November 23rd

Well tomorrow is a big day for eating and giving thanks. Mostly what I am thankful for is lots to eat... No really, I am grateful for my health and my family, all things considered.

The NaBloPoMo prompt for today is, What piece of music changed your life forever? And I would have to say, Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. I was in high school chorus and we performed this at Christmas time to a very full audience. (There were nearly 200 of us in the combined choir.) My parents didn't come; my friend and her mother drove us to the concert. Up until that time I had considered myself a pretty hot vocalist; in addition to the women's chorus and mixed chorus, I sang in the church choir, and I could read a piece of music (a regular hymn, I mean) in the alto part and sing it right without hearing it first. I played classical guitar fairly well, and some bluegrass too, though my calluses were not tough enough to play a long time.

But that night at the recital, finally hearing all the voices at once singing this incomparably beautiful piece of music, I realized I would never be anything but a dilettante in music, because I lacked the discipline and single-minded drive to be excellent. And even now, when I hear the Hallelujah Chorus, it brings a lump to my throat, and I remember how all our voices soared in the big auditorium, and how I never again felt that way about music and performing.

***************************************

Change of subject: I had another cancer treatment today, and it went very smoothly, no reactions and back home by 11:30, where I sacked out for two hours. I feel pretty good now, and the pies for tomorrow are baking and sending me mad for a taste. You know, cake you can taste, and I do, when you shave off the very top of one of the layers to make it perfectly flat and then dab on a bit of icing, yum. But there is no way to sneak a sample of pie, you just have to wait for dessert time to roll around, by which point you are so sated on the rest of the meal, pie is nice but not a terrific encore. But I will struggle along as best I can, eating some of everything including pie, and then I will need another two hour nap to recover, I am sure.

Hope all of you have a good holiday and time to spend with family and friends near and far. And if Thanksgiving is not a holiday for you, I hope you fix an extraordinary meal just the same, Thanksgiving making a wonderful excuse to overindulge this one day.





Thought for the day: "My mind works like lightning. One brilliant flash and it's gone."