then there’s this guy. He apparently won the nomination in the primary by being first on the ballot and not a woman (see my comments about being anti-women above). He told no one he was running much less sought visibility. Wow.

It’s not Jupe in the doldrums, but Mrs. Jupe. After leaving my Mom yesterday, she said to me to tell Eileen to get out of the “doldrums.” (In the words of my son, “She (my  Mom, Mary) is an educated woman.”)

I replied I would do so, but didn’t think it would do any good.

Yesterday was a very hot humid day. Eileen did finish a project she is working on for her Mom’s birthday. But most of the day she was obviously in a glum non productive mood. She wants to make pickles and bought some cukes to do that on Saturday. But it’s just too dam hot to can, I think.

I had my first Monday of Ballet classes. By the end of the day I was thinking that I might be able to handle my schedule okay this fall. I wasn’t too exhausted the way I have been on Mondays last Spring.

Julie the ballet teacher is looking for choral music to do her choreography for the annual dance recital at Hope (Dance 42?).

I found it a fun task to come home and email her some links. Stuff like Meredith Monk,

Steve Reich,

Roomful of Teeth.

She said maybe she shouldn’t wait until some music inspires her. I told her to wait. I would find some.

I also managed several hours of prep for planning for choosing choral music between now and Advent II. I found some lovely new stuff as well some ideas for repeats and using our library. Today I plan to spend some time at church with this info and make steps towards final decisions. Our first rehearsal is a week from Wednesday and I want to be prepared for it.

I’m not trying for the entire season of anthems just through Advent I at this point.

The organ music I have chosen for this Sunday is a set of variations by Sue Mitchell-Wallace on Earth and All Stars.

I met her years ago at some workshop. She is goofy and seemed very interested in silly stuff like astrology if I remember correctly. But she is a fine musician and a good composer.’

Unfortunately Earth and All Stars (both the hymn and Mitchell-Wallace’s variations) is in the key of Ab. So there are a lot of Abs in the pedal. I can’t practice until the note is prepared this week sometime. I’m just putting off all rehearsal of this set of variations until the organ is repaired or I have to regroup for Sunday.

I’m using a few variations for the prelude and a few more for the Postlude.

So, Rhonda, I guess this shop talk is probably more pointed at you and readers like you than blood relatives, eh?

I have finally settled on a good routine of how to use McHugh’s Annotations to Finnegans Wake. I have returned to beginning with Joyce’s text. That’s really where the beauty, humor, and narrative is.

I find that if I read the sections in McHugh and Campbell’s Skeleton Key after reading the day’s reading that I recognize enough to make them useful but not obstructive. McHugh in particular has a bunch of info I don’t find that interesting or helpful. I’m sure it’s accurate and probably important to a scholarly understanding of Finnegan Wake. But I’m a common reader not a scholar when it comes to most fiction.

I was tickled that neither McHugh or Campbell mentions a reference I caught:

In Chapter 6 which is a book of questions or riddles, the sixth question reads: “What means the saloon slogan Summon in the Houseweep Dinah?” American stuff is pretty important to the story Joyce is telling. I think he was referring to “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah….” from the song “Oh Susanna.”

I know McHugh is very scrupulous about citing notations that can be traced to Joyce’s 60 notebooks. Maybe he didn’t write that in them.

Eileen pointed at my head yesterday and said there must be a lot going on in there for you to blog every day.

understanding today’s complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head.

Firesign Theater, I think we’re all bozos on this bus

Hope College always has classes on Labor Day.

It’s probably not a conservative notion that unions are unhelpful.

More likely is the idea that they start classes on Sept 1 and it’s too soon to give time off. But I don’t know for sure.

What I do know is that I have classes to accompany today.

So we’ll see how that works.

Since I complained yesterday about being ignored I should report today that I had many compliments at yesterday’s Eucharist. After I finished the prelude of improvising on themes from my Mass we were to begin using, one parishioner murmured a compliment. After the postlude, there was scattered applause (not usual, but not that unusual an occurrence). One of the applauders called out that he was applauding also for my improvised accompaniment on the closing hymn, “There’s a Sweet Sweet Spirit.”

Another parishioner told me that he thought my playing on this hymn was fun. Later a snowbird lady who always compliments me was emotional about the fact that she would be missing my weekly music after she goes to Florida this year.

So you can see I am definitely appreciated at work and not just by the boss.

Eileen smiled recently when I was talking to her about the mystifying behavior of people I know towards me. “I have trouble not thinking of myself as the center of their universe,” I quipped. It’s good to know I bring some sunshine in Eileen’s life.

I found it difficult to use my tablet for picking out choral anthems at work. I need to access multiple windows when I do this and the table is cumbersome in this regard.

I have figured out that this morning I could do a little poking around using this laptop and make a list of stuff to find in the choir choral library.

This seems like a reasonable task before class.

