Wednesday Workday with a Visitor

[Note:  I am officially on vacation for three days, so I think I will let Mitchell do the heavy lifting this "workday" and will share with you his new endeavor. ]

But first, you need to meet my Renaissance Man. 

A man of many talents and interests he has worked for social justice in both organized and personal ways, he has been a professional (and self-employed) artist, he has worked on the national level to encourage drug treatment as an alternative to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders, and he was one of the first website developers for Virginia's state government.  He has always been a teacher/trainer - training judges and lawyers, teaching scuba diving, teaching wood carving, and training choirs.

In retirement he has been the "plant man" in a nearby office complex and worked as a med tech/health educator, and (most importantly to me) taken over much of the day-to-day running of the house and grocery shopping.  Several years older than I, he stands nearly 6 feet tall, weighs in at 200 pounds, and plays a mean game of tennis, despite one replaced knee!  And, he's all mine!

I have left his first love until last, tho.  It's music.  Trained as a professional choral conductor, he has sung with folks whose names you would know and developed outstanding church choirs ... but not for many, many years.

About nine months ago, he bought a folk harp.  [I forgot to tell you that his photo is next to "instant gratification" in the OED.]  He was looking for something to do and thru circumstances happened on a used harp at a good price and decided to see if he could learn to play it.  Nine months later ... he's pretty good.

And, now he is the owner of the lovely new harp at the top of the page.   "Manon" is a French lever harp  - larger than his beginner harp, with more strings, and concert spacing - which is better for his large hands.   It was love at first sight!  She has a richer sound than the sample above and I hope to record her soon.

I'm going back to my vacation, while he practices.

[PS to Elizabeth and James ... he doesn't read this blog.  If you don't tell, he'll never know!]