Dan Perjovschi - Temporary, Timely Art at MOMA

I happened upon a curious scene on the 2nd floor of New York's Museum of Modern Art yesterday. A worker on a crane was painting over a huge art installation that had been created directly on the wall. In the corner, a young man stood guard over a camera on a tripod, documenting the artwork's disappearance with time lapse photography. Curious, I approached and asked him whose art this was.

The mural was painted by Dan Perjovschi, an artist from Bucharest, Romania. Although this is his first American solo show, he is known the world over for his witty and incisive social and political images, which he creates in response to current events. Hence the fleeting nature of the art. When it ceases to be timely, it is gone.

I particularly loved these two images - one of a man peeking through the stripes of the American flag to see what is behind, and next to it a shadow casting a man (as opposed to a man casting a shadow). His work, at first glance, is simple and funny. On further observation, it is uniquely thought provoking.

There is a clip on YouTube of the artist describing his work on this piece. Click on the link below to see Perjovschi at work and hear him talk about creating this piece in front of an international audience in New York.

YouTube - Dan Perjovschi at MoMA

O.C. RAGE SOFTBALL TEAM ADVANCES TO THE FINAL EIGHT OF THE SOFTBALL WORLD SERIES.

Dateline: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The Orange County Rage celebrate after beating the Pennsylvania Hurricanes 6-1 to advance to the Final Eight in the Class-A Softball World Series.

The Orange County Rage, a 16 & Under Fastpitch Softball Travel team, overcame relatively poor initial seeding (20th out of 22 teams), and blisteringly hot weather conditions today, playing their way through the “loser’s bracket” to advance to the Final Eight of the 2007 Softball World Series. The prestigious Myrtle Beach tournament has drawn teams from all up and down the East Coast, as well as a number of premier Midwest teams.

Four of our local Cornwall girls are playing for the Rage: 2nd baseman Amy Lindland (Cornwall H.S. JV), 3rd baseman Erin Miller (Cornwall H.S. JV), pitcher/first baseman Kelsey Hand (Cornwall H.S. Varsity), and left fielder Jules Kelly (Cornwall H.S. JV). The rest of the team is composed of players from all over the county (Goshen, Burke, Tuxedo, Chester, Monroe/Woodbury, Minisink, and Otisville).

The temperature was 104 and the heat index was at 120 degrees at game time on Friday – Myrtle Beach’s hottest recorded temperature since 1953. The Rage had already lost one game in the double elimination semifinals, so they needed to win both games today to stay in the tournament. They easily won their first game, 7-2 over the South Carolina Fusion. The second game was closer, with the Rage clinging to a slim 2-1 lead through the first four innings. Jules Kelly capped a four-run rally in the fifth inning with a 2 RBI single, and the Rage beat the Pennsylvania Hurricanes 6-1.

Manager Jim Lloyd feels good about the team’s chances in the final, and says they have played much better than their 3-3-1 tournament record indicates. “This team is as good as any team down here. The games that we have won have been by wide margins, and our losses have been one run games.”

The scrappy Rage team faces a new challenge as they look ahead to tomorrow’s final. They will need to play (and win) four straight games to win the tournament, and they are down to just nine players. They had already lost their regular first baseman to mononucleosis and the second catcher has a shoulder injury that has left her unable to throw. In today’s opener, centerfielder Rebecca Monteith dove for a fly ball and broke her collarbone, taking her out of the lineup. The nine remaining players include the two pitchers, who alternate playing first when they are not pitching.

Despite the heat, the Cornwall girls feel they are up for the challenge.

“We’re playing really well. If we stick together and continue to hit the way we have been, we can do it,” said Kelsey Hand. Erin Miller chimed in. “And if we all stay hydrated, we can do it.” The Rage play their first game Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.

Silence

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We're wrapping up - checking out of rooms, returning music, exchanging addresses. It is going to be very hard to go back to my regular choir. I have loved working with such an accomplished group of singers...and what a joy to rehearse without all the parts being banged out on the piano.

I know it sounds crazy, but I loved the precision of the diction. The air was full of spittle as we enunciated the concentrated words of the Miserere....and 59 singers articulated two precisely placed "t"s in the phrase "et tibi dabo" from Tu Es Petrus.

After the concert last night, we walked back to the chapel to sing Compline for the last time. At the end, Andrew asked us to sing the 8-part Crucifixus again. It was far better than what we did in the concert - powerful and charged with emotion. Omar and I talked about it later, and he put it best: I left my heart there, with the Crucifixus.

I think we all did.

Tallis Scholars Summer School Gala Concert

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

It's hard to give an actual review, since I was one of the performers. But I can say that the concert was very well received, we felt as though we did very well, and our tutors were smiling. It was actually easier to sing the new music that we've learned in the last few days than it was to sing the Mass, which we hadn't sung since Tuesday. It was solid, but I will admit to having a few "where are we again?" moments!

Paula (one of the sopranos who sang with us on "In Pace In Idipsum") and I were talking this morning about coming back next year. The best way to describe this remarkable week is that it's a once in a lifetime experience that you can repeat over again. I can't wait.

The Pilgrim's Progress

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Tutors Summer School

At the beginning of the week, I was counting madly to find my entrances, just trying to stay alive in the flood of polyphonic sight singing. By mid- week, I was a better reader and counter than I’ve ever been before. Now, at the end of the week, I’m working on doing less counting and more listening. I am familiar with these compositions now, and if I listen to the singers around me and watch the conductor, I should know where to come in as part of the musical line moving forward.

This means, ironically, that I’m making more mistakes now than I was a few days ago, when I was counting every bar very precisely. But, I know that I am singing more musically. I’ll try to keep the mistakes to a minimum tonight!

Final Concert Tonight

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We've all been remarking that our sense of time is completely off this week. Often, when you're doing something really pleasurable, time just flies by. This is different. Although we all are certainly enjoying the experience, time moves very, very slowly. Perhaps because the days are so full, things that happened in the morning feel like days ago by the time we reach Compline in the evening.

So, as we come to Friday evening and our final performance, we're all feeling as though we have been here forever. And, although it seems impossible that we would have learned that huge folder full of music, we have. I am really looking forward to singing tonight.

