Turning the Page

Hello blogospere! Nice to see you again!

GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT??

We are having a BAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBYYYYYYYYYYY!

Sorry, I tried to think of a soft and gentle and clever way to make that announcement but nothing seemed to quite encapsulate how I feel about it the way that capital letters do. 

We had the best summer vacation ever and the very best part about it was our discovery about mid-August that we're expecting our first little one.  We are now about 13 weeks along and everything seems to be going well.  I have had a little bit of nausea in the first months, but nothing really to complain about. I'm hopeful that those issues will soon be over! Bring on the 2nd trimester, I say!

It's very exciting and my heart is totally and entirely full at the thought of all the people who already love our little lima bean and can't wait to meet him or her.  I feel very, very blessed! And very, very thankful!

Stay tuned!

In which I fall in love...

... with these.

Mega-WANT.

August Ramblings

It's so amazing to me that August has rolled around again. What happened to July, or to May and June, for that matter?

WH and I are having a really lovely summer. We had a great trip east to visit his family, a trip that included TWO baseball games, lots of swimming, lots of laughs and lots of relaxation. We have golfed a lot, eaten good food and drunk good drink. I can't remember a summer that I've loved as much as this one... and so much of that happiness came from simply sitting in the sunshine. And now we've reached that part of the summer where the mind can't help but start to poke at the things that need to be done before September, the choir to-do list, the last yard work, etc.

In an effort to make the most of the last few weeks of summer, I've opted to take Fridays in August off, which should allow us to get a few more rounds in and to spend some dedicated time on the yard. We'll be digging out a flower garden in the back yard, planting a few trees and replacing the garden space next to our front door, at the very least. We may get around to a few more cosmetic details while we're at it.

I hope that your summer is going well and that you, too, are getting a chance to enjoy the sun!

Merry Christmas!

We have made the rum ball dough, which we'll roll into balls and coat tomorrow afternoon all together as a family.

The cranberry sauce is beginning to think about boiling on the stove.

Handel's Messiah is on the stereo.

There are mysterious parcels wrapped and under the tree.

The snow is deep.

The cats can't believe their luck that we have been home all day.

It's Christmas.

Blessings to you!

Getting Started on the Week

This was the commuting music for this morning. A pretty wonderful way to get settled into the week!



What are you listening to today?

On Bakeries

At The Wee House, we were sadly bereft of a good local bakery. There was a bakery at the local chain grocery store but never once in the two and a half years that we lived there did I have a good experience at that bakery. There was the time that the woman working on the other side of the counter (about 3 feet from me) just kept working and pretended I wasn't there. There was the time that the two employees argued about which one of them had to serve me. There was the time that they dropped my desserts on the floor... It was a sad, sad place.

And I'd like my bakery to be a happy place.

WH and I were out for one of our exploratory walks in the neighbourhood surrounding one-oh-six the other day and came across an actual honest-to-goodness, up-at-5am-baking-for-the-community, not-cakes-and-cupcakes-but-actually-bread, BAKERY.

The bakery was closed at the time of our first discovery, but we were up like a shot the following Saturday morning and headed in its direction. One cinnamon bun and one chocolate croissant later, we have found a new Saturday morning routine: a lovely walk followed by delicious fresh breakfast. Sunday morning I ventured that way again to find some beautiful rolls for family dinner.

To top it all off, the customer service at this little local bakery is stellar; they are friendly, warm and kind people.

And we feel profoundly welcomed and very, very happy.

Stand By Me

A video to feed your soul today!

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Well, pretty close, anyway.

On Saturday night, WH and I attended an auction and dinner concert for one of the Colourful University choirs. We were attending as guests of the artistic director, in exchange for promising that we would bid on items and help the choir raise some money! And we did! We went home with $100 in gift certificates from a local pub and a really nice basket of gourmet coffee.

But the real excitement came during the live auction. One of the items up for bid was a chance to conduct the choir in concert during their season next year. I have always wanted to do this. So I started bidding. Eventually, it came down to me and another lady pushing the bids up $5 at a time. The drama and tension were high. And I won!! Actually, eventually we called it a tie, and will both get the chance to conduct next year!! I am very excited!!

And then on Sunday, I woke up to find that for the first time since November, I AM NOT IN LAST PLACE IN THE HOCKEY POOL! Given that at one point, I was 45 points behind the second last person, this is indicative of a pretty amazing comeback!

