HARRISBURG AND HERSHEY, PENNSYLVANIA

Following Christmas and our trip to Lancaster, I got back to work on the choir library at Market Square Church. I take several hours each Thursday to collect, organize, and re-file the anthems used by our 30-voice choir. We often sing two or three pieces during a service, so there is a lot of music going in and out of the library.

I use this great cart/shelf to gather and move the music among the main room and the three smaller rooms where the music is filed. I showed a little drawing of what I needed to my choir neighbor Lee G., and the next week he walked in with the finished product. He is a fine woodworker and a most generous person. This cart has made my job a whole lot easier!

Here's where the music ends up, arranged in boxes, each piece of music numbered. I am working on creating a database of the whole library. So far I have about 800 pieces logged in, including title, composer, voices, accompaniment, and season for which it's appropriate. There are hundreds more to go! Some of the pieces date back to 1912 and earlier.

Occasionally, I am interested in hearing what a piece sounds like, so I will walk over to the piano and try it out.

One evening, realizing that the the Harry and David pears that my sister Rachel had shared with us were at the peak of their ripeness, I decided to make a pear pancake, following a recipe that is found on the Web site of a great bed and breakfast, Old Rhinebeck Inn, in Rhinebeck, New York. We have stayed there and have become friendly with the innkeeper, meeting her and her husband twice while they were traveling in Pennsylvania. 

We did not get to see our western Pennsylvania grandchildren at Christmas, but we did see our Baltimore grandson when his parents came to Harrisburg to attend a party given by friends near us. I was "greeting" in a model home in Hershey (when the manager is gone, a "greeter" holds down the fort and allows people to look through the house) when Matt, Marylee, and Ian arrived, so after lunch, they came down to Hershey to chat and see the house. Matt and Marylee were interested because they are building their own place near Baltimore. 

Ian donned a builder's hard hat and posed on the stairs.

Matt relaxed by the fireplace.

Marylee and Susanne claimed the couch.

Soon it was New Year's Eve. Normally, we are asleep by midnight, but this year we decided to go crazy and celebrate like mad. So at 9:15 p.m. we headed to Market Square Church, where the New Holland Band, one of America's oldest town bands, played its 13th annual New Year's Eve concert. In the first picture, the band is gathering and tuning up as the audience assembles.

Soon, the room was full.

Eric, the church organist, added sparkle to the concert with a robust "Finale" from a French organ symphony.

Right after this picture was taken, my camera's battery ran out (drat!), so I have no photos of the city's fireworks, which took place only yards from the church's front door. They were spectacular, I must say. 

Here is a photo taken last year by my choir friend Wilmer, just so you can see what the scene was like.

Afterwards, many concert-goers returned to the church social hall for "Muffins at Midnight," where fresh muffins, hot apple cider, and coffee were served to welcome the New Year.