MAKING CHOICES

Today I skipped the 10:45 lecture.  It was supposed to be Rosenblatt and cartoonist Jules Feiffer.  But Feiffer's plane couldn't leave NY.  So the guests for later in the week, Derek and Sissela Bok were substituted.  It sounded great because I could hear roars of laughter from the Amp.  However, after doing library business, I decided to go to the Farmer's Market and get some homemade gazpacho to have in the refrigerator.  When I lived in the denominational houses and didn't have my own kitchen, I would go to the Farmer's Market every day for my meals for the day.  On the way to the FM I passed the House of the Day:

I love this house because of its square shape and the really cool wrap-around porch on both floors.  Not sure of the "circa" but it's an old one.  Only about a block from the front gate on Center Ave.


At noon I went to the Hall of Christ to see Jared's tracker organ concert.

This impressive structure is the Hall of Christ, originally built to be a place to study the life of Christ.  It never became that and is one of the only buildings on the ground that is winterized and air-conditioned.  So it's used for concerts and lectures mostly.  We rehearse the Motet Choir there on Tuesday nights.  Inside is the tracker organ.   A tracker organ is totally mechanical instead of electronic.  The organ is very old an came from a church in Nyack, New York.

It is the perfect size for this building.  It has been restored to it's original Victorian color scheme.  A spectacular little organ.  The blower runs now on an electronic motor, but it still has the original large wheel that was pumped by someone to get the air into the pipes before electricity!

This is Jared playing and demonstrating the organ.  I love these little mid-day concerts.  Later tonight we rehearsed here for our Motet Choir.


As I was walking back to my apartment I passed the Hall of Philosophy which I featured yesterday, although I only put a picture of the crowds around it.  This is what it looks like empty:

People will gather in it and then around it on the grounds for as far as the eye can see.  This is for afternoon lectures and also this is where the authors speak on Thursday afternoons.  I will see Billy Collins here in a couple of days.


Our evening concert was The Swingle Singers.  I remember my dad having their records and that I loved their ability to sing Bach using only their voices and syllables.  My love for the music of Bach started with that album.  Now this is a much newer generation of Swingles.  They sing much more contemporary stuff.  But they threw in one Bach piece tonight as well as a breathtaking version of Clair de Lune.   Such unbelievable vocal artistry.  Thoroughly enjoyable.


So now I'm exhausted again and headed for bed.  Cool weather, cooler nights! I need the extra blanket!!!  Sorry. . . . . almost everyone I know who is in the throes of a heat wave!!!