GOING HOME

Old Santa Rosa Chapel Cambria

November 30, 3018

    Suddenly it is December. So out of context in this profane and destructive time. There has been so little motivation to bow to the manger and the "Prince of Peace." Our psyches have been in combat, armed with anger, despair, and disbelief. But Christmas whispers, it is coming.

     And so in winter's dark chill we climb the hill, to the Chapel, to enter a portal, to go home, to Christmas, again.

   It was in the calm of the candle light, as Molly Pasutti with the voice of an angel, from the back of the chapel illumined only by candle began with O Come, O Come Emmanuel. As she paced forward she opened something in time. My eyes moistened. Our hearts stirred in unison. 

    Somewhere as Eric William's guitar and Jill Poulos' Celtic Harp wove into the voices of Wayne Attoe and Steve Dowling  in Oh Come Let Us Adore Him, I was drawn into a timeless flow where my boyhood and those of the century and half of Christmases in the Chapel and those of Dickens, and nights where Angels sang and shepherds quaked and nights of watching and waiting, for ever, seemed to meet, quietly, peacefully, blissfully. 

     I was home. 

     Judith Larmore's annual reflection further wrapped the gift. Yes you can go home, she said, though it will be different, it can provide different memories, and give you a new appreciation for your cherished deep memories.

      She shared how she returned to her Bluffton Indiana home, a different place than her childhood. Buildings gone, boarded, a beautiful bank now a smoke shop, the 5 and dime a failing dollar tree. It was especially poignant as I know that town well, it was my mother's home.

     In Judith's telling I was home again, with my mom and with all my Christmases past. 

     Christmas is like that, a kind of current in the alchemy of our lives that never goes away and never ends, and waits for us to enter it again. 

     As I have written in this space before, Lana says the Concert in the Chapel is her Christmas delight. 

     The sweet music and tender sentiment was precisely the magic this old boy needed.

     Selections from Suite No. 3 by J.S. Bach, John Williams Some Where In My Memory, Leroy Anderson's Jazz Pizzicato and Jazz Legato, Praise for Christmas, Sleigh Ride,  all performed by the marvelous string quartet filled us with even more magic. Brynn Albanese 1st Violin, Bill Alpert 2nd Violin, Drew Van Duren Cello, Peter Jandula-Hudson Viola. 

     Eric Williams vocal and Mandolin, Molly Pasutti Vocal and Brynn Albanese Violin brought extraordinary life to A Down Home Christmas Medly. Then, selections from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Winter.  It was stunning.

      We all joined our voices for Hark The Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World. And Bruce Black did his annual recitation of "T'was The Night Before Christmas." 

      To the refrains of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, we left the historic old Chapel on the hill and descended into the world again, but we were filled with a new hope, an anticipation of light. Just like it has always been we dwell in a broken, frightened, hurting and needful world, a world awaiting an advent. So it was in 2018, but we left with Christmas in our hearts. We had been home.

     

     See you down the trail.     

THIS YEAR, MORE THAN EVER

 

      There's a little magic in this story and I want to share it, especially if this December finds you a bit wearied; amazed at how rapidly the year has flown, crestfallen by the state of the nation, or world, wrestling with health, worried about loved ones or other complexities in the messiness of life.

      This is our little story, but there is something in this for you, a portal to a place where you can lift your spirits. Simply, immerse yourself in the peace of musical artistry as expressed in Christmas music and search your mind for a piece of your childhood.

        Full disclosure. I enter this Christmas season struggling to find that sweet balance where I can be rid of the anger I carry, a disgust that is renewed with each new headline or word of another friend being depressed, troubled or stressed by Washington. Worried about the loss of reason and civility. Saddened by that and news of diagnoses, or the indignity and labor of an aging generation.

     Frequent readers may recall my seasonal ecstasy over Strings in the Chapel.
You can read these love notes beginning here with 2016
Or 2015 Where the title Could it Last Forever gives you a hint.
Over the years the photos and post celebrate a connections to something deep.
      This year I entered into the historic Santa Rosa Chapel and its place in the slipstream of time with a different mind set. But I'm here to say music is indeed therapy. 

     There is a timeless and expansive joy in the music of Christmas, the origin story of the Christian faith. The rich beauty of the music soothes and enlivens that place in us in need of nursing. 

      A cappella vocals with chapel bells, magnificent strings, harp and guitars combining for Low How a Rose, Mary Did You Know, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, O Holy Night and a stunning Ave Maria performed by violinist Brynn Albanese and guitarist Eric Williams lifts one above worry and fretting.

Wandering Shepherd with Molly Pasutti's vocals, accompanied by Eric with Ron Poulos on mandolin sears into your heart. So too was Robin Covey's O Holy Night accompanied by Jill Poulos on Harp, Ron Poulos on mandolin and Bob Liepman on Cello.

     There is also a power in reaching a memory and the images of childhood. It invigorates. Each year at these marvelous concerts Judith Larmore invokes an exercise that awakens the images of Christmas past. She animates our world with the tinsel, winters, family moments, excitement, tastes, sounds and sheer joy of that time in our lives when the magic of Christmas was real. This years reflection, entitled Abundance was a massage of the soul. Much needed. Much appreciated.