Notes from Rehearsal

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We've been working on a second arrangment of the Lotti piece, Crucifixus à 10 (ten separate voice parts). Peter Phillips was very excited - well, excited is not quite the word for this very measured and thoughtful man - but he was eager to hear us read through it. He had just found this version, had never heard it performed nor found a recording of it. So we sang it aloud, allowing everyone to hear it for the first time. Phillips decided that it is interesting enough to perform along with the 8-part version. "I think Lotti was having fun when he wrote this - it sounds like an experimental piece."

Yesterday, as we rehearsed it, Peter was conducting and tutor David Woodcock was observing and listening from a seat behind him. Finally, his face like a storm cloud, David strode to the podium and whispered furiously to Peter. Phillips turned to us and said "He's really cross. He doesn't like the crescendo/decrescendos in the brackets, nor the ritard marked at the cadence." Woodcock retorted "It goes against everything we have been saying all week. Where's the phrase going?!" Peter said plaintively, "Well, it's the only edition I could find, anywhere in the world."

I had not understood, before working with them, why this group calls themselves the Tallis Scholars. In fact, these kinds of passionate but good-hearted debates go on all the time, as they struggle to determine what is truly an "authentic" score as the composer would have written it, and which are "unauthentic" markings that have been added later, by editors. Several of the pieces we will be singing in the concert are editions edited by Peter Phillips or Andrew Carwood, who have researched the pieces and reached a determination of how they believe the score should read.

Twice today, Peter said "Well done." High praise. We're getting there.

The Sharing

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

I had been feeling very nervous about the Sharing, where we all gathered in the Chapel and sang the "small group" pieces that we have been rehearsing on our own this week. I was worried that our two pieces were imperfect, not musical enough, not "ready for primetime."

In fact, there was a wide range of pieces, some much more difficult than others, some more polished than others. The room was unfailingly supportive. It truly was a non-judgmental "sharing" among people who have worked together all week and who appreciated each piece for the accomplishment it represented.

And "Duo Seraphim," which we just started rehearsing this afternoon, was very well-received. Click on this link to hear the performance. Duo Seraphim

I've had very different experiences in the past. The classical music world can be very competitive and terribly unkind, and this is a roomful of high achievers. I shouldn't have worried. The warm acceptance of all of us, warts and all, was wonderful.

I really hope that I can come back next year (and ideally, for years to come). This is a rare musical experience.

Random Bits Part 3

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

• A Palestrina discussion, after a question from the 2nd Altos about whether they could move the syllable “num” to a different note, putting them in synch with the rest of the choir. Peter Phillips finally said, “Feel free to ignore that because I’m here now……” His voice trailed away as we all mentally finished the sentence, “….and he’s not.”

The printed music comes with little or no dynamic markings, and the performance notes I’ve marked in my copies say things like “gentle,” “suppressed excitement,” “very, very spacious,” or at one particularly big moment, “pile in like a rugby scrum.” This is something that Peter Phillips feels quite strongly about. In his words: I don’t like the rigid thinking that goes along with dynamics. You go suddenly into a 19th century sound world when you start thinking about the music that way.

• On our struggle to maintain the pitch as three separate units (the 5-part choir, the 4-part small group, and the men doing the chant) rehearsed the Miserere: I’m sorry about the pitch crisis that just infects this piece. When Mendelssohn heard it performed at the Vatican, he recorded the fact that the soprano was singing high “C”s, and he also noted that it sank a minor third – so we’re in good company.

Desert Island Disks

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We've had an informative lecture each afternoon from one of our tutors. Today was something different. Andrew Carwood and Janet Coxwell did a live version of the venerable BBC 4 Radio programme, Desert Island Disks. The format of the program is simple - the interviewer (played by Jan) asked the guest (played by Andrew) to imagine that they are going to be left on a desert island. The guest plays excerpts from the ten recordings he must have with him, as well as naming the book he would take (in addition to the Bible and complete works of Shakespeare, which are already magically on the island!), and a single inanimate, totally useless item.

We learned a lot about Andrew and his journey to where he is today, and the end was quite bittersweet, as he is leaving the group to take the post at St. Paul's.

Andrew Carwood addresses the group. (Photo by Bill Pannill)

The exercise got me thinking about my own choices. My ten disks would be:

1. Monserrat Caballé 's recording of Puccini's Tosca, so that I'd have the heartbreaking aria "Visi D'arte."

2. The Fauré Requiem. The imploring lines of "In Paradisum" are so powerful. Can't sing it without crying.

3. Traffic’s 1972 album John Barleycorn Must Die so that I can dance to “Glad.”

4. The Who: The Ultimate Collection so that I can sing “Who Are You?” when I want to get my circulation going.

5. Benjamin Britten The Ceremony of Carols. I love the mix of Medieval and Contemporary in this cycle.

6. Mendelssohn Elijah. What great drama in this oratorio! And, I love to sing the a cappella SSA trio “Lift Thine Eyes.” Guess I'll have to do one part at a time on the desert island.

7. Stravinsky Oedipus Rex. I know this isn’t his most brilliant work, but what a dark, moody, brooding choral piece. Love it.

8. Chopin Nocturnes, as recorded by Artur Rubenstein. Sometimes you just need to weep, and this will do it.

9. Leonard Bernstein’s Chicester Psalms. For me, Bernstein is the quintessential American sound (and will endure better than Aaron Copland, whom I also love, on my desert island).

10. The Theme from Peter Gunn, by Henri Mancini. Absolutely killer. One of my favorite pieces of music to drive by. This masterpiece was our inspiration for the theme song of The Upside Down Show, a preschool television series that just won the Emmy for best title sequence.

My Book: Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. This remarkable book has been described a transcendent novel about fathers and sons, loneliness and love, faith and family. I see it as an exploration of what it means to be in a state of grace. Every word is chosen with care – worth reading and re-reading.

An inanimate, absolutely useless object: A tiny Miraculous Medal, given to me by my grandmother. The edges are beveled in alternating directions so that the metal glints in the light. When I was little, I thought the Blessed Virgin was surrounded by jewels.

A Gathering of Different Lights

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

When we gather to sing Compline at the end of each evening, we sing in the Chapel of St. Ignatius, a unique space designed by architect Steven Holl. His guiding idea for the design of the chapel was “A gathering of different lights."



He has also described it as “seven bottles of light in a stone box.” Fortunately, it sounds as good as it looks.