It does feel like a luxury not to have to get up and do an 8:30 AM class on Monday. I would already be at work right now if that were the case. Instead I have time to be a little lazy and also maybe look at choral music for the fall season.

Awash in Data, Thirsting for Truth – The New York Times

I read and linked here both of the stories discussed in this article (The Amazon workers and “the Creative Apocalypse that wasn’t” article about making money with art in a digital environment). I don’t think many readers read the Public Editor’s column (judging from the small amount of online comments – 10 of them), but I enjoy this kind of take on reporting.

Rhoda Lerman, Writer Who Defied Labels, Dies at 79 – The New York Times

Another interesting writer I never heard of dies.

Key Igor Stravinsky work found after 100 years | Music | The Guardia

Facebooger provided me with this timely link. It’s a piece he wrote for the funeral of his teacher, Rimsky Korsakov and lost (and couldn’t remember). After reading this I immediately played through the beginning of the piano transcription of Scheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov.

Thunderbitch — Thunderbitch

You can stream Alabama Shakes, lead singer and guitarist, Britany Howard’s new spin off album. Beware, it’s rock and roll and rough. I of course like it.

At the funeral yesterday, the mourners were loud. And there were a lot of them. When people are making a lot of noise in church and I’m supposed to be playing the prelude, I have a tendency to just a play little softer and withdraw into the music. It’s not a bad place to be.

Yesterday it was Mozart. Before the service I managed to come up with a few anthems for the upcoming season. I have a cool idea to start with an adaptation the last movement of Bach’s Cantata 142. I found it in the files. It was done in 1950 by Russell Hancock Miler (whoever he was). It’s in English and Mr. Miler footnotes that although “originally written for Christmas… [it’s] suitable for Thanksgiving or any other festive occasion.”

Bach’s Cantata 142 is old friend of mine. It was the first Bach cantata I ever conducted in public years ago at my little Episcopal church in Holland. I have fond memories of my brother singing one of the solos, the priest’s wife singing another and the priest himself ably playing first violin in the little orchestra. Another priest from Tawas was an accomplished french horn player and i adapted an orchestra part for him. That was fun.

I emailed Amy, the violinist in my trio, and asked her if she is free on Sept  20, our first scheduled choir Sunday. If she can do it, I will ask Dawn my cellist to play cello and I will probably conduct from the piano since that way the choir can sing into the room.

The choral parts should present little challenge for my choir even though we will only have one real rehearsal.

If Amy can’t do it, I will probably not do it. I have another anthem in mind based on “How Can I Keep From Singing?” which should fall together easily with one rehearsal. I may call Amy today or tomorrow if she doesn’t respond to my email.

My blog post hits are back down in the 40s where they usually hover. It’s a bit inexplicable to me why they peaked recently.

After sitting and playing Mozart while people ignored me, it’s kind of odd to me that this blog would attract anyone but blood relatives who like to keep up with me.

I spent some time with Mendelssohn and Beethoven on the piano yesterday. Just for fun. This morning I played some more Mendelssohn and Brahms. I read recently in the NYT that a pianist performed Liszt’s transcription of Beethoven’s 5th symphony in a concert. That’s cool. It inspired me to look a bit at the Pastorale symphony yesterday in Liszt’s version. I continue to wonder how many people (besides academics) listen to this music these days.

I have been using Songza and finding it quite good. I’m thinking of trimming a bunch of our expenses like Spotify. We need to spend a bit less money. I think I could do without Spotify if I continue to find Songza so good.

Well, enough. I have to get ready for church

Salman Rushdie on His New Novel, With a Character Who Floats Just Above Grou

An interview. His new novel sounds like fun.

The Truth of ‘Black Lives Matter’ – The New York Times

Admittedly this is an ongoing discussion of SLOGANS not issues. However, many people who are against this slogan seem to be consciously or unconsciously celebrating white supremacy. Jes sayin

I’m still giving myself a little time off. I find my brain is tired as well as my body. I’m not quite ready to bear down and pick out choral anthems for the choir to learn and do at Eucharist. It will come.

I’m finding myself overwhelmed with my own ignorance in a general way. Looking at William James and Isaac Newton and other stuff I realize there is so much to learn and know about. I heard a person say once that one lifetime is not enough, so there was no reason to really try. I always thought that a bit odd. My own preference is to do what I can with the brains and time I have left.

Yesterday afternoon this meant sitting at the organ and seeing how everything would go missing a low Ab/G# in the pedal. It wasn’t hard but it felt a bit like having a tooth missing.

I will transpose a few things for today’s funeral.

In my dream last night, right after my congregation sang my Gloria there were murmurs about it. One choir member sitting in the congregation wanted to talk to me about it. I told him we could discuss it later. I tell myself I don’t care if my congregation sings my setting or not, but apparently it’s on my mind since I’m dreaming about it.

For some reason after practicing upcoming stuff, I got caught up in Bach’s little Neumeister collection of chorale preludes for organ discovered some years back. They are a product of the youthful Bach. There are no pieces that jump out as wonderful, but still they are good to play. I played through the first ten of them yesterday in Joy’s old copy noticing that she had learned (or at least marked up) a couple of them.

