Exultate!

Claye and I traveled a ways yesterday evening to listen to a concert by the Lawton Pro Musica--a chamber choir. Since Elijah and Marie are members of this 14-member ensemble, we wanted to hear the performance, particularly since Marie had informed me that Elijah had a solo. Not being too sure of what to expect, and even suspecting that it might be all Latin and German numbers, or, worse yet, modern classical music with its screeches and jagged edges, I almost packed my Kindle. Fortunately, the concert was far from that. In fact, it was quite enjoyable.

The singers were almost all music educators, either in or retired from the school system or music ministers in area churches. The singing was exceptional. Also, and this really matters to me, the songs were meaningful!

From the Gregorian chant, "Creator of the Starry Skies", through hymn medleys and Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, to I Got a Home in-a That Rock, they encouraged my soul.

The setting--St. Andrew's Episcopal Church--and the lighting--subdued as it struck the ancient wooden beams and stained glass--only added to the mood of peacefulness.

The audience even got to participate in a couple of numbers, one of which was a total surprise to me. I knew that Gustav Holst had written "The Planets", which includes a composition for each of those heavenly bodies. (My grandchildren like to imagine they are space-traveling while that music is playing; they hop to the right planet when they hear the music for it) What I didn't know was that Holst had composed hymn lyrics to go with the main theme for Jupiter. Somehow I had never imagined that. The song is called O God, Beyond All Praising.

Our evening was well worth the trip...and Elijah's solo was excellent.

Here are the Lyrics to Gustav Holst' Hymn

 O God, beyond all praising we worship You today

And sing the love amazing that songs cannot repay;

For we can only wonder at ev'ry gift You send,

At blessings without number and mercies without end;

We lift our hearts before You and wait upon Your Word,

We honor and adore You, our great and mighty Lord.

Then hear, O gracious Savior, accept the love we bring,

That we who know Your favor may serve You as our King;

And whether our tomorrows be filled with good or ill,

We'll triumph through sorrows and rise to praise You still:

To marvel at Your beauty and glory in Your ways

and make a joyful duty our sacrifice of praise.

Spring Fever

It affects students in different ways.
Some study harder, totally determined to focus on the finish.



Others endow the most solemn and stoic of sports with undue fervor.

and a few just sit and stare with wistful longing out the window.

Peach Products

Last night we cut up peaches and canned eight pints of peach stuff. I'm not sure whether to call it jam, preserves,cobbler filling, pie filling or waffle syrup. That will have to be decided when we open it and see how well it set up. All I know is that it tastes scrumptious. It took Turtle and me a couple of hours to peel and slice the fruit...and I wish I could say the job was finished. However, under the red checkered tablecloth, ripening quietly and steadily on the cool kitchen bar there is more fruit--demanding attention. Sigh. Why does making jam/syrup/filling/yummy peach stuff take so much work?



Ah well, school enrollment is today and students will be following bells all day tomorrow. I've papers to run off, books to find, a bulletin to revise, and a room to clean. Hopefully, by next week all the students will be sitting quietly in their desks, looking as different as my peaches on the bar. Yep, there will probably be a couple of pears in there and maybe a plum or two. They will ripen nicely...but I think the analogy had better stop there. I've philosophized myself into a corner.

Decorating the Classroom

School begins next week, and with "open house" fast approaching, Elijah asked Claye for some help in decorating his elementary music classroom. He had one poster of musical instruments that she had drawn for him last year, but with four bulletin boards and a blackboard to fill with something interesting, he was a little short on time.

Last week, Claye drew a ninja figure for him--It represents classroom hall behavior. Each class earns different colored belts for how well they follow the ninja code: I will move quickly; I will move quietly; I will not be separated from the other ninja. He still has to post the code and hang the ribbon belts on the other side of the front chalkboard.





Yesterday, we left the house early so Claye could have the entire day in Elijah's classroom, creating a musical scene for the blackboard. It was supposed to be a normal, light, music filled landscape, but, since the blackboard was black, the colors were difficult to achieve, and a light sky nearly impossible. We turned it into a moonlit extravaganza and it began to look surreal. Claye worked on the original gazebo and all the characters, while I tried to help by coloring the background, and cleaning the classroom. Elijah and Marie were in and out, sorting, organizing, vacuuming and destroying spider webs.





I don't know why the spiders enjoy hanging out in that room, since there are as many as 60 children in there at one time--singing or playing on simple instruments. Elijah teaches, using the accordion, trumpet, trombone, violin, various guitars, drums, and even a set of harmonicas. It's a noisy place--right across the hall from the library, oddly enough.

Anyway, the room looked great--well almost great. That huge bulletin board above the piano could have used a few more drawings, and the map of the world needed to be hung yet, but we all called it a day around 8:30 in the evening. Elijah and Marie took us out to the little local cafe for a very good pizza supper. Bearing chalk smudges on our faces like commandos, we visited quietly, ate quickly, and and drove home towards a pile of lightning in the Northern sky.