Blow, blow, thou winter nose�

The temperature is rising, there are rivulets of melting snow all over campus, the river itself will soon be breaking up, and it�s just the beginning of February, which means, of course, that this is a teaser, and we are in for more cold weather. But by gum it�s nice to put on a lighter coat and see the sunshine! Today there was no sunshine, it rained. The grime on the cars has been nicely washed off, and the ice on the driveway is mostly gone. This is amazing.

However, everyone is sick. Both my students today arrived, one with serious sinus pain (I sent her off to health services to see someone) and the second with a cough like a barking dog. I sent her off as well. So I did no teaching today. Herr Doktor Professor is also ill, but came and conducted the choir anyway, and Patsy was also feeling worse than she did last night (she complained of a sore throat when we went to baladi class) but still stoically showed up for Latin, where we learned the relative pronouns and how to use them in relative clauses. We also learned interrogative pronouns, which are almost identical, only changing in the nominative.

Janice cancelled writing group last week, due to illness, and has decided to cancel it again tonight and next week so that she can recover fully. Wise, but disappointing to us aspiring writers who live for Tuesday nights. She has instructed us to continue to write in absentia, but it is difficult without motivation. If I have time (which I won�t), I might try my hand at something short to have ready for the next time we do meet.

So I have a free evening ahead of me to copy score. I have reached a part of Hubby�s symphony which is causing me sorrow. Each section of the strings (except for the double basses) is divided into three parts, playing nearly identical music but at a remove of a beat or two, hence in canons. The winds and brass are playing the tune in �spectral harmony� at the top of the page, and in the middle three percussionists are bowing on gongs, hitting tam-tams of various sizes, and generally having a rip-snorting time, but totally unmetered. It�s the unmetered aspect which causes me grief, because the computer likes everything to be nicely lined up. This means I have to do an inordinate amount of tweaking, a very time-consuming exercise, as any of you who have copied music on computer know. It will be very beautiful to listen to, I�m sure, but it�s hell to notate.

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