I say they were discovered some years back, but they actually came to light a couple of years before I moved here in 1987.

Yesterday I was updating my Goodreads currently reading page. When I searched for A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake, the book I am using to help me read this difficult work, I discovered that it has a new improved edition. Reading through some of the comments I also discovered there is a much more detailed study guide available called Annotations to Finnegans Wake by Roland McHugh.

After visiting Mom yesterday Eileen and I came home and she went immediately to work at her loom. I decided to go the college library and check out McHugh commentary. I did this. I looked for the updated Skeleton Key but Hope buy valium japan didn’t own it.

This morning I tried to use the McHugh a bit with the section of Finnegans Wake  I am currently reading. I find it a bit frustrating that my copy isn’t the exact pagination of both the McHugh and Skeleton Key. But it’s not that hard to find the corresponding passages between the book and the reference books.

McHugh makes clear that his book and the Skeleton key proceed in the order of the book as opposed to so many studies that are arranged alphabetically.

I have been feeling more and more confident in my ability to read Finnegans Wake.

Reference books are useful, but the fun and the beauty is in reading Joyce’s prickly prose aloud. The reference books have helped me in that they often confirm my own understandings. Sometimes I have to wonder if they miss the point or if I see something different in the book. But that’s the fun part.

This morning I tried to use the McHugh in the way it is designed. One is supposed to lay the reference book next to Joyce’s book and glance back and forth. I found this very slow and cumbersome this morning. Also, although there is a wealth of detailed information in McHugh it hasn’t struck me as any more helpful than Campbell’s bird’s eye view.

In fact using them both is probably the ticket.

I continue to read Donald Hall’s delightful essays.

I like his take on “sharing.”

After a poet friend performed in Mississippi one winter, a man handed her a heavy box of typewriter paper, saying, ‘I want to share my poems with you.’ When she glanced through ‘Verses of a Sergeant Major, Ret.’ she found it unreadable. Telling me about it, she asserted that ‘share’ has become a verb of assault disguised as magnanimity. ‘Unless you read my poems, I will gouge your eyes out.’

This seems applicable to the Facebook use of the word, eh?

And then there’s this.

Interviewing T. S. Eliot, I saved my cheekiest question for last. ‘Do you know you’re any good?’ His revised and printed response was formal, but in person he was abrupt: ‘Heavens no! Do you? Nobody intelligent knows if he’s any good.’

All these are from the ebook of Hall’s Essays After Eighty.

Preparing for a Military Parade, China Deploys a Troop of Monkeys – NYT

This struck me as bizarre. Yesterday in the NYT there was an article about the returning pollution in Beijing which had been temporarily interrupted for the big parade presumably by the shutting down of factories.

Weird. The last couple of days Google Analytics shows that I have had record numbers of hits: Wednesday I had 75 hits, Thursday, 85. Oh the heady winds of popularity!

Yesterday after practicing with my cellist for a while (the violinist begged off), I began practicing organ. When I reached for a low A flat on the pedal board, it clicked in a funny way and refused to come back up. The note also continued to sound. Uh ho.

I phoned the repairman. He told me he was out of town until next Tuesday. He could contact someone else to come fix it, but suggested I disable it until he could come.

He said if I had a screw driver, I could remove the note. I did have a screw driver and following his instructions took the note off the pedal board. As you can see above, the metal spring had snapped.

Below you can clearly see where the spring was attached.

I put these pics up on the Grace Music Ministry page on Facebooger. I felt pretty proud of myself for disabling this note and felt like that was enough organ stuff for Thursday. Today I will go through all the organ music for Sunday and see if I need to adapt anything to make it work. Fortunately, I am improvising on themes on the piano from the Jenkins Jazz Mass as my prelude in order to remind people of the melodies, since we begin using it this Sunday.

Eileen seemed to be in a bit better mood yesterday. For the past couple of days I have been making sure to include music that might cheer her up in my listening. I like it when she hums along.

Elizabeth put a Songza playlist on during Alex’s Michigan birthday celebration. I was intrigued and installed the app on my tablet and tried it out.

Songza – Listen to Music Curated by Music Experts

The doo wop list under Decades/1950 seemed to have a lot of songs I would normally put on a playlist considering Eileen’s tastes as well as mine.

The “Music for a small room” under Classical is a list that includes chamber music. I enjoyed their selections which began with a late Beethoven String Quartet.

I mentioned Songza and specifically this list to my cellist yesterday.

I think it’s better than Pandora because you don’t have to keep fiddling with it. It can be easier than Spotify to just put on and listen.

I found the “Today’s R&B Hits” under “Today’s Biggest Hits” played most of the tunes I culled from Spotify’s top 50 lists. Maybe I’m a fan today’s R&B, eh?

