Settling in in Sequim

A rainbow, the harbinger of 'riches' to come... over Discovery Bay.

By the way, Sequim is pronounced "Sqwim" and those of you who have been reading the blog for awhile will recall my visit here this last summer. For a lot of reasons, I made a decision to find a place to begin settling in for my 'elder years'. It needed to be a place with minimal snow and minimal humidity. I wanted to have access to an artistic colony of folks and older people, like me, who were still interested in traveling, being active, but not all in one place like these 'active communities' which have become so popular throughout the U.S.

Sequim Community Chorus in the first of three nights of
performances at Trinity United Methodist Church.

This is meant to be my U.S. retreat, like my Colombian one, but after living in Colombia for several years it is clear to me that my language skills are not improving well enough for me to think about getting really old there. As long as I can still make the trip there, I will be there for awhile. And I still have a lot of South America to see. But the idea of being old, ill and unable to communicate well is a combination that doesn't appeal to me.

I was lucky to find a woman who wanted a roommate and since we will both be traveling in different directions and at different times, we are more roommates in terminology than actual fact. I have a nice clean room with a view of the tall evergreens and am about a mile from the water. The house is in a quiet neighborhood with watchful neighbors about 10 miles from Sequim center. It turned out that "K" is singing in the Community Chorus so I went last night to their first performance and was delighted at the music and had happy reminders of my days singing in Lake City with our dear director, Alphonso Levy. When the group did the Hallelujah Chorus, my tears of joy and sadness mixed in with a prayer for him as I sang along with everyone else.

As I explore my new surroundings, I am sleeping on a new bed as well. It is supposed to be comfortable, but the 'cells' warm up from body temperature and when I get into bed, my own cells are already cold from the chilly nights we are having here... perhaps it will be some kind of new weight loss process because I will be expending calories warming up the bed so I can go to sleep... LOL!

Mt. Rainier as seen from the ferry on the morning I caught it for Sequim.

Thanks for the Life of Dr. Alphonso Levy

Dr. Alphonso Levy, director of the St. James Episcopal
Church choir, put up with my antics as an alto in the
group for the years I was with them. I shall miss him.

It is hard to believe it when a community member who has made such a huge impression on so many lives passes away. Very early this morning 83 years of music were silenced with the death of Dr. Alphonso Levy in Lake City, Florida. I say 83 years because it must have been music to his mother's ears when he cried out, "I am here!"

This was a man of physically small stature, but he was huge in his impression through his musical talent.  Three years ago on his birthday the Lake City Community College personnel and members of both Lake City and Columbia County leaders celebrated his accomplishments with a Dr. Alphonso Levy Day.

He was 'on stage' for most of his life and as members of his choir at St. James Episcopal Church, we were often regaled during rehearsals with tales of his early peccadillos, machinations, and general playfulness with family, relatives, friends and associates. And he had many, many friends... I was blessed to meet him and join that special group, if only for a couple of years.

Until he was too ill to play publicly anymore, Dr. Levy often could be found performing on the weekends in restaurants around town, or at various events. When I moved to Lake City in 2005, I was given a birthday dinner at Tucker's Restaurant (sadly now closed) where Dr. Levy and Tony Buzzella also known as "Alphonso and Buzz" were at that time offering up their unique weekend repertoire of musical entertainment. On the website link you can hear some of the music they made together. I especially like listening to Alphonso's piano rendition of  "Amazing Grace" with Tony on the sax. What a team! Singing, kibitzing, working the crowd, the two of them were a delight and I was happily entertained to have them serenade me on my special day. I couldn't have known then how both of them would intertwine their musical energies into my life then, but now I have these fine memories.

I went to St. James Episcopal Church that weekend and - surprise! - there he was again, leading the choir in "Dona Nobis Pacem," by Mozart. (The link to this group singing is not our choir, but we were about the same size.) A peaceful man by his nature, Levy managed to keep his head through the struggles of church leaders and stay focused on the music, leading the choir to an esteemed position in the local diocese for our excellence in performance - all the credit goes to Dr. Levy who had a high standard we worked to maintain. (NOTE: I may have had a personal family link to this church as well since I was married to a relative whose mother's family included the name Snowden.)

As a choir we worked hard to produce the musical sound that Dr. Levy wanted from us on any given Sunday. He would sometimes come to rehearsal with a composition he had been working on (He loved writing music as much as playing it!) only to decide on Sunday's pre-church rehearsal that he wanted to make a few changes. But it was never all hard work and we enjoyed much laughter and camaraderie in those years with him. One of his favorites was "Deep River," chosen for Black History Month. I grew to love it as well and invite you to listen to this version by the Indiana Wesleyan University Chorale (2005-2006) in his memory.

Our church group was never as large as the Chorale, but he swelled the ranks of the singers when he did several productions of Handel's "Messiah" and pulled together church choirs from around Lake City to do annual fund raisers for a local food bank. My son remembers singing in our choir when he was living in Lake City and recalled that "Dr. Levy had a great appreciation for talent and how to incorporate or use that person to get the best out of them." As a participant in the annual "Messiah" one year, he also recalled how Dr. Levy would simply stand silently in front of the group waiting for everyone to stop talking and pay attention to the man with the little white stick, waiting to direct them. Tony Buzzella and other musician friends, like Harry Woest, joined us for these "Messiah" performances in the orchestra, so there was always this musical undercurrent between them that they all played off of - still working the crowd!

There are lots and lots of people who have known Dr. Levy far longer than I have, and have closer ties to him. But he will always be someone I remember with great fondness and appreciation for the lessons learned and the special friendship we shared, albeit brief. Well done, faithful servant, may the heavenly choir welcome you.

Singing Again

The Barichara Chorus was rehearsing in this shot.

I was part of the choir at St. James Episcopal Church today and it was quite amusing to see the reactions of 'the regulars' as they came past the choir for their communion. More than a few did a double-take seeing me in the Alto section and it was  good to be singing again.

My connections in Barichara, the village in Colombia, report that rehearsals are continuing and I was sent some words for one of the songs I have to be ready to sing in a couple of weeks.

This week I will be re-packing my suitcases and checking to make sure I have all the promised items I was asked to bring back or that I will need in my little casa.

The church choir director, Dr Alfonso Levy, was not directing us this morning because he was put into hospital for various reasons. So he did not know that I was there for rehearsal on Tuesday or in church today. I decided to go and visit him this afternoon and got there just as his brother and sister-in-law were leaving. He was so overwhelmed that I was there that he got us both crying and I said I was going to have to leave if I was upsetting him. He replied, "Girl, I don't want to be anything but upset right now I am that glad to see you."

We talked about my Colombia 'choir' and how the director there noticed that I knew about correct breathing and immediately Dr. Levy relaxed and said, "You just have to watch for the commas," and I smiled and said I didn't know how to say that in Spanish yet, but I remembered his instruction about that and would learn the words so I can share his tip with the group there.

Before I left Dr. Levy for the day, I asked him if he wanted me to do Reiki on him again (as I had done once before with a critical health issue for him) and he said I should proceed "as usual,' which made us both laugh. So I have been doing Reiki on him at a distance and intending that these current health issues resolve themselves so that he can be up and around again.

The other half of the Barichara choral group at rehearsal.

It will be hard to leave here but I am still excited about my new adventures and plans and the only things I really am waiting on are my papers for the 'pensioner visa' which are being processed from all I can gather.

At any rate it was certainly pleasant to be singing again as there is something so very satisfying to be in a group making music together, and I know how hard it is for Dr. Levy to be lying in a bed and not doing that which he loves... Get well soon, my  friend.