Spring Has Sprung at Last

Although spring officially arrived on March 20 the kind of weather we associate with this season of the year delayed its appearance here until April ninth when we had our first really warm spring day.  Until then only a few brave crocus plants had dared to poke their heads above ground and bloom confirming the meteorologists announcement of spring.  With the warm sunny breezes at last the daffodils and forsythia, two of my favorite early harbingers of spring which had been holding out for just such a day began popping out everywhere.  Our periwinkle ground cover around the apartment complex here at Kendal became like a carpet of bright sparkling blue flowers.  In the enclosed garden area by the health center buttercup yellow dandelions appeared to the dismay of the landscape committee. 

As my son was driving me to a medical appointment in nearby Columbus we noted that the trees were not yet showing the early signs of awakening to spring when the stark bare wintry look of their branches begins to change to that softer somewhat "fuzzy" appearance they take on as leaves and blossoms appear.  The willows seem to be slow to turn a pale green as they begin to leaf out.  It shouldn't be long now before that changes.

Other signs of spring here at Kendal also have put in their appearance as the fencing around the construction areas at each end of our complex finally came down.  With them went a lot of the clutter outside our buildings giving us a promise that green grass and other landscaping will begin to take the place of the bare ground once more around our main building. 

Even more exhilarating has been the moving in of residents into three of our new apartments  with others to follow soon.    It's exciting to be able to greet these newcomers to our community.  We anticipate gettig to know them and integrating them into our family.  They will bring new energy to us.

Suddenly "spring has sprung" bringing with it an air of  a renewed hope for the future. 

Jessye Norman

Last Sunday afternoon Jessye Norman sang at Denison University. A large number of Kendal residents attended, determined not to miss a concert by one of the premiere singers of our era. We were not disappointed. At sixty-seven, Ms Norman has shifted from the operatic roles that brought her acclaim – Sieglinde, Dido, Ariadne – to more intimate numbers, and for this occasion she sang highlights from the great American songbook. 

The performances were memorably lovely. Pieces by George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Harold Arlen; tributes to Odetta and Ella Fitzgerald – all these and much else offered in a voice that is rich in lowest register, stunning in its upper reaches, and thoroughly under control all across her magnificent dynamic range. She was a chanteuse without compare.

She wore a grand, rich gown that sank to the floor, and she swept it around with her hands as she walked. She spent much of the concert seated on a bench or standing at bend in the piano. She never moved abruptly. But on occasion she would stand free, in the middle of the stage, to let the rhythm of a piece touch and move her entire body. The effect was stunning.

She offered two encores – "Summertime" and "Amazing Grace." On that second number she sang two verses and then invited the audience to sing the first verse again while she riffed above us. The effect was astonishing. When the concert was over the audience applauded her rapturously – and with respect to some in the audience I use that word with its literal force. 

As we drove home on the Kendal bus a thought occurred to me. Several years ago René Fleming, today's reigning prima donna, had appeared at Denison and sung "I Could Have Danced All Night" as an encore. She too had invited the audience to join in on the melody while she soared above us, with similarly electrifying effects. So now, I reflected from my quiet bus seat, I can accurately say that I've sung with both Jessye Norman and René Fleming. What more can life offer?