On vital reserves : the energies of men ; the gospel of relaxation; by William James … – Full View 

I was reading through the first few pages of Harold Bloom’s The Daemon Knows: Literary Greatness and the American Sublime this morning. He has chosen 12 American writers as typifying NOT a canon but examples of a specific American reaching beyond the human to something higher.

In the course of his discussion he mentions that William James has defined “daemon” in his essay, “On Vital Reserves.” I pulled it offline and read several pages of it. No “daemon” yet.

William James (James, William, 1842-1910) | The Online Books Page

I found this cool page this morning. How about that?

Review: ‘Thunderbitch’ Features Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes – NYT

Looking forward to hearing this solo album of a musician I admire.

It’s not on Spotify yet, but I bet I can find something online.

Review: ‘Lightless,’ About the Bratty Machine on a Spaceflight – The New York Times

First novels interest me. This is about a emerging consciousness of a Hall-like computer  and the engineer that loves her.

I’ll have to run a copy down after I finish a few of the books I’m reading now.

Just a Book? No, More Like a Trusty Companion – The New York Times

This review sold me on this book. I don’t own it, but I will soon.

An Ancient Fish Is Running Out of Time – The New York Times

Sturgeon have always fascinated me. I guess there are fewer than 200 of the pallid sturgeons left. Time to build a dam in their way, I guess.

This morning feels like the day after the weekend. I find myself thinking today is Monday instead of Thursday. This is pretty logical since I had a very full day yesterday.

The reason my dance teacher assigned two musicians to the early class was that one of them was a pianist (me) and one a drummer, Mike Van Lente.  Mike and I often pass in the halls of the Dance department. He is a good guy and a talented musician. It was fun to work with a drummer for a combined Modern Dance class.

There were even a couple of dances without a steady beat. Mike and I improvised abstract sounds to fit descriptions like “jagged edges” and “stuff with holes between.” Cool.

When I have a staff meeting and a meeting with my boss scheduled in between my dance classes this semester I will need to remember to pack a lunch. I think I was anticipating that my boss was going to treat us to something to eat during our staff meeting. Instead I think we were asked to bring our lunch. The boss was the only one eating during this meeting. She offerred the rest of us some of her crackers and granola bars.

When I got home from my last class, Eileen was weepy. That’s how she described it. She was missing her kids and wishing she had had a bit more time with the Chinese branch of the family. She pointed out how they had to travel several of the few days they were here. I think it was hard for her to see people leave.

I think it was Monday when I was playing piano that I pointed out to Sarah and Matthew that I was practicing a piece I had written for Marimba and Organ and then transcribed for the piano. After I finished playing it, I turned around and Sarah was weeping. Yikes. Eileen, Matthew and I were affected by Sarah’s weeping and pretty soon I think we all were crying. I know I was. Good grief.

After Eileen had something to eat we went over to see Mom. We came home and I exercised then made Eileen an esspresso Martini using some of the booze Sarah left.

I had the last of my gin in a martini and sat next to her.

Why Public Libraries Matter | The Nation

This would have been a good link for yesterday’s blog.

Murder Rates Rising Sharply in Many U.S. Cities – The New York Times

They don’t seem to be sure why this is the case. Some of it is young men with guns willing to solve trivial disputes with them.

Psychology Is Not in Crisis – The New York Times

Interesting reader comments on this article. After reading the article and many of them (the comments) it’s clear to me that scientific thought is an ongoing discussion that is not often understood by the larger public.

Sarah and Matthew are on the morning train to Chicago. They will spend the day there and then hop a plane for England. They are exhausted. I hope their trip home is ok for them. It was fun having everyone around. I am blessed that my daughters’ significant others are people I find fun and interesting to talk to. I hope I managed not to be too obnoxious in my enthusiasm in return. Families are fun.

Today I return to my duties as a ballet accompanist. Two classes and a staff meeting seem doable. I am a bit tired but feel up to it. I tried to rest some yesterday and I did get my exercise in.

I read a couple of essays by Donald Hall yesterday in his book, Essays After Eighty.

In the first one, “Out the Window,” he recounts an incident to illustrate how condescending people can be to the elderly.

When kindness to the old is condescending, it is aware of itself as benignity while it asserts its power. Sometimes the reaction to the elderly becomes farce. I go to Washington to receive the National Medal of Arts and arrive two days early to look at paintings. At the National Gallery of Art, Linda pushes me in a wheelchair from painting to painting. We stop by a Henry Moore carving. A museum guard, a man in his sixties with a small pepper-and-salt mustache, approaches us and helpfully tells us the name of the sculptor. I wrote a book about Moore and knew him well.

