November 1, 2009
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, Abraham and Christian!
I am listening to the Three Tenors with Zubin Mehta. Imagine what our ward choir would sound like if I could just sing like one of the three tenors! In fact, if God gave me the choice of choosing the talent of Lionel Messi or Luciano Pavarotti, I would choose Pavarotti.
You might have seen Rosalynde’s most recent post at ST. Louis Today, cross-linked at Times and Seasons: http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/10/day-of-the-dead-lord-of-life/, or http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/music/2009/10/day-of-the-dead-lord-of-life/ . It is a delicious morsel. Rosalynde, I suppose you knew when you accepted the invitation that you would have to have a bit of a thick skin – writing in a public forum as a Latter-day Saint. Two of your commenter at SL Today, rather than accepting the obvious good will with which you made your post, with ecumenical kudos to other faith traditions, decided to be Snarky and inject Brahms’ humanism and make not-so-subtle digs at the Latter-day Saints. You replied with grace and restraint – congratulations. You do write so deliciously. I actually thought your post would draw more comments on both sites.
I sent out my choir announcement Thursday evening to our ward email list. As part of the announcement, I made a suggestion to the Bp to hold church on top of Angels Landing in Zions Canyon where the voices of the choir could mingle with the Angels. I warned the younger couples to keep hold of their toddlers and keep hold of the chain as they went over the 3 foot wide path with 1,000 foot drop-off, and I recommended that the sisters not wear their high heels as part of their Sunday dress. I also attached the pictures and account of my hike through Zions that I sent to you last week. I found out that many people in the ward do actually look at the email. They all liked and several seconded the idea of having church on top of Angels Landing. One person told me he actually took it seriously, until he read the part about Sunday dress and high heels, then he knew it was a spoof!
Wednesday evening I went to the High School orchestral concert. I have several observations. We are lucky to have so many Korean Americans in our district, or we would not have much of an orchestra. Second, I think we are seeing how much Sue Hamre meant to the Music Program at LCHS. The orchestral program was a little bit of a downer. There was not sense of enthusiasm or artistry. There was no showmanship. The auditorium was drab. Let me illustrate. When one walked in, there was no one to meet and greet. In the middle of the foyer, two tables were set up with refreshments. The amount of refreshments was pitifully small, and therefore looked pathetic rather than sumptuous. Further, no kept watch over it, so the students – read Jr. High – who were not performing, rather than sitting and listening, went into the foyer and consumed everything. Third, Mr. Brookey, the drama teacher, has taken over the auditorium. (No complaint there – he is doing a great job.) As a result, the walls near the stage are painted a dingy black (good for theatre, since props are brought in and you need dark walls), the curtains are black, the chairs for the orchestra are black, the music stands are black. (I suggested to Eva green stands and yellow chairs – but she thought that might look too much like Elementary School.) As you know, the auditorium itself is a bit dark. Therefore, everything appeared dark and drab, and the physical surroundings seemed to leech into the performance. I place the responsibility both on the music department and the orchestra parents association for not recognizing these problems in advance and avoiding them. (I will write a letter with my suggestions.) The music was not bad, just not particularly polished. Brahms’ Hungarian Dances was a delightful piece, and the final number (my mind went blank) – Mozart, I think, a double concerto for violin and viola – performed by Mick and Stacy Wetzel – was also wonderful. The other numbers needed work, and the smaller chamber numbers by members of the orchestra did not scintillate. (I am sorry – this is the most negative review I have ever given.) Of course I enjoyed seeing Eva on stage – at least I got to see her walk on and walk off. Unfortunately, I had chosen a seat from which I could not see her during the performance.
I came home Monday evening in time for FHE, and we had a nice discussion around the dinner table – reading scriptures and using Preach My Gospel. Tuesday and Thursday were normal workdays. Earlier in the week, I had invited Mama to go to “Where the Wild Things Are”, to which she readily agreed. However, as you know, by Friday evening, Mama needs R&R (military – I think – for Rest and Recuperation), especially after the manual labor in the temple that day. She had fallen asleep on the couch in the landing, and didn’t have the energy to go to a movie. So I read, worked at my desk, and watched a little bit of soccer while doing so. Friday evening, I also had a fun conversation with Christian. By the number of times he yawned, I could tell he also needed to go to bed.
