In the Midst of Music

'Tis the season, so they say.

Have played two funerals this month. The first was very ordinary. The second, today, was unsual (for me, anyways). I was filling in for a colleague who is away for the Thanksgiving weekend. On the music list was UNC's song, "Hark the Sound." Seemed odd, especially since the deceased was NOT an alumna as far as I could tell. During one of the "witnesses" (read "eulogy"), a woman told this joke: Q: Why don't Southern Ladies go to orgies? A: Too many thank you notes to write. Seemed out of place to me. Especially in a church funeral service.

Yesterday I played a wedding for a (different) colleague. All went well except that I forgot to play "something" on the chimes to signal the minister, groom, and best man to enter. They figured it out and came in at the right moment just the same.

Used a lot of the same prelude music for both the wedding and the funeral (Walter/Vivialdi Concerto in B minor; Bach Nun freut' euch; Bach Von Gott will ich nicht lassen; Pachelbell Canon in D; Bach Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring).

This week begins Christmas music with a vengeance. This week there is a concert on Tuesday evening, a rehearsal on Thursday evening, and concert on Friday evening. The following week includes playing (organ) for two dinner parties, another rehearsal, and another concert. And it goes one like that for most of December.

Hope to deliver tomorrow the baby blanket that has been sitting, finished, since before the baby was born. I've got a card, gift bag, and tissue paper all ready. Just have to figure out which knitting bag it's in.

Am working on several prayer shawls. I had a request for one for someone specific, so have settled on a design (stripes in shades of red) and have started crocheting it. It shouldn't take me too long.

Mother broke her hip and fell (that's the sequence that the doctors confirmed). She got a new hip. We are hoping the severe pain in her leg was from deterioration or cracking of the hip over the last two years. On a scale of 1 to 10, she said that her pain had been a 40!

Best quote of the week: "Food and love both begin with looking."