If I Had a Bell...

... I'd ring it in the morning. Bell choir season finale this morning! "When the Saints Go Marching In." This was really hard, and you might wish we were playing it faster, but hey... we didn't really mess it up, so we are happy!



And because Memorial Day is coming, one patriotic song at the end, "America."



I wasn't as tired as I thought I might be today, but it certainly wasn't a high-energy day. Church, then some grocery shopping. I vowed to try to start putting things away this afternoon. Managed 20 items.

That doesn't sound like much, but the house is totally trashed, and I have to find all the pieces of some group of things and then get them returned to their space. Worked on getting emails cleaned up and answered, you know... all the stuff I've been ignoring for at least a week.

Cathy came by and we talked about things to think about for another time. I possibly have a non-profit group that might sponsor a grant for Confidence Camp. And I'm already cooking up a modified plan for kids.

See Bell Choir- April 2026

Bell Choir- April 2026

Today was bell choir Sunday. The first song we did is one of my favorites. It's "Spirit Song."



And I like the second one a lot too. It's "Shout to the Lord."



Hope you enjoy!

Most of the rest of the day I spent working on things for Confidence Camp. There were lots of other things I should be doing too. But at least I didn't goof off. It was cold and windy outside. Expect flowers tomorrow!

See Bell Choir- February 2026

100, Not 100

Took advantage of the beautiful weather to get in a little hike today. Went to the all-too-familiar Timber Creek trailhead on the NCT. Closest to my house.

It's way too early for any signs of spring. Best I can do is some signs of wildlife. At least one pileated woodpecker has been going nuts. Several dead or dying trees were totally shredded. I'm identifying the culprit by this distinctive pattern in one of the trees.

Evidence of Yellow-bellied Sapsucker presence with these parllel lines of holes in a piece of bark. Also a woodpecker. I saw a Downy woodpecker but got no picture. Only other wildlife was a squirrel.

The trail was almost completely clear of snow. There was some yet in the bottom of the "bowl" the trail passes.

I did find one fungus on a stick. It's probably amber jelly roll, Exidia recisa.

My goal was to walk 6 miles- on my way to increasing the mileage this spring. This is just proof that I made it to 8th St, the three-mile mark before I turned around.

So, this puts me over 100 miles for the year, but not 100 on the NCT. No worries; I'll get there.

Miles walked in 2026: 105.9
Hike 100 Challenge 2026: 17.6

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. Timber Creek north to 8th St and back. 6 miles

BONUS SECTION: Today is Palm Sunday, my most favorite Sunday of the Christian calendar. I had a YouTube playlist with a lot of music specific for the day, but guess what? It's gone, of course. Very strange. My Christmas list is there, but this one and Easter are gone. I managed to recreate most of this one.

If you too like Palm Sunday and the Triumphal Entry, here's the link (I hope) to my list. Palm Sunday Music. There are 17 songs (one is repeated because I like both recordings, although neither is the one I had in the old playlist).

See 1.4 Miles, Two Counties

Bell Choir- January 2026

Today was handbell Sunday. We hadn't practiced these songs much because we worked so hard on the Christmas songs. But we were granted the gift of everyone reaching deep and doing a pretty good job. Sorry that neither video is framed very well, but the music is the important part.

This is "Song of Joy" by Arnold Sherman



The second song we played was "In the Bleak Midwinter." I'd never heard this until I was an adult and was involved with Methodist groups. It's pretty much a Methodist hymn. The words are a poem by Christina Rosetti, a well-known poet of the mid 1800s.

I've put the words below the video.



1 In the bleak midwinter
frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone:
snow had fallen,
snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter,
long ago.

2 Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away
when he comes to reign:
in the bleak midwinter
a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

3 Enough for him whom cherubim
worship night and day,
a breastful of milk
and a mangerful of hay:
enough for him
whom angels fall down before,
the ox and ass and camel
which adore.

4 Angels and archangels
may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim
thronged the air,
but only his mother,
in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the Beloved
with a kiss.

5 What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb,
if I were a wise man
I would do my part,
yet what I can I give him,
give my heart.

I took a walk after church, but the snow is deep and even Cartier Park wasn't plowed. Shopped because we are supposed to get a blizzard tonight and tomorrow, and filled the veggie bin.

Going to bed early. I didn't sleep much last night.