     Bruce Black recounts hilarious Christmas adventures with his grandmother as a lead in to his spirited recitation of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

      Between Molly Pasutti's ethereal opening,  Let all That Are To Mirth Inclined, and the closing Sing-A-Long, Christmas invaded my heart.
       And so there is a pass it along moral here.

       Even if you are not a person of faith or even someone 

who eschews religion, let the purity and joy of the origin story's music, some of the most beautiful ever written, wash over you this year, especially this year. Hearing these beautiful songs, performed by strings, is magic.
And surely there is a Christmas or winter fest story from your own childhood that can kindle your heart.

         In a Scandinavian custom, candles were lit at the graves behind the historic chapel.

         We are reminded that life is fleeting. Christmas comes every year, with a purpose, to put light into our life and joy in our hearts. It is an advent. It is also an adventure in lifting ourselves beyond despair or gloom. If you are like me and  really need a dose of this, listen to some of the music listed above-it was employed to spread magic over Cambria this year. Lift your spirits!

       Thanks to the Players and Singers

The Vocalists

Robin Covey

Molly Pasutti

Mark O'Bryan

Eric Williams and Guitar

String Quartet

Brynn Albanese 1st Violin

Sonya Lanzen-Castellanos 2nd Violin

Peter Liepman Viola

Bob Liepman Cello

Ken HJustad Bass

Jill Poulous Celtic Harp

Justin Robillard Guitar

Ron Poulous Mandolin

And a special Thank You to Judith! You made Christmas arrive.

  See you down the trail.      

THE FALL- THE SNEAKY THREAT-THE NEW PARTY SPOT

      North of Cambria, early July

    The president's foreign trip underscores a universal acknowledgment, the leader of the US is no longer the most powerful nor is he the "leader of the free world" as we used to say.

    International leaders are joined in chorus by analysts and writers from the right and left-America's role has been diminished by Trump. They agree Vladimir Putin has more moxie, finesse and muscle than the American president. Other leaders are assuming the moral and ethical leadership role, previously played by the American President.

     If Trump has a cogent policy, it has not been articulated. What the world hears is "America first," warnings about enemies, the freakish, petulant, embarrassing behavior and a serious lack of grasp. At least he can read a teleprompter. 
      We take a deeper dive, later.

not speaking?

    I can't help but chuckle at this. The body language and pose is hilarious. 

    In fact Lana and our pal Grif are looking for other friends, but the symmetry of the snap is amusing.

    A delightful reality that struck us some 10 years ago on our migration to Cambria is it's similarity to a big Arts School. 

    Cambria loves music. It's an art colony and home to musicians, writers, guild and craft artists from Hollywood and television, bohemians of several generations, free thinkers and free spirits. Of course there are others too, master gardeners, dog lovers, cat lovers, nature lovers, hikers, surfers and people of every conceivable political stripe and attitude. We have our one percenters too, but not nearly in the concentration you find further north, or south. There is a large cross ideological percentage who love music and hanging out.

    We've watched this joyful past-time and we followed its change of venues. The Painted Sky recording story in its evolving locales. The departed Wise Owl was a guaranteed good evening. Now popular singer/songwriter Jill Knight has organized for a new venue-Centrally Grown, formerly the Hamlet. 
     In the scene above Jill is joined by the accomplished Eric Williams and Billy Foppiano. 

    She will perform and so will others from the deep bench of Central California talent. The constant party has a new location and we boomers remain in our suspended state of a big high school crowd waiting for the next party.

   A wood fired pizza, glass of wine or beer, great music, friends and a lovely California evening has to be high on the list of "as good as it gets."

and there is much to recover from

   I've been reading the conversation among Republican, Libertarian and Conservative friends who have tolerated my pragmatism and political agnosticism for years. They are not trump supporters. They certainly are not liberals, Democrats, or anything other than what we consider traditional moderate to right center Republicans. 

   I agree with their notion the trump vote commission is wrong. It is federal overreach, dangerous, sinister and anti American.

    It is a nefarious attempt to gather and collect data the Federal government has no need of, nor right to expect. To turn it over would pose the risk of likely abuse and manipulation by the trumpist/extreme right wing cabal or others. There could be no guarantee the data would be safe, anywhere. We can't forget this administration had to be shoved into acknowledging the Russian cyber attack on America.

    (Getting to the bottom of that attack and determining if there was participation on the part of US citizens is a national priority.) 
    The states that have flashed the bird at the trump election commission requests are to be applauded. 

     Another nagging thought. Mike Pence is quietly working to build his donor base. While his boss is watching a big screen television and tweeting, the VP has been hustling money and preparing for a post trump world. This very guy whose Indiana Republican party was ready to depose because of his nefarious right wing schemes and embarrassments to the state, would have access to, if not control of, the private voter data the trump commission has been asking for. That should also give you the willies.
     
     See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER-SWEET

SWEET SOUNDS

     THE WEEKENDER offers a few minutes of audio and visual pleasure this week.

        Offering #1 features a lot of people we know in settings that are within just a few minutes of our ridge top here in Cambria.  

BTW,the Central Coast Bioneers are worthy of a few minutes of your search time.

      Offering # 2 comes by way of a forward from Bruce A.K.A. The Catalyst. An instrument in your future perhaps?

On this video I suggest you kick it up to the HD version if you can.

See you down the trail.