While scientists and public health officials scramble to defeat the COVID19 virus, I have been thinking about how to respond in a way that brings hope and life to the situation we find ourselves in. Clearly we need to avoid naïveté and denial, selfish choices and...
My parents gave me a lot of good advice. One piece I tend to ignore is, “Go to bed early, as nothing beneficial happens after midnight.” But there is one, I have adhered to for decades. “If at all possible, go to the wake or funeral.” Being in the line of work most of...
Recently, friends of ours invited us to a small gathering in the western suburbs to meet the daughter of the late Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia. She and her family had just moved to Chicago and were anxious to make some new friends. It was amazing to notice...
The story is told of a monk who woke up hungry in the middle of the night. After lighting a candle, he reached into a bowl of dates next to his bed, picked up one and took a bite of it. Glancing down at the half that remained, he noticed a worm, so he threw the date...
Dear Friends, It seems as though I was just pondering who would join our family for Thanksgiving and now we are marching through December. Though we don’t have any official programs planned for this month, I love that we are naturally surrounded by beautiful music of...
As a gardener, by November I have prepared my flower beds for the long Chicago winter. Furniture has been hauled into the garage and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that a high percentage of life will now be happening indoors. Winding down may be a natural scenario...
Being an unabashed Anglophile since my college days, I’ve been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and his writings. My dog is even named Strider, after Aragorn, the future King in Lord of the Rings. I’ve appreciated Tolkien’s quote, “All we have to decide is what to do with the...
Although our seasons seem to be running a bit late this year (summer took a while to show up), we are indeed ready to begin our fall programming for our North Shore Chapter. In just a few weeks, on September 22, we will host our opening event at Christ Church,...
Americans will consume 818 hot dogs every second from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I’m not sure who figures these things out….but I do know that this is the season most of us take time out to do things outside the realm of music. If you haven’t been to a Cubs game,...