Small Groups and "The Sharing"

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Tonight is the “Sharing,” in which all the small ensembles which have been forming all week will sing for each other. I am in two of these groups, one a mixed (SATB) group doing ‘s “Ave Regina Coelorum,” and I also formed an all-female, SSA group (that’s my passion – I sing a cappella with two good friends back at home). The SSA group is doing Orlando di Lasso’s “In Pace In Idipsum” (In Peace I will Sleep) and because the text is about sleeping peacefully knowing that the Lord protects us, we’ve been invited to sing at Compline (the chanted Evensong) tonight. Jan coached us last evening, and was a tremendous help in shaping the lines of this hushed, gentle piece.

At the last moment this afternoon, our SSA group was asked to join another group of four women who had been working on Victoria's "Duo Seraphim," and felt they needed more voices. So, with just two rehearsals before and after dinner, we will sing that, too.

Last evening, a tenor came up to me and said “If I come back next year, I’d like to sing in one of your small groups.” Flattered, I thought that perhaps he liked my singing, or had heard that we are making beautiful music. Instead, he added, “I hear your groups are really well-organized.” Ah, well. Props for being a good producer.
Figures…….

Janet Coxwell: Bright Vowels, “Brighter” Warm-Ups!

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Jan has started us off at 9:00 every morning with a warm-up that includes not only stretching and vocalizing, but also dancing….this morning we were grooving to the Scissor Sisters. Nothing like a little disco to get your body into gear! Her energy and enthusiasm are infectious, and since she’s a singer who clearly knows what shes doing, it seems crazy not to jump in and dance along.

She has been giving individual voice lessons all week, and also has been coaching the choir as a whole. Her particular challenge has been to get us to sing “bright vowels.” We’re getting better, though shaking off years of American training in "proper" vowels sounds is quite a task.

More Random Bits

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

• Peter Phillips conducted the rehearsals this morning, as we worked on new music including Palestrina's "Tu est Petris" ("You are Peter and upon this rock....."). We were reading through and he stopped us, saying "Basses, you are leading us into a new section of the text and I can't understand you. The words here are important - et portae inferi non praevalebunt (and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it). Cheerful voice from the bass section: "Gates of Hell coming right up, sir."

• (Pleadingly) "Sopranos, there was a sound in the middle of my daylight moment....."

Minor Regret

Dateline:Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

I had hoped there would be more interaction between the “young” (under 25) students and the rest of us. When I’ve been able to grab one-on-one moments I’ve enjoyed each of them, and they are certainly holding their own as members of the choir. I understand how difficult it is - they’re feeling the hip peer pressure – that they’ll somehow be uncool if they’re seen consorting with us old folks. And, I think we (the older ones) could have reached out more.

It’s a missed opportunity, because there are some fascinating people here this week – a Law Professor from Columbia University, an astrophysicist who just spent 2.5 months living at the South Pole installing a new telescope, a physician who specializes in high risk pregnancies, an engineer who is filing for a patent on a wind turbine that he has invented…..the list goes on and on, through all sorts of fascinating people at the top of their professions.

It’s not surprising, when you think about it. I mean, how many people would choose to spend 13 hours a day sight reading 8-part, polyphonic, sacred music, in Latin? It’s a unique group of people who seek out intense creative challenges, not only for this “vacation,” but also in the work that they do.

Special Moments from the Palestrina Mass

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

The day that we sang Palestrina's Missa Laudate Dominum was the Feast Day of St. Ignatius Loyola. The Priest declined to give a homily, saying that he would let the music of Palestrina speak instead. He told us briefly that St. Ignatius traveled to Rome shortly after his ordination, and said Mass in the Sistine Chapel. One of the choir boys would have been Palestrina, who was 10 or 12 years old at the time. And in subsequent decades, Loyola certainly would have known and heard the work of the great polyphonic composer, Palestrina.

Knowing this made singing the work, in this beautiful cathedral and on this specific day, even more special.

One of my fellow altos, Joseph Adam, is also the organist at the cathedral. He played a spectacular postlude, Widor's "Allegro maestoso" from his Symphony #6 in G Minor. Dark, rolling fireworks....a fantastic ending to the evening.

Singing at the Cathedral

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Oh my goodness – what a building to sing in! Our sixty voices, a cappella, ringing out in that space were simply breathtaking, if I do say so myself. ☺

We did very well last night. Not perfect, of course, but we did a good job considering that we’ve only been singing this Mass for 3 days, and we performed Palestrina’s Motet on the same theme after having first seen it yesterday morning!

I am a believer in singing out, doing everything you can to make the words come alive in performance. This is a little scary when you don't know the music terribly well, but I decided to just go for it. I missed some spots, but nothing major. Walking back from the cathedral, I was talking with Denise, a soprano who is doing this workshop for the fourth time. She concurred. "Even the best singers around you are going to miss an entrance. You need to be brave and sing that entrance, even if others around you are not." She's right - although sometimes the people around you are not singing because you are coming in at the wrong place!

The alto section propels the drive to the climax in the Benedictus with a series of running quavers (the British term for eighth notes). If I do say so, we kicked butt on our quavers - solid as a rock.

David Woodcock conducted tonight (I was surprised – I guess Peter Phillips will do the “big” concert on Friday). He was very good, and inspired confidence – all we had to do was keep your eyes on him to know we were in the right place. He made a bold move, changing the tempo and picking up speed during the “Hosannas” at the end of the Sanctus, and we were right with him.

Our tutors had smiles on their faces, and that’s what meant the most to me.

First Public Performance Tonight

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We're singing the Palestrina Mass tonight at St. James Cathedral, so that will be our focus in rehearsal today. We haven't even sung the Credo yet. I would guess that will be first up in rehearsal this morning.

It was interesting, yesterday, running through other segments (Kyrie, Gloria, etc) that we already "know." We've had so little rehearsal time and covered so much new music (at least compared to what I'm used to) that it almost felt as though we were doing new pieces rather than ones we have already worked on. This will be the biggest challenge for me, I think - singing out confidently in performance when I'm still very reliant on the score to simply find the notes and rhythm. Fortunately, there are many singers here who are much more experienced than me, and I know they will carry us through. Still, there are only six of us in the First Alto section, so you can't exactly disappear into the crowd!