Linda and I separately think of mentioning my connection but instantly suppress the notion—egotistic, and maybe embarrassing to the guard. A couple of hours later, we emerge from the cafeteria and see the same man, who asks Linda if she enjoyed her lunch. Then he bends over to address me, wags his finger, smiles a grotesque smile, and raises his voice to ask, “Did we have a nice din-din?”

from “Out of the Window” in Essays After Eighty by Donald Hall

in the next essay, the title essay of the book, Hall thanks the guard for helping him finish the essay, “Out of the Window.” He is a manic rewriter and felt that this essay as he was working on it failed to “marry heaven and hell,” failed his own notion that “Contradiction is the cellular structure of life.” The essay was incomplete because it “required contrast, required something nasty or ridiculous.”

“Happily I found it” he writes, “When ‘Out the Window’ appeared in print a hundred letters arrived. Terry Gross interviewed me for Fresh Air. Almost everyone paid as much attention to a goon’s baby talk as to the landscape. I thank a museum guard at the National Gallery.”

While I was out yesterday by myself, I stopped by the library to browse. I seem to be returning to this activity after abandoning it for a few years due to the extreme ease with which I can find books online.

I had in mind finding a copy of Newton’s Principia.  It was mentioned in this little essay I linked to yesterday.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Lists 8 (Free) Books Every Intelligent Person Should Read 

deGrasse recommends reading Newton’s System of the World not his entire Principia. I found a beautiful U of California Press edition of both bound together.

It put me in the mood to browse more. So I began poking around. A newer book with a nearby call number to the Newton was The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures by Malba Tahan.

Originally written in Portuguese and published in 1949, it’s a sort of mathematical Arabian Nights. I thought it looked interesting. I mentioned it to Eileen as well since she’s a math lady.

I picked up some other books just to browse through at home.

I think I may have thumbed through the Harold Bloom title before. Then I looked at new poetry books.

I have already read several of these poems. I like Simic. I own one volume of his poetry, A Wedding in Hell.

I thought I recognized the poet, Devin Johnston who wrote the above volume, Far-Fetched. I was thinking of another poet.

I recognize Padgett but don’t seem to own anything by him.

I have been going to libraries and picking out new books of poetry to read since the late sixties. I open a book and read a few lines. If they grab me, I check the book out for further reading.

That’s what I did yesterday.

Thank goodness for libraries.

Elizabeth, Jeremy and Alex are once more in the air as I write on their way to the Daum branch of the family. Jeremy estimated that they saw 17 family members while they were here (with one “walk in” being Barb Phillips).

They looked in good spirits (Alex included) as we dropped them off at the airport a while ago. It’s a bittersweet feeling to see them go, but also it’s good that they are making the rounds of all the family.

Eileen got up and went with us. Sarah and Matthew got up bleary eyed to say good-bye.

After I got home, Eileen and I had breakfast. Then I sent off my weekly email of upcoming bulletin information for the church.

Tomorrow Matthew and Sarah get on a train for Chicago for the first leg of their journey back to the UK.

They cleared out their belongings from their rental before leaving and are returning homeless. They will be staying with family there for a while. They don’t look like they are looking forward to that much.

Yesterday we all went and saw Mary then went to the beach. This turned out to be a surprisingly good idea. Alex saw and touched her first sand and had her toes dipped into Lake Michigan.

I have today largely off, but tomorrow I begin my accompaniment for ballet classes. Weirdly the teachers want both pianists to show up for the first combined class. I emailed them that I was willing to cede this hour to the other pianist but would come. It’s weird because they don’t need two people at the piano. I have the uneasy feeling that they missed us and would like to see us. At any rate I have it on my to do list for the day.

We also have a staff meeting tomorrow. This occurs in the hole in my schedule between my 11 AM class and my 2 PM class. I am feeling very positive and rested about entering into my fall schedule. I’m probably going to stop picking hymns (I’m up to Holy Week 2016) and start picking choral anthems very soon.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about thinking.

Logical thinking takes effort and life long learning.

At least it has for me so far. Speaking of a long life, I bought today’s Kindle Daily Deal of his book, Essays after Eighty.

Essays After Eighty – Kindle edition by Donald Hall. Literature & Fiction Kindle 

I just counted my books on my shelf by Hall and came up with 12 of them. This surprises me because I mostly think of him as the author of the poem, “Kicking the leaves.” He also edited Contemporary American Poetry.

I have two copies of this sitting on the shelf. They appear to be first and second editions of the anthology.

Oliver Sacks, Neurologist Who Wrote About the Brain’s Quirks, Dies at 82 – The New York Times

And then there’s this guy who also made it to eighty. Quote for the day:

I think Mozart made me a better neurologist.

Oliver Sacks

Neil deGrasse Tyson Lists 8 (Free) Books Every Intelligent Person Should Read |

And speaking of thinking about thinking, I like this list. I have read some but not all of these titles. Clear thinking is a craft to me as well as a joy. These are the kinds of books and ideas that help me.

Elizabeth, Jeremy and Alex drove down to Indiana to see Jeremy’s Dad and his significant other. They seem to have had a nice visit. It went a bit longer than they anticipated. I was long in bed before they got home.

