A Musical Journey

I sing.

I love to sing.

I sing in the car.

I don't sing in the shower.

I sing walking around.

And I sing every Tuesday night with the Vocal Arts Ensemble of San Luis Obispo.

VAE at the San Luis Obispo Mission

I am privileged to do the latter.

It is a community choir. Not affiliated with any church or school or other institution.

We are just us.

The group has been together (with various members but always with Gary Lamprecht directing and Barbara Hoff accompanying) for over 35 years.

Last night we gave the first of our two Spring performances. At the San Luis Mission.


All week we rehearsed and were, well, not there yet. We missed entrances and cut offs and our ending "s" sounded like a hill of snakes.

But last night, last night was amazing.

There was not a piece that we did where someone in the audience didn't say "Wow" at the end.

We were on.

And we knew it. And we all had fun. Performing. Performing very well.

It is funny but audiences always like the concert. But some nights, some performances are greater than their parts.

Last night was one of those nights.

I sing. And last night, singing gave me a high bigger than any artificial method. (I quit drinking 15 years ago)

I have no words other than to say, "Thank you, Gary, for letting me be a part of this miracle."

Today's THE Day

Melodie Ann Rivas and Judge Ginger Garrett

Today, it all culminated.

Today, she stood in front of a judge and swore to uphold the Constitutions of the United States and the State of California.

Today, she is an attorney.

For real.

Today, in her honor, the  members of the Vocal Arts Ensemble attended her swearing in ceremony.

Today, in her honor, the members of the Vocal Arts Ensemble sang Sicut Cervus by Palestrina to her.

Listening to us sing

 

Today, we both cried a little.

Today she starts her career.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is how she started. I was barely 21. She was this bundle of energy that scared the living hell out of me. And I loved her beyond my own boundaries. She became my focus, my reason, my joy.

She kept growing. And learning.

And so did I.

She learned, very early, to be herself.

And then, all of a sudden, there she was. Grown.
And graduating Summa Cum Laude from Law School. Giving a speech three days after taking the Bar Exam.

She worked SO HARD. She gave SO MUCH.

And today, at six pm she learned the the Bar Association of the State of California has deemed her qualified to act as an attorney in all the Courts in this State.

SHE PASSED THE BAR!

I would like to introduce my law partner, Melodie Ann Rivas, Esquire!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flora and Fauna

OK. The neat (do people still say neat??) part of living in a rural area is the flora and fauna that surround you.

Today gave some great examples.

First, here is the lupine in the field next to us.

Now I must apologize. They are fading. I should have taken this last week but, well, I didn't have a camera that would extend from my hospital bed to here. Sorry 'bout that......

But the really great thing today were the visitors to the back yard. I look out my kitchen window and there they are.

Doe and fawn just munching away on branches and grasses. They didn't even move when I came outside to take this pic.

They did move later. Did you know that fawns don't run? They BOUNCE! And they have so much fun doing it.

This morning the spouse tells me we had a wild turkey in the front yard.

I am getting an education and loving it.

There is no place like home......

This Weeks Adventure

I am not a fan of hospitals.

I generally like the people that work in them but the place itself gives me, well.....pause.

I have sat by too many beds with very, very ill people in them.

I have sat vigil too many times.

I have been in them too. I have been left in hallways and forgotten for tests that have been ordered.

I have been through some of the horror stories.

But Monday there was no getting around it.

I had a belly ache on the scale of "I am going to double over and cry". And since I was in the car with my daughter....there was no getting around it.

To the emergency room. Expecting the worse.

But in less that 30 minutes I am checked in an on a gurney and seen by the charge nurse.

Within 10 minutes in walks the doctor.

Since when did they get so young and handsome?? Ah, to be 20 (ok, 30) years younger....

But I digress....

It is as I suspect, a pancreatic attack. My pancreas is trying to eat itself. Or at least it is inflamed.

So off to the CT I go. And within an hour I am admitted and in a bed and morphine is dripping into my veins.

Now that may sound like a good solution to my pain BUT almost any narcotic pain reliever gives me a class A, number 1 migraine.

They know this but the priority is my pancreas.

They note a little high blood pressure and write it off to pain and "white coat syndrome". I'll buy that.

But on the end of the second day, my bp goes through the roof. I spring a horrendous headache and I am NOT on any narcotic.

Whoops!

So I am on beta blockers and soft food for awhile.


But I get to come home!!!

And this is waiting for me:

The front yard

And in the half barrel in the background is this:

White Iris

I think my blood pressure went down 20 points.

I am home.......

All Creatures

We have spent a great deal of time getting to know our neighbors.

Hummingbirds by the hundreds. They have an incredible pecking order. (Pun intended) And will knock each other away from the feeders. We even have a golden hummingbird. No ruby throat. Just gold. Amazing.

Wrens, who are now comfortable enough to begin building nests in our hanging bird house. They bounce on the front porch getting to the fallen bird seed. Close enough to touch.  (just as an aside, have you ever watched a wren try to get a twig, bigger than they are, into a little hole in order to make a nest? Patience and Persistence. )

Woodpeckers reminding me of a Robert Louis Stevenson poem:
  The woodpecker pecked out a little round hole
And made him a home in a telephone pole
One day while I watched, he poked out his head
And he had on a hood and a collar of red. 

Turkey vultures lining the fences. Spreading their wings with their backs to the sun. Warming themselves. Huddling before they rise to find food in the fields and forests around them. (I tried to get a picture but they took off. I think I stink to them)

But this morning, as the dogs went about their business, I discovered a moth sitting on our porch. Wings upright. Not moving.

It crawled onto the piece of board that we offered. And this is his thank you to us:

The amazing way that this creature opened as the sun dried his wings and the air warmed was awe inspiring. S/he did not try to avoid us so our first thought was that S/he had just emerged from a cocoon nearby.

We do not know the name of this beautiful creature.

If anyone knows its name (Latin or otherwise) just leave a comment.

For right now, it is just Beautiful .

Resting

Yesterday, on the mountain (as we now call our home), was exquisite!

It rained most of the day but the morning was warm.

We started a fire late in the afternoon as the rain cooled things off.

Then the skies cleared and the stars shone. They were so close, it felt like you could touch them.

We did very little in the house as a result.

There were still boxes under the kitchen bar, boxes in all the bedrooms, and boxes on the table. But none in the middle of the room anymore.

So we rested. We really didn't do anything but revel in the fact that we got the right home at the right time.

SO.....
This morning we knew that our contractor was coming to work on stuff. That was good enough to empty a few boxes, move things around, make some decisions about what to put on what wall and generally get moving.

BUT
I stopped for a moment to admire the tree in our front yard. White blossoms but no earthly idea what kind of tree it is.

But it is gorgeous!

And it is just beginning to leaf.

But I had to end my rest and continue to put things away. When I entered our bedroom, I found someone truly at rest. At the time she was snoring, but she raised her head to tell me that sleeping was a good thing.

She was very convincing.

BUT

There were boxes to unpack and the contractor was coming.........