David Woodcock is our rehearsal conductor, and Peter Phillips has been sitting quietly behind him during these rehearsals. You almost forget that he is there until he hears something that he is unhappy with. Then, Phillips stands very quietly and gradually makes his way to the podium, very slowly as we keep rehearsing. Though we do our best to keep singing away and fix whatever we're struggling with, once he's on his feet it won't be long until he takes over to work on a point that he finds particularly important.

It will certainly be interesting, tonight, to be singing in a totally different venue (cathedral acoustics, rather than the dead room we've been rehearsing in at the University), with a new conductor (Peter Phillips will conduct in concert). We have one hour of rehearsal in the Cathedral before the Mass, so I guess we'll figure out the transition then.

Antonio Lotti's Crucifixus à 8 Voix

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

This is another amazing piece of choral music that I have only heard on recordings, and never thought I would have the opportunity to sing. It was composed around 1718, decades later than the Palestrina works we've been singing, and I must say, it was a pleasure to dig into the lush dissonances in this piece.

We're working terribly hard, and the concentration required to keep sight-reading all this new repertoire a cappella is really draining. Despite how tired my brain is, I find myself in a continual state of exhilaration. One transcendent musical experience after another.

And, Kathleen (my choir director) will be happy to hear that my sight-reading, and in particular my counting, get better every minute. Improve or die!

Random Moments from Tallis Tutor Sessions

Dateline: Seattle: Tallis Scholars Summer School

• After working for ten minutes on a single phrase ("et tibi da bo," meaning "and I will give unto you"), Tutor David Woodcock finally seemed satisfied. "That is absolutely....." (loaded pause) "......nearly very good."


• "Polyphony requires that the quavers be strictly in rhythm, absolutely together." This is British for talking about eighth notes. "Crotchets" are quarter notes. We're in another world here, and we're spending a lot of time on our quavers.


• Peter Phillips worked with us on a Gesualdo motet for an hour after dinner last night, 'just for fun." Actually, sight-reading Gesualdo a cappella is kind of fun - the kind of satisfaction you get from finding your way through a very dark forest. At one point, Phillips cautioned: "Tenors, you're flat. Singing out of tune in Gesualdo is a dangerous game."

Mt. Rainier Rises Above Seattle University

Dateline: Seattle: Tallis Scholars Summer School

We've had gorgeous weather, atypical for Seattle, all week. The days are crisp and sunny - cool enough for a jacket in the morning and evening, getting up into the seventies during the day.

As Seattle natives are wont to say when they have clear weather: "Oh, look - the mountains are out!"

The Allegri "Miserere"

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Last night we all attended a concert at St. James Cathedral here in Seattle, where our teachers (the Tallis Scholars) sang along with a local professional group, Peter Phillips conducting. It was amazing, and enlightening to see all the things they keep haranguing us about put into practice. In particular, they are all over us about brighter vowel sounds (much brighter and more forward than the way we have all been taught to sing by choir directors here in the U.S.). Hearing this very small group create such a full, sparkling sound pretty much convinced me.

They did a stunning performance of Allegri’s famous Miserere. It is one of the most famous pieces of a cappella religious music performed today. I have heard recordings, but never heard it live before last night. It was gorgeous – the main, 5-part choir in the center of the cathedral, the small, 4-part “chant” choir (with Jan as the soprano soloist doing all the famous High Cs) up at the altar, and Andrew at the back of the aisle singing the lines of the psalms (which fall in between the chorus bits). To think that we’re going to perform this same piece on Friday night….can’t imagine it.

They were singing from an version of the piece that is Peter Phillips’ own edition – he has worked hard to try to restore it to what he believes is something close to the original, mid-17th century edition. Earlier in the afternoon, he gave us a brief lecture about the history of this piece. It was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII to be sung in the Sistine Chapel during matins on Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. At the end of the Tenebrae service, 27 candles would be extinguished one by one, and at the end, the pope would kneel in prayer as the Miserere was sung by the Cappella Sistina (the Vatican Choir) in an embellished, improvisational style that included improvised counterpoint. The piece was so highly valued that it was forbidden to be copied or performed outside of the Sistine Chapel – under penalty of excommunication!

Several copies were smuggled out, but none included the signature improvisations, so it was hard to duplicate the magic of the Vatican choir. Then, during Holy Week, 12-year-old Mozart was taken by his father to the Vatican for services. He listened, and went home and wrote the whole thing down from memory! That copy has unfortunately been lost, and there have been many, many versions over the centuries (including Mendelssohn’s, who also listened to a performance and then attempted to capture it on paper). The one we will learn this week is the Phillips edition, and he was quite passionate in talking about what he believes was authentic, and why. As he admitted, “It’s not Renaissance, it’s not polyphony, and it’s nothing at all to do with the Sistine Chapel.” But it certainly is beautiful.

Such an interesting week this is. I am off to dive into another morning of rehearsal. We will finish learning the Palestrina Mass today (and a good thing, since we’re performing it tomorrow night).

Our First Alto Section

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

There are five first altos and we’re feeling pretty good about our section. I am sitting next to the most incredible singer – a countertenor named Omar, from Puerto Rico. He is so musical and absolutely note perfect (which is a blessing, since I am not the world’s best counter, as anyone in my St. John's choir can tell you). I am a better singer just by virtue of singing next to him. What a stroke of luck for me!

Day Two Begins

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We’ve had a half hour warm-up followed by 2.5 hours of rehearsal, with just one short break. I didn’t realize that we are singing the Palestrina Mass in public on Tuesday night – no wonder we are rehearsing it with such intense focus! As of lunchtime, we have pretty much got the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus at the point where we are working on nuances. Incredible.

This is challenging me to the absolute limit of my talent, concentration and experience. We do not rehearse again until 2:30. The young ones have all headed off to start rehearsing in their “small groups.” I personally do not plan to talk again until 2:30, so I can rest my voice. My goal by the end of the day is to have formed one small group and picked some music. If I can get that far (plus survive further rehearsal and singing all the way through Compline at 10pm), I’ll call that a great first full day.

Taking A Cappella to New Heights

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Wow. This is very intense.

After a brief barbeque and some opening remarks, we headed into the ballroom for our first Full Chorus rehearsal, conducted by Peter Phillips. We were split into two separate choirs (so that we had eight parts – SATB + SATB) and began to rehearse Palestrina’s Missa Laudate Dominum omnes gentes – his setting of a full mass, 64 pages long.

