It's another gorgeous day for riding—67° and sunny. I had wanted to do two or even three round trips to Marsh Park—2 would have put me over 900 miles for the year. But instead, I remain just a few miles short of that plateau, having settled for a single round trip. I completed the 10 miles in a new personal record for me of 53:46. (I had done it in 56:01 on December 7.)
I was once more fighting the urge to compose, and music won today. The last two days I've been making excellent progress on a setting for male chorus, piano, horn, and cello of a poem by Langston Hughes (As I Grew Older), and I was eager not only to continue with that, but to begin a playful setting that has begun to percolate in my head for piano and male chorus of an e.e. cummings poem (maggie and milly and molly and may).
This day is a special one for me, too, on two counts. It is the birthday of my maternal grandmother, with whom I was close. She was born May 19, 1897, on the family's cherry farm at the end of Old Mission Peninsula sticking out into Grand Traverse Bay in northern Michigan. She was also a lifelong pianist (she used to play for the silent movies back in the teens of the last century, as a girl, and entertained her fellow residents—which she amusingly called "the old folks" when she was closing in on 100 herself—at the nursing home where her life ended. In between she played for many dances throughout her adult life. And secondly, tonight the orchestra at Michelle's school (Emerson School) is playing in concert a piece I wrote for them (Simple Springtime) and I have been invited to guest conduct them, as I have on numerous prior occasions. (Here is a link to a video of last year's performance.)
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