Miles hiked in 2026: 23.4

Cartier Park, Ludington, MI 1.4 miles

See Bell Choir Christmas Part 2

Bell Choir Christmas 2025- part 2

Here are the other two songs we played this Christmas season.

First is "Were You There on that Christmas Night?"



This is our most impressivie piece of the season. I made two recordings on different days, but I think this one is the best. It's a medley- you'll recognize the tunes- of a number of songs. Called "Christmas Bells Overture."



I'm posting this late, but at least I got it done!

See Bell Choir Christmas 2025- part 1

Bell Choir- Christmas 2025- Part 1

The handbell choir prepared four songs for the holiday this year. Here are two of them. We performed all four at the two previous concerts, and did three this morning. We'll do all four again on Christmas Eve. I'll share the other two that day.

Here is "We Three Kings," always a favorite. No title screen. I truly hate the "new" free video software that came with my computer. Apparently you can get the old version, but you need a piece of translation software that I'm not up to dealing with today since I'm also trying to get another new piece of software to work. And trying to get my calendar to sync across devices. So annoying.



Next up is "One Star."



I'm saving my favorite to post on Wednesday.

I must have hit stop on my alarm instead of snooze this morning. So when I did wake up the second time, I had to leap out of bed and dash out the door. Of course, I couldn't wake up and felt like crap all day. Mostly ate junk which is often my response to the days that start out like this.

I did go for a walk after church. The trail was bumpy ice with crusty snow over the top, but I walked 2.7 miles.

Finished my column for the paper, did other computer tasks, and tried to stay awake in the afternoon.

Miles hiked in 2025: 475.5

Ludington School Forest, various trails, 2.7 miles

See Bell Choir- November 2025

West Shore Concert Choir- Christmas 2025

Tonight was the full concert of the West Shore Choir. This is the choir that sang several songs at St. Joseph's last week, joining with the bells to create a full hour of music.

They had eleven pieces, an ambitious program for only one rehearsal a week! But it was great. Director Becky Sopha always gets mega music out of the group. Of course, quite a few of the members are friends of mine, too.

These young people, Grace and Carson, sang "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "Let it Snow," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

It's really hard to get pictures to focus in the low light. I took lots more, but you are seeing a few of the better ones that show some of the variety.

The final segment of the program featured several selections from Handel's "Messiah." For those there was a live mini-orchestra. I love it when local performances take advantage of local talent. I didn't manage to get all the instruments in the picture- the light wasn't consistent and either one half was too dark or too light. But you get the idea.

And this is the soloist, Neysa, who sang "O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion."

There was a visit from Santa Claus, more solos, and the ensemble I showed you at St. Joe's that sang "Carol of the Bells."

I skipped a Zoom meeting to attend this. No regrets.

In other news, I was super-good today. I edited and stuff like that. Did several jobs outside since we are going to have a mini thaw and I need to finish up a few tasks, then I took a short snowshoe walk, went to bell practice, and then to this concert. Full day!

Miles hiked in 2025: 470.0

Ludington School Forest- various trails, 1.1 miles.

See Concert at St. Joe- 2025

We'll Be Home For the Holidays- 2025

I guess I've managed to miss this concert most years. Seems like I've been to one since 2018, but maybe not. Between Covid and my NCT hike, three years got knocked out of the possibilities anyway.

This is the annual Christmas concert at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts. LACA has expanded and improved mightily since it's beginnings about 15 years ago. All the performers are local to the region.

Their building is the former Methodist Church, and it is right downtown. The auditorium has been converted to a stage.

The music was a great mix of different instruments and styles. There were two piano solos. This one, and one by a boy.

LACA now has a Youth Chorus. They sang two songs and did a very good job with them.

There was a clarinet band! Four different range clarinets playing together.

One male soloist with guitar did "Mary Did You Know?" very dramatically. And the closing two pieces were a female duet that were very, very good. The closed the concert with "Sleigh Ride."

Several soft rock/folk bands played and sang. This is the group 80 Cows that also played at the vendor event I did in October.

And of all the goofy things- this was totally unplanned. I went to my favorite audience spot in the balcony, and friend Loren was there! So I sat with her.

The pics aren't stellar- it's hard in the lower light. But still fun.

In the middle of posting this, Doug came to plow our driveway, and we had to move the cars to do that because Om wasn't able to get all they way up this afternoon. But, this means the driveway should be in good shape for the week. Hopefully, the rain on Thursday won't turn it all to ice. I've got a lot going on this week.