I had a fun chat with Matthew yesterday afternoon while Eileen and Sarah went out shopping. We have had one discussion about chords and how they work. I told him I had one more little session in mind. He said he was too tired to do it and then asked me what it would involve. I told him that if I told him we would be doing the session.

In the first session I introduced him to the concept of major, minor, diminished and augmented triads. Matthew is writing music using chords and melodies all of it vocal. The second session I introduced him to the concept of chord inversions and that all harmony is essentially tertain (composed of thirds).

No time to blog now. People are in the house!

Stephen King: Can a Novelist Be Too Productive? – The New York Times

I do like Stephen King sometimes.

Once a Pariah, Now a Judge: The Early Transgender Journey of Phyllis Frye – 

Very early transgender experience.

We had a bit of a family day yesterday. First I sneaked off to church to practice and prepare for this morning with the understanding that Eileen would call me when we were ready to depart. I dropped a book off at the library. It occurred to me to stop by and say hi to Mom but I didn’t really have the time.  I had rehearsed the prelude and postlude and was working on today’s psalm when Eileen called.

I drove to Gregory Michigan where my brother lives with Sarah and Matthew. I had a nice chat with Sarah on the way over. She arranged us in our two cars I think. It was fun being with everyone. I also sneaked up stairs and looked at my brother’s poetry books which he has recently arranged by author.

We all went out to eat. Jeremy and Elizabeth treated us which was nice since we are low in funds. They and Sarah and Matthew paid for gas for the trip as well. Sarah and Matthew wanted to stay a bit longer so we left them the Mini and I drove the rest of the crew back to Holland. Eileen could not find her keys before we left and was very frustrated at herself. After the long trip home, she discovered them in her purse. Happy ending.

I dragged my little book of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations along with me on this trip but didn’t get a chance to look at it of course. This morning after Greek and Finnegans Wake I read the introduction to my copy of the Meditations by W. H. D. Rouse.

He continually compares Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius’s take on it and Christianity. He even goes so far as to compare the Meditations to Thomas A Kempis’s Imitation of Christ
which is a bit odd.

I think I am rereading Aurelius, at least the first pages, because I have two references in the back of the book to passages I wanted to return.

The first one concerns reading.

Marcus Aurelius indicates that to Rusticus he owes the notion that it is important to “read with diligence; [to] not rest satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge…” p. 3

Even now when I reread this passage I see myself in the phrase “light and superficial knowledge.” Was I inspired by this passage to better and deeper reading in my middle and old ages? Who knows?

Then there is paragraph  XV.

In the country of the Quadi at Granua, these. Betimes in the morning say to thyself, This day I shalt have to do with an idle curious man, with an unthankful man, a railer, a crafty, false, or an envious man; an unsociable uncharitable man. All these ill qualities have happened unto them, through ignorance of that which is truly good and truly bad. But I that understand the nature of that which is good, that it only is to be desired, and of that which is bad, that it only is truly odious and shameful: who know moreover, that this transgressor, whosoever he be, is my kinsman, not by the same blood and seed, but by participation of the same reason, and of the same divine particle; How can I either be hurt by any of those, since it is not in their power to make me incur anything that is truly reproachful? or angry, and ill affected towards him, who by nature is so near unto me? for we are all born to be fellow-workers, as the feet, the hands, and the eyelids; as the rows of the upper and under teeth: for such therefore to be in opposition, is against nature; and what is it to chafe at, and to be averse from, but to be in opposition?

It is wonderful to read these words and think about public discourse (and of course Facebooger). Time to get ready for church.

I’m looking at another full day today. It’s great having everyone around, but we are all sharing this computer as well as trying to get other activities in. So I thought I would disrupt my morning routine and start with blogging instead of reading and Greek.

I don’t have that much to blog about this morning. I’m surprised I continue to get hits on the blog when so many of the people that I think might read this are in the house. I know Sarah said she checked my blog one morning before she came down from her room.

This morning I did some email and checked our accounts. I canceled my Washington Post subscription since it suddenly reupped me and took $99 out of my account this morning. We are discovering the limits of our income and that $99 would have been handy to have in the account this week. Their web site assured me that my subscription is now canceled as of next year (8/28/2016). Sheesh.

I did get some organ practice in yesterday and gave my weekly piano lesson. I think I fell off Eileen’s radar. She called me and told me she and the kids were having lunch down town and that the baby needed diapers. I told her I had about twenty minutes to get home from church, grab some lunch and take off to drive to my piano lesson. She had forgotten about that.

I beat them all home. I called Eileen and asked if any of them wanted to go with me on my daily trip to see Mary. It turns out they mostly did so that’s what we finally did around 4 PM.

Alex of course was tired as was everyone else I think. I know I was. Mom seemed a bit more subdued but happy to see us all especially Alex.

Well, no one is stirring yet so I think I’m going to quit and do some reading and Greek until people get up.

