Our cousin Catherine’s son Johnathan has his own web page with a picture and a guest book. No blog, but it’s only a matter of time. :)

Early spring is also Lent. For years I celebrated Lent, and especially Holy Week, with the Suspicious Cheese Lords. We would provide music for a Tenebrae service at a church—including, over the years, the Church of the Epiphany, St. Matthew’s Cathedral, and the Franciscan Monastery—generally the Tallis Lamentations. We would also host a Tenebrae service at the Georgetown University chapel.

What great music. Over the years, we debuted members’ original compositions, sang Allegri’s Miserere, Byrd’s “Ave Verum Corpus,” Pärt’s “De profundis” (my directorial debut), and dozens of other works, including my introduction to Gregorian chant.

This year, with Mæstro di Capella under their belts, the group is branching into radio gigs, including a live performance on XM radio a week ago and a coming episode of Millennium of Music. Should be good listening. I wish I could be there to sing.

It was sunny and pleasantly cool as I drove in this morning after a couple days of hard rain. I had the sunroof open. The ornamental cherry trees in the parking lot outside my building are in full bloom. It must be approaching springtime.

Naturally, we’re going skiing this weekend. This time we’ll stay local, but we’re going with Shel, her fiancé Vik, and her sister Kris. They’ve threatened to take us snowboarding. Should be fun.