21 December 2024
The cold virus marches on. I’m not sure if I’m still infectious or not but chose not to take a chance and turned down a lunch offer for today with Barb, Joel and Keith. I didn’t want to give them what I’ve got. So far today, it’s been cough and runny nose. Last night it was cough and sore throat. I seem to be running through a checklist of symptoms.
Today was wash day and I finished that up around 2 pm. In between time I was figuring out where to store some of the things AJ wanted me to have for taking down the Christmas tree.
I ordered 4 roll-under-the-bed bins from Amazon to store the decorations of the tree.
Apparently, you layer the decorations in these bins with bubble wrap between layers. That leads me to bubble wrap.
This wouldn’t fit under the bed. I strung it up in the utility room so it can spin off the bubble wrap. I have no idea how much he will need but I suspect I’ll have a lot left over.
Two of the bins came yesterday at one time. The second set of bins arrived much later. The UPS guy must have missed the second box on his first delivery. I thought everything was so computerized it would be hard for any miss deliveries. Oh well, at least it arrived.
You know I’ve been listening to 50’s and 60’s music lately. Last night I shifted to gospel/religious. One religious song I was not familiar with until a few years ago was “You Raise Me Up” by Selah. The lyrics were written by Brian Kennedy and the song composed by Rolf Løvland. It has one of the most haunting melodies I’ve heard in a while with beautiful lyrics. The song doesn’t have to be religious, it could be about any individual.
Other than songs like “This Old Man” and “Itsy Bisty Spider” the first real songs I learned were in Sunday school or church. Although I am no longer religious, the music still has a strong pull on me. A good hymn will move me as much as Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”
I keep going back to the time Tom, Kurt and I went to Lips for Easter Brunch (bottomless mimosas) and the drag queens sang hymns. Kurt looked over at Tom and me with a look of awe. Tom and I knew all the words to the hymns.
The most moving gospel/religious song I ever heard was “The Holy City” by a guest soprano at a Methodist Church service in Morton. Our Church had burned and we met Sunday day service at the local Baptist Church and the Sunday night service at the Presbyterian Church. It was at the Baptist Church that I first heard the song. The soprano’s voice sent chills down my spine and it was all I could do to stay in my seat during her performance. Music really does have the ability to move the soul.
It reminds me of Handel’s “Messiah” where you are supposed to stand for the Hallelujah chorus based on the idea King George II was so moved he stood at the London premier in 1743 (when the king stands, everyone does) although there is no evidence he even attended.
Something akin to that occurred with the first opera I saw at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco many years ago. It was the Act II duet of Rigoletto, my favorite opera.
These were not the two singers in the opera I saw but their voices are similar to the performance I heard in San Francisco. Mine was the 2006 version performed by Gavanelli and Swenson whose voices in the Act II duet were the most harmonious I had ever heard. I was sitting next to two old ladies who I established a rapport with and who were season ticket holders. I could tell they were as moved as I by the performance.
Maybe you remember the old television show “Name That Tune?” I was an avid watcher. As the years have accumulated, I’m pretty good at naming that tune these days when I listen to the radio. It’s a sure bet that if I don’t know the tune, my brother Archie does.
Stay tuned!