Good Morning.

Two celebration items today...

First, to our Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that the harvest you are celebrating is a bountiful one, and that your favorite team will appear in the Grey Cup game next month, when we Americans have our Thanksgiving celebration.

As an aside, I read over the weekend that Canadian universities are now considered to be great "bargains" financially. As a former professor at a Canadian university, I can confirm that the quality of instruction and faculty north of the 49th parallel is quite good indeed. (In fact, the choral music education at some of the Canadian schools is not just the equivalent, but significantly better than what can be found south of the line...email me if you are interesting in knowing just where...) I can personally vouch for the fact that if you know of a student who is interested in a quality university education, but might be financially challenged (for instance, Brandon University, in southwestern Manitoba, has tuition fees that translate to less than US$5,000 in certain circumstances), looking at Canadian schools would be a smart option. Full disclosure: the weather will not be the same as that at USC, the University of Miami, or LSU. :)

Second, last Thursday night, at my church choir rehearsal, we celebrated one of our members' birthdays. It fell on choir night, but, he was there nonetheless. In fact his daughter was there too, because she sings in the choir as well. So far you are saying "What's so special about that?" Well...apart from the intergenerational part of the story, would you be more impressed if I told you that Don had just turned 91? It was a surprise to me...I had pegged him for late 70s, or maaaaybe early 80s. His voice is still strong, and choir is not the only place he serves this church, which is Presbyterian. The denomination is important, because Don has been the Clerk of Session (sorry for the jargon, non-Presbyterians) for many, many years. There is some speculation that he is, indeed, the oldest serving Clerk of Session in the Presbyterian denomination. And, from what I've heard, he misses nothing when it comes to the Book of Order.

OK, you say...fine. Here's the kicker... After we had sung that Happy song that can't be mentioned because it would accrue royalties (yes...it is true...but that's a story for another day), he points at one of my basses and says, "Del's only 2 months behind me!"

So now here's the deal. I've got two vibrant 90 year olds in my choir, one of whom's daughter also sings with us. (or is that whose daughter? I can never keep it straight...perhaps because I never had any grammar instruction in my entire public school education...another story for another day...) And, sitting alongside one of them is one of the high school students, who come because their whole family sings in the choir (well...except for one son, who plays in the worship band). And sitting alongside the other of them is my female bass...and yes, she can hit the low notes...don't ask me how...I've never seen or heard that before...

All just another day in a church choir, eh? (That's a Canadian reference to tie this all together... OK... in joke...)

I'll bet that someone out there reading this can "top" my story. Please email me and tell me about your choir/band/handbell group/worship team story.

New business...

● Take our survey this week! Read the set up in the survey question box to see what we're doing....This is the second and last week for the topic: Which day(s) of the week are your scheduled days off? It seems as if most of you don't work at the end of the week. Please go to our home page and take the survey, and check back at the end of the week to see what the results are.