HI Michael,

I see. One of my college instructors mentioned Berea College to me, thought it might have been one I would have applied to. I possibly

would > have, had I known about it while in high school.

I knew and respected people from Berea. It also
conforms largely to my idea of what a college
should be (especially the nonsectarianness).

My parents pushed the academics, knew I'd get a good education at
Houghton.

additional training in the big Boston institutions.

Each city seems to have at least one top music school associated

with > it. I'm not as familiar with the Boston area so (other than Berklee), > wouldn't have known about the others.

Some topper than others - Boston, New York, Philly,
Chicago, Rochester, Cincinnati, LA, Cleveland, Houston,
and San Fran, with some unexpected places, Oberlin,
Baltimore, and Bloomington. New York has Juilliard,
Mannes, Bard, and Manhattan; Boston has BCM and Berklee
(now the same institution), NEC, BU, MIT, and Harvard
(which didn't have a performance option until recently
- you had to go to Longy (now part of Bard) or New
England if you wanted to study instrumental). As you
can guess, the competition for jobs in New York and
Boston is incredibly fierce.

I suspect so. I didn't have the ability for a music major but knew quite
a few of them.

That's great - I'm suffering from the effects of an
essentially zero year career, especially with the
union pension fund having had a negative return for
a long time and being on the verge of bankruptcy.

Sigh! But, you had fun while doing it--except for having to play the 1812 Overture on July 4. (G)

It was on the whole fun; even 1812 was okay the first
ten times or so - after that it became a chore,
especially when I forgot my earplugs for the loud
part (ended up keeping a set or two in my case all
the time so I wouldn't ever miss them).

Smart idea. I keep certain small items in my purse or wallet (band aids,
safety pins, etc) for those "just in case" times.

couple of new cushions for the sofa/bed area. BTW, thinking

of the > ML> > picnic, the last week of Sept. may be involved with another quilting > ML> > retreat. Have to check for medical
appointments that month also. > ML> My query was a preliminary one;
we can hammer out

details when people's nonnegotiables are in place.

We've got most of ours set, need to work out a few dates this spring yet. We're saying "no medical appointments" in certain time frames

to > cover known otherwise committed times. Other than the probable
quilt

retreat, September is wide open.

Looks like September might be a good time, but
nobody else has chimed in yet.

Still early enough in the year--and winter hasn't fully left yet so it's
not on the radar.

Ketchup isn't essentially an awful thing, if
you like that coriander-pickling spicy taste;
out of a bottle it's an easy shortcut tht can
come in handy on occasion, but an artisanal or
homemade version can be quite nice on its own.

The run of the mill stuff is overused as a sub for a good tomato

sauce. > I've not tries any of the artisanal ones, thought about
making my own > but we don't use a whole lot of it so................

It has its place, just not the same place as me.

About the same here.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28


... A truly wise person knows that he knows not.

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)