Our day started out a bit windy and cold, but as the hours passed, it began to slow which helped to bring out temps up to near 50 degrees today. Oh for goodness sakes, the potholes and puddles of water accumulating at the intersections and curbsides, made for a bit of dodging while driving.
My first order of the day, was to get back to the little corner and get my Sunday morning contemplative session completed. The bulk of my thoughts and prayers were for a Divine Intervention to stop a completely insane invasion of Ukraine by those close to 200,000 troops Putin has positioned at their borders. Remember, the self-less power of prayer by those who have nothing to gain or lose, can bring about near-miraculous results. It was a longer session that normal, but for sure it was all good. Please keep the Ukrainians in your prayers because that Country has gone thru many great sufferings and millions of horrible deaths since the Communists took power. If you don’t believe me, just do a little research, and especially on the subject of how Stalin went on a campaign to starve as many Ukrainians as he could. He’s another one who’s shoveling coal in the Hell below Hell.
After getting a few emails answered that had come in overnight, I headed over to my piano and ran thru several of those more difficult pieces I was given to play at St. Paul Lutheran this morning, and by the time I was finished, it was the hour to head over. I didn’t have to wait long for them to unlock the church, so I high-tailed up to the gallery and got myself situated for their Services. I did have to go down and have a quick visit with their visiting Pastor, just to make sure we were both on the same page, which luckily we were.
Having played a very many Sundays over at their church, without a doubt, there were more people in attendance than I’ve ever seen, which gave me a very good feeling. It was especially noticed while I was playing their hymns because I could definitely hear them singing. For me, the more I can hear people singing along, the more comfortable I am while accompanying them.
I knew I was going to get a work-out today, and that I did because the number of pieces, versus and pages given to play, had to be on the top of my list of the amount of various pieces of music I’ve played during one Service, and that even takes me back to when I played on nearly a weekly basis at another church in our City, which went on for years. There’ve been very few times I’ve ever spoken to others about the absolute tribal mentality of the inner circle of that church, and to this day, I’m glad to be away from it. Talk about the numbers of inner-circle lay people in possession of very forked tongues.
It didn’t surprise me when finding their Service having lasted over an hour, but by the look on their faces, they seemed to have enjoyed their religious experience. I didn’t go downstairs for coffee because I had other pressing matters, so I stopped at a convenience store on my way back and picked up a small cup. While I was driving back, I notice my feet and ankles were having a few pains, which for a moment caused me to wonder why until I realized I’m still not used to playing organ pedals for long periods of time, and especially without my shoes on. Regardless of how I must look with me playing their organ’s pedals in my stocking feet, I should’ve started doing it a very long time ago. Their organ’s pedals are so worn form use, I truly have to feel them with my feet. I’m not sure if I even hit one wrong note on those pedals this morning. Yeah!
Someone who happened to hear me playing a traditional piece several days ago, interjected and said, “You’re a good sight-reader.” Knowing he’d been thru piano and organ courses back in his youth, I looked at him questioningly and said, “If you think I am, then I’ve got a whole lot more to learn.”
After he left, I began to think of all the people who’re accompanists, and whenever listening to many of them, I soon discover they’re playing only chords which I find just a tiny bit more than annoying. I know nearly all musicians have their own style when playing, and even sometimes embellishing more than they should, but I do work at playing those hymns as they’re written, and the reason I do, is because most of those pieces of music have survived intact for well over a hundred years or more, so why change them now?
Because I was “churched-out”, I decided to go out on a long drive in the countryside after my short appointment at office left. I must’ve been out there for well over an hour, and the only stop I made, was at a fully vacant park area where I got out and walked around a bit. Wow, for the first time, I could feel the sun’s heat rays penetrating my heavy wool coat. Oh what a wonderful feeling when now knowing Spring is around the corner.
When I got back, I felt fully regenerated, so I changed into my work clothes and headed back over to my little/big project where I worked until it was time to call it quits. Before leaving, I was glad to have gone back and looked at everything I’ve already done, which was an uplift to keep plugging away Come Spring, I’ll be working over there every spare hour because there are things I have to take out in the garage and work on. Truth be told, I can already see myself toiling away in that garage.
I’m not sure how busy I’ll be at office tomorrow since it’s President’s Day which is a National holiday, and if it’s noticeably slow, I’ll be back over to my project.
Tonight’s One-liner is: To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, is the true empire of beauty. “Amen” I say to tonight’s one-liner.
