A wonderfully musical day

Today started off like any Sunday morning, with me struggling out of bed to be on time for church and choir, staggering about, feeling my way to the kitchen and a cuppa. By the time I was thoroughly awake, I was nearly at St. James. When I opened the door to the building where we rehearse, I was met with a minor miracle. A string orchestra pulsing the strains of Vivaldi! I had known this was coming, but I was still unprepared for the wonder of it. Sadly, I can’t reproduce the music for you, but here is a picture of what greeted the choir. Then…. I had forgotten that we were also singing Laudate Dominum from Mozart’s Sacred Vespers. Maybe the most wonderfully incredible music in the History of Man! And bits of Mozart masses for the Ordinary. The hors d'œuvre was a Mozart organ concerto which Joseph played with the orchestra! A truly amazing morning.

The evening Schola mass had favorite music as well, including a setting of Psalm 8 (the Psalm du jour) by my friend Tom. Last night, I told Ana that I was going to be a little overwhelmed by all I had to do in the next few days. “Maybe you should skip Schola,” she said. “It’s Trinity Sunday,” I told her. Ana understood immediately. “Oh, I guess you have to go then. They will be singing Deirdre, won’t they.” And of course we were. It is one of my most favorite hymns, and apparently one of Ana’s too. It is so beautiful, both in the words and the music, that it is hard to sing with out a tear or two creeping in. “Christ beside me, Christ before me, …… Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.”
Afterwards, we had our annual Schola party. As we were all good Catholics, the wine flowed freely. We celebrated a number of things – us in general, and in particular, Clint, our assistant organist receiving his PhD, a twentieth wedding anniversary, as well as upcoming nuptials. Here are Clint, the new PhD and my friend Barbara.
As to the roses, talk about blowsy!