Monica Yunus performed a lieder recital at Rollins, sponsored by the Marilyn Horne Foundation. The collaborative artist was Gerald Steichen on piano. The MHF supports the "art song" tradition by teaching and promoting young singers. I happen to be a lieder nut, I have dozens of lieder CD's and am glad for the MHF's efforts. Yunus mapped a great program including an anthology of Italian song, some Debussy favorites of mine, and some Rachmoninoff that I had never heard. She was born in Bangldesh to a Russian mother and loves to sing in Russian! Oh, she grew up in New Jersey, where many great people hail from! Yunus is a member of the Met Opera company.

I just finished reading Joe Dispenza's Evolve Your Brain. He is the "create your day" speaker in "What the Bleep Do We Know". He gives mountains of information about the chemistry of the brain & the mind-body complex. He explores how habits and reactions get "hard-wired", what the yogis call samskara. My interest is in how to change them, neuro-plasticity, and he provides a template for this. Some interesting cross-cultural intersections with the visualization techniques in Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices.

Ayers Family Christmas

Debbie, Jessica & I traveled to Lodi, WI for the Ayers' Family Christmas. Some 30 gathered for a great party organized by D's brother Greg & his wife Angie. We then had a lot of fun at Darlene & Tim's home with lots of nieces & nephews & presents. J spent an evening at a pizza party with all the cousins and had a nice time. Lodi had a heat wave, up from -15 degrees the prior week to the high twenties, hooray!

Jessica & I visited Grandmom on the way home from college. Grandmom was thrilled to see Jessica & we all had a great time. We spent some time at Oakleaf & had some meals there. We also had a nice dinner with Randy & Amy in Greenville.