There is a movement for more chocolate...A resteraunteur has opened a chocolate cafe/gift shop in Manhattan, after many other similar shops around the world. I, personally, will stick to my daily-weekly dose of chocolate via the chocolate bar (be it fun size or a square from a larger tablet).
posted by Grace @ 9/30/2006 08:08:00 AM
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This evening, Lyra, the Russian Orthodox choral group from St. Petersburg, Russia performed sacred works at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh. I particularly liked those pieces they performed which highlighted the women's [Olga (Sopr.), Irina (Mezzo-Sopr.), Anna (Sopr.)] harmonies:
We Praise You, O Lord--Bortnansky
Cherubic Hymn--Chesnokov
Now Let Your Servant Depart in Peace
To Praise the Mother of God--Gretchaninov
Under Your Grace
The singers totalled six (and are representative of their larger group of 25): Two soprani, a mezzo-soprano, a tenor, baritone, and bass. Their full, colorful voices filled the Cathedral space with lovely, beautiful, prayerful tones from the 15th-20th Centuries.
Choir members from the Cathedral choir stayed to chat, and we were among the group purchasing CD's from Lyra after the concert. Amy M. and I chatted after making our CD purchases, and had a talk about tea (sans tea!)
posted by Grace @ 9/24/2006 10:32:00 PM
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Yesterday, Jen F.'s sister, Kim, and her sister-in-law, Cece, and I helped Brian's relatives set up for Jen's bridal shower. We helped prepare the food, flowers, and drinks, hand out preprinted nametags for guests; and to set the tables. The food was great--chicken stir fry or shrimp Newburg on rice with fresh fruit. The cranberry-pineapple punch was served with coffee and tea, and after lunch the almond cake from Oakmont Bakery with a delicious Bavarian cream filling was served. Jen and I sat at the "kid's" table and I learned the names of most of the junior bridesmaids. After lunch, we played a game of writing about Jen, and opened presents. It was a treat to see Chris R. and Krista L. again. Her fiancee, Brian McG., showed up at the end of the party with flowers, (he was to "stay out of her hair" 'til then) and was promptly told by Jen,"You are SO NOT in trouble!"
posted by Grace @ 9/24/2006 10:19:00 PM
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Today Thuy L., our Wellesley regional alumnae club VP, is on her way to Los Angeles, where she and her husband have relocated. She mentioned his calling her from his cell phone on the beach and describing the seascape from there.
At her farewell party, I conversed with a number of her friends, including Nikki (who works in the BST), Earl S. (a Pinoy engineer manager), Louis L. and Jessica L. (who work and live near me), Bruce L. (who models infectious disease through populations), several of her fellow book club members, and Joanne La R. (an attorney who graciously hosted the party). There were delicious Vietnamese fare (fresh lumpia-style wraps with tofu, chicken, or shrimp and rice stick noodles with mint and savory soy-based sauce; and grilled shrimp-and-beef skewers), nori sushi, and plenteous desserts, including chocolate cake with a cheesecake filling. All so delicious, coupled with wonderful discussions with the guests and with Thuy, who was dream-waking of her new home 2000 miles away as the end of the evening approached.
posted by Grace @ 9/23/2006 09:27:00 AM
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...Mom just spoke on the phone with her friend Terri about the status of Terri's son, Chris, who was fighting in Baghdad, Iraq. I pray for him everyday, as well as for the troops who are so far away from their family and friends.
Is this a just war? Consider the position of many political and religious groups on the status of this war.
I pray that God keeps our troops safe, and brings them safely home...may the civilians they are protecting at home and overseas be safe, too.
~~~
Today was Joyce's birthday and she will be having chocolate-chocolate cake for her birthday celebration with Greg, Miranda, and Benny.
posted by Grace @ 9/19/2006 09:11:00 PM
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Today was the first Sunday that the St. Paul Cathedral choir sang Mass this season. Ken Danchik, our new assistant organist, accompanied the choir and our fearless choir director, Don Fellows, led us.