There is no piano in the main rehearsal room – it is simply a big, empty ballroom with chairs for the two choirs, a conductor’s music stand, and three other chairs for the Tutors to observe. We get our pitches from David Woodcock, who strikes a little silver tuning fork on the bone behind his ear and sings the opening notes. Then we are off, in eight parts, sight-reading in Latin, completely a cappella.

We would work on a section, then he would stop us and talk, giving us performance notes. Then, without ever giving us a pitch, he’d say “OK – rehearsal bar 25, a G minor chord. And….3….4” and we’d be away again, somehow opening our mouths and remaining perfectly in pitch.

I’ve never done anything like this in my life – definitely my most challenging musical experience ever. Both exhausting and absolutely exhilarating.

Lauren is a lovely young woman from Georgia, currently in college, studying to be a choral director. Her enthusiasm is palpable, and as we walked together from dinner, she marveled at the once in a lifetime experience of being among people “exactly like me.” I share that feeling. Singing choral music makes my heart sing - I have loved it my whole life, and especially like singing in Latin, which I have done since I was a little girl. This is not exactly a mainstream hobby – it can be hard to explain the passion I feel for choral singing to other people in my life. So, to find myself among a group of people exactly like me – as Lauren said – is a bit like going through life as a closeted alien, and suddenly finding yourself among a whole group of aliens that you didn’t know were out there! And, since we are bound together by the music, it is an unusually diverse group demographically speaking. The 59 of us come from all over the U.S., as well as a smaller number from Canada and Europe, one each from Kenya and Japan. I would say about ¼ of the attendees are college music students. The rest of us range from late 30s to late 70s. We speak exactly the same language. It’s extraordinary.

And the evening wasn’t over yet. At 9pm we walked to the Chapel, where Andrew Carwood ran a rehearsal in which he taught us the Compline service. It is an ancient, contemplative evensong service – all sung, in Gregorian Chant (complete with chant notation). At 9:45 we sang the service, as we will every night. It is beautiful, but I must say that by this point, I was completely exhausted.

Carwood is an extraordinary singer and conductor. He has just been appointed Music Director of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The opportunity to sing for him (and to do the Compline with him) is quite something. Welcome to St Paul's Cathedral - Appointment of new Director of Music

I’ve made another friend here, a soprano my own age, named Roberta. As we walked together from rehearsal to Compline, we shared our fears about the “small groups” that will be forming over the next 24 hours. These consorts can choose from 150 pieces of music that the Tallis Scholars have brought with them, we’ll perform for each other in a private showcase on Thursday night, and some of the best may be slotted into Friday’s concert, which is open to the public. Roberta and I both confessed to being nervous about this. There are some great singers here, and people who know each other from coming in previous years. I have a sickening “please pick me” feeling in the pit of my stomach – worried that no one will want me in one of these groups. I was glad to hear she is feeling the same. I suspect that all the newbies do. We will see how it goes in the morning.

At the moment, I am completely exhausted (having arrived at 2:30 am this morning on a long delayed flight from New York's JFK). Do not pass "Go," do not collect $200. It is straight to bed for me.

The Singing Begins

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We’ve begun, and as with any performance-oriented endeavor, the butterflies calmed down once the singing started.

We started with a warm-up and then began what was called a “Singing Safari,” designed both to let us get to know each other, and to let each of the four Tallis tutors know us. We rotated through four, 25-minute sessions, in groups of approximately 16 people. Each session was with a different tutor and devoted to reading a different composition by an Italian Renaissance composer.

It was pretty rough around the edges, but by the time we were through, I was feeling as though I can, indeed, do this. My final session was with David Woodcock, who is a powerful conductor - he was working on musicality and phrasing even as we were learning the notes. And the two Tallis members who will be our singing teachers, Janet Coxwell and Andrew Carwood, were simply outstanding. I was amazed at what they were able to accomplish with us in 25 minutes, and can’t wait to work with them all more!

Summer Singing School Starts Today!

I arrived in Seattle late last night, to participate in the Tallis Scholars Summer School at Seattle University. The Tallis Scholars are the premiere performing/recording group dedicated to Renaissance choral music. The theme of this year's program is "Music for the Sistine Chapel."

This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I applied last year, but was only wait-listed. This year, I applied and was accepted. A week of singing challenging choral music is so exciting - culminating in a performance (that will be recorded) on Friday night. I feel both very excited to start singing, and also a little nervous about whether I am good enough.

I will know very soon. Our first rehearsals start mid-afternoon, and go through 9:30 pm!

Click on the link below to see more about program.

Tallis Scholars Summer Schools, TSSS, Seattle, Peter Phillips, Tallis Scholars, Renaissance choral music

Post-Potter reading? Suggestions from the Cincinnati Enquirer

Reading experts are recommending Seymour Simon's "Einstein Anderson" series for post-Harry Potter reading. I heartily agree. Si Simon and I are collaborating on a new multi-media series. He is a wonderful writer for kids and tweens.

The Enquirer - Post-Potter reading? Some ideas

Harry Potter Night

It's an amazing thing. I have been producing television for kids and teens for over two decades, and everyone knows that as teenagers grow, they distance themselves from things they loved in their childhood. "My Little Pony," "Pokemon," "Bratz." "In Synch," "Digimon." They are absolutely passionate about it, and then they outgrow it.

Somehow, these rules do not apply to Harry Potter. As I write this, my high school junior and her friends (some of them recently graduated) are at Barnes and Noble, taking part in the Harry Potter party that will culminate with the release of the books at midnight. They are wearing handmade t-shirts that read "Harry Potter Fan Since 1998." Mind you, they were seven years old when this phenomenon started. They were so little, the first Harry Potter books were read aloud to them. And still, they love it.

Author J.K. Rowling has expressed extreme dismay at the "spoilers" who have reviewed copies of the book that were obtained via early, unauthorized release. She shouldn't waste another second on this. Would any real Harry Potter fan read a spoiler review? NO WAY. They want to be there, buy their own copy of the book, and sit down to read it cover to cover.

For a change, it's not hype, and it can't be spoiled. It is the real deal.

