One Year Older

February is already half gone. It seems to be moving a little quicker this year and I'm glad for that. At about this point, midway through February, I find that winter has begun to insinuate itself into my mind so deeply that it has started to feel almost normal. It wants to be normal. It's trying to lure me into becoming so accustomed to its demands that I don't think twice about it anymore. Wearing layers of clothing, putting on boots and gloves any time I go out, following the path I've trodden in the snow from the house to the barn and the house to the woodpile, and walking cautiously to avoid slipping and falling – that's a sad sort of normal. I don't want to forget the lightness of going out in shirtsleeves and shorts, of walking on soft grass, of feeling warmth rising from sun soaked earth or flowing around me in the air on a breeze. I don't want winter to feel normal. I want to rage against it. So I grumble every time I put on my boots. I mutter as I trudge through the snow. And I make myself remember. Spring and summer will come with light and warmth and life. Winter will die. It's defeat is certain. The sun rising a little earlier and setting a little later each day assures me.

On Tuesday I observed my 67th birthday. I'm happy to say I've survived another year without anything catastrophic overtaking me, just the usual complaints that come with living this long. I spent the day doing usual things. I did the chores. I ran errands. I spent a happy hour talking to my mom and my sisters Hollie and Nancy. And I spent some time in quiet contemplation. As usually happens around my birthday, and even more frequently these days, I found myself reflecting on my life and how I got to this point. I took a look back through some journals and photo albums. I reviewed the things that were going on in the wider world over the years of my life. It's amazing to see what the world was like in 1958 when I entered it, and how rapidly it, and I, have changed through the decades.

Zero to ten years old.

Twenty to forty.

Prices	1958	2025
$1.00 in 1958 is equivalent in purchasing power to $10.92 today.
Average Income	$4,650.00	$63,795.00
Average Three Bedroom House	$12,750.00	$279,000.00
Average New Car	$2,953.00	$48,401.00
One Gallon of Milk	$1.00	$4.00
One Dozen Eggs	$.55	$6.00
One Pound of Ground Beef	$.30	$5.00
One Loaf of Bread	$.19	$3.00
One Pound of Butter	$.75	$4.00
One Gallon of Gasoline	$.24	$3.25
Postage Stamp	$.04	$.73
Average Price of a Movie Ticket	$.68	$10.78
Tuition at Harvard per Year	$1,250.00	$56,550.00

Best selling GM car of 1958 the Chevrolet Impala, and of 2024 the Chevrolet Equinox.

For my birthday dinner, we had spaghetti and garlic bread. I had my special version of it with zero carb hearts-of-palm "pasta." I'm almost used to eating this way. Miriam made a special birthday treat for me, a vanilla almond cake with dark chocolate ganache and mixed berry compote. It was delicious. I received some very nice gifts. All day long I received birthday wishes from family and friends. I feel very blessed.

My birthday cake. Thank you Miriam!

Sixty-seven.

One of the birthday gifts I received was a book from Geoffrey and Joni, Year of Wonder: Classical Music to Enjoy Day By Day by Clemency Burton-Hill. It is a perfect gift. The book features a piece of classical music for every day of the year with a bit of background information for each one. Looking through it, there are lots of pieces that I know and love, but also many I do not know. On Wednesday, I listened to the pieces for January 1st to February 12th to get caught up. From then on I have been listening to each day's piece and thoroughly enjoying them. I've already discovered new works that I love.

Back in January, as I watched the awful news about the fires burning in Los Angeles, I saw a headline that read "Wildfire Breaks Out in Hollywood Hills," followed by a short paragraph, "Crews knocked down a blaze in the Hollywood Hills with the help of water drops from aircraft, allowing an evacuation to be lifted Thursday (January 16th). The fire that sparked late Wednesday near the heart of the entertainment industry came perilously close to igniting the famous Hollywood Bowl outdoor concert venue." I'm glad it didn't burn. For several years I worked in an office on Highland Avenue a block north of Hollywood Boulevard, just down the road from the Hollywood Bowl. I used to drive past its entrance gate every morning on the way to work. Last week I mentioned going to a series of Stravinsky concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in 1982. That got me reminiscing about other concerts I attended at the Bowl.

My first concert there was when I went to see Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl on the 26th of September 1980. It was great seeing them perform sketches I knew so well from my Flying Circus fan days. Then there were the Stravinsky concerts in 1982. I also went to a fantastic performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, but I don't remember what year that was, maybe 1983. I saw Itzhak Perlman play the Brahms Violin Concerto there. It was an amazing performance. Partway through it, one of his violin strings broke and he kept right on playing, adjusting his fingering around the broken string. On July 3, 1985, Stacey and I, with one month old Geoffrey, and our friend Ann Morrell, went to hear Bach's Mass in B Minor. Then in 1992 Stacey and I, with Geoffrey, who was seven, and Rachel, who was five, went to see Bugs Bunny on Broadway. It was a fun concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing live music to the famous classical Looney Tunes cartoons projected on a huge screen above the orchestra. I know there are other concerts I attended. Stacey remembers going to a few others, but not when or what they were.

