Whew!!!
The combined scourge of Covid and Florida high season is over. This means that (finally) some people are leaving southwest Florida as the warmer/rainier months appear. Much has been happening at the Feiszli household.
I continue to progress towards the Total Wine Professional certification. I took the Bordeaux examination on Monday and passed – making me the only person in the Fort Myers store to have passed two of the exams other than our wine manager. I have store managers who have expressed dismay over the volume of knowledge required to get a passing score. Truth be told, I was upset that I missed 4 questions, giving me an 89%. I wanted to achieve at least a 90%. My mentor, the wine manager told me to shut up and take the win. Okay, fine ….
On to Italy. Seven more exams to pass and I will have earned the diploma.
This audio recording continues to receive attention. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, ensemble cantissimo sells them as well as Carus-Verlag, who sponsored the CD and has audio excerpts on their website. I urge you to contact ensemble cantissimo directly here since buying the CD from them will support their efforts. If your last name is Phelps, Kandel, MacDonald, or Reynolds; please do not buy one. I am sending you one because without you, none of this would have happened.
Markus and I will make these motets available to the public free of charge in PDF format. I will post the PDF files on this website and Markus will post them on the ensemble cantissimo website.
In somewhat more somber news, Michelle and I have been devoting our time and resources in support of Michelle’s younger sister, who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Michelle has already been back to South Dakota three times to visit and support. I went with her for five days over Easter weekend. She is undergoing chemotherapy and doing well. We are so impressed and encouraged by her resilience and determination to continuing to live her life. In addition, my oldest brother’s wife has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and they are dealing with that. Coincidentally, both of these persons have spent their lives in the medical field.
Michelle and I have spent many minutes discussing our own health and future. We are grateful for what we have but have decided to begin living for the now rather than the future.
With the CD release, I did a rather crazy adolescent, second-childhood thing. I decided (since both my kids and my wife had already gotten multiple tattoos) to get a tattoo to commemorate the last 40 years of my musical research. The artist was impressed that I was willing to go so crazy with my first tattoo. My response was: There are probably 100 people on the planet that would recognize this. Go big or go home. So, here we are.