How was YOUR weekend?

Before and After of the Bathroom

YAY!

Trader Tuesdays: Things in My Kitchen that I LOVE

Makes the Best. Popcorn. Ever. I don't have this model exactly, but it's close. I will never make microwaved popcorn again. Not sure what I ever did without my cast-iron frying pan.
Every day that I get to use Lock N Lock containers makes me happier than I was the day before.
I have this in black. It's a joy.

Friday Five: Favourite Things

From Songbird at the Revgals today:

In a week of wondering how various things in our family life will unfold, I found myself thinking of the way Maria comforted the Von Trapp children in one of my favorite movies. Frightened by a thunder storm, the children descend upon her, and she sings to them about her favorite things, taking their minds off the storm.

So, let's encourage ourselves. Share with us five of your favorite things.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Top Ten Hymns

I thought it would be fun to try and narrow down the hundreds of hymns I love into a concise list of my favourite ten. I decided quite early on in the process that I would call this A top ten list of my favourite hymns, rather than THE top ten list, allowing for the fact that if I do this again in a month's time, the list will probably be different. I've included the tune names in italics. (and you'll have to forgive me for linking to cyberhymnal and their terrible electric versions of all these hymns. You have to imagine them with choirs and descants and pipe organs and alternate harmonizations and all that good stuff. Think English Cathedrals!)

1. Eternal Father, Strong to Save - Melita

2. For All the Saints - Sine Nomine

3. Jerusalem, the Golden - Ewing

4. Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven - Praise My Soul
This was our wedding processional, and I can't sing it now without getting teary.

5. We Plough the Fields and Scatter - Wir Pflugen

6. Once to Every Man and Nation - Ebenezer

7. Rejoice the Lord is King - Darwall

8. At the Name of Jesus - Weston

9. All my Hope - Michael (with the descant that Howells wrote - another wedding hymn)

10. There is a Green Hill Far Away - Horsley (preferably with last verse unaccompanied)

Blogger Meetups!

Yesterday, I took part in my first ever bloggy meet-up and it was WONDERFUL! There was excellent conversation, and many laughs - a very pleasant and invigorating evening. It is so lovely to be able to put a face to her words now!

Today, a bird pooped on my car door.

I guess they can't all be good days...

:)

We're into Countdown Mode Folks!

Today is the first of five days of work I have remaining before I'm officially on holidays.

This is approximately how I feel about it:
The itinerary for our trip to California is starting to come together in a little bit more detail, and will include things like a trip to the San Francisco Zoo, a baseball game between the Giants and the Cubs, a tour of Alcatraz, a visit to the City Lights Bookstore, cruising the Farmer's Market in the old ferry terminal, watching the July 4th fireworks from Fisherman's Wharf, eating fantastic food and drinking lovely wine. On the 6th, we drive to Sonoma Valley and start our Trekking and Tasting tour of the valley. We trek on the 6th, 7th and 8th, and drive back to San Fran for one more evening before flying home on the 10th.

I DON'T WANNA DO ANY WORK TODAY. TOMORROW'S NOT LOOKING GOOD EITHER.

A Special Evening

I was very lucky to get a chance to witness a very special thing the other day.

Every two years, the CBC hosts a national choral competition for amateur choirs across the country. There are a variety of catagories for children's choirs, youth choirs, adult choirs, equal voices (male and female), mixed voices, chamber choirs etc. It's always a very interesting and exciting event. While I was not singing in any participating choirs, a number of WH's colleagues (and our friends) had choirs that made the final round of competition.

One such choir, a women's choir, is conducted by a woman, M, who has a very long and accomplished resume of musical accomplishments in this city. She has been an educator and a clinician and an adjudicator, and of course, a conductor. In the process, she has raised two beautiful daughters who are very fine singers, and M is now enjoying two grandsons as well. The whole family is very dear to us.

In her retirement, M has continued to conduct her women's choir. They have competed in the choral competition many times, and have placed 2nd many times. They were performing on Tuesday night in the final round, so WH and I went to listen to their broadcast. They sang very very well. The results came in, and M and her choir were finally able to celebrate a first place prize. There were many, many tears of joy for a family that has waited a long time, and worked very hard to be recognized in this way. It was such a special occasion, and a real pleasure to be a part of.

