Letter #12 (or, we made it one year!)

May 2023

First, thank you for subscribing to this newsletter during its first year! Thank you for taking the time to read, comment, and share it with others. I’m looking forward to year two!

Notes from Me

[“Wivenhoe Park, Essex” by John Constable, 1816]

Listening: I enjoyed this interview with Stuart and Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason whose seven children have pursued classical music (including a son who gained notoriety after his cello performance at Prince Harry’s wedding). While pleased that some of their older children have pursued music as a career, they state that that was never their goal. Kadiatu says,

We never at any point thought they are going to become musicians. We thought—they are playing music, and isn’t that wonderful? And what they got from that would leak into everything they did.

Three things that struck me in watching the interview were the Kanneh-Mason’s laid back demeanor, humility, and the obvious delight they expressed when speaking about their children. I now want to read the memoir the mother published last year called House of Music.

With the Boys

Listening: This last month, we have been listening to Camille Saint-Saens’ zany, boisterous Carnival of the Animals. This picture book by poet Jack Prelutsky complements the music. The boys listen to the Maestro Classics Carnival of the Animals CD (instead of the one suggested on the book’s cover).

In the Kitchen

In April, we observed Passover and Easter with friends. Seder meal recipes I will use again include Deb Perelman’s Matzo Ball Soup, Brisket, and Hamantaschen.

For the last few years, the boys have made an “Easter Mountain” out of stiff play dough [pictured above]. It doubles as Calvary and Jesus’ tomb. I got the idea from Noel Piper’s Treasuring God in Our Traditions. On Good Friday, Jesus is on the cross, on Saturday, he is laid in the tomb with a rock covering the entrance. On Easter Sunday morning, the cross is taken down and Jesus stands victorious on the mountain while the Handel’s “Messiah” plays through my phone’s speaker. Christ is Risen!

Small Joy

This Change Your Life Chicken recipe: the way it consistently delivers, and how its leftovers make a lovely salad the day after.

P.S.

Piggybacking on the above mention of the musical Kanneh-Mason family, I enjoyed this article by Braimah about composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint Georges.