Someone asked me the other day how I am.

It's 10 May 2016

It’s interesting and rather mysterious to me that even though I might feel there are parts of my life at a standstill, the world around me has taken little to no notice.  I’m feeling that today.

The end of an intimate relationship. The near overwhelming feeling that my heart has stopped its beating and my breathing is laboured.  Walking to the bus stop often feels like a hike (and I don’t do hikes).  And yet the world keeps moving with no notice of me and my feelings.

Has it always been this way?  You betcha, buckarette!

Welcome to life… real life.

Updating my website…OK!!! OK!!!

I adopted a dog.  A Schnoodle (Schnauzer/Poodle Cross) from a high kill shelter in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Her name is Callie. She’s a rather no-nonsense, beautifully marked, highly spirited creature.  We teach each other.

I’m in the second year of teaching piano and voice in The Chwyl School of Contemporary Music at The Victoria Conservatory of Music.  I’ve wanted to teach at the conservatory for more than three decades.  This opportunity has altered every aspect of my life and I am grateful even though I almost always feel like a salmon swimming upstream.

I’m playing more piano (to stay one step ahead of my students) and doing more singing (same reason) than I have in many years.  What is most telling is the level of enjoyment I find in my personal practice.  I do my best.

I’m also in the second year of working ¾ time on the Music Team (the ¾ time thing is really a joke) at Cadboro Bay United Church.  Why? You ask.  My response is visit the church and you’ll know… 2625 Arbutus Road (on the #11 bus route). Sunday service starts at 10AM.  I do the best I know to do.

Some folks at Shannon Oak Retirement Residence (Baptist Housing) expressed a desire to have regular group singing at their place in Oak Bay so I started a choir there. Joy!  Joy!  Joy!  We meet twice monthly.  We sing.  I learn.

I’m still leading The Open Door Choir@Our Place every Wednesday noon in the chapel at Our Place, 919 Pandora Avenue.  If you’re in the area on a Wednesday, come join us.

Once a month I get to play (and sing) music from The Great American Songbook in a piano trio setting at Hermann’s Jazz Lounge, 753 View Street. Make some time to visit www.hermannsjazz.com to see the variety of music available for you to experience.  Aah!!!  Just so you know… on Saturday, 28 May from 2-4 PM (Yes! You read it right!), I’m playing and singing the music of George Gershwin at Hermann’s with Kelby MacNayr.  The hours of this gig fit for me.  It’s a gas!!!!

That’s what I’m doing.

Through it all, I am still too blessed to complain

Until I see you...

Blessings,

Louise