The time we went to Hollywood

Assuming it hasn't been removed from YouTube for copyright reasons, what you see above is a clip that was recorded in Hollywood in 2003 and included among the DVD extras for Cold Mountain.  (Wait... this is ringing a bell.  I wonder if I've posted this already.  If so... apologies for repetition.) Jerry's in the red tie, in the front row of tenors.  (Despite what the title says, at least as of this writing, it was not the recording session for the film, but a little extra tagged on at the end of the "Words and Music of Cold Mountain" concert filmed in conjunction with the movie's opening.)

In other news: the new old range is just fine: it took several hours of scrubbing and scouring, but it's clean and shiny and has only a few dark spots; the copy editing course continues; and while I was standing outside on the patio the other day, the weather gorgeous, warm but not too warm, the tall old trees waving in the breeze around me, I realized I don't want to leave until later in the summer: it's just too lovely.  Of course, it's already late June, and I'm still here, so it's happening by default anyway.  And while it is a little less than optimal to put the house on the market closer to the start of the school year, it feels right.

Oh, and one more thing: if any of you are dealing with issues concerning widowhood, either as a widowed person yourself or as someone who loves a widowed person, and you have not discovered the amazing Carole Brody Fleet, I recommend you find out who she is.  Check out her website here.  She doesn't know me from Adam, but in a few online interactions she has given me unselfish and generous support and advice.  Bless her.  And bless my known and unknown friends and loved ones for your continuing care and kindness: you don't know the strength I take from you all.

Numbness timeframe?

The New York Times seems to have picked this season as a time to run articles about widowhood and bereavement, in an odd bit of serendipity. This morning a comment on one of those articles contains an account by a woman whose husband died a year ago, in which she says "When they talk about the stages of grief, I think they forget to mention the sheer numbness that sets in immediately, perhaps as a sort of defense mechanism." I am so, so definitely in the midst of this. I mean, for these past weeks I've been rollercoastering between numbness and grief, but now the numbness is flatter, broader, more pervasive - except when it's not at moments and the crying comes. But I just know I'm not feeling much right now. Which frightens me a huge amount, as I wonder what it will be like when I do.

Seamus wisely said he knows it will come, and he's not going out looking for it - it will be here when it's here.

I got a message on Facebook from a woman I don't know (but whose name I've seen, as she's a Sacred Harp singer), who told me they've been singing for Jerry at Camp Fasola, the now annual Sacred Harp summer program held in Alabama. Very kind of her to tell me. And I know Jerry would have appreciated it.