Concerts on Late Blooms

Corn Bread and Gospel Music

Sat, 30 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The best comfort food will always be greens, cornbread, and fried chicken. (Maya Angelou)

I find cornbread wonderful with afternoon tea. I have to try it with greens and fried chicken one day. Anyways, the recipe I have is ever so simple and can be made in the microwave. “Corn bread is a reminder of the Native American contribution to the southern American diet. Corn served an important role in Native American life and early settlers learned to adapt this versatile food into their own dishes when wheat was not available for bread making.” (tribal directory.com)

"Day of the Dead"

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_2662” align=“aligncenter” width=“800”] To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.
~Thomas Campbell, “Hallowed Ground”[/caption]

What a way to remember one’s dead! The Day of the Dead or Dia de Muertos celebrations took place here in Toronto yesterday at Harbourfront and is taking place again today. It’s a two day Festival which has its roots in Mexico. The atmosphere was festive rather than mournful - although all the paraphernalia surrounding death was visible there. “The Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, takes place over the first two days of November. Its origins are a mixture of Native American traditions and a set of Catholic holidays. While the holiday’s observances include spending time in cemeteries, making shrines to the dead, and displaying artistic representations of skulls and skeletons, the occasion is festive, rather than morbid. Death isn’t seen as the end of one’s life, but as a natural part of the life cycle; the dead continue to exist much as they did in their lives, and come back to visit the living every year.” (Factmonster.com) Would that we would all be like the Mexicans who are able to have joyful and celebratory feelings about death and dying. This is truly a blessing.

A Viola Concert

Mon, 02 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_2645” align=“aligncenter” width=“800”] “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”
― Confucius, The Book of Rites[/caption]

When two gifted Curtis Institute graduates take to the stage and combine their talents, you know you’re in for a memorable musical treat. Teng Li, the Principal violist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Meng-Chieh Liu, an international concert pianist, gave a rare performance last Thursday at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. It was the first time I experienced the viola as a musical instrument in its own right.