Here’s a poem I wrote January 22, 2009 Inauguration Day, 2009 Seattle A dark, frigid January morning, Our pilot lights barely flickering, We’ve been cold with fear, Frozen with shame, For a long time. We shivered our way thro the fog To Starbucks, to neighbor’s homes, To be with each other And to join The  Read the Rest…

I heard an all Bach concert yesterday.  Bach always feels like a date with the Divine.  I adore his music from start to finish.  I love listening to him, I love playing him, I love singing him. More than any other composer, Bach’s music seems to me to be always going on.  It’s continually playing  Read the Rest…

You are about to read a tale told by an idiot. I got an e-mail a week ago from Dr Micheal Scott who says he lives in a town in Wales.  He is coming to Seattle for a month to do some work for the EPA and will have his 16 year old daughter, Mary,  Read the Rest…

Being a musician, I am used to stage mothers, spotlight whores, and microphone monsters, all stock characters at lessons, rehearsals, and performances.  Being a teacher who often runs the show, I exercise a certain amount of control over the egos that show up to strut and fret.  But here’s a tale of an ego so  Read the Rest…

With Halloween appearing a full month ahead of itself, I’ve been thinking about Margaret of Clitherow’s hand.   I saw The Hand when I traveled in England in the year 2005, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that city, my father being a foreigner of Cornwall.  That’s for you English  Read the Rest…

A few posts ago, I wrote Whining Helps.  I now want to announce that Groveling Doesn’t. Genevieve came in the other night, apologizing for the second week in a row that she hadn’t practiced and would it be all right if we did sight reading again this week?  The week before she had read through  Read the Rest…

We observe the ritual: The washing of the feet, The anointing with oil and salt, The baptism into bags of hot paraffin. She paints a second coat of Kingfisher Blue; Toe by toe, my head bows, my eyes close. How beautiful are the feet that bring me thro the valley of incense Into the sanctuary  Read the Rest…