In rejoicing for them, I was able to reflect once again how happy I am to be a part of the choral community, and to know so many wonderful people as a result.

In which Chorus has a Treat

So, in a couple of weeks, I'll be starting to take voice lessons with a very talented singer here in town, and I am very very excited. I think we're going to have a lot of fun together!

Yesterday, WH and I descended on our local music store to buy some new collections of music. I have one book of Italian love songs already, but I was hoping to have a little bit more variety of pieces to study. Like going to bookstores, or office supply stores, or CD stores, I love these kinds of shopping trips... It's all about the POTENTIAL. We had some good recommendations from my teacher and knew what we were looking for, so it didn't take long to find three good collections and spend a healthy sixty bucks!

So now, to go with the Italian love songs, I have a collection of English songs from the Renaissance through the Baroque period, a book of German art songs, and a good collection of sacred music that I can use for church. I'd like to add some French art songs as well, eventually, but this seems like a healthy start!

The Exsultet

The light of Christ.
Thanks be to God.

Rejoice, heavenly powers!
Sing, choirs of angels!
Exsult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour, radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice, O Mother Church!
Exsult in glory!
The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to be him thanks and praise.

It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father, and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood, and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!
This is our passover feast, when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain, whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.
This is the night when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery and led them dry-shod through the sea.
This is the night when Christians everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.
This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumpant from the grave.
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your beautiful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.
The power of this holy night dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and man is reconciled with God!
Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night, receive our evening sacrifice of praise, your church's solemn offering.
Accept this Easter candle.
May it always dispel the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all creation, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen

Good Shepherd Sunday

Good Shepherd Sunday this morning! Psalm 23, good shepherd-y hymns, an excellent bulletin drawing of Jesus as the shepherd, done by one of the young gentlemen in our parish, and Brother James' Air for a choral anthem and the postlude.

And in the midst of it all, I had one of THOSE moments. I have them five or six times a year and they are the moments when I understand why I'm in church. This morning, the moment came during the Offertory Hymn. We were singing the last verse of "Thy Hand, O God, Has Guided" (Thornbury), and WH was pounding away on an alternate harmonization, and I was overtaken by the music, and the words, and the great joy of it all.

Thy hand, O God, has guided
Thy flock from age to age;
The wondrous tale is written,
Full clear, on every page;
Our fathers owned Thy goodness,
And we their deeds record;
And both of this bear witness,
“One Church, one Faith, one Lord.

Being the Choir Wyf, Part 2

What a joy, to be able to look in front of me to the conductor, this person who is passionate and talented and expressive and clearly overjoyed by the musical experience, and to know that I am married to him. To know that at the end of the concert, when the audience is gone, and the music stands are folded up, and the instruments put away, I get to go home with him and sit in the lovely home that we have made, and think about how blessed we are to be able to experience these musical highs together. What a gift. I am so grateful.

The concert today was very very well received. I am so excited and glad that everything went so well. The choir did a fantastic job, and all the singers were so pleased and proud of themselves. The soloists, all long-time friends of WH's, were memorable, and we had the pleasure of being able to go out for dinner afterwards and enjoy their company and celebrate this successful endeavor. Hallelujah.

And now we rest.

Looking forward to the Weekend!

Lots of reasons to expect that this weekend will be highly enjoyable!

• The weather is beautiful. The temperature has actually come up above freezing today and the air feels warm. Other than the ice that was encasing my car this morning (we had freezing rain yesterday), this weather is welcome and spirit-lifting.
• Vacation! Today is my last day at work for 10 days! WH and I will be heading off to the mountains starting next Thursday, and in the interim, I'm going to relax, and get some projects around the house done. It's a much needed respite!
• The big concert is finally here. WH is rehearsing this morning with orchestra and soloists, and I'm just sitting here waiting to hear how it went. Tonight is the orchestra and choir rehearsal, and then we have dress rehearsal tomorrow afternoon. The concert is Sunday at 3! WH is ready, the choir is as ready as they will ever be... I think that this will be a highlight of my choral experience!

The only downside is that my health is still not 100%. My speaking voice is back close to normal, but I lose about every third note when I try to sing anything. I should be fine for Sunday, but getting there will require good vocal warm-ups for the rehearsals between now and then, and good rest in the downtime.

What's up for you this weekend?