Last night I had the great pleasure of serving as piano accompanist for a recital featuring the young voice and piano students of Rita Torcaso, a very gifted young woman from Kenosha who sang under Polly at Tremper High School, sang under me in Carthage’s Chamber Singers, and student taught with Kathy, so we have
I went on a verbal rampage a few days ago about the worst thing about NBC’s Olympic coverage (which otherwise is quite laudable). . . the inane “how does it feel? what’s going through your mind? what does this mean to you?” questions that seem to be the best that any of these poolside, trackside,
For some reason, every time I start writing about the Beijing Olympics I have a bad case of the Crabs and can do nothing but complain. . . which is weird because I have enjoyed so much about them. And last night was some of the neatest stuff yet, courtesy of the wonderful sport of
Let me rewind to our recent visit in Decorah and touch on a couple of less than magnificent moments in what was otherwise a truly wonderful visit. . . Regret #1- My sister Randi was really laid up with some serious back trouble, although it did keep her from going into work, which actually gave
Supper last night was at Kathy’s dad’s place - and the after- dinner entertainment turned out to be Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” There wasn’t quite time for all of it, but we watched it through the moment when the evil stepmother fishes out of her cauldron the poison apple which she
My original title of this entry was “Out of the Closet” and the picture was of six black garbage bags at the top of our stairs- filled with clothing purged from our closet. But that photo didn’t begin to convey the delight which my wife and I felt upon having FINALLY done this after months
My sister Randi was badly laid up with some severe, even debilitating back pain (it seems to be a bad case of a pinch sciatic nerve) while we were in Decorah, so one surprising stop on our itinerary was the chiropractor’s office where she had an appointment to undergo some prodding and poking. As we
And then there’s Anna- who is the middle child in the Spencer-Berg household, sandwiched between a spectacularly gifted older sister and an irrepressibly charming and energetic younger brother. . . but what a lovely thing she is herself, inside and out. We were sad that her older sister was gone during our visit but the
Kathy and I returned late last night from Iowa and from an all-too-brief visit to Randi and Matt in Decorah and our first chance since Christmas to see Anna and Kaj. (Their oldest, Aidan, was away at music camp.) We are so blest to be able to see our niece Lorelai on a very regular
My most recent stint at the Grace Institute ended yesterday, and I am feeling so good about it. I had wondered earlier in the retreat if I was doing quality work because so little was being said to me by the participants, and I am still vulnerable to self-doubt about such things. And then when
