Hallelujah Chorus

As many of you may know already, I come from and married into a musical family. As is the Ploss Family Holiday tradition, we gather together our friends and extended families and party on one Saturday night in December. We sing, and eat and drink and sing some more, until we can't. (Eat, drink or sing!) The great thing about the singing at our party is that it's usually in 4 parts and our accompanist is good!

This year's party, which is in it's waning hours even as I write this was the first one I've missed in 25 years. I was kinda bumming about it last night and this morning, so I decided to do something different to keep my mind off it. I decided to go to church for the first time since July 11. (As my friend Anne jokingly said, "Forgive me Father for I have sinned...")I realized I missed singing Christmas and Advent music. It's been a HUGE part of the yearly cycle of seasons for my entire life. I was raised in the Presbyterian tradition, and have been doing something Presbyterian for all my Trumansburg years. Church this morning was a welcome, pleasant and familiar diversion. On my way home, I stopped in a music store and picked up 2 books of seasonal piano jazz.

When I got home, I checked my email and found a REALLY URGENT message from Chris to send him my phone number. I quickly skyped the party at Bob and June's and heard the familiar strains of carols in the background. I got passed around for a few minutes, saying hello to friends, and then....they sang the Hallelujah Chorus one more time just for me! There were only just a few folks left at the party, Bialkes, Sutcliffes, and Plosses-a-plenty, but they put their hearts and souls into that performance. As I heard their enthusiastic voices coming through my wee computer speakers, I was overcome with thankfulness- that I have such amazing, loving (and talented!)friends and family, and longing-it made them seem farther away somehow. It was the best sounding Hallelujah I've ever heard, (who WAS that tenor?) and it reduced me to a puddle. I'm guessing it was a funny puddle, because Nate and Matt were pointing and laughing.

Just as the Hallelujah Chorus is a Christmas and Easter tradition in our culture, Beethoven's 9th Symphony (the Choral Symphony) apparently is the big thing here in Japan. My niece Sandra Wayman sent me this link to an article describing how this is so. I actually have a Japanese aquaintance who will be participating in the world's biggest 9th Symphony performance here in Februaury.

Check it out: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDF1E3FF93AA15751C1A966958260


Wishing you Love, Laughter and Music this Christmas Season!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Last night, we finally went to EX, the German snack bar. This picture gives you an idea how tiny the place is, (we took the picture from one side of the bar, looking toward the other side- and that's the size of this small establishment) and if you look closely, you can see hundreds of little ornaments hanging down, over the customers. It was very festive! The entire place seats 14 people, all cozy and up close around a well worn wooden bar. EX is run by two men; the large friendly German named Horst, and his diminutive Japanese partner, Hiroshi. They serve up friendly delicious German comfort food- heavy on the meats, and wonderful roasted vegetables, along with excellent German beer. It was just what I needed to lift the spirits. There were people coming in and out the whole time we were there, looking disappointed when they saw a full house, and several groups waited for seats outside in the chilly night air. Horst chatted away with all the customers like they were old friends (and some were, you could tell) with his wonderful accent, white mustache and buzz cut.

It was a very memorable meal.

You can go to EX too! Check out the (mostly live) web cam: http://www.ex-tokyo.com/webcam.htm

Lights of Roppongi

I thought you might enjoy the twinkly lights of Roppongi. Little by little we are uncovering the mystery of Christmas in Japan. Now we know that Christmas is a ROMANTIC holiday, meant for couples. (chaperoned by a jolly fat man in a red suit, adds Robin) So many of the red ornaments hanging in the greens are heart shaped, and you see couples strolling through the parks at night enjoying the sparkling lights. So now we know how to celebrate: pick up a bucket of KFC, buy a cake and have a romantic dinner: Christmas in Japan!

Many Christmas, everyone!

There's a lovely path through this well lit park. It surrounds a pond. Very Romantic!

This is the giant spider at Roppongi Hills. It's a pretty famous landmark.

Lots of people taking pictures of this scene with their cell phones...

College life in The Great White North

Here's the latest image from Montreal, Canada. Chris took this picture of the turbo punch bug under "15 inches, and still coming down!" After he shoveled out the car, he had to get someone to help jump it to get it started. Then he filled it up, and stocked up on groceries. When he returned home he discovered that someone had taken his lovely shoveled parking spot. He drove around the block, found "a snow bank" that he then shoveled to make a new parking spot, and schlepped his groceries home through the snow. Reminds me of a few experiences with a car that I enjoyed as an undergrad at Fredonia way back in the day...

Happy Winter!

Hanging out in Tokyo

Here I am, just hangin' out on the couch in the living room. We've been relaxing at home more lately, as either the excitement of living in Tokyo has worn off a little, or else the approaching holiday, early darkness and colder temps are causing us to "nest."

We attended the Winter Fest at ASIJ on Saturday. It was a balmy 60 degrees and the sun was shining. I couldn't help but think how "Octoberfestish" it felt. I had my first Taiko performance on an actual stage, in an actual theatre. It went pretty well, although there was one moment when I was totally confused. I missed the last class before the performance, so I'm guessing I missed a crucial rehearsal point...In the middle of the piece, we turn our big round fat Taiko drums onto their sides on their stands, so they are tipped toward us, and we sit on the floor, holding the stands with our feet. Then we lean back, using our abdominals to hold us up, wailing away for all we're worth. Well- everytime we had practiced that movement to the sitting position in class, we had always been facing our teacher, Moko. On Saturday, we were supposed to walk around to the side facing the audience, tip our drums and then sit with our BACKS TO THE AUDIENCE, because apparently, it's rude to have our feet facing them. This caught me completely by surprise. Consequently, I was trying to tip my drum the wrong way, (oh no! why is my stand backwards!?)and was struggling with it, when I noticed that everyone around me was already down, facing backward...and there I was completely confused, standing in a sea of seated drummers...I tried to recover quickly, but I'm sure I looked a bit like a deer in the headlights until I figured it out. Eventually I got down, and finished with a flourish. Sheesh. So much for being inconspicuous.

The leaves are still on the trees, although some are red and gold. The tree outside my kitchen window has just decided this week to drop it's leaves. Matt said that just when it gets pretty with all the leaves on the ground all the local folks come out and sweep the leaves away. That's probably true. I commented that at least they aren't using leaf blowers. I can't stand those things.

I just heard from Matt that there is a snow day happening in the 'Burg today! I share your joy. I'm just a big giant kid when it comes to snow days. We won't see snow until we head for the mountains of Nagano when Chris comes to visit. So go build a snowman, and go sliding for me, would you? Have a great time!

More hang time with the family...

Nathan donning his Ithaca is GORGEOUS T shirt, engrossed in something. Matt is a dork, but I love him! He's the comedian in the family. He's wearing my Taiko headband.
A view of our little dining room from our living room.
This picture was painted especially for me by my favorite Aunt, Jane Zogg. I received it over the weekend in the mail. It was painted to remind me of my "homeland," and to make me feel better. Jane lives in McGraw, right near Cortland and has been painting, teaching and sharing art her whole life. She is a remarkable woman who hasn't had an easy life. She was thrown from a car in a terrible accident in the late 60's and since then has endured countless surgeries, and has had to overcome many health difficulties. Through the years, I have admired her indomitable spirit, strong faith, her sense of humor and easy laugh. She's one of those people who has a chuckle ready to fly at any moment. This was a very touching gift. It was like getting a huge hug.
Huge hugs to you all!
Cheers.