Greenville, looking south to Surf City, NC.

The day started in the best way, with a call from Jackson:

It’s pretty darned cold up there around Jackson, so there’s not too much outdoor time many days. But they all seem to be doing fine. The pix above make clear exactly what brings Jackson’s biggest smiles–the view of Frankie!

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Then we pack up the best we could for a relocating trip to Surf City. Of course we forgot a few things, but we’ll retrieve those when I head back to G’ville next weekend for a diving class (learning about a full-face mask–just curious).

So, onward to cleaning and setting up as much as we can before collapsing fro...

Am thrilled to note that the Surf City place is nearly inhabitable again. We had a few usable weeks last summer, between finishing the rehab post-hurricane Florence (hit Sept. 14, 2018), and the arrival of hurricane Isaias (August 4, 2020). So it really feels as though we’ve not been there for real for 2 1/2 years, and we’re very excited about seeing this come to an end. I’d installed a “blink” camera to see the place remotely (as I’ve done to the exterior here in Greenville), and yesterday’s view showed workers nearly finishing up the flooring downstairs. We’ll head down there this weekend; the plan is to stay, teach from there, etc.

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Now we see our nation’s representatives balking at removing an absolute loon from responsibilities on committees...

Good to know that the snow provided entertainment for the young among us…

From this morning’s lengthy video call from NY, waking up through breakfast-success with utensils…couldn’t ask for a better start to the day.

Waking this morning to a few inches of snow. Nothing compared to what folks up north and out in northern CA are getting, but nice to see. Of course, given the rarity of such an event here in eastern NC (maybe once/year), things will certainly slow down. Those schools that are teaching in person have all posted two hour delays, given the state of the roads, and drivers’ unfamiliarity with these conditions.

In our backyard, Frankie moved from her perch on my side of the bed, out into the snow for the first time…

On other fronts, beyond weather…learning a few new technical tricks to implement in teaching...

Now in our second week of classes, and things going significantly more smooth than last semester. No small part of that is that the most content-intensive of my classes are meeting over the full fifteen weeks, rather than the compressed way we did things last semester.

Have finally completed the song for my colleague, Dan Shirley. Sent it to him about ten days ago, just to get feedback before printing/binding. I’m delighted (if not a bit surprised) that not only does he not have any suggestions for adjustments, but he really does seem to love it. We’ll see what suggestions might come from the pianist, as I’m always looking for ways to clarify and improve things from the performers’ perspective. At any rate, Nothing Stands on XII from A.E...

The start of a new year for me, and feeling good about it. Feeling healthy, optimistic, and sensing that I’m approaching the final 20-30% of this voyage with lots of good energy, interests in new things, still motivated to make music, excited by new ideas, and just plain happy to be alive.

My birthday yesterday was buy with teaching and school-stuff–all good stuff, to boot. And also got two video-calls from Jackson, which made the day extra special. This image, from the first call of the day, got me going on the right foot–

wow, what a day yesterday was. And one of the many highlights of the days was hearing this fabulous talent do her thing:

What a wonderful way to start the day

As the sun sets on this horrendous four years, let’s keep these reminders handy.