My Grandmother passed away

On February 13th at the ripe old age of 98. Here she is below with my Mom in 2004, her last day at her house in Phillipsburg, NJ.


Here is a link to a memorial website I created for her.

http://lillian.ogorman.virtual-memorials.com/

Our 23rd Anniversary

Sunday Debbie and I celebrated our 23rd Anniversary, May 18 1985 was our wedding date.

Our final New Jersey Symphony concert for the season was at NJPAC, our favorite venue. As usual we cut it pretty close but got there right at 3:00, and our seats (1st Tier Box B on the left side of the hall) were luckily close to the entry doors. View wasn't quite as good as I had hoped. We are usually in the right side boxes, from which you can see all but the double-basses. From the left side we couldn't see the percussion, nor the tympanist, who is one of our favorites to watch.

The concert started with Steinberg's orchestration of the Busoni Piano arrangement of Bach's Chaconne in D minor from the 2nd Partita for unaccompanied violin. This is one of my very favorite pieces of music, known to me through Andres Segovia who transcribed it for guitar. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNXlslzL8EY 2nd half: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRhorozjEEg&feature=related

I LOVED the Steinberg arrangement, how the music flowed from section to section and his choices of instrumentation to bring out the various parts. I had one misgiving, was that between the opening minor and major variations, and the end of the major into the closing minor, there is a suspended chord without the 3rd, leaving tonal ambiguity which is then resolved when the next set of variations begins. Maestro Jarvi went straight into the following set in strict tempo, without pausing on this note, which can be a very dramatic pause.

The Haydn 99th Symphony was nice. I was humming a tune from it as I walked out at intermission but it now escapes me. Jarvi obviously loves Haydn, but it is a bit restrained for my taste.

The 2nd half was the mighty Shostakovitch 5th Symphony. My dear departed friend from Springdale Sol Davidson gave me a 2 disk set for my 40th birthday, the Shostakovitch 1st and 7th Symphonies. I still remember him saying, with that ever-present twinkle in his eye, "Forty! Well NOW you are ready for Shostakovitch!" I miss Sol. And I happened to know a fair amount about the 5th as we studied it at NYU in my Form and Analysis music class. I even have a recording, on vinyl, unplayable with my present setup.

Well this was some very interesting music, written for a very large orchestra with a full complement of percussion, woodwinds, brass, harp, even piano (as an orchestral, not solo, instrument). It wasn't quite as large an orchestra as Mahler used on his 2nd in December but nearly so. There were some very interesting and unusual sounds that he produces. Every now and then the music turns into this cacophonous "circus" sound that Shostakovitch included, perhaps to satisfy the Stalinist regime under which he had to compose. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KrnHqg3U7Q&feature=related for a backgrounder.

I don't much care for those measures but there is such a wealth of great musical material that it is easy to overlook the "caricatures". Here is a youtube of the finale which will give you a sense of what I'm talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogJFXqYEYd8

After the concert we went to Forno of Spain, our favorite of the Newark Ironbound restaurants. After a short wait at the bar, we went into the dining room and had a sumptuous meal. I had a 36 ounce BONELESS Sirloin steak, that was just incredible. I will be digesting that for a week! It was over the top! Debbie had Chicken and Shrimp Francaise which was delicious. Huge portions. And very reasonable, as the entrees include potatoes, mixed veggies and Spanish saffron rice.

We got home about 9PM and watched this week's Netflix - Chuck and Larry - which allowed us to laugh out the last hours of our Anniversary Day.

Monday Morning update

Spoke with Fred a little while ago -- actually I interrupted his Gin Rummy game with Buddddahy Robo! Fred was hoping to be discharged today but it looks like that isn't going to happen. His atrial heart rate is still elevated, at about 160, and they want to get that under control before setting him free.

Pneumonia is better, he feels his lungs clearing, but he's still coughing.

He seemed in good spirits. But on Monday AM a man's fancy turns to WORK and he feels agitated that he's cooped up in a hospital bed instead of out there wheeling and dealing! This surely isn't helping the heart rate. Hopefully a few good Gin hands will keep his mind off all that.

More later.

Chris

Hello to everyone from Paoli Hospital. It's a little after 6am and I had my first good night of sleep since last Friday. The antibiotics are kicking in and taking the Pnemonia head on and it seems like we're winning the fight. The blood is thinner and so am I. Haven't jumped on a scale but I expect to be well below 200lbs by the time I get out of here. That will be a first in about 7 years. Hell of a way to do it though.and I recommend trying Ultra Slimfast and a little excercise.before giving this a shot. Thabks for your thoughts and prayers.

Fred Update - Friday Evening

I talked with Fred this evening, the pneumonia is giving him a lot of discomfort. All the coughing is really hurting his chest. He feels really sick but certainly sounded like the FRED we all know and love which is a good thing!

Shiela and the boys should be there this evening and I think Amanda later on after her party.

Cardiologist was in to see Fred this morning but I didn't get the drift of his report. Perhaps just confirming what we already suspected. Fred mentioned that the blood thinners and the antibiotics conflict with one another so I think they are going with the antibiotics first to get the pneumonia under control.

He said he ate a Chicket Pot Pie there and it wasn't bad. Until the sushi-bro arrives it will have to do!

I'm off to dinner - more tomorrow,
Chris

ps - Photo from Uncle Steve Mason's 90th birthday party at The Architect's Golf Club in October.

Brother Fred Status

Heard from Sheila early this morning, Fred was admitted to Paoli Hospital yesterday. She called this morning and problem is Atrial Fibrillation, AKA "A-Fib". Cardiologist will be in to see him this morning and we should know more. It can be a very dangerous situation with greatly (6x) elevated risk of stroke. He also has confirmed pneumonia.

For more information this is a good site in layman's terms with links for more information http://www.a-fib.com/


I thought I would create this blog to keep everyone in the loop as it is difficult to do this via emails.

Here is her message ...

Hi Gang,

This will be very short it's 3:20 am and I have to get up in three hours to get kids ready for school. Fred has been very sick for almost a week. (Think about it Fred sick makes 4th child for me and I'm wiped OUT!!!!) I'm not trying to sound nasty but I haven't had much sleep in 5 day's (under 15 hrs). Fred went to the doctor and after a test in the office a talk with a friend and another talk with the doctor Fred has been admitted to Paoli. LONG STORY!!!!! Bottom line heart problem (As they told us we are very lucky he is alive. They actually were very honest and said we had an angel on our shoulders), in addition he has pneumonia (starts of), elevated liver and a possible bacteria in his blood. When I left the hospital (about 1 hour ago) they had just started to stabilize his heart a his fever has finally broken (103 up and down for days) I felt it was okay to go. He needs to sleep. He's hoping that the Cardiologist will let him go home tomorr ow. HAHA!!! I will try to update you. I have a busy day with him in the hospital, the kids have a half day, Amanda has a Birthday party at 6 to go to and we still have to get gift.

Chris, I tried to call mom no answer and I don't know Tim's email.

Take Care,

Sheila