Chasing Rainbows

My friend, the painter Rebecca Darlington, has launched a blog that explores the thoughts behind her current work, in which she paints all manner of everyday items strung on clotheslines. I love her creative impulse, that our lives are like wash hung on the clothesline for all to see.

I'm both tickled and a little embarrassed to see that one of her earliest entries is about a painting called Chasing Rainbows

© 2007 Rebecca Darlington

In her post, Rebecca writes This painting was inspired by a pair of shoes that a good friend of mine wore home from a trip to L.A. Designer shoes from who knows what fancy avenue. My mind started spinning about where the shoes had been and how the gal had experienced life while wearing them.....Dates, love in the air, traveling across the continents for love, chasing rainbows in her dreams. These are definitely articles from a 21st Century woman.

I lent Rebecca my shoes for this painting, and I've known all along that it was somewhat biographical. The NYC subway map, the vintage linens, an empty wineglass, a book open to the page where the reader left off, a casual bunch of roses.....items personal to me, pinned to the line. I am smiling now, as she writes about it. These past two years have certainly been an adventure for me, both personally and professionally. And I have, indeed, traveled across continents for love.

In fact, I'm in the last stages of writing a book proposal for a memoir/self-help book about online dating for women over 40. I can’t tell you how many times women have asked me where I met my partner, and when I tell them I met him online they exclaim, “Oh, I could NEVER do that.” And I think to myself, “Oh, but you MUST do that!”

I decided to write the book as a practical guide to getting started, staying safe, and using the many resources available on the Internet to help women over 40 in their search for a compatible, loving partner. I think of it as a personal toolkit for women who hope to be in love again. The response so far has been very good, and when and if it's published there will be a lot more of my intimate life "hanging on the line"!

See Rebecca's blog by clicking on this link.
You on line: Chasing Rainbows

Sublime Summer Morning

I've just come in from whacking my way through the brambles (even in long sleeves my arms are scratched). It's wild raspberry season here in the Hudson Highlands, and breakfast starts with a bowl of fresh berries. It's a competition between myself, the birds, and the deer to see who gets the most, but I did pretty well this morning.

Incident in Manhattan

Shortly after 6:00 this evening I was at my computer when a news alert popped up on MSNBC: "Explosion Reported in Midtown Manhattan." Simultaneously, my cell phone began to ring. I answered the phone and heard my sister Joan's voice, sounding strained and scared. "Elizabeth. The explosion happened right outside my building. What is happening? I am trying to decide what is the safest direction to walk."

She was in her office on the seventh floor when the building started to shake, the windows were suddently covered with mud....and then the glass blew out. Everyone headed for the staircase and, since the building felt stable, had decided to stay there. They didn't know what they would encounter if they headed outside. Suddenly the police burst in, yelling "Get out, get out!" Which is when my beloved sister called me.

She said frantically into the phone, "Can you hear the sound?" I couldn't, given all the confusion. "It sounds like the biggest wind I have ever heard, and it just keeps going and going," she told me. My only advice, given the sketchy information available, was "take off your shoes" (being Joan, of course she was wearing useless shoes), "and head east as fast as you can."

Hours later, we know the details, and thank goodness, it was not as bad as we all originally feared, though certainly bad enough. I love my sister so much. It touched me more deeply than I can ever explain to know that her first call was to me, her big sister "Elizabeth." Thank you, God, for letting it be ok.

Nealons in residence at Highland Lake!

Every summer, in the second week of July, my family gathers at Highland Lake, Pennsylvania, near where I grew up. Most of us manage to make it every year, though we are scattered throughout the northeast, Minnesota, and Texas. This year nearly everyone is present - both of my parents, all nine of us siblings, six assorted spouses, and 22 of the 24 living grandchildren, who range in age from 2 to 20.

It is a wonderful time, with the kids constantly either in or on the water in paddle boats, canoes, and kayaks. We have to cook enough food for an army every day, but that's ok because my sisters and I make the most of the time we spend yakking, chopping and cooking together. I snapped these two photos, of lacrosse sticks and fishing rods, thinking with a smile that even if no one was in evidence outside the cabins, it would be obvious to any observer that the family is here in full force!

Lab Notes : Science, Censored

The Bush government continues to get away with murder, in this case censoring key scientific data because it does not support administration policies.

Click on the link below to read the article from Newsweek Magazine.

Lab Notes : Science, Censored

GOP blocks Gonzales no-confidence measure

GOP blocks Gonzales no-confidence vote -
Politics - MSNBC.com
The vote was 53-38, in favor of a "no confidence" resolution, two votes short of the 60 votes required.

"There is no confidence in the attorney general on this side of the aisle," said Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter voted to move the resolution forward, but he said many of his GOP colleagues would not because they feared political retribution.

The Senate Democrats pushed for this vote specifically to try to get their Republican colleagues to go on the record with their disapproval of Gonzales' performance, and by extension, the Bush administration. When there is a close vote on a major issue, I am always interested in both how my senators voted, and who did NOT make the vote. In this case, despite the closeness of the vote on this hotly debated this issue, only 91 senators voted (out of a possible 99 votes - Wyoming senator Craig Thomas died last week).

I took a look to see which 8 members of the Senate missed the vote (and incidentally avoided putting their sentiment, either way, into the Congressional Record). Five of them were presidential candidates - Christopher Dodd, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Sam Brownback and John McCain. Hillary Clinton was the only candidate for president who was present for the vote. The election is 17 months away. Wouldn't you think this vote was important enough to come off the campaign trail and be present for the roll call?

For those who are interested, here is how it broke down:

Voting "yes" were 45 Democrats, seven Republicans and one independent.

Voting "no" were no Democrats, 37 Republicans and one independent.

"Present" denotes those who voted they were present at the time of the vote but did not vote yes or no on the issue.

Democrats Yes
Akaka, Hawaii; Baucus, Mont.; Bayh, Ind.; Bingaman, N.M.; Boxer, Calif.; Brown, Ohio; Byrd, W.Va.; Cantwell, Wash.; Cardin, Md.; Carper, Del.; Casey, Pa.; Clinton, N.Y.; Conrad, N.D.; Dorgan, N.D.; Durbin, Ill.; Feingold, Wis.; Feinstein, Calif.; Harkin, Iowa; Inouye, Hawaii; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Klobuchar, Minn.; Kohl, Wis.; Landrieu, La.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.; Lincoln, Ark.; McCaskill, Mo.; Menendez, N.J.; Mikulski, Md.; Murray, Wash.; Nelson, Fla.; Nelson, Neb.; Pryor, Ark.; Reed, R.I.; Reid, Nev.; Rockefeller, W.Va.; Salazar, Colo.; Schumer, N.Y.; Stabenow, Mich.; Tester, Mont.; Webb, Va.; Whitehouse, R.I.; Wyden, Ore.