I'm enjoying hitting some extra Christmas concerts again this year.

See We'll Be Home For the Holidays- 2018

Concert at St. Joseph's- 2025

Tonight was the annual concert of the West Shore Choir and our bell choir at St. Joseph's Church in Hart. I've showed you a lot of pictures of the building in the past. It's beautiful! But I try not to share the same stuff over and over.

Om got a pretty good picture of us playing the bells.

Most of what the choir does is from the loft at the back. I'll just remind you that this church is a favorite of the directors because it has amazing acoustics. You can't really see anyone in this picture, but it gives you the sense of how it's staged.

The decorations are always beautiful.

Part of the choir (the portion that are students at West Shore Community College) did come down in front to sing Carol of the Bells a capella. They were spot on!

We played all four of our songs. (Between the church service on the 21st and Christmas Eve, I'll get them recorded.) The choir pieces ranged from popular Christmas songs to a portion from "The Messiah" with the Hallelujah Chorus.

Everyone got to sing three carols.

And, as usual, the church fed all the musicians afterwards. We stayed briefly.

I got some work done in the morning.

See Concert at St. Joseph's- 2024

Christmas Concert - Our Savior Lutheran

The other big activity yesterday was the bell choir's participation in the Our Savior Lutheran Church Christmas concert.

We were only a part of the musical program. Their choir sang several songs- Breath of Heaven, Mary Did You Know, and a medly with the Sunday School kids, shown here. And there were other soloists, and we all sang some carols.

The church was beautifully decorated. The large tree is covered with symbolic ornaments.

And they have a large nativity set in the hallway.

Of course, it takes a lot of work to set up for bell choir. We had to move all that stuff to the church, unload, set up, and then take it down afterwards too! This isn't during the performance, but near the end of the set-up time. We were first, so that the tables could then be moved out of the way for the rest of the program.

I want to say that the kids did a great job. They sang "Away in a Manger" in counterpoint to a different melody the choir was singing behind them. They were loud enough and on key. The younger girls were dressed in St. Lucia costumes, although that celebratrion doesn't come for another week, I think. The microphone kept me from getting a really good picture, but it's still cute.

Afterwards, they served cake and ice cream, egg nog, and wassail punch in the fellowship hall.

It was as full a day as I'm interested in any more! But great. I really enjoyed the Christmas celebration.

Today, I've mostly taken it easy. My goal has been to work at cleaning up the house a bit.

See SPW Hike- December

Bell Choir- September 2025

First performance of the season for bell choir!

This is just titled "Celebration #2." It's a rousing fanfare-type piece and we used it for the Call to Worship.



The anthem was "Shall We Gather at the River." I think the chimes parts in this one sound really nice.



The day has been a little bit of a ratrace. My alarm didn't go off, and I sure don't know how that happened because I double checked that it was set correctly before I went to sleep. I must have somehow turned it off by fumbling with the phone. So instead of having time to wake up at a speed that suits me and do my morning routine, I had to leap into the shower, collect needed items and dash for the church. Om went too since his church is still doing the "At the Movies" event.

At the Movies today was taken from The Lion King which is not one of my favorite movies. I wanted to see what lessons Pastor Jerry would draw from it. He pointed out that Simba, after he ran from Scar and the Pride, was living in a beautiful valley, and yet it was a prison of lies that was controlling him. It wasn't until he faced the truth and went home that he was able to become the king he was meant to be. (Very simplified version)

The setting for At the Movies! Free popcorn, pop, and candy. Lots of atmosphere. I took my sound-deadening earmuffs that I bought while I was working at the newspaper so that I could tolerate the volume of the live music. It worked.

And we did go to that together in the afternoon. We did a little errand on the way home from the morning service, ate, did a couple of things, and it was time to go back to the movie event. Got home from that, ate again, did a couple more things, and now the day is about over. Whew.

And of course, since I have a new computer, I had to re-purchase the movie editing software. It doesn't cost a lot, but they've changed it again. So I had to figure out how it works, etc, etc. Always something. I did not figure out how to add the title to the front in the first video, and did a poor job on the second one. I'll need to work on this!

See Bell Choir- May 2025

One Last Peep from Paradise

Jean and I traveled together, stayed together, and our booths were next to each other. Between us, we can cover just about any range of ages with books!

