Hogmanay is the Scottish celebration of New Year's Eve. Oh the party does indeed go on to New Year's Day, but the fun starts the night before.
Today, I'm celebrating, I hope, with a former student of mine. He is, as I type this, still languishing in the arms of Morpheus, but as soon as he comes up for air (to wreck the metaphor) I'll be taking him out for lunch. Or maybe dinner, we'll see how long the "waking up" bit takes. Someone who became my friend even as he became my student, in (oh my!) 1985. Yup, I've known him for quite a while.
My wife's mother is staying with us, this holiday; she asked me this morning, "How are you?"
I gave her my now-standard answer: "Same every day, different every day. Just like life."
Today's plans, beside seeing the friend out of our distant past... Bank; second bank, fortunately reasonably close to first bank (you'll notice that I don't think highly enough of them to capitalize them, in the common practice of my usual persiflage); grocery store to pick up prescription and a few other health supplies. Maybe, maybe, get Cat a new scratching pad (the parking lot for the Cat Place, I thoroughly dislike). Come home; send some e-mail, maybe twiddle some web stuff. Make tea. Maybe watch some Adventure Time, all episodes that I've seen before but I really enjoy them... Maybe I'll also catch some Z's during them as I'm waiting for Friend From The Past to wake up. All, of course, while I'm waiting for me to really wake up; which is itself always an ... interesting... journey.
And since, in the Old Church Practices today is still Christmastide, a musical gift for you. The "proper" (the "official text") of Christmas Day is the text "Hodie Christus natus est; hodie Salvator apparuit": Today Christ is born, today the Savior has appeared. Courtesy of our friends at SoundCloud, here's my setting of this text, performed by the choir and orchestra of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California, conducted by Dr. Larry K. Ball. With the composer (that'd be me) holding forth on the timpani.
Merry Christmas, happy Hogmanay, and a blessed new year to you, my friends. Enjoy some Christmas music while the season (and the year) lasts!
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1 comment:
Oh my, that music is magnificent!! My grandmother (whom I never knew) was Scottish, and she had a tradition on New Year's -- the first one through her front door had to be fair-haired or she'd have bad luck all year. Unfortunately, mingled among her brood of ten were a mixture of brunettes, reds, blondes, and the brown-haired ones often had to wait in the cold until a blonde showed up.
Wishing you a happy and peace-filled 2013!
Peace,
Muff
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