Betsy's Back

Betsy, my wife, has returned from her studies in Ireland. Having her home is great. Funny how in some ways it seems like she was never gone. But in other ways it seems like everything has changed since she left. Maybe I inhaled too many fumes while furiously cleaning the place for two days.

Denise is particularly happy to have Betsy back. She demonstrates this by jumping around and being more talkative than she was a few days ago. She also follows us around from room to room, eager to keep the pack together. Our cat got lonely with me gone most of the day and no one at home to play with.

Last night we celebrated my appointment with a Taco Casserole and very nice bottle of champaign. After we finished it, I put it on a bookshelf next to the bottle that we used to celebrate Betsy's admission to the U of T more than two years ago. Hard to believe it's been that long since we left New Haven to come to Canada.

We've been listening to the new Harry Potter book on Audiobook. This is our tradition when it comes to the Harry Potter books--I've never actually sat down with the actual printed books. It's a good story with plenty of potential as sermon material. Lots of spiritual themes like sacrifice and love and providence.

A couple of pieces of my preparation to go to Messiah are starting to form up. One is to review as much print material as I can handle. Soon I'll be pouring over Vestry Reports and Histories of the parish. I've also got a meeting coming up with the Music Director. I'm thinking of burning a CD for him of some of my favorite songs--we need to familiarize each other with our musical tastes and styles. But I expect to spend much of our first conversation simply talking about church music and what it means to us. In particular, I want to know what makes him really excited about Church music.

I remember when Stephanie Martin first came to SMM and I spent a good deal of time learning about her vision of Church music simply by talking about what we each liked and disliked. We also looked over various hymnals and other resources for ideas. That kind of blue-sky dreaming and musing is a critical kind of exercise to do in collaborative projects like this, I believe, especially when the goal is to create something fresh, exciting, and new. I did something similar with an artist named Jennifer Mitchell whom I've commissioned twice. First she created an Advent-themed Raredos for our side chapel. The second time it was to make a Lent-themed one for the same space. Both were a success and really helped to pull those seasons out of Ordinary Time. Just for kicks, I'll end with pictures of those two pieces...



-t