After Mass, Ornella V., Jeff M., Gabe, and I went for lunch at Crepes Parisiennes on Craig St. On the way there, Jeff and I agreed that we both enjoyed singing "Be In My Seeing" today. I had a sweet Schwarzwald crepe, while my friends all had savory crepes. What a pleasant afternoon.
posted by Grace @ 9/17/2006 09:25:00 PM
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Late last night Amy M. and I went to Daphne Alderson's wonderful performance of "Daphne at the Movies," with her husband John Marcinizyn on various guitars and banjo, and Doug Levine (arranger) on piano. Daphne's lyrical, emotive voice was accompanied by the three instrumentalists. Amy and I shared a couple of pots of tea and coconut creme brulee as we were transported to various cabarets in America and Europe through time. What a fresh, musical evening during which many of our and Daphne's friends and her followers were sprinkled throughout the audience. It was a pleasure to attend this event.
posted by Grace @ 9/17/2006 09:11:00 PM
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Yesterday, I took time from my busy schedule to do most of my hip exercises. As in an earlier post, I describe some of my exercises which I (a-hem!) have not recently been doing. I went to the gym early in the day and was pleased to see exercise balls. I must stay hip with my hip exercises!
Labels: BAD
posted by Grace @ 9/16/2006 09:38:00 AM
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I had organized a field trip of choir members to hear James Galway at Heinz Hall last night. Tickets were purchased through PittArts, and our group sat in the gallery and family circle. Before the performance, Anjali, Jonathan, and I dined at our favorite Thai/Cambodian restaurant downtown. Gretchen and Nancy (soprani) and their spouses; Jennifer Lynn (alto), and Linda O. (cantor) rounded out our diverse group.
It was a pleasure to listen to James Galway play his signature virtuoso flute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The conductor played Rhapsody in Blue on the piano while directing the PSO. The last number was performed with Sir Jim Galway and his wife, Jeanne, an accomplished flautist in her own right; and the flute choir. Several familiar and popular pieces were performed last night. What a treat!
Along with other choir members, I met with the Galways after the concert, mentioning the other time that I had met Sir James--in Scotland after my sister Kelly's graduation--and he recalled that time, too. Some of my other family members were appalled that I boldly spoke to Sir James Galway at Kelly's graduation reception, but I was so pleased with his music that I felt compelled to share my sentiments with him. This time, I had a chance to meet with his lovely wife Jeanne, who was elegantly dressed "like a mermaid," as Anjali expressed it. What a pleasant, musical evening...
posted by Grace @ 9/16/2006 09:19:00 AM
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This Wednesday was time to evaluate the three submitted designs by the Philippine Nationality Room (PNR) committee. We were given criteria based on the requirements listed by the University of Pittsburgh. Our committee creatively doffed those evaluation criteria and suggested others, including the "WOW" element (suggested by me), and others which embraced the original criteria, but expressed with more "heart and soul" (another creative element)....Dad and I came up with the same comment: We prefer one design's structure and would like to include elements of another design its the interior elements. It was a fun, short meeting and the next step involves presenting our results to the FAAP board.
posted by Grace @ 9/16/2006 09:06:00 AM
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Tonight, William and I went to see Spamalot. I met Veronica and Richard before the show, and Ruthann, too. Marissa could not make it, so I exchanged her ticket for one later in the run. The show included the song "Spam," a short rendition of the Steelers fight song, as well as audience participation by Arthur(!) S., who provided many elements being searched by the Grail team for their Broadway show. A wonderful, celebratory round of applause for the whole cast, especially the diva, at the end of the evening.
On the way back to my bus stop I ran into Kaitlin and Lois, both first-year students at Pitt. On the bus I also ran into Rachel, who sang in the St. Paul Cathedral choir and currently sings in the Heinz Chapel choir.
posted by Grace @ 9/12/2006 10:51:00 PM
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St. Paul Cathedral's annual Picnic was a walloping success! Elizabeth B. and her cadre of workers (including her family, Ed R. at the grill, Joan, Gerry G., Leona S., and Donna S. with the food and raffle, and Ed H. with the games) helped to provide for the hundreds of people who showed up after the noon and six o'clock Masses. I personally went on or accompanied others on THREE food runs (mostly for burgers) during the afternoon. What a draw!
Fr. Tom B. was nice enough to let us hold the picnic on the Cathedral green lawn. What a great venue with the tents. And we didn't have to transport everything a great distance. It was convenient to have the event right next to the church building.