Democrats No
None

Democrats Not Voting
Biden, Del.; Dodd, Conn.; Johnson, S.D.; Obama, Ill.

Republicans Yes
Coleman, Minn.; Collins, Maine; Hagel, Neb.; Smith, Ore.; Snowe, Maine; Specter, Pa.; Sununu, N.H.

Republicans No
Alexander, Tenn.; Allard, Colo.; Bennett, Utah; Bond, Mo.; Bunning, Ky.; Burr, N.C.; Chambliss, Ga.; Cochran, Miss.; Corker, Tenn.; Cornyn, Texas; Craig, Idaho; Crapo, Idaho; DeMint, S.C.; Dole, N.C.; Domenici, N.M.; Ensign, Nev.; Enzi, Wyo.; Graham, S.C.; Grassley, Iowa; Gregg, N.H.; Hatch, Utah; Hutchison, Texas; Inhofe, Okla.; Isakson, Ga.; Kyl, Ariz.; Lott, Miss.; Lugar, Ind.; Martinez, Fla.; McConnell, Ky.; Murkowski, Alaska; Roberts, Kan.; Sessions, Ala.; Shelby, Ala.; Thune, S.D.; Vitter, La.; Voinovich, Ohio; Warner, Va.

Republicans Voting Present
Stevens, Alaska.

Republicans Not Voting
Brownback, Kan.; Coburn, Okla.; McCain, Ariz.

Others Yes
Sanders, Vt.

Others No
Lieberman, Conn.

Wal-Mart Heiress's Museum Unnerves Art Elite

Wal-Mart Heiress's Museum Unnerves Art Elites -
Newsweek Entertainment - MSNBC.com


I am not a fan of Wal-Mart. I find their stores to be overcrowded and disorganized, with not a single helpful person in sight. And, as a media producer, I am well aware of their massive economic power as the major "buyer" of creative content. The conservative political views of the Wal-Mart corporation, combined with their influence in the buying chain, means that unless we, the consumers, start to pay attention, we may find ourselves struggling to access any content that does not meet Wal-Mart's conservative "moral" standards.

All that said, I applaud Alice Walton's investment in the arts. And, I was taken aback at the vicious, racist tone of the comments on the article. People seem to think that Wal-Mart is solely responsible for American workers being downsized, outsourced, and outperformed. There is a whole lot more wrong with our politics, our economic policies, and our work ethic than Wal-Mart can possibly be responsible for.

I posted this comment on the Newsweek site, hoping to bring a bit of historical perspective into the dialogue. "Ruthless Industrialists" also happen to be our most avid art patrons, and it's a good thing!

(To The Editors)
Alice Walton is following in the long, distinguished tradition of philanthropy practiced by our nation’s powerful, wealthy, industrialist families. The United States, founded on a belief in the power of hard work and entrepreneurship, has built its “culture” in the same way that it built its economy – through deliberate investment in the long term by families who believed in the value of knowledge, as well as the acquisition of wealth.

Members of the Rockefeller family founded both MoMA (New York’s unparalleled Museum of Modern Art) and the Asia Society. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (an heir to the Vanderbilt shipping/railroad fortune) founded the Whitney Museum, one of the world's foremost collections of twentieth-century American art. The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles was established with his publishing/newspaper fortune. The Ford Family Foundation, whose goals are to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation and advance human achievement, was established in the early 20th century by Henry and Edsel Ford. The list goes on and on.

The United States does not have a tradition of expansive public funding of cultural institutions, as do major European cultural centers like Britain, France, Italy, etc. We are a capitalist nation, and if developing our cultural resources and legacy depended on meeting a bottom line, we would be in trouble.

Thank goodness for patrons like Alice Walton, who recognizes that given her good fortune and great wealth, she has an obligation to give back. It seems obvious to me that all the hoopla around her art investing is pure snobbery because the Walton family is from Arkansas, and not part of the East Coast/West Coast “aristocracy.”
Liz Nealon

Spring Dispatch from Storm King Mountain

Like all gardeners, I have been mostly out of commission for the past three weeks, engaged in the annual race to clean up the remnants of the autumn leaves and get seeds and plants into the ground after the danger of frost is past, but before it gets too hot for delicate seedlings. Normally I take a week's vacation from my job specifically to work in the garden. This year, since I'm working at home, I had the luxury of spending quality time, and it has really paid off.

My house is situated deep in the forest on the north face of the mountain. Though it is a beautiful spot full of native wildlife, it also means that I am engaged in an ongoing struggle with the deer who eat all my plants and shubbery. In addition, this year I have been doing battle with a little gopher, who has worked diligently behind me each evening, digging up everything I plant, neatly laying it on its side next to the empty hole! I don't use traps in the garden (I figure the animals and I are sharing this patch of earth). I also don't use chemicals, since we eat herbs, edible flowers and vegetables that grow there. Luckily I found a biodegradeable, granular spread called MoleMax, which is activated by water and repels burrowing animals. For the deer, I am using a spray called Liquid Fence (all natural ingredients like hot peppers and rotten eggs which make everything taste terrible), combined with a technique suggested by an Amish gardener near Highland Lake, Pennsylvania (where I grew up, and still vacation with my siblings and their kids). She puts chicken wire on the ground around plants that she doesn't want deer to eat, and told me that they hate to step on the wire. I have tried it around my azaleas and some flowering perennials. So far, so good.

Today, for the first time in weeks, I didn't spend the cool morning hours hauling gravel, digging, and planting. Instead, I took a cup of coffee, my camera and tripod, and photographed the results of my work.



Usually, the sage in my kitchen garden is an annual - I have to replant every spring. This year, the weather was so mild that my sage wintered over, and I have a HUGE patch which is flowering (I've never had sage flower before - very exciting!).

This is a Dock-Spider, which I found warming itself on one of my paving stones. It is a beauty - nearly 3-inches in diameter.







