I believe in karma! At least it appears to occur in portions of my life! When I was in my young teens I played softball, but nor baseball. My father who had invested a great deal of personal time in my violin instruction feared I might break a finger. I also played a little basketball. My sports tended to the more solitary type such as cross country, some pole vaulting, and hiking.
My grandson is making up for my lack thereof. He is 11 going on 12 and is one of the pitchers on the various teams he plays for. From the time we moved to Richmond five years ago, to the present moment we have attended many of his games. And I am slowly learning some of the
nuances of the game.
Yesterday his team won smashingly (I think that is a cricket term (cricket is European baseball and is played by many more people than baseball}). His grandmother and I were elated even though he didn’t pitch. (Turns out he was being held in reserve for today’s game). Today was sort of the reverse of yesterday. He pitched well...but the other team had a line of great hitters. In the first inng they got 6 or 7 runs..an advantage that Devin’s team was never able to overcome. They were able to slow down the accumilation of aditional runs, but the score was still something like 4-9 in the other team’s favor.
It was pleasant both afternoons, but this time it was warmer and windy. Several times the wind
stirred up an unpleasant amound of dust and threw it in our faces. Guess that is supposed to be one of the pleasures of attending a ball game. Makes one feel as if he has participated in a measurable way. As I said at the begining...I believe in karma. Karma is visitng baseball on me to make up for all the glorious years for which I was deprived.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Woodstock School
It was a magical place for me 60+ years ago...and still is. In the foothills of the Himalayas near rhe towns of Landour/Mussoorie is Woodstock School, an experience that tends to continually beckon. How fortunate are those who can return, not as students nor teachers, but as assistants to staff.
What must it be like to return year after year to a special place and time in one’s own past, especially with a mate. To be able to take up the strand of that magical time and watch its continued tendrils as they move out into the present and near future. How fortunate to have health and financial resources that allow a couple to still climb the mountainside paths, to inhale the Spring time breath of a Himalayan morning, or to ride a motor bike down to Dehra Dun.
I wonder what it must be like to walk down “the ramp” from Parker Hall to the complex of biuildings that used to be the lower school, lady faculty living areas, and the administrative suite.
To remember how it used to be and how improvements over time have altered it.
It must be exciting to be there for a few months each year, watching the new Woodstock grow and prosper. To use the skills one has a couple to promote and assist that growth. And to be rewarded in turn by being able to to return to a treasured place/experience.
It would seem to be somewhat like a time warp, to walk with one’s mate through the Landour bazaar, eating lunch at a favorite spot, and remebering together what it was like in a previous
life. How wonderful to be able to live as it were in two times at once! This is what I miss most,
to be able to share this in a meaningful way with my wife. She wasn’t there so its impossible for her to relate to that experience. It is a door that only I can open and revisit.
I met Dan and Anne Lind many years ago when they first returned from India and Woodstock. He was the new strings teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia and I had been in Roanoke for perhaps 10 or more years. What a joy and coincidence to discover we had been at
Woodstock; I as a student and then he much later as faculty. We have kept in touch through
Anne’s blogs.
So on this quite cool Virginia morning I visit Anne’s blog...it’s on my small list of links, or
an art teacher’s blog “Where in the World?” also on my list of links and for a few moments
my memory and I revisit a beloved place.
What must it be like to return year after year to a special place and time in one’s own past, especially with a mate. To be able to take up the strand of that magical time and watch its continued tendrils as they move out into the present and near future. How fortunate to have health and financial resources that allow a couple to still climb the mountainside paths, to inhale the Spring time breath of a Himalayan morning, or to ride a motor bike down to Dehra Dun.
I wonder what it must be like to walk down “the ramp” from Parker Hall to the complex of biuildings that used to be the lower school, lady faculty living areas, and the administrative suite.
To remember how it used to be and how improvements over time have altered it.
It must be exciting to be there for a few months each year, watching the new Woodstock grow and prosper. To use the skills one has a couple to promote and assist that growth. And to be rewarded in turn by being able to to return to a treasured place/experience.
It would seem to be somewhat like a time warp, to walk with one’s mate through the Landour bazaar, eating lunch at a favorite spot, and remebering together what it was like in a previous
life. How wonderful to be able to live as it were in two times at once! This is what I miss most,
to be able to share this in a meaningful way with my wife. She wasn’t there so its impossible for her to relate to that experience. It is a door that only I can open and revisit.
I met Dan and Anne Lind many years ago when they first returned from India and Woodstock. He was the new strings teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia and I had been in Roanoke for perhaps 10 or more years. What a joy and coincidence to discover we had been at
Woodstock; I as a student and then he much later as faculty. We have kept in touch through
Anne’s blogs.
