BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS

Dear Rose and Prince Rupert are going to church this morning. Today is St. Francis Day at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. My friend Deb Cornue will attend to my guys during the service while I sub in the choir. After the service there will be the blessing of the animals on the plaza. R & R are really excited. Of course, they love to go everywhere; and they can tell from the tone of my voice that something’s up.

I used to sing regularly at Grace—in fact for twenty-two years— from June 1973 through June of 1995.   I stayed through the Fiftieth Anniversary Commemoration of the Founding of the United Nations. Then for a year I sat in the congregation. That turned out to be rather difficult to do. So when John Renke— who at been assistant organist and choir director for my first fifteen years at Grace,  and then became  organist and music director at several other churches— asked me to sub at St. Dominic’s one Sunday in August, 1996, I accepted and ended up singing with him for more than a decade. We moved from St. Dominic’s to St. Francis of Assisi in North Beach with the founding of the Schola Cantorum. That’s a story in itself and will be a separate posting someday.

A major reason for leaving the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys back in 1995, was a regular conflict on Thursday nights with overlapping commitments up and down Nob Hill on Taylor Street. For six years I sang Evensong at Grace and had to leave before the end of the service to rush five blocks down the hill to a required rehearsal with the Aviary Chorus at the Bohemian Club, then leave that rehearsal early to slog back up the hill for another two and a half hour rehearsal at Grace. I’m amazed I continued for six years.

So when we started the Schola Cantorum at St. Francis of Assisi, I was able to convince a quorum to have our rehearsals on Wednesday nights. Now with my subbing at Grace for three different singers, I have more flexibility to do it at my convenience— though after my heart attack four years ago, it’s still a challenge. (That will be a separate posting as well.)

Rose and Rupert have had their breakfast and are asleep on their sofa in the Red Room as I write this. But it won’t take much to get them going. They’re gonna have a ball. (Though I probably shouldn’t take Rupert’s tennis ball with him this morning. Otherwise, he’ll want to play all during the service.)