Thanks

For Family,

Fate,

Friends,

And Fortunes.

For all the love that I daily receive,

I am truly thankful.

Present and Proud

Great things have happened over the last two weeks. We adventured to Killiecrankie Farm at Glengarry and selected a beautiful tree from the beautiful Lee. Christmas alternately shines and looms on the near horizon.

The luthier and his Camerata Obscura performed a breathtaking concert of Mendelssohn and Dvorak on Wednesday night. Piano and violin solos of the complex and ambitious Mendelssohn piece stole the show. The second concert of this sweet small orchestra was a smash. I think the luthier was a little chuffed, as well he should be. The giveaway was the next day he began referring to himself, in jest as an 'impresario'. I like it.

The luthier spent years watching his father play and teach violin and musical direct show after show, and a quartet in the kitchen was not a rare occurrence. Taken far too early by dreaded cancer, his father would be amazed at the luthier now. He didn't see his son become a man, a father, a luthier, a bow maker or an impresario. But at the concert on Wednesday night, I am certain he was present and proud.