Jim & Carol in AZ

OK, I'm a little slow in posting that we had visitors from Nome. To add to our holiday fun, Jim and Carol were in Arizona at the end of December for a couple days. This overlapped with N and K being in town.

After spending a few days in Yuma, they arrived on the evening of the Holiday Bowl (December 27); we had a bunch of folks around watching ASU get killed by Texas. Among other fine activities, Jim tested the "Estaban" guitar the next day.

We had some fine food adventures - Richardson's for lunch on 12/28, Patricia made the patented pork (with serrano chilies) for 12/28 dinner. Carol and Jim hiked Piestewa Peak (f/k/a Squaw Peak) with me on 12/29, after which we joined the rest of the group (other than Kerry, who had headed back east) for lunch at House of Tricks and a campus tour at ASU. That's chronicled in these photos.

V. nice to have them in town, we all agree.

Try this (Christmas music)

It always takes me about a month to stop playing Christmas music. Because there simply is so much wonderful stuff out there. Usually by about this point in January I finally start putting everything away.

Here is a gift for those who may not be familiar with "O Magnum Mysterium" - written in 1994 for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Turn down background noise, listen to this about three times in a row, and see if this doesn't go onto your list of favorite Christmas music.

There are many things I like about this song, not the least of which is the manner in which the composer slowly and gently builds the song as he goes along . . . it keeps getting better. And it is sung in Latin, which automatically gives it some extra punch.



And how could you beat the title ("o magnum mysterium" = "o great mystery") - how better to distill the Christmas story into three words? The words are taken from a traditional responsorial chant for Christmas from Matins (early morning service) (full translation etc. is available here.) So this piece, while a new setting, has centuries of tradition behind it. Numerous musical settings have been put together, including one by Thomas Tallis in the 16th century - also delightful (as is normally the case with his music).

I don't know anything about the composer; there is some information in this article from Minnesota public radio. I didn't know until today that the setting here was specifically written for the LA Master Chorale. We first heard the recording at a Christmas dinner at Linda Prideaux's house several years ago; we borrowed the CD that night and burned a copy. But the original disappeared for about three years, only to be discovered when Kerry cleaned out her room before moving to the DC area. So KHG has good taste, if a bit of klepto tendency . . .

Photos are from covers of a couple albums that feature the song.

Today is My Dad's 79th Birthday

Well, my papa turned 79 today. I imagine he'll be talking about what a nice day it is in early January in northern Iowa (just like every year).

Something that I always thought was neat when I was a kid was that my father had been a good athlete in his day (and seemed to retain those skills to a goodly extent, though we didn't get to see it in action very often). Why should that be important to a kid? Who knows. Athletics are vastly over-marketed these days, but that doesn't change the fact that there are lots of positive elements. I know that I personally have tremendously enjoyed every level of competition in which I've participated, and some of the hype about learning personal initiative and teamwork is legitimate. And in a continuously miserable TV market, traditional sports programming (i.e. games) generally remains the most interesting choice available. (It may not be the optimal path to self-improvement, but at least you don't get steadily dumber while you watch.)

Anyway, I liked that he wasn't some uncoordinated or out-of-shape dork. I could hit high school pitching pretty well at one time, but the guy to this day has a better constructed swing with a baseball bat than I ever developed. If you want somebody to hit fungoes, get him out there. I enjoyed the stories about Romie and him playing basketball and baseball together, including on the high school teams.

I also enjoyed that he was well versed in basketball and baseball and could discuss the goings-on so well. And how about that pronunciation of the All-Star Game (emphasis on second word).

He wasn't the type to continually shower praise if we did something well in our sports endeavors, but that just made the occasional comment much more meaningful. Maybe I'm old fashioned (or just a bit Germanic), but I think that's more effective than the nonstop praise (not to mention trophies) showered on young participants these days regardless of the quality of their accomplishments (or even their effort). So for example I still remember a comment of his about a good pass I made in a basketball game against St. Edmond's.

And it was nice to have support for our athletic efforts such that we could leave the workplace early and attend a practice or game as needed - many a time I left the sheller crew behind under such circumstances. Nice.

Top photo: hitting fungoes to the grandkids at the farm in August 1999. Bottom photo: teaming up with Margaret House for a narrow victory over Patrick and Paul in House backyard, August 1998. As always, click to enlarge.

Happy #79.