Blatant self-revelation

This spring a good friend of mine, Dan Stauffer, had to assemble a multimedia presentation as part of some graduate school work he was doing in music. Feeling that a portrayal of my life would have "excellent dramatic potential," he sought and obtained my cooperation. His presentation is now available for viewing on YouTube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NbWeGj4YPw

The music you will hear in it was all composed by me, with the exception of a 4-hand piano duet you will hear me playing in recital. That is Scaramouche, by Darius Milhaud (1892-1974).

Weather

After having endured an exceptionally hard and lengthy season this past winter, we are this week enmeshed in terribly sultry summer weather. It is a bit exasperating, when it is still so early in the summer. This morning I ran seven and a quarter miles, starting out just before 5:15, and it was already nearly 80 degrees and very humid. I suppose I shouldn't complain, given the severity of the winter, and how we all looked forward to summer weather. But I have always preferred winter to summer, and, although my changes in physique in recent years have changed that preference substantially, I believe that in this case it still holds.

Essential Substance of Life

Saturday I am giving blood again - for the 101st time. That number reminds me of an amusing incident. In 1998, when my Grandmother turned 101, my then-3-year-old niece Courtney amused everyone by noting, "Grandma Fida's just like the dalamatians!" (The movie "101 Dalmatians")

Years ago, when she was quite young, my now-25-year-old daughter Christy emailed me about my giving blood, and referred to it as the "essential substance of life." She has now forgotten this, and credits me with the phrase ... but it all started with her.