No news yet on the "What is Father John going to do next?" front. That will certainly be a headline item when it finally comes to pass.
But in the meantime - lest you think I have been doing nothing but playing piano and studying music - and I have certainly been doing those things with great energy and enthusiasm - I have made a couple of small trips - and even remembered to take the occasional photograph. So in a greatly abbreviated form - and those who have spent time with the collection of Massive Missives know that abbreviated is not my usual style - here are some of the things I have been doing here in my old home town,and elsewhere around the U.S.
DENVER
I went to Denver to visit some wonderful friends, and attend the high school graduation of one of my multitude of god children. (She is the striking blonde in the middle of the picture.) The ceremony was held outdoors, with the mountains in the background, and was very impressive. It's an all girls school, with very high standards, and the listing of awards and scholarships to various colleges was outstanding. (I noted with pleasure a number of Jesuit schools - and Kyra is going to Fairfield, a Jesuit college in Connecticut.)
I stayed at a house overlooking a golf course - the picture is out my bedroom window, and just to the left is the second green and the third tee. I even got to play a round - about which nothing more will be said.
While I was there we went to see a road company of "Wicked" and had a family dinner at a fondue place, and on the Sunday following, the adults went to a baseball game. After the ceremony itself, there was a party back at the house, and as part of their entry into "adult" life, several of the young ladies noted that a couple of the men (including yours truly) were smoking cigars, and decided this was something they wanted to try. The dog even was invited to partake but he found the cigar much less interesting up close than he had thought it was going to be.
SALT LAKE CITY
In mid-June, I went to Salt Lake City for the Rotary International Convention. I am a third-generation Rotarian, and have even been elected President of my Rotary Club for the 2008/09 Rotary year (July 1 08 to June 30 09.)
I got a room right across from the Convention Hall, which could NOT have been more convenient, and got to meet in person many of the club members I have only known on-line. I belong to an Eclub - we exist in cyber-space, an experiment for Rotary, and out club has members in South Africa, Italy, India, England and in nine states in the U.S. Our current President is from Japan - in fact, he's a Buddhist monk. And a wonderful photographer - in fact, he has an exhibit of his photographs currently touring in the U.S. (If any of you would like to the exhibit to come to your city, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the man who is organizing this.) We ate at wonderful restaurants, attended a concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and I got to meet Bill Gates' father. I went to a professional soccer match, and we spent a lot of time talking to other Rotarians about our club and what we do. I managed to sneak in a piano recital, an evening of opera and show music put on by the Denver Opera, and a wild west afternoon, complete with ax throwing, square dancing and country music.
Here is our current President from Japan. His photos are part of a theme of International Peace which he captures in his pictures of moments of life in Japan.
Someone sent me this picture - I have no memory of this whatsoever.
Here is the new Board of Directors and officers for our club, at least those who were present. Someone thought that since we are an Eclub, it would be good to have computers set up in front of us - note the picture on the screen on the left. That's my computer, and the photo is of me diving when I was in Kwaj. I have it as my wallpaper currently. Someone kidded me afterwards - only you, Sheehan, could manage to get yourself in the same picture twice!
This young man who turned 13 in early July, is the son of a former District Governor from Florida. He has been at 7 Rotary International Conventions and his jacket is filled with pins and buttons from all those gatherings. Must weigh a ton. Ah, to be young....
Here are some of our members wandering the city at night - the original Mormon Church is in the background. I took the picture. There is another photo in which I apppear, but the shot of the church isn't as nice, and you all know what I look like anyway.
One of the attractions at the Convention Hall was this display of local wild life, stuffed and mounted. It's a little hard to see, but there is a gorgeous white mountain goat, and off to left, a moose. Many of the foreign visitors had their pictures taken next to the animals...
RHODE ISLAND
I obviously needed a vacation after all this running around, and so I went to spend a week at Little Compton Rhode Island with Joel and Adrienne Garreau. Each day I would sing in the afternoon, to keep the voice flexible, and people from the neighborhood took to walking past the house - sort of informal concert. They seemed to like it.
I played a little golf, and one day we went into Providence to visit their youngest daughter who is taking a summer course at Brown. Other than that - I did nothing. Slept late, ate, smoked cigars and read out on the deck overlooking the ocean, talked with my two old friends, and slept. (Did I say that already?)
Here is the house. Note the deck.
Here is the ocean. That's about all there was to take pictures of, except the magnificent meals. And that would only make you jealous, and me hungry.
I have managed to see a few shows - Legally Blonde (a friend of mine does the animals) and Curtains (I saw it the day after David Hyde-Pierce won the Tony) and Deuce (with Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes and Bernadette Peters. Bernadette isn't in the show but she was in the audience the night I went, and that was almost as good.) I've been to some concerts, a local opera production of Falstaff that was perhapps not great music but great fun, and a seminar at the Council for Foreign Relations where I got Amity Shlaes to sign her latest book for me. I sing occasionally at the Lambs Club, and did a demo CD for a guy who write a new Christmas song, and wanted to send a demo to a publisher.
I watch what I eat and I walk at least an hour every day and I STILL can't lose any weight. And to quote Forrest, that's all I have to say about that.
A dear friend, Tony Montfort, died in London. He had cancer, and his death was not a surprise - I had visited him in March, but although I know it will continue, I am tired of losing friends.
Here we are at lunch in March - Tony is on the right, and the other man is Isidore Bonabom, a Ghanaian priest I have known since he was a Novice. He is a great man himself, and will do great things for the Church in Africa. I'm the one with the beard.
More when I know. Love and prayers and hugs to all.