What a great picnic!
posted by Grace @ 9/12/2006 10:51:00 PM
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After a delicious breakfast/brunch at Joyce F.'s favorite breakfast spot (I had a Belgian waffle with strawberry topping), Jen F., her fiance Brian McG., and I headed to the Boyce Park wave pool. We arrived at about 12:30pm and waited patiently while the lifeguards took their places. This was my "first ever visit to a wave pool on this WHOLE planet"! We each rented an inner tube, and proceeded to wade into the water, some of us with more gusto than others ("Now, rosemary, that's for remembrance," I intoned as I single-mindedly took to deeper and deeper waters). Soon, we greeted the other swimmer (that's right, singular--a robust grandma who was swimming in the deep end) and were chatting with the lifeguards. The bell rang (as it is scheduled to do 1.25 times per hour), the flashing lights went off; and the waves, formed in the wave chamber behind the stone wall, started. There were mostly P waves, and there were some S waves with peaceful nodes, as well.
We enjoyed floating on the water as well as riding the waves to the "shore." We had parked ourselves on the carpet beyond the shallow end and had a snack of pizza slices before heading to Jen's parents' home and a dinner of spaghetti, corn on the cob, garlic bread, green salad; accompanied by a dessert of lemon ice cream and homemade cake, peaches, and fresh strawberries. We then started working on a couple of wedding favor projects for Jen -n- Bri. We had a lot of fun glueing (glou, glou, glou?) and singing lines from musicals in response to each others' comments. Bri had fun preparing bookmarks with a custom message from the couple.
What wonderful fun we had today!
posted by Grace @ 9/04/2006 11:07:00 PM
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The last post from Autumn 2005 of my friend Ned's visit before he left for the Peace Corps in Zambia was from before he started training as a PC volunteer. Since then, he is helping the Zambian government in fisheries, making daily visits to the fish farmers. His Sun Shower has held up considerably well, considering the conditions it has been used under (gotta love those bag showers)! Our mutual contact in Zambia, Uttara, had met with another PCV recently. As in the Philippines, there is a problem with goiters, and (as yours truly suggests) upon further investigation, may most likely be due to consumption of cassava, as it is in the Republik ng Pilipinas.
At his "first year" party, there were quite a few of us, his choir friends. We took turns taking pics of us gathered around the outdoor fire at Doug's home.
Before Ned had arrived, I had a chance to chat with Betty T., who described a special letter from her brother during World War II. I forwarded it to my folks today. I'm certain that they will have a chance to exchange stories with each other about Philippine independence and the signing of the Philippine Constitution.
posted by Grace @ 9/04/2006 10:43:00 PM
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Just like an earlier post, this Friday we had
posted by Grace @ 9/03/2006 09:15:00 PM
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This summer, my uncle Tacing passed away. He is my father's older brother. It was soon after I had visited Joyce and her family in California. Uncle Tacing was the second of my dad's ten siblings to pass on (the first was Uncle Toting). Both he and Uncle Toting had been guerilla fighters against the Japanese during World War II. Because of his service during WWII, there was a color guard and a gun salute during his funeral in California. I am sorry that I did not have a chance to get to know my uncle better.
Also this summer, then-Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Donald W. Wuerl, was installed as Archbishop of the Diocese of Washington, DC. We were sad to see this home-grown Pittsburgh Bishop go, but we all agreed that the Archbishop position would suit him well.
posted by Grace @ 9/02/2006 09:53:00 AM
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Bob O'Connor's passing: Post-Gazette article
Bob O'Connor's passing: Tribune-Review Article
Bob O'Connor's passing: WPXI article
This past month, when I lectored and read the prayers of the faithful at Mass, I made a special point of praying for our mayor, Mr. Robert O'Connor. May his spirit find rest and may God be with his family and friends at this difficult time. And may our new mayor, Mr. Luke Ravenstahl, have a good administration.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Bob O'Connor's funeral Mass was held the morning of Thursday 4 September 2006. A caisson carried the casket from Freyvogel Funeral Home to St. Paul Cathedral. Mom and I were among the thousands of people watching from the street. Many people from our building stood on the sidewalks lining the route. I spoke with Daphne Alderson right before she entered the Cathedral to sing. Daphne has a wonderfully expressive lyrical voice, and sang the "Ave Maria" for the family's final Mass for him. His children and his wife delivered eulogies for him. After Mass the caisson bearing the casket made a tour of Pittsburgh. This time of sorrow was followed by a celebration of life he would have enjoyed, a Steeler game opened by his son's starting the Terrible Towel wave.
posted by Grace @ 9/01/2006 11:47:00 PM
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Days in the life of me.
