A Percussionist's Notebook

Three days before Christmas I answered the door and was greeted by one of my best friends and his wife. Big G and I have known each other since 1974 when I first started teaching, him PE and me Music. Eventually he became a Principal and transferred to a different school in the district but we still kept in touch on occasion. That friendship took a turning point in 1983. He called me and was excited about watching the movie 'Breaking Away'. He wanted to ride his bike to San Diego (where his wife's parents lived) and wanted to know if I would ride with him. I thought long and hard about this (5 minutes) and said it was a great idea. In June of 1984 he stopped at my house, loaded my bike on his car and drove his family to San Diego. We had previously decided to reverse the direction and ride from San Diego back to Colorado Springs because of the prevailing winds. As it turned out the winds blew in every direction on the trip. I flew out to San Diego and spent a few days wit...

My wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary earlier this summer. We spent 4 days at Chimayo in northern New Mexico, one of our favorite places. We were in 1 of only 7 rooms in a hacienda that had no TV, internet, or cell phone coverage. In the evenings we walked through the court yard, read and talked with each other. Talk about pulling the plug on technology, this was the perfect gift that we could have given ourselves. Our 1st outing took us to the El Santuario de Chimayo, a small church about a mile from the hacienda, famous as a pilgrimage destination known for it's 'healing soil'. This beautiful contemplative place set the tone for the rest of our stay. The following day we went to the Mesa Prieta Project area (prior reservations required). Not as well known as the Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque but it is estimated to have nearly 100,000 petroglyphs from paleo times through the Spanish era (and some modern graffiti). Mounted rider from ...