Christmas Music

My friend Sue texted me the other day telling me to listen to a broadcast from the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington,DC. I was happy she sent me the idea because the music lightened my mood and lifted my spirits. It also brought back memories of Christmases past when music was such a big part of celebration. 

A Wedding

Last Saturday, December 12, Dan and Alex were married in a 2020 ceremony via Google Meets. They were in their Catskills cabin next to their Christmas tree. Their witnesses, neighbors Jan and Fran, were on their porch with a computer. I don't know where the very capable wedding officient Alice was. We were on Jeff and Susan's deck where they had a TV set up surrounded by festive poinsettias. Laura and her gang were in Gladwyne. Alex's family were in Queens. It was lovely. The officient spoke about the permanence of their vows and of their love lasing through the years. They exchanged rings--improvised twine because they didn't yet have their gold bands. We had champagne and cupcakes. Jim and I both gave short toasts.

And then we went to buy groceries and went home to reheated turkey chili as if it were an ordinary Saturday! Dan and Alex can look forward to the closing on their house on December 21--and maybe a celebration there in 2021 when this pandemic is under control.

I took great delight in one little vignette. Alex's mom Martha asked who proposed--Dan or Alex? They said that it was a conversation. Alex and Dan said that I had asked in an email when they said they were buying a house if they were secretly married. I had said that we were happy they were committed to each other in buying a house together. After I had done that, I had regrets for my boldness! But at the time, Alex responded with a happy face saying that they were committed to each other but not secretly married. They said that got the conversation going! So I have no regrets for my outspokenness.

Reading Mysteries

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys were series that I devoured as a child. Recently I reread a Nancy Drew mystery and still enjoyed it although found it sexist and pretty predictable.

 

Breath Prayers (written in late September)

Trigger alert--If you are reading this post and voted for President Trump, you may want to stop reading right now! I don't want to offend anyone but I also want to record the events and my reactions in the last few weeks. ----------September--During the months when Jim was receiving radiation, I spent some time each day using "breath prayers."   I breathed in "healing" and breathed out "fears."   I think this calmed my spirit.  We are in a good place right now for Jim's healing although he will have regular blood tests.

I thought that I should continue to use these breath prayers to calm my spirit about the political process and the upcoming election.  I prayed these breath prayers at the grotto along the tow path yesterday.  It was a beautiful spot and very peaceful.  I could see reflections in the canal and hear the rustling of the leaves making a canopy over me.   But when I prayed for healing, my anger takes over.  

Yesterday President Trump refused to say that he would accept the results of the election should he lose.   He says it will be rigged  and would have to go to the Supreme Court.   It is unimaginable that we should have a president who refuses to leave office if he loses.  It makes me sick in my stomach to hear about this threat to our country and to read that the Russian media is expecting civil war in the United States.   There have been vocal Trump supporters telling folks to buy ammunition and we know Trump has called out federal troops to clear out protestors in Lafayette Square when he wanted his photo op holding a Bible at a nearby church. 

Jim says there will be others who will uphold the law.  I don't trust the Republican senate to do so.  I hope I trust the Supreme Court--even if the 9th appointee is appointed by Trump in the next few days and approved by the Republican senate.  If it is Amy Barrett from Notre Dame, I think she would vote her own mind and not be beholden to the one who appointed her.   

But I am scared and angry.  So when I tried to pray for healing for our country yesterday, I just felt angry at the disastrous situation we are in.   There is an ignorance of science and a lack of civility at the top of our government.   How can Trump hold rallies with people close together and not wearing masks?  How can we trust a vaccine if it is rushed through by election day?   How can we respect a leader who uses name calling to mock his opponents?  Who just yesterday made fun of Joe Biden saying he has spent all that money on plastic surgery just to hide behind a mask!   What a juvenile way to treat an opponent and to make the crowd cheer in approval!   

This will be the third post I have written and not actually put on my blog.  I hesitate to offend anyone--although with very few exceptions my small number of readers would agree with my point of view.  But my blogs are written for me--as a record of our lives and for my Blog2Print book at the end of the year.  And this is what we are living through right now.  Jim tells me not to read what folks post on Facebook.  But I can't avoid the news.  I turn on the TV news while doing my exercises or see it come up every day on my online news sources.  It is not easy to ignore.    

So I will try to pray for healing for our country. My anger does not do me any good.   I want to be proud to be an American and feel patriotic again.  

--------------October 23 I still haven't posted this blog. We have voted and put our ballots in a box at the township offices. 47 million have already voted. There was another debate last night. I can't imagine that many have yet to decide how they will vote. Earlier this week I woke up at 2 am and found myself praying for a peaceful transition after the election. I have voted in presidential elections since 1968 and have never felt the need to pray for a peaceful result. But this time I do hope for a change but also if there is one, that it is done without the instigation of violence and charges of fraud which Trump has threatened.

