Nine Lessons and Carols, All Saints Chapel, Sewanee, TN

For the last 5 years our family has driven up to Sewanee,TN to enjoy Lessons and Carols at All Saints on the campus of The University of the South. It is always bitter cold and you must get there an hour and a half early and wait outside to get a good seat for the service. Lessons and Carols were started in England in the 1880's, and is an annual event in many Anglican, Lutheran and Roman churches. Through nine readings (Lessons) of scripture from Genesis to the Gospels and Carols which correspond to the scripture the story of the advent of Christ is told. All Saints is an ancient looking cathedral, although it is not much more than 50 years old. The Sewanee choir sing the carols, many in Latin or German and the audience can sing some also. You can probably hear The Kings Choir perform this service from England on a Public radio station on Christmas Eve. Our Advent Season would not be complete without this tradition.

Florida Christmas Decorations

For the last two years I have had Thanksgiving at my in-laws in Florida. There is something so wrong about eating turkey then sitting on the beach. No icy rain as in Chattanooga. No hot chocolate by the fireplace. No regrets about not raking the leaves off the steps before guests arrive to eat. Both years I've been taken by the Christmas decorations in South Florida. Somehow reindeer on still green grass, wreaths on the front of yachts, lights wrapped around the trunks of palm trees are bizarrely incongruous. This year I sat by the pool as my daughter swam and watched the condo association decorate the pool area. If a Santa went by on a jet ski it would have been a nice touch.

St. John Will I Am Coltrane

A few weeks ago my daughter Esme' and I were in San Francisco. Somewhere in the back of my memory bank I recalled a church devoted to John Coltrane's album "A Love Supreme". I looked it up in the yellow pages and there it was, The African Orthodox Church of St. John Will-I-Am Coltrane. We walked the hills of San Fran for about an hour and finally got there before it started. And start it did. Several saxes, drums and stand up bass blew for a couple hours. A Love Supreme refrain was the basis of everything. There were beautiful icons of Coltrane, as well as an African Christ and African Mary. The best part was when in the middle of a 20 minute sax solo a lady put on her tap shoes and tapped to Coltrane. Check out their web site.

Orville Wright Turns 90

My father turned 90 last week. Bradford, Esme' and I drove up to southern NJ, for the celebration. While we were there we went to the beach, into Philadelphia, and a few flea markets. The trip was way too short.

Framing Photographs Workshop

I gave a little talk to 15 children who were part of Photo Camp at the Creative Discovery Museum here in Chattanooga. I told them why and how photographs should be framed to protect and display them.

4th of July

I drove up to Linville NC for the July 4th weekend. I stayed with Kincaid and Allison Mills and their children Kaid and Augusta at their vacation accommodations. My daughter Esme' was helping the Mills with their children as she occasionally does. I stayed in a log cabin by the river and relaxed, played my guitar, took photos, took walks, played badminton. built dams in the river, shot pellet guns and watched fireworks. I had the best time.

Easter

I wanted to sport my Sewanee bowtie at church on Sunday but no matter how much I tried it didn't come together. At Easter dinner later in the day, Sandy Soltau went through bowtie tying 101.

Art Hanging Road Trip

Last week I had another road trip to install a house with art. I drove to Hilton Head SC with Sissy Tarumianz of the interior design co Swatches and Swags. The couple who I hung for had lived on Lookout Mtn TN and I had hung their art at 2 previous homes and had framed much of their art. It took the better part of 3 days to hang their art but we did have time to tour this lovely island and walk on the beach before leaving. Hilton Head is on the coast between Savannah Ga and Charleston SC.

Esme' Turns 25

My daughter Esme' was born 25 years ago on March 10th. It was a snowy cold day in Tn in 1983. Today she is in Fl at her grandparent's home relaxing and enjoying her spring break. She will had back here Tues. and start her last few weeks of college.

Tattoo with Sushi

The other night we had dinner at the Mendonsa's because their friend Chiho was here from Kyoto Japan. Not only was it a treat to meet Chiho but she took it upon herself to fix us a traditional Japanese meal. We had tempura, rice, sushi and other delectable sides. Asher Mendonsa ate a tray of sushi himself. Asher was sporting his new tattoo of a bird (swallow or starling?) on his neck. I think this is tattoo number three and he said it was the most painful one yet.

New Dog in Parade

I started the St. Elmo Corgi Parade several years ago because I thought it would be quite humorous to see a bunch of corgis walking together. Our last parade had over 50 corgis. At the time we had 4 corgis and our own mini parade twice a day. For the last few years we have had only 2 corgis but our personal parade has increased by
1/3. Wiley the corgi moved in with us last month. He is 8 years old and was cared for by a friend with small children who couldn't keep him anymore.(Let me just say the Queen of England used her corgis for nursery dogs and this may be the cause of much of the dysfunction in the royal family.) Wiley is small compared to our other corgis and can often be found on laps and beds. Although he is small in stature he has become the alpha-dog, at least in his mind. Welcome Wiley to the our parade.