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.

So very grateful that classes begin Tuesday, that we had auditions yesterday. The need to ready things for more online teaching, for the semester ahead, is an effective deterrent to reading the news.

Because the news is just ever more horrid. Of course, hoping that the incoming administration is able to achieve its goals, which are astoundingly ambitious. Here’s hoping that Congress will work with him. So very bizarre, after the years’ past, to hear half of Congress making claims for the need for unity. It’s all just deeply disingenuous, so clearly all about trying to get back $ lost from the many corporations who’ve recently cut them off.

And one has to wonder about what took these companies so long to actually “stand.”

I found last night’s entry by Heather Richardson an ...