Spring has come REALLY early in Colorado...no winter to speak of! The crabapples are all in white and rose, the red-bud trees are all in purple, and my tulips are ready to pop open! This is a minimum of a month early, sadly, from drought and unseasonal heat. But it is lovely out!

I'm having great…

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since I last blogged in November, much has occured! My mother's 100th birthday party was mid-December in Florida--and yes, she's still gardening and driving legally, The Blend Chorus gave a Christmas concert, I watched over my elder daughter's home for ten days while she and her spouse traveled to London and Iceland, and…

I just love the colors and composition of this photograph! Even though it was taken in Africa, it reminds me of the weather here and now...really windy! But the crunching orange and brown leaves that we kick up when we take a walk, and our still-blue skies, and even a last rose or two add…

My life lately has been centered around writing... I wake up at 2:44 (precisely) nearly every night with insomnia and a story running around in my brain, preventing me from going back to sleep. So, I get up and spend two-four hours typing out what usually turns out to be the first chapter of a…

 Why renewal? Fall has traditionally been the time when children return to school, football season starts, symphony and opera seasons begin, television series return, the harvest is brought in, the start of the new trimester in my studio, etc. I'm sure you can add more things!

I am always invigorated by fall coolness and the crisp…

Some of the most beautiful flowers and gardens are reaching their peaks during the month of August. Above is the Buschart Gardens in Canada, the result of one woman's  vision. She took her husband's played-out quarry near her home and covered the walls with vines while filling the floor with garden "rooms" with different types…

"Dappled"

Monet has created a cool, soothing place to wander through…the dappling caused by the sun shining through the trees onto the plants and pathway give flashes of light and sudden color before they are subdued once again.

And isn’t that how our lives seem to be? We wander through our existence, occasionally seeing and feeling those…

This gorgeous flower really exists!

Writing briefly is tough! These are a few examples I've tried recently.

Six-Word Memoirs: (Like the famous example “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn”)

-Singing has changed my long life.

-When one teaches, one learns much.

-Dance makes my head go spinning.

-Water drops slowly changing every surface.

-Purple doesn’t exist; nor do I.

-Smiles that reach the…

 I'm a damn good singer.

I'm an excellent teacher.

I'm a reasonably good artist.

I'm a pretty good writer, with a "voice."

I'm a truly "authentic" person, according to a dear friend.

I'm an organizer. (Everything is in a journal and calendar and spreadsheet -- mostly so I don't forget!)

And I'm still kicking....and that is the strongest one of all,…

 My last updates were done in late October, and due to many events, I've not been able to chat here since then. In November, I caught a coughing virus and thus began the sleep-every-day-2-to-5 -extra-hours routine. That somnolence has taken a great deal of my time, to say the least, and has continued due to…

You may not know that, in addition to my vocal teaching, I am a Restorative Yoga teacher for the City of Fort Collins, I belong to the Art group at the FC Sr Center and will have three pencil portraits in the November art display there, and I teach people how to make hats and…

Hard to believe that September is over, already! Things are nicely settled in my activities and teaching (two new students who are very welcome), and my health is good for the moment! (The older one gets, the less certain one can sound about this!)

I have begun to hum as I do my chores, a good…

The end of summer has come, school has started again, and a few leaves have begun to turn. This is my favorite time of year! I always feel energized, and no "spring allergies" to deal with!

For the past two months, I have been the director of The Senior Serenaders out of the Fort Collins Sr.…

Singers certainly need a lot of oxygen, just as athletes do. We use our entire bodies, and, as a consequence, being short of O2 is definitely on the "NOT HELPFUL" list! I recently had a sleep study done, and the result is that I need 2 liters of O2 added to my BiPAP machine at…

Boy, 50 years? Can't be! But, way back in 1974, just after the birth of my second daughter, Denise, I hired a teenaged girl from down the block to come to my house every week day at 4 pm, so that I could do 45" of…