Mmmmm�cream of potato soup�

Today I saw the first crocuses in the lawn, purple against the thatch that so desperately needs to be raked up. Our neighbours are so industrious when it comes to keeping their yards nice, and we are such slobs.

I did a very funny thing yesterday that I totally forgot to record. When I went to the university for my rehearsal with the chamber orchestra, I set the alarm on my way out of the house as usual, and remembered just as I was turning onto campus that Buddy Boy was still home. So I telephoned home from my office and asked him where he was, and to go into the master bedroom and turn off the alarm. If he were to venture onto the stairs he would set off the motion detector and alert the authorities, and we certainly don�t need another false alarm ticket from the police.

This morning I met with one of our students to help him get started in copying his composition in Finale. He was at the first seminar I gave, but apparently didn�t take notes or remember anything I had said, because he had no idea where to begin. I put him through the important stuff, note entry, how to make tuplets, cross staves, invisify rests, delete, undo, and it didn�t help that he�s totally unfamiliar with Macintosh. But he�s a bright boy and I�m sure, after a few hours of screaming and cursing at the computer, he�ll figure it out.

I then grabbed a quick lunch at the cafeteria and headed back to the music department, arriving just in time to rehearse my spot with the orchestra. Considering I was full of cream of potato soup and salad, it went not badly. Maybe that�s the secret: Don�t warm up ahead of time.

Just now I spent a half-hour on the phone with my mother, who is taking the train tomorrow to Ottawa to visit her cousin for Passover, and will celebrate her birthday (she�ll be 87) there. She�s going to try to convince her cousin to come back to Toronto with her, which means that my mom will make yet another trip to and from Ottawa accompanying her younger relative. And here�s a woman who is almost blind now from macular degeneration.

Now I�m going to take a nap, as we have choir show No. 3 tonight, and there�s a big party afterwards at the loft of the accompanist. I have Latin homework to do, but I think I�ll be late with that. Hey, I�ve been busy non-stop since it was assigned. Give me a break!

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