The organist librarian

Saturday unpacking finished and washing. Auditions at St John's. Did not recognise Stephen Hope but he recognised me. His playing was eccentric. Gary ran into trouble with the plainchant but Max was impressive.  To Bloomsbury Baptist to hear half of Sarah Kim's recital of transcriptions. Good to be back at Mass at the cathedral. Trains not running well. Very cold.  Played Franck Prelude and Fughetta and we sang Webbe Lamb of God. Saw Henry when I picked up the car - it was parked there because of the football. Caught up on Call the midwife, A Vicar's life, Tablets, Yo Yo Ma and the Silk road ensemble. Monday mosaic and tai chi.  Stunning playing from Daniel Cook at the Festival Hall and a most interesting interview. Met the Gillian Weir organ scholar they are looking for a successor. Vierne 6, Stanford Sonata 2 Eroica, Nice to see Andrew from Acton. Daniel Cook comes up quite often in this blog! Snow prevented us going to Acton and in fact school closed! 

Did not sleep well. Brian's 24 exc breakfast Belgian waffle. To Bilboa Park. Tiemen gallery is lovely and free. Sketched Rembrandt details Also Rubens, Hals and Zurburan. Icons. Natural history museum. Enjoyed ocean oasis and BBC Earth predators in 3D films. Interesting store items and California wildlife. Lovely gardens and botanical building.  Museum of man has plaster casts of Mayan objects beer and race very well presented. Fine fig trees and palms, Spreckels organ pavilion. Pick up Supershuttle to airport and early for BA flight. Interesting TV programme debate on guns. Full, slept! Seat not as comfortable as Emirates. Courier car eventually arrived and found us then he could not find his car! Came home a very windy way not M25 it took 90 minutes. Home at 4.30. 4 Tablets to read. Unpacked and watched programme on royal collection. Slept to noon right knee sore shower with Elemis helped.

Up early 5.30 the clocks having gone back another hour. Everybody had to be checked by US immigration no problem despite the worries as ship staff had printed the Istas.  Breakfast in lido then waited in 4027 for the 9.30 call and we got an Uber, Marcus who was chatty  to take us the few blocks to Kimpton hotel Palomar 5th avenue.location gaslamp quarter right near trolley stop. To Old Town state park and saw houses, carriages, Wells Fargo coaches, court house and school. Most interesting. Ate tuna salad at I'm hungry with pink prickly peer lemonade. Then to the original mission. Lovely church and gardens. No museum as holiday Presidents day and flags at halfmast? Quite a walk but worth it. Wine at hotel and ate at De Medici expensive but delicious seafood ravioli in pink vodka sauce. At bar while waiting tried a James Bond martini. Cold wind. Wait to get bill. Exhausted. Woke 1.30 and 3.40. A great day at San Diego Zoo. Breakfast at Brian's 24 in 6th avenue. Met a couple...

A most enjoyable day. Ashes at 7.30 and general absolution. Coach to General Juan N.Alvarez elementary school Chiapas. The tour company gave us school packs and sweets for the kids. Visited year 1 and 4 who were studying Mexican history. They use abacus and counting beads. Dancing very good. Banana plantation very labour intensive. It was hot. At the Catholic church the ladies gave us lunch. The community coop went out of their way to welcome 3 coachloads. Rest, spa, Paraguayan harpist Shirley Dominguez her dress didn't help! Brahms piano quintet. Piaf to Peanuts. 15.2 clicks went back an hour beautiful day and walked on deck twice. Mass at 8. Quiet day sitting on balcony and saw dolphins. Finished Chris Patten's First Confession a memoir. Liz went to Spanish class and I slept. Spa and late dinner after BBC Earth films. Ballet music with Roland excelling in The Swan. Fantastick Patrick and Indonesian show. Sumatran and Javan dances are fun. 16.2 Mass and Liz was early. Praye...