My Clematis didn't flower last year (often the case with a new planting), but it is in full bloom this Spring.









I love the perfect symbiosis between ants and peonies. The ants drink the nectar, and their constant movement is thought to help open the dense, double flower buds. This bloom was literally trembling on the verge of opening when I photographed it this morning. As I post this afternoon, the flower is open and the ant is gone - his work is done!


Lots of wrought iron - both new and antique - in the shady "Angel Garden."
































The Garden Shed











And finally, the porch. We are ready for "a long summer's rest" here in Cornwall-on-Hudson!

Showers with Occasional Sunny

The weather was generally good for Memorial Day weekend, though we had an odd mix of sun and thunderstorms on Sunday. Jules Kelly captured the moment in a striking photograph.

Flowers in our Hair

I was so pleased that Jules, my 15-year-old, decided to give me a "breakfast hike" for Mother's Day. I used to do it often as a treat when she was little, but in recent years she has flat-out refused to consider an early morning hike to be a pleasant thing. Which is fair - she's a teenager, after all.

This year, she knew that a hike in the woods would please me more than anything she could buy me. We prepared breakfast together (lox & bagels, and a bowl of fresh strawberries), packed our knapsack, and headed up into Black Rock Forest for a wonderful morning - just like the old days!

The Hush Sound

Great set - which will be on YouTube before the night is out. The crowd in front of me is a sea of camera/phones...

Dusk at the Bamboozle Festival

Amazing. There are 200 bands on multiple stages, and this schedule runs like clockwork....bands go on EXACTLY when the program says. I saw the lead singer for a band called The Audition surreptitiously glance at his watch while he was rocking out on their last song, to be sure he was finishing on time. How times have changed! Heading over to see The Hush Sound (who I love), and we'll call it a night.

(posted from my mobile phone)

On the Scene

Our girls (and their friend Matt) looking really "scene."
(photo taken shortly after one of Julia's Converse shoes fell off and a random guy picked it up and threw it away in the crowd. Yikes!)

Boys Like Girls

Jules posted this photo of Martin Johnson - Singer/Guitarist for Boys Like Girls. So much for my caution to stay out of the mosh pit!

Bamboozle Festival Day

This morning I'm psyching myself up for the 12-hour Bamboozle Festival, 5 stages in the parking lot of the Meadowlands Arena. I am chaperoning three 15-year-olds.....so funny, after all my years at MTV, to be the grownup, rather than the participant! It's actually a pretty great lineup - The Hush Sound, New Found Glory, My Chemical Romance, and a whole lot of alternative bands I've never heard before but will probably enjoy. And out of the blue, M.C. Hammer is on one of the small stages. So, at least there will be SOMEBODY else as old as I am in the house!


..// THE BAMBOOZLE \\..

After the Deluge, An Explosion into Spring

Wow. No sooner did the flood water abate (six inches of rain in less than 24 hours) than the trees in my garden leapt into bloom.

If my beloved Grandma Ruthven were still here, she would quote the springtime poem that I loved as a little girl:

Spring is sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where
The flowers is?




posted from my mobile phone

Nor'easter Slams the Hudson Highlands

Nearly 6 inches of rain have fallen in the last 24 hours, with more still to come. As the heavy rains tapered off this afternoon, traffic nearly stopped on Route 32 in Cornwall as people gathered at the edge of the bridge over Moodna Creek to marvel at the power and intensity of the water.

Click on the link below for a slideshow of photos of the flood waters here in Cornwall-on-Hudson.
C-o-H Flood Photos

Do-It-Yourself IMUS

I'm smiling to myself this morning, listening to Dierdre Imus and Charles McCord host the last day of the Imus show, which happens to be the last day of their annual WFAN Radioathon to benefit the CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch for Kids with Cancer. They are going to raise more money this year than they ever have in the previous 17 years. If you have to get fired, this timing couldn't be better!

The tone today is very serious - I am sure Don Imus is wishing that he had told Dierdre to lay back and let Charles take the lead. He can't say it to her while she's on the air, and Charles is courteously laying low - almost a non-presence on the show. Her sincerity and passion for the work with children are carrying her through what otherwise would be a dull, stumbling, amateur presentation.

So, if you want the show to feel like Imus in the Morning, you need to fill in the blanks yourself. I just heard Station Manager Joel Hollander come on and do a passionate defense of the work they do together, promising to carry it on (it was the death of Hollander's infant daughter, CJ, that inspired Imus's passion for finding the cause(s) of SIDS). Hollander was outspoken and supportive - brave coming from an executive who is still working for CBS Radio. If Imus had been there, he would have said "Joel, I'm starting to feel bad about all the times I have trashed you on the show.......but then again, you are a butt-kissing wienie." I was wishing Charles would have said it, but I'm sure many long-time listeners like myself were saying it anyway!

It's 10am, Charles is signing off WFAN for the last time. I will miss Imus in the morning, and look forward to his return in another forum, hopefully one that I can access in my car!

Tiny capsules (containing reproductive spores) are sprouting from the moss in the forest this time of year. They looked so soft and delicate, I just had to brush my face against them. In fact, they are even softer than I had imagined. Diminutive velvet fronds caressing my cheek…..

Spring Comes to the Hudson Highlands

Though it is wet and foggy this morning, Spring is definitely in the air!

I've been out photographing all morning (just finished wiping the mud off my camera gear). Here, especially for my NYC friends, are some images of Spring. I expect we'll be hearing the Peepers (thousands of tree frogs who live in the woods & marshes) any night now.

Snowdrops are always the first to push through the leaves. They have been open for a couple of weeks now.


Some of the brightest greens of early Spring are in the mosses.




How is that for a fungus?! Looks like the tail of a whale breaking the surface.....





The Lenten Roses are open right on schedule. It is always such a thrill to see them nodding in the leaves.


Last but not least, the Pussy Willows. Happy Spring, everybody!

Final post from South Africa - online from the airport. On my wrist are a South African flag bracelet that I bought in Soweto this morning and a band from the Cradle of Mankind caves (hence the bare footprint & early homnid skull images).
It has been a busy week - I'm ready to go home and. I'm happy to leave with a pocketful of cards from new friends who I feel sure I will visit again someday....
(posted from my mobile phone).