Saturday, I did not go to my office, although I think I should have. Instead, I washed my truck, which I hadn’t done in 6 weeks or more. It looks pretty good now. I wiped off the interior and cleaned the windows on the inside. They washed Mama’s car, although she protested that she had washed it last week. She would rather I work on my desk. But I washed the wheels, so they shine now, and cleaned out the interior. Then I did actually go work on my desk a bit. Everything that I stored under the desk, I sorted, threw away a portion, and boxed the other items (tax returns) up and put them away out of sight. Then I found out that I had failed another one of Mama’s tests for me. The (fake) shutter next to the window facing the street in Gabrielle’s room has been falling apart – that is slats have been falling out and dangling. I had noticed, and said to myself we need to paint the house and fix the shutter. Mama’s experiment was to see how long I would go before I did something about it. I failed the test because her endurance came to an end before mine. So I went out and retrieved as many of the slats as possible, reinserted them, put clams on the shutter to press the sides together, and screwed on a brace to keep the shutter from bowing out and losing the slats again. So it looks better now, but still looks like a half repair job. However, I had become tired of the ivy taking over some of the trees along the walls in the backyard. In particular, the ivy had surrounded one of the apple trees in the back yard. So I went and removed the ivy from the tree – no I just have to bundle the discarded ivy for trash removal. Each Saturday I believe I will attack a section of ivy until the ivy gives up. Finally, on the home improvement front, the water from our water filter has become discolored and distasteful. So Saturday evening about 9 pm I drove to the Home Depot and bought a new filter that I installed this morning. The old filter had disintegrated into a slimy mess. Now the water is clear and the ice in the freezer is doing fine. I can’t believe I did four home-improvement type projects in one weekend.
During the week, I went riding my bicycle twice to the Rose Bowl and back, and went running once. Then Saturday afternoon, Eva and I went to play tennis for 45 minutes. She is improving each time we went out. It will be another year before she challenges Serena Williams however. After tennis, I played soccer across the street. We had about 30 show up and had a fun time.
I have no pictures this week. I keep forgetting to bring my camera to the school events to get pictures of Eva. I will repent and get some for you.
I believe for some of you Rush Limbaugh does not appeal – he can be quite sarcastic and sometimes even more pointed. But he usually has a sharp sense of humor. (Even Camille Paglia likes to listen to Rush, even though she has fundamental disagreements.) But I think you still have to admit that this riff by Rush is humorous (the context is the White House claims of how many jobs have been “saved” or “created” by the “stimulous” bill (which Rush Limbaugh call the “porkulus bill”) earlier this year and Pres. Obama’s penchant for always blaming everything on Pres. Bush):
RUSH: By the way, from State-Controlled Associated Press: "The White House also today announced the results of a study indicating impressive results in President Obama's post-Bush Afghanistan war effort. According to a report overseen by Vice President Biden, two-and-a-half million Afghan lives were created or saved thanks to President Obama. The White House study indicates that had President Obama maintained the Bush-Cheney-Rove war strategy, 500,000 additional American and Afghan soldiers would have been killed, one million Afghan citizens would have perished due to Bush-inspired battlefield tactics, and one million Afghans would not be born as a result of Bush's misguided strategy.
"Biden said there's no question that had George Bush still been the commander-in-chief, millions of Afghanis wouldn't be here to give their heartfelt thanks to President Obama. 'Let me be clear. This White House is pleased with the results of our dithering. Hopefully further dithering by the president will create or save even more lives in the days and weeks ahead. Stay tuned.' When asked if President Obama can actually create and save lives, Vice President Biden said, 'Hell, yes, that's what messiahs do. He can also lower the seas and heal the sick when he isn't golfing or shooting hoops with the guys.'" So 500,000 additional American and Afghan soldiers would have been killed were it not for the Obama war strategy in Afghanistan.
RUSH: "Vice President Biden's office is saying that an additional 50,000 terrorists have not been created in Afghanistan due to President Obama's Afghanistan strategy." So, in addition, two-and-a-half million Afghan lives were created or saved, thanks to President Obama, 500,000 additional American and Afghan soldiers would have been killed had the Bush policies still been intact, one million Afghan citizens would have perished due to Bush-inspired battlefield tactics, and one million Afghans would not be born as a direct result of Bush's misguided strategy. And of those one million, 25,000 to 50,000 would not become terrorists." So the news is even better out of Afghanistan.
The White House has also just announced, via the department of Health and Human Services, that President Obama has saved five million American lives by having Kathleen Sebelius show them how to cough and wash their hands and be very wary of hand disinfectants. The numbers here just keep piling up, folks. It's a great day in the country. Five million American lives have been saved by President Obama by showing them how to cough correctly and to wash their hands. And this from the Commerce Department: "Due to President Obama's golf obsession, during a time of war and economic hardship, a Commerce Department study reports that President Obama's influence has created or saved at least 500,000 rounds of golf since taking office. Grateful country clubs and public golf courses have been phoning in their gratitude for the president's selfness and Herculean efforts to save their industry."
Five hundred thousand rounds of golf saved, despite the president saying, "The days of getting on your plane and heading out to Vegas" to play golf or whatever "are over," the people have still been inspired by his own multiple rounds of golf during a time of war and economic hardship. "Unnamed White House sources --" this is also the State-Controlled AP "-- an unnamed White House source also hints that early next week the White House will announce that President Obama has created or saved four-and-a-half million pickup basketball games, many of them at midnight, since his immaculation.
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
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