Today we are planning a trip to the Ann Arbor area to see as many of the Jenkinses who are around. I’m hoping to get to church to do some practicing and get my daily Mary visit in as well as possible hit the Farmers Market. Another full day.

Alex has decided that since I do music I might not be too scary.

I*m trying to blog from my tablet so that our laptop is free for others to use.

I made pesto and marinara sauce before the crew returned from Whitehall. And then I got 10 minutes on the treadmill. They returned in the mood for Mexican food so we went out to eat at La Rancho.

Sarah and Matthew dropped by on my piano trio rehearsal. I just managed to steal this photo from Facebook and upload it here from my tablet.

Well, this is cumbersome so I’m quitting.

But now it’s later in the day and I’m just home from giving my piano lesson. Not sure where everybody is. I called Eileen and she and Alex and Elizabeth and Jeremy are sitting on the lawn at Dimnent. Not sure if Sarah and Matthew are with them or not.

I think I’ll bring this to a close with some links I have either read or plan to read.

Amazon.com: The Three-Body Problem (9780765377067): Cixin Liu, Ken Liu

Jeremy Daum is reading this. Apparently the author is the first Chinese person to win a Hugo award as well as other awards. Bookmarked to check out.

Anti-Science Trolls are Starting Edit Wars on Wikipedia [Updated]

Will read this at some point.

Review: Aimard Plays George Benjamin’s ‘Shadowlines,’ Uniting Prelude and Canon

interesting review. Composer to check out.

When I got home from practicing yesterday, Jeremy and Alex were sitting in the living room. I had not greeted them yet. In my enthusiasm to hug my son-in-law, I rushed up to him.

He, in turn, held up my grand daughter, Alex. She took one look at this huge hairy man her father was handing her off to and began screaming.

Stranger danger, my son in law explained to me later. It was a new stage, one that a pediatrician recently had inquired whether Alex had reached or not. (Of course she did so a couple of days after this doctor had brought it up).

There aren’t many hairy men in her life so as of last night she was still adjusting and hadn’t quite lost her fear of me.

I met with my boss yesterday. Sarah pointed out that she had never had the experience of looking forward to a meeting with a boss. I know that I am lucky. And I do look forward to sitting down with Rev Jen.

She gave me permission yesterday to use the recently hired tech company to help me solve some laptop issues at home, like successful installation of Windows 10, some glitches with RiteSong and even the over all speed of the computer’s functioning.

Since uninstalling Spyware Terminator and a few other adjustments it does seem like this laptop is bit faster and less like to stall. But I definitely will ask for assistance in upgrading since I figure that Windows 10 can’t be worse than Windows 8. But that may be naive of me, eh?

Sarah and I went to the Farmers Market yesterday. Eileen was at her doctor’s appointment and couldn’t join us. Sarah  misses her extended family and is anxious to cram in as much family time as possible while here. We will probably be making two family excursions so that people can see each other in the next few days, a Jenkins one to the Ann Arbor area and a Hatch one to the Whitehall area.

When we all went and visited my Mom, she was of course glad to see us and especially great grand daughter Alex. When I asked her if she had had enough family time for the day, she indicated that Alex could stay as long as she wanted. Not surprising. And we did stay a bit longer than the usual visit.

I think the family time with the added members is helping my Mom’s cognition and quality of life. That’s nice to watch. It’s unfortunate that in these times we scatter so far from each other, but that’s also part of the fun part for me as well. Elder care is a question under that scenario and soon I will fall under that rubric (the elder to be cared for).

In the meantime I enjoy my family when I see them and make the most of being alive.

I did find two poems by the late Cynthia Macdonald. Here are links.

Robert Underhill’s Present by Cynthia Macdonald : The Poetry Foundation

The Tune He Saw by Cynthia Macdonald : The Poetry Foundation

According to her obit, she was a trained musician (as well as a professor and a trained psychoanalyst who specialized in writers with writers block), so the second poem is especially interesting to me.

My local library owns no books by her so I interlibrary loaned her first book of poetry.

A 21st-Century Migrant’s Essentials: Food, Shelter, Smartphone – NYT

More real life applications of tech… wild new stuff!

I’m delaying some of my reading in order to blog now while no one else is awake. I didn’t stay up for the arrival of Elizabeth, Jeremy and Alex last night. Thankfully, Sarah and Matthew picked them up from the airport. Eileen has a doctor’s appointment this morning and had to fast for her blood test. She also went to bed but I think she got up to see them after they arrived. I slept.

I am finding my introvert nature drained by the effort to not talk too much. I also fear I’m failing on that point. Matthew is inquisitive and I have to remember not to become too chatty.

I had a funny dream last night. My old friend Ronn was trying to get me to perform one of my songs. I couldn’t remember it in the dream. I kept trying to play and sing it but was failing. I remember wanting to tell Ronn that all these old songs were not really that good anyway (something I am gradually coming to understand). But in the dream I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. Of course as I was trying to remember this song there was a group of people listening expectantly to my feeble efforts.

