Summertime

To give you an idea of his character: when he popped the question, the enraged question popped right back.
— Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

I am without hope. I am a dispossessed soul tiptoeing in agony across the wasteland of my shattered dreams....
— a despondent guru in Rod Serling's Night Gallery. 

This week in “Nobody can tell me this is a Smart Speaker” ... I instructed the Echo device to pause; I asked the device what the track was; asked the device to resume playing; and promptly heard: I am not sure what to resume.

We had some excellent and highly productive Henning Ensemble rehearsals in July. We have not, however, succeeded in finding a date or dates on which to present a program. Furthermore, a misalignment of heavenly bodies has frustrated attempts to find musically productive rehearsal time in August. Merely reporting facts.

Before I understood the degree to which Project Concert was slouching towards Limbo, I adapted the Magnificat from the Op. 87 Evening Service in D (an event which was a particular musical success, I felt, albeit St Paul’s would give me the cold shoulder later) for our Quintet.

N.B. I am actually posting this on 5 August 2026.