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl.

July 3, 1985, Bach's Mass in B Minor.

July 3, 1985, at Bach's Mass in B Minor.

The Hollywood Bowl is an odd venue. It is over a hundred years old, although it has undergone extensive changes over the years. It is outdoors, with around 18,000 seats rising in rows in an amphitheater facing the arched band shell. Some of the seats in the sections closer to the front, the more expensive ones, are in boxes with tables. You can buy dinner and eat it at your seat during the concert. I never sat anywhere near those pricy seats. We could only afford the seats above Promenade 4. I always enjoyed going to concerts there. It's one of the few things I miss about Southern California.

Seating chart at the Hollywood Bowl.

Every week in February so far, we've had at least one winter storm. Last week we had two. The first one arrived on Wednesday evening. It was the usual nasty mix of freezing rain, sleet, and snow. School was delayed two hours on Thursday morning. Miriam and I were both glad for that. She was staying at the Foster's house all week taking care of their chickens and their dog, Maverick, while they were away. During the week on the days when she was in school, she brought the dog here for me to watch. Watching Maverick makes for a different sort of day for me. He likes attention and I have to keep him entertained with walks and playtime. We do okay most of the time. He lets me know when I'm neglecting him. The two hour delay on Thursday meant that Miriam didn't have to bring Maverick here until 9:30, which gave me a little more time to do my morning routine before he arrived. So that's how Thursday went, me and Maverick hanging out on a dismal day. And it was dismal. The snow turned to cold rain midmorning. The rain made the snow on the roof of the house very heavy and sent it sliding off in sheets. All morning I heard it thudding as it hit the ground. Maverick heard it too and he barked every time. I put on some music and turned it up loud so we couldn't hear the noise, but his hearing is better than mine. There was a lot of barking.

Friday was Valentine's Day. It isn't a big holiday like Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter. We don't have a traditional meal. It isn't a day off from work. But we have our own little traditions. My aunts Esther and Eleanor, who lived in this house for seventy years before us, made homemade Valentines and sent them out every year in honor of their father, my great-grandfather Theodorus Howe, whose birthday was February 14th. When we moved here, we decided to keep their tradition. For the last few weeks, the workroom upstairs has been Valentine Central with a table covered with cardstock, doilies, stickers, and pens. Miriam and Hannah made most of the cards, Stacey and I made a few. All in all, we made and mailed over a hundred cards. Then on Friday morning there were surprise gifts and cards set out on the dining room table.

Friday morning Valentines.

In the book I got for my birthday, the musical selection for Valentine's Day was the second movement of Bach's Concerto for two violins in D minor, 'Largo ma non tanto.' It was a perfect choice. Bach is my favorite composer and that movement from that concerto is my favorite of his works. The author of the book wrote, "this second movement might just be the most beautiful piece of music we have. Bach renders – and rends – the human heart in a way that very few composers have ever come close to." I agree. The two violins speak to each other, intimately conversing in language that is subtle and passionate and tender. When I hear this music, I always wish that my wife and I knew how to play the violin so we could play this piece together. I wanted to insert a video of it here, but technology would not cooperate, so here is a link to a YouTube video you can paste in and listen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOhQkgGObPM

Our second winter storm of the week was due to arrive late in the day yesterday. Because I cancelled church last Sunday due to bad weather, I was very hesitant to do it again this week. This storm, from the forecast, looked to be even worse than last weekend's. Being the third Sunday of the month, we had speakers from the stake coming and they had a two hour drive all the way from Jamestown, New York. I didn't want them to risk the drive. And I didn't want to risk the drive from our house to the chapel. So I hemmed and hawed and finally, late yesterday morning, after checking the forecast again, I gave in and canceled. That's two weeks in a row. Rotten February weather!

Saturday afternoon in Gold.

This morning I saw that I was justified in canceling church. There was freezing rain falling. Everything was coated in ice. When I went out to do the chores, I had to slog through heavy, slushy snow. The trees were lovely, decorated with icicles. Several of the local churches also canceled their services. So another week out of kilter with a churchless Sabbath.

Ice on the crabapple tree.

Iced hawthorn berries.

We spent our Sabbath taking things easy. I reread the lesson we would have been discussing in Sunday School. I listened to some sacred music. It's been a quiet day. The coming week doesn't look any better, weather-wise. After soaking us with freezing rain, the temperatures are supposed to drop into the single digits all week, We'll be frozen solid. I'm waiting for that February thaw we often get so I can prune the orchard. It looks like that won't be happening this week. I have to keep reminding myself that under the snow, spring is sleeping, soon to wake up. And I will endure.