Woke early. Breakfast was late coming and included smoked salmon instead of fruit. The tour left an hour late because of coaches on quayside. Leonardo proved to be an excellent and engaging guide. Truly a remarkable country democracy, no army, president changes every 4 years, hydroelectric solar and wind power no oil or gas! Large national parks. The eco mangrove cruise saw scarlet macaws, roseate spoonbills, iguanas, stilts, caracara, herons, crocodile. 2 minutes quiet and we could hear the parrots and nature magic. Leonardo called us family and told us the 5 rs recycle, reforest, reuse, respect. Excellent trip. Rest swam in pool and spa. Champagne in room from room service to apologise so ordered meal in room. Excellent BBC Frozen planet with music played live. 12.2 docked 10am at Corinto Nicaragua and went on coach to Leon. Erick a very good guide. To home of Spanish poet Reuben Dario sad that his MSS are all in  Madrid and then large art gallery nothing inspired me to sketch ...

Up early for the canal which is amazing. Hot. Great views from bow and crows nest. Missed mass it was too interesting. Quintet played women composers including Clara Schumann trio in G minor and Fanny Mendelssohn Adagio. Funny pianist Giegko. Clocks forward an hour so woke early. To stretch and breathe already hot at 7 a.m.! Digital workshops with Isac on photos into movies and One Note. Walked once round deck. Reading. Liz did kitchen tour. Spa before taco lunch.Mass was full. Dinner at Canaletto very good. Puglia wine. Show All for love 12 singers and dancers good but loud. Deposit on July 2019 cruise to Iceland and polar ice cap. American programme from quintet including Copland and Gershwin.

7/2 meditation, Mass, digital workshop on mail and calendar, finished Sprout book and Tinsley on psalms. Force 8 wind so stayed in room. History of Panama canal and good film. Pizza and tea. Liz went to spa. Dining room to finish Conundrum wine jerk chicken and shrimp cocktail. Couple from Illinois and charming from Jerusalem. daughter  In law from Jo'burg. They support Trump and Brexit.  Bach and ballet from quintet. Lively playback show Kansas City lady supports Trump. 8/2 up early Cartagena Colombia. Very good tour to the national aviary macaws, parrots, kingfisher, stilts, screamers, flamingos, ibis, tanagers,condors. Spa and left 12.30. Workshop on OneNote, mass, walk. Reading on our balcony. Quintet played Dvorak quintet movement and Dumky trio. Sad simple melodies and passion. Latin American good. Very clever ventriloquist Rob Watkins.

The cruise. Out of room at 11. Liz got spray suncream. Walked to beach which is huge. Watched beach volleyball. Stretch limo to Fort Lauderdale. Queue for security. Nice room with balcony, ship refurbished. Mass Fr John from Charlotteville retired 11,000 families average age 40! Some competition on pace. Prayed for Gaynor. Digital workshop after dinner learned a lot in 30 minutes. Excellent piano quintet Brahms in Lincoln Centre room. bed  early. 5.2 up for stretch at 7 discovered I could do more than I expected. Breakfast in  room. Digital workshop at 8 on photos. Liz went to sort out tour tickets. As it turned out is was fine. We went ashore at Half Moon Cay Bahamas which Holland America own and they spent 17. Million dollars. Got our crab shell beach shelter with 2 loungers and went on Eco lagoon cruise. Fed yellow snapper fish saw sponges and corals. Barbecue lunch then a dip. Water cool.saw school of silver angel fish. Mass at 4 and spa. Theatre packed for Canadian fe...

Set off 11.45 very quick to terminal 3. Got duty free wine for cruise. We can take a bottle each. Liz couldn't get memory card.  She was upset that the seating change she made last night to a 2 on upper deck was not there but in fact the man next to me was happy to move so we were OK. Watched Goodbye  Christopher Robin, History Boys and Murder on the Orient Express and listened to Guy Johnston. Sound good and food OK. 10 hour flight. Taken past long queue at passport control because I was limping! Supershuttle to Washington park hotel Miami south beach. Long wait for room so given vouchers for breakfast. Met couple on our cruise. Tired out. Room good 2 beds. Hot shower. 3/2 woke early. Rain so no swim or beach. To supermarket and got adaptor ,camera card and salads. Booked for concert eventually. Free trolley to Jewish museum ArtDeco synagogues excellent and special exhibition of Torah pointers. To Wolfsonian on trolley. Lovely design museum and Julius Klinger posters. Tea. ...

Louise skyped last night. Safeguarding training with Monica excellent and she came into the library and was delighted at the clearup. I can throw out anything I like so 4 bags already filled. Did some cataloguing and instructions for volunteers - I met two of them. Reception was busy so went back up to do more work. Said goodbye to the boys. Tired and slept. Watched Eggheads and Animals with cameras.