… with my camera.

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… everyone, for your kind words and prayers.

… Gryphon reunited for a concert last summer.

The quality of the sound suggests that a CD or DVD is in the works, though it may just be that the hall’s acoustics were exceptionally good.

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Maureen and Jerry

My sister Maureen passed away this morning after a long battle with ovarian cancer.

Maureen was the owner, director and principal teacher of the Portland Studio of Ballet and Highland Dance in Portland, Tennessee. A life-long ballet dancer, she performed with ballet companies in Kansas, Virginia and Tennessee. Later in her life she became interested in highland dance, and she won a closetful of trophies competing with girls half her age at highland games. She was particularly good at the sword dance.

Sword dance

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On the way to work this morning.

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St. Louis Strings Violin Shop

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Maureen

Prayers would be appreciated for my sister Maureen, who is in the hospice after several arduous years of chemotherapy.

Update (January 15, 2010): Maureen passed away this morning.

Here’s a quick little puzzle for the new year: What is the next number in this sequence? It’s not 70. How did I generate the sequence?

22
26
30
38
42
46
54
58
62

Hint below the fold.

Update: Big, fat hint below the fold.

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If you don’t check Dr. Boli every day, you should.

*****

Via Cliff, here’s a little musical story:

C, E-flat and G go into a bar. The bartender says, “Sorry, but we don’t serve minors.” So E-flat leaves, and C and G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished and G is out flat. F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. D comes in and heads for the bath­room, saying, “Excuse me. I’ll just be a second.”

Then A comes in, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor. Then the bartender notices B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and says, “Get out! You’re the seventh minor I’ve found in this bar tonight.” E-Flat comes back the next night in a three-piece suit with nicely shined shoes.

The bartender says, “You’re looking sharp to­night. Come on in, this could be a major development.” Sure enough, E-flat soon takes off his suit and everything else, and is au naturel. Eventually, C sobers up and realizes in horror that he’s under a rest. C is brought to trial, found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of D.S. without Coda at an upscale correctional facility.

Clouds, October 15, 2007

I spent some time going through old pictures today and found a couple I felt like posting.

Tennessee, 2005

In the cathedral again, this time in the choir loft.

I spent some time yesterday afternoon in the cathedral with my camera. Here are a couple of the resulting images.

I also uploaded this year’s Nutcracker pictures to the gallery.

You can see the rest of the picture here and here.

Wants pawn term, dare worsted ladle gull hoe lift wetter murder inner ladle cordage, honor itch offer lodge dock florist. Disk ladle gull orphan worry ladle cluck wetter putty ladle rat hut, an fur disk raisin pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.

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In related news, Tom Lehrer has found a rhyme, sorta, for “orange.” (Via Dustbury.)

From Joe Carter’s weekly list:

Over the past ten years television—long considered the most embarrassing form of mass media—has come to surpass films and novels as the dominant form of narrative fiction. The advent of the DVD revolutionized television, making it possible (and profitable) to combine the depth of novels with the visual storytelling of film. The result was the greatest period of quality and innovation in the medium’s history—and some of the greatest works of pop culture produced in a hundred years.

Hmm. I quit watching teevee decades ago, when I realized that I could watch the first five minutes of any action/adventure show and accurately predict the rest of the episode. I have not lived in a house with a working television set since 1982. Aside from an occasional Simpsons episode at a friend’s house, I’ve seen very little American television since the first generation of Star Trek.¹

I gather that things have changed, a little. I’ve heard good things about Babylon 5. No less a critic than Barbara Nicolosi has praised Battlestar Galactica. I did have a chance to watch the first few episodes of Firefly earlier this year, and it does merit further investigation. However, Firefly was cancelled after fourteen episodes — perhaps things haven’t changed all that much, after all.

1. I have watched a lot of Japanese animated television these past few years — see my other weblog — the best of which is very good indeed. (I’m tempted to remark that the Japan may be a strange, foreign place, but Hollywood is downright alien.) Most, however, is of no interest whatsoever, just like most American television.↩

For M.C. Escher fans.