As you've seen before, she usually brings a chicken to help her sell her children's books about chickens. This time Peep came. Peep is a young silkie, and she's a hoot. She's very curious. She hopped over to my table a few times, and really is fun for people to interact with.

The lake was about the clearest I've seen there. That is Canada across the way.

The last musical act of the day was the Blue Water Ramblers. They were great! Definitely pro level. They did gospel, folk, and Michigan specific songs. One line stuck in my mind. "We'd rather go to Hell than New York City." If you are from Michigan, you'll get that. (Hint...Hell is even smaller than Paradise. If you are elite, you can say you've canoed through Hell. I have)

Marie and Diane arrived early afternoon. We left without any known glitches after the event was over. As far as we are aware, all the things that need to come with me to ND are in Diane's car, and all of the things that go home went with Bill and Shirley. Hopefully, we did it correctly.

We are now at friend Lorana's house in Marquette. We'll get pictures of us tomorrow. Too tired tonight!

See Around the Venue

35 Years Since...

Well, it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen Annabelle and Sophie, although it has been a little long.

And it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen Sue, or even since I heard her play a piano.

And it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen this Kathy. What are we doing?

Can you guess? I now have a piano again. (it was FREE- can you believe it? PTL) And it's been 35 years since that was true. You know I'm horribly out of practice, but I played a few pieces that were in the piano bench (badly). I have two cartons full of piano music, plus about 15 hymnals and uncounted chorus books. I'll need to get some of that out. Yeah! More mess.

It was a fairly major project to clear out a space where the piano could live and I need to find better homes for some of the stuff that was in that space. Sue and Kathy came to help move it. That was really a major project, but we did it! Took most of the afternoon.

We also had ice cream, but I didn't realize the SD card wasn't in my camera, so no picture of that.

The morning had the usual computer tasks. Another really hot one today. We are supposed to get some serious rain tonight. I hope that's real or I'll have to water the flowerbeds tomorrow.

See Got Out to One Place

Bell Choir- May 2025

Today, we wrapped up this season's bell choir performances. But we went out with a bang with three pieces.

The first is "His Name Is Wonderful." I have to tell you that this has always been one of my favorite songs of faith, and this arrangement seemed especially poignant. Then I realize that the chords were reminding me of when it was played on the big Wurlitzer organ at Winona Lake Bible Conference in Indiana. Winona Lake was one of the last surviving wooden tabernacles where so many revivals and retreats were held. Hope you enjoy this one.



The main piece we played is "Quarters on Foundation." The quarters are the traditional clock chimes played every quarter hour. Foundation is the counter melody of "How Firm a Foundation."

The four people in front on chimes are guest players. I want you to know that the two boys are brothers and the youngest one is in 2nd grade! We practiced for weeks without the chimes part, but when they all joined us, the piece just became so rich and awesome!



Finally, we played "I Am Thine, O Lord."



In other news, I mostly rested from 3.5 very busy days. I read a bit and gardened a bit. All good.

See Easter Music 2025

Easter Music 2025

 The music this morning was terrific! I've included our handbell piece (the hardest we've done this year), the choir, and a soloist.

We played "Hallelujah" by Beethoven from The Mount of Olives. Becky is on piano.



The choir sang "Easter Song" by Anne Herring. Directed by Becky, of course.



And Hunter Brown singing "The Trumpet Shall Sound," by Handel. John Taranko on trumpet and Becky on Piano. A little bad camera work, but I discovered I had to hold the camera to get them in the frame, and I wasn't fast enough to get set up in time. Also, these are just recorded through my camera microphone, so he actually sounded even better than this.



I slept 1.5 hours last night. I was fine in the morning, but felt punch drunk all afternoon. I don't seem to be good at taking naps in the daytime. I managed to putter around in the gardens a bit.

I should sleep tonight!

See Handbells- Here I Am, Lord

WSCC Concert Choir- Spring Concert

 This evening was the spring concert by the West Shore Community College Concert Choir.

I know that pictures of people singing aren't too compelling. I'll just tell you that they had a good cross-section of ages, not only in the choir, but singing solos.

They did folk songs, hymns, a funny song, and quite a few show tunes. Here, they are doing a medly from My Fair Lady, with Professor Higgins asking Eliza, "Where's that blasted plain?"

Of course, this was all put together, and mostly directed, by Becky Sopha. She was presented with flowers at the end.

I edited and worked on other projects until it was time for bell practice.

See WSCC Concert Choir- 2014