I woke up and remembered the song a bit. It was “Chain of Command,” a song I wrote long after Ronn had ceased to respond to my reaching out to him. That’s ironic.

We ended up having a very late lunch yesterday with the fam at the local Irish pub. After Mark and Leigh left, I went and practiced organ. By the time I had exercised it was 7:30 PM and I was exhausted.

I’m still tired this morning. I got up and finished a chapter in Finnegans Wake, then did my Greek. It’s very very quiet and I’m not sure how lightly Alex sleeps so I’m being quiet as possible.

Not sure how this week will pan out. People need to see each other. We will definitely make a trip to the Ann Arbor branch of the Jenkinses. Also up to Whitehall to connect with the Hatches (although I might skip that one if possible).

My brother Mark made noises yesterday about meeting half way for lunch. We used to do that periodically before he moved to New Hampshire. I was hoping we could resume that. He’s a bit closer now than he was when he lived in Garden City.

I better stop and put the pics in before people get up.

Sarah and I were discussing how to find and keep friends in life yesterday. I told her that I had not been able to do much of that, that my friendships were mostly herself, Matthew, Elizabeth, Sarah and Eileen. I love living with Eileen but it’s too much to ask of any relationship to be everything one needs in life socially and intellectually. So I console myself with the “conversation” of music, poetry and literature. Feeble but true.

Sect’s Death Ritual Clashes With Indian Law – The New York Times

Working out religion and public morality.

Italian Neighbors Build a Social Network, First Online, Then Off – NYT 

A counter intuitive story where the Internet brings people together in the flesh as community.

Analysis Finds Higher Expulsion Rates for Black Students – The New York Times

I heard some of this story on the radio. I wonder how people can continue to insist on a color blind society when one hundred per cent of students expelled in so many schools are black.

Cynthia Macdonald, Poet Known for Humor and Ability to Shock, Dies at 87 – The

I don’t know this poet’s work but plan to check her out. She was encouraged by Ann Sexton one of my favorites.

Jimmy Carter’s Unheralded Legacy – The New York Times

I remember when Carter was president and have often been confused on how people have interpreted it (usually to his detriment). This is a helpful retrospective.

I don’t have much time to blog this morning. Elizabeth, Jeremy and Alex are in the air flying from Beijing to Dallas. My brother, Mark, and his wife, Leigh, are driving over from Gregory, Michigan, to see Mom.

I suggested now might be a good time to see Mom since she has been in sort of mental upswing. I’m afraid, however, it might end up being a bit like the cartoon frog.

The one where the frog only dances when no one’s looking.

Then goes limp when anyone’s around. Mark called and suggested we take Mom out for lunch. I asked him to check with her. It turns out she’s not feeling well (!) and is not even planning on going to her cafeteria at the nursing home (she can have her meals in her room when necessary).

I’m hoping I can get a bit of work in today. I’m still picking hymns. I’m working on Holy Week. This means I’m trying to make sure I know the source for all the hymns and psalms we have been using so that we can review it next year when planning.

Sarah and Matthew had a bad evening on Saturday night. My neighbors were making noise. So on Sunday afternoon, in order to be quiet while they were resting, I hooked up my electric piano so I could use it. It has been sitting on the porch unhooked up. I was surprised how pleasant the porch environment was.

It was even better after I opened the curtains.

Matthew seems very interested in (“keen on” as the Brits say) my music and also learning about music. I thought I might play my piano transcription of the second movement of my marimba/organ piece for him and other family members some time. This is why I was practicing yesterday on the porch. I don’t find it that easy to play and am actually still learning it.

While Eileen and Sarah were off getting the car seat safely installed by the fire department, Matthew and I began a conversation about musical chords. I love to talk about music theory and it was fun to teach him a few things. My idea is to get him started and then he can teach himself more if he wants.

I need to get some work done today. Also, yesterday afternoon I had a filling fall out so I have an appointment today to have one put back in. I want to practice organ at church a bit. I’m hoping I can get enough done that I won’t have to take time away from the group very much once Elizabeth, Jeremy and Alex arrive.

I also brought my Jazz mass home to show Matthew since he wanted to know if I used any “rock music” at church. Although I call it a Jazz Mass it’s really a name of convenience and is more poppy than jazzy.

I did walk over and talk to the neighbors about the noise. I spoke to the single dad who is renting the place with several other teens. He was surprised. He was off the premises Saturday night (visiting his fiancee) and was very interested to learn about this. I told him that after tomorrow we would also have a baby sleeping very close by. He was very cordial. I’m hoping that will make a difference.

How One Airline Ticket Can Equal Two Seats – The New York Times

The author of this article obsesses over trying to get a seat next to an empty seat or in an empty row.

Why Donald Trump Won’t Fold: Polls and People Speak – The New York Times

Trumpism is an attitude not an ideology. Helpful.

Fading Economy and Graft Crackdown Rattle China’s Leaders – The New York Tim

Insights on the flailing economy.