So on this quite cool Virginia morning I visit Anne’s blog...it’s on my small list of links, or
an art teacher’s blog “Where in the World?” also on my list of links and for a few moments
my memory and I revisit a beloved place.
Friday, April 6, 2012
A Return to Normalcy....
The day we anticipated has come and gone. Yesterday Lib and I went to Charlottesville, Virginia for a significant post operation consultation. She is on schedule and has been released to do pretty much whatever she feels like as long as it doesn’t hurt. She also received a 6 week prescription for some strengthening physical therapy. With the water aerobics she will recommence next week that ought to really augment her feeling better.
I have returned to some activities good for me, too. I’m playing once more in the Richmond Philharmonic...we’ll be performing Tchaikowsky’s great 5th symphony, Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, and a fluffy Rossini Overture. With my quartet we’re working on Brahm’s Opus. 60 piano quartet.I’m also getting in some violin lessons with my grandson, Devin. He’s holding his own and plays at a higher level, I believe, than I did at the same age level. We have the same problems, my father could not consistently teach me for various reasons, but I believe Devin is getting a bigger dose and we don’t have the long times of being away from the instrument.
Last year I put out a rather significant cash outlay to have our lawn mowed. Now I can do it on my own and have several times already. Today will be another ....and though it will be tiring, I should be able to get most of it done as the weather is crisply cool. No...I don’t have a riding mower as we did in Roanoke, it’s an electric push mower, that makes me walk a lot which is just what the doctor ordered. Last month I bought a small electric chain saw and trimmed our crepe myrtles back to the nub.I would not have even considered doing something like that this time last year.
Lib and I attended a Curry Club gathering in Charlottesville almost a month ago. Reconnected with a Woodstock alumnus that was in the Madison University orchestra with me in the early 60's. We discovered that both of us had attended Woodstock and someone alerted the local newspaper and an article was written about us. She reminded me of that article and our time in the orchestra. What a coincidence!!
Later this month Lib and I will return to the Roanoke area to Camp Bethel for “Sounds of the Mountain”. If you search my blog you will find some information about that. It will be fun to see old friends and some of my kin at this happening.
Check out my links, “Anne Linde” , and “Where in the World”. These are tickets to my abiding interest in Woodstock School and the Himalayas. As a retiree with more time than money, the Web and YouTube provide cheap ways to revisit here. I go there several times a week and am usually amply rewarded.
Our grandson is out of school this week, so we will have even larger blocks of unencumbered time to do whatever interests us. Have recently acquired an iPhone....the kind that talks to you. Interesting, interesting, where technology is moving!!
Thanks to my readers for being so patient. Blessings! Bill
I have returned to some activities good for me, too. I’m playing once more in the Richmond Philharmonic...we’ll be performing Tchaikowsky’s great 5th symphony, Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, and a fluffy Rossini Overture. With my quartet we’re working on Brahm’s Opus. 60 piano quartet.I’m also getting in some violin lessons with my grandson, Devin. He’s holding his own and plays at a higher level, I believe, than I did at the same age level. We have the same problems, my father could not consistently teach me for various reasons, but I believe Devin is getting a bigger dose and we don’t have the long times of being away from the instrument.
Last year I put out a rather significant cash outlay to have our lawn mowed. Now I can do it on my own and have several times already. Today will be another ....and though it will be tiring, I should be able to get most of it done as the weather is crisply cool. No...I don’t have a riding mower as we did in Roanoke, it’s an electric push mower, that makes me walk a lot which is just what the doctor ordered. Last month I bought a small electric chain saw and trimmed our crepe myrtles back to the nub.I would not have even considered doing something like that this time last year.
Lib and I attended a Curry Club gathering in Charlottesville almost a month ago. Reconnected with a Woodstock alumnus that was in the Madison University orchestra with me in the early 60's. We discovered that both of us had attended Woodstock and someone alerted the local newspaper and an article was written about us. She reminded me of that article and our time in the orchestra. What a coincidence!!
Later this month Lib and I will return to the Roanoke area to Camp Bethel for “Sounds of the Mountain”. If you search my blog you will find some information about that. It will be fun to see old friends and some of my kin at this happening.
Check out my links, “Anne Linde” , and “Where in the World”. These are tickets to my abiding interest in Woodstock School and the Himalayas. As a retiree with more time than money, the Web and YouTube provide cheap ways to revisit here. I go there several times a week and am usually amply rewarded.
Our grandson is out of school this week, so we will have even larger blocks of unencumbered time to do whatever interests us. Have recently acquired an iPhone....the kind that talks to you. Interesting, interesting, where technology is moving!!
Thanks to my readers for being so patient. Blessings! Bill
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