Sing out!

We’re having fun now! Friday night was the Orcas A Cappella concert on Lopez Island, and last night we performed on Orcas — to sold-out houses both nights.
From the African welcome song to the Pilgrim’s Chorus finale we sang and played songs of harvest and home, of spinning wheels and triumph and dreaming of water and longing for beautiful valleys and crossing the Deep River to the Promised Land. With over 30 friends who’ve come together weekly just for the pleasure and beauty of singing together, some of us novices, some of us old pros.
We perform on Shaw Island today at 2.
The Choral Society’s winter concert is in two weeks, Saturday Dec. 13 and Sunday Dec. 14 and it’s going to be “killer” as one of the teenagers of the college choir I was in when I was 40. My favorite is a new arrangement of “The Holly and the Ivy” by Stephen Paulus. The nature of Christmas always really speaks to me, and I’m so glad we live in a climate where holly and ivy grow.
Karen Blinn and I are recording a Christmas CD, titled “Christmas Songs of Longing and Wonder.” We’ve been working on it for almost a year now; her beautiful oboe playing gives just the right “longing” note to the songs. It’s ready-or-not time.
This Wednesday is the PTSA’s Book Fair with Santa and Mrs. Claus from 5 to 8 at the library. In trying not to get sucked in by the over-consumption of Christmas, I’ve always given my kids a book each for Christmas. One year, money was very tight, so I re-wrapped the books from the previous Christmas and gave them again. They caught on, but at least they had the pleasure of opening one more gift.
And Thursday at 3 the Eastsound Planning Review Committee meeting is at the Senior Center. This is the closest Orcas Island has to a municipal governing body, and its members are knowledgeable about both the laws and the lifestyles of the island. Challenge yourself to understand some of our more complex acronyms (the CAO, the GMA, CARA, the UGA)and wrestle through the bureaucracies to preserve what we cherish and plan what we desire.
But for today, lift slowly with the fog and say goodbye to November.