Golf for One; Grotto and Youtube for the Other

Jim has been playing golf once a week at the MIddlesex Meadows course. He signs up for a tee time and plays with others who have also signed up as singles or doubles. Usually this works out well for him. Sometimes he even plays with a previous partner. Today the weather is cold but it is not raining so he is out there again. He may not get in 18 holes this late in the fall because the sun sets at 4:30.

This is one of the rare times that we are apart in the week--the other is my hour of practice at the organ at the Kingston Presbyterian Church at noon on Thursdays. I have my own routine when Jim golfs. He drops me off at the entrance to Barclay Square and I walk to the grotto along the towpath. It is a good spot to meditate and pray. I usually use Sacredspace.ie on my phone. I observe the changing of the seasons--today noticing that there were no longer leaves floating in the canal because most of the trees are bare. There were not as many people walking on the towpath but there was still one kayaker on Lake Carnegie. I didn't hear as many birds today but could hear traffic noise and probably roadwork noise across the water.

Life in a Pandemic

 Maybe I don't really want to remember the odd routines of life during this Covid pandemic. But I am motivated to record them and hope they become a thing of the past. Some changes will last. And getting back to "normal" may take a long time. We have been told there will be no church choir rehearsals until there is a vaccine. We just returned from our weekly Saturday trip to McCaffrey's--the Princeton grocery store that we use most often. We wore our masks but the aisles are no longer marked one way only. We can bring our reusable bags now but we made a mistake by putting them down on the conveyer belt. That must spread germs. We pack those bags ourselves. Jim reminded me that at least the shelves are full now. A few months ago, there were empty places--no toilet paper,canned beans, spray cleaners. As soon as we get into the car, we use hand sanitizer.

 

A Hudson River Road Trip

This was our fourth fall river road trip in the last several years.  We have done the upper Mississippi, the lower Mississipi and the Ohio River.  This year it was the Hudson River road trip with the bonus of being able to visit family and friends along the way.

We left Tuesday around 11:30 am.  Our first stop was Olana, the elaborate Moorish house that Frederic Church built in the mid-1800s.  After a bad experience years ago, we don't do house tours but we were eager to see the view of the Hudson River from the grounds of the estate.   And it was magnificent.

From there we headed north to Troy, home of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where we checked into a Courtyard by Marriott with an upgraded riverfront room.  The real purpose of our visit was to have dinner with our grandson James.  We found his off campus house easily and headed to Dinosaur BBQ where we could have patio dining on the river.   We enjoyed southern ribs and pulled pork meals complete with corn bread and sweet potato casserole and for two of us, great beer.   James' college experience is very strange thanks to Covid.  Most of his classes are online even though he is near campus.  He does go into RPI a few times each week. 

Covid also affects hotel stays.  There was no place to get a breakfast in the hotel so we walked to a nearby Starbucks.   As it turned out, it was a difficult uphill walk crossing very busy streets sometimes without signals.   We ordered at the Starbucks but we were not allowed to eat inside.  We brought our coffees and sweets outside and I immediately got stung by a bee.   I sat down on the curb and a kind young man came up to check on me.  He went inside and got me a plastic glove full of ice.  We found a nearby bench across the mall area and I recovered enough to walk downhill back to the hotel.   

Trinity Episcopal Church

Our plan was to meet Dan in Rensselaerville and hike at the Huyck Preserve there.  We got there early and walked through the charming old village.  But our hike was aborted due to rain so instead we drove to Dan and Alex's home on Engel Road near Potter Hollow where we enjoyed Alex's pear cake and the view from their porch.   

It was really peak leaf peeping time in the Catskills with the hills a panorama of color.   We left Engel Road shortly before three and drove to the Hampton Inn off I87 in New Paltz.  Our plan was to eat in the garden patio at Garvan's, an old Dutch farmhouse but the weather was so windy and cold that we asked if they could place us inside.  Fortunately they had room even with the need for social distancing.  We had a lovely leisurely meal with Dan and Alex. 

Engel Road

We left New Paltz around 9:30 this morning and drove to Dobb's Ferry where Sue VanEngen was visiting her son Stefan and his family.   We hadn't seen Sue for a year since we moved so it was a treat to visit and to see Stefan's lovely neighborhood of historic houses.   Sharon, Stefan's wife, had purchased a spread from a nearby deli for lunch which we ate in the backyard.

We were home before 3 pm feeling that we had seen beautiful scenery and had more sociability than we usually have in this time of social distancing.  

Jim had a three month follow up doctor's visit and blood test just before we left on Tuesday.  The results were supposed to be in yesterday but when we got home he had a frustrating experience of trying to access his portal to get results.  And when he finally got the password and access code all working, the results were not in.  So we will have to wait a bit more for what we hope will be low numbers again after his spring radiation treatments.  I have been very anxious about these results but it was good to be distracted for a few days and not think as much about doctors' appointments and lab tests.  

There is so much more we could see and do in the Hudson River Valley area but we hope to have other opportunities to travel that way again especially if Dan and Alex make that their home instead of returning to New York City.