Winter solstice has arrived. The longest night, of one of the longest years. Not so sure that things will only get better from here, but the days will have more hours of light, and that’ll be nice.

Pattie and I really needed to do something to change the routine. With Surf City out of commission for, likely, at least another month, we’re really feeling every bit as ‘locked in’ as everyone else. So Pattie found a new hotel down in Beaufort (on the water, near where we departed for a diving trip last June), with a restaurant that looked nice. We went down Saturday, just for a night.

We stopped in to Pattie’s brother’s, near Beaufort, in Morehead City...

The bright spots in the days, without question, come via NY. THis morning’s video call might require some narration…Jackson does give kisses, but also gets a kick out of the next best thing, “smelling noses.”

A pair of fabulous, thought-provoking pieces

Some pix from last month, which I neglected to post.

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A project on the list is a collaboration with a faculty colleague choreographer. John Dixon wants to explore the idea (rather than the literal text) of a Requiem. [Perhaps I’ve noted this project in prior posts; not sure.]. This would involve dancers in the outdoors and, in my mind, sort of like a New Orleans 2nd line, but with dancers instead of musicians. I am imagining ‘speakers’ mounted on dancers limbs, and me able to control multiple speakers independently–rather than sending the same signal/sound to every speaker.

And that’s not quite as simple as i thought it might be...

Here we are, surpassing the number of Covid-19 cases from the spring. As in Europe, this second wave is horrific. Our inability to take basic steps, i.e., wearing a mask and keeping distance, is just astounding. Smart enough to figure out the steps to avoid disaster, but not smart enough to implement those steps.

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An ‘album’ of a few of my pieces seems to be nearing completion and release. The recordings took place January 28-29, 2019, the first edits made available for my review on November 7. A year later, things may be getting closer to completion.

I’ve checked in with some friends and colleagues with more experience than I, and it seems that this is actually normal...

’tis the season

Hoping you enjoyed a reasonable day yesterday, wherever you were. As large gatherings aren’t really something I particularly enjoy, our day here was quite relaxing. Joe, Cristin, Jackson, and Ellie departed before 10am; clearly it was a good idea to travel on t-day, as they were home before 6pm. Less than 8 hours is quick, so. that worked out well.

Just a sheer joy to have them visiting. All day fun with Jackson, a pleasure to get to see him growing. One of the biggest treats was when we all just leave him alone and watch him play on his own. He’s enjoying time on his own–of course, at his age, wanting to know that someone was nearby. He’s doing great.

We pretty much spent the day giving th...

One final day with our special guests, as Joe, Cristin, Jackson, and Ellie will try to avoid traffic by driving back north on t-day. They’ll have been on the road more than three weeks; similar to what they did in early July. Really glad they’re able to get these trips in, and just hope they find a way to get closer to us sooner, rather than later.

A few shots from Crystal Beach, Jackson’s first visit to see the clan there.

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Feeling a bit defeated this morning, so it’s good that Jackson, et al, will reach us at some point this evening.

Defeated and deflated as it now seems Surf City will remain out of reach until well into January; and flights to Bonaire (3-week scuba diving trip booked in February) are cancelled. So, in short, feeling just like the rest of the world.

The headlines continue to make one thing so very clear to me: Trump and his minions are vile. Absolutely vile. I truly wish I understood how 70 million people find him a good leader, a good person to hold the seat of POTUS. It seems obvious to me that it’ll take decades for US politics to straighten out, and it’ll take a major crisis to bring the country together; likely a war. I don’t believe I’ll see a day when the country comes together.

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I’m fascinated by this idea of “silent meetings.” I’d like to find a way to use this in teaching. I’ll continue to read up on the role of facilitator of such meetings, and see if I can come up with a way to execute this in a solid pedagogical setting–either remote or in-person.

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Joe, et al, are he...