Trinity Newmarket Singers

Some Thursdays, we sing and sing and talk only a little; some Thursdays, we talk a lot. This time, conversation was so good and interesting that we sang less than usual, but it was lovely anyway.  I baked banana oatmeal muffins, but we were busy talking and singing, and I think I might need to rename our singing afternoons again, because the tea and treats element is disappearing.   Halloween was our theme, but we got sidetracked into talking about Fear, and comfort and religion. Very interesting conversation.  There are lots of good songs in the Apple Music Halloween playlist. Some of them are featured in scary movies, and hearing them makes me uncomfortable. I cannot watch scary movies. I learned that when I was young and lost so much sleep after watching a few. The song Bad Moon Rising from American Werewolf in London is the clearest example, and Werewolves of London reminds me of that movie too. Wikipedia says it's a " supernatural comedy horror film". I was terri...

 My Home and Family playlist has about 5 hours of music on it. There’s a lot of songs! There are songs we like to sing again and again, and artists we love to sing with. But, there is always something new even in those songs, something a new person points out, or a memory that comes up in the new context of one of our weekly get-togethers. Something that comes up often is that we were familiar with a song from the radio back in the day, and sang along with the chorus in the car, but when we sit there in the Fellowship Room looking at the words on the screen, singing along, we are surprised to see what the song is about. We didn’t know. We didn’t pay attention to the lyrics. Sweet Home Alabama surprised us this week. We looked up the political references in the song, and wow! So interesting. I thought that the really catchy and powerful instrumentals and verse distract from the verses. I sing the instrumentals when they’re that good.  Even though missed a few of our “regulars”,...

I am thankful and blessed to spend my Thursday afternoons singing and chatting with lovely like-minded people.  My Thankful and Grateful playlist was interesting. We talked a lot. Good discussion, some of it in support of each other and our personal concerns, some of it about how different versions of songs not only  feel different but also shift the meaning , and as usual we had some surprising lyrics. (" How bout no longer being masochistic;  How bout remembering your divinity") Many wonderful and beautiful things were listed in the songs. It reminded me of a quote I see a lot on social media: "How cool is it that the same God who created the mountains and oceans and galaxies looked at you and thought the world needed one of you too!" When I said it, I think I added butterflies and rainbows and skipped the part about looking at you. We are, each and all of us, magnificent miraculous creations.  There are so many beautiful things to be grateful for, and there are ...

Since everyone was absent today, we’ll do Gratitude and Thanksgiving next Thursday. If we feel like it, we can do songs from my Home & Family playlist too. I won’t see you on Thanksgiving Sunday, so I will wish you a wonderful weekend and a very happy Thanksgiving, with an abundance of food, beauty, and love.

I'm sorry, sad, to announce that I'm not able to "open the café" today. I'm dealing with a head cold, not terrible but annoying and exhausting. You don't want my germs. I was planning to choose songs from my Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion playlist. I was thinking about yesterday, Orange Shirt Day, and the news I'm seeing on my socials about rape culture and how they're related. The common factor is the white male focus of our culture. I was reading about the Doctrine of Discovery in my Truth and Reconciliation work. "The Church" was and is such a huge influence on our attitudes about women and other cultures, people from other cultures. It shouldn't be, but Power corrupts. It's heavy, but I'm proud of my church, the United Church of Canada for speaking out against those attitudes and for working to "reconcile" and "restore" the family of God to include all of creation, like the Indigenous Peoples include al...

My September and School playlist grows anytime I hear something about the fall, or school, or new beginnings. I recently added Dolly Parton’s Here You Come Again, and today I added her Coat of Many Colors. I love it when I learn about things that were always there but I never looked. One of the greatest things about these Thursday afternoons is the way we listen to each other and easily switch to different songs or stay to linger on some songs or artists. I have my lists and always come with a loose plan of what I want to focus on, and ideas about which songs people might like, but going off on a tangent is always fun and fruitful. One unexpected tangent brought us to Pinterest a propos of the recipes for my treats. I was surprised by the realization that I do the same thing with Apple Music that I do with Pinterest. I make little collections and keep adding to them, playlists and ‘boards’ working the same way.  Another tangent led to Bridgerton. You Belong to Me by Taylor Swift is...