The Aftermath

I would, first of all, like to express my thanks to all of you who have sent their condolences, special thoughts and for the many kindnesses shown to my family and I since the passing of my Mother last Monday.  The Visitation and Memorial Service were both well attended and were joyous celebrations of the life of my Mother.  Everyone had a special memory of acts of kindness, inspiration and influences that my Mother provided them over the years.  She was well loved by the many people whose lives she touched.  

My family and I now have the monumental task of sorting through everything in Mother's home.  She had religious, political, floral careers, planned and participated in weddings too numerous to count.  Her possessions include a great deal of material relating to all of the activities in which she participated.  There are also her sports memorabilia from the Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, and TCU Horned Frogs.  Her biggest collection however, was 100's of dolls and figurines of all types ranging from an Original Shirley Temple doll to the latest Barbie.  Her doll and figurine collections were international in scope as the many people in her life brought her additions to her collections from their wide ranging travels.  I know I brought here a doll from every country I ever visited.  Then there are Daddy's coin, tool and gun collections.  It will take us a while to get it all sorted so that we may decide who gets what and  what we should sell.  We have only just begun and already have a couple of stacks of photos that are almost 2 foot tall.  Each of the objects in her home will of course trigger some memory in one or the other of us so there will be many tears and remembrances as we process it all.  Wish us luck as we tackle the tasks before us.

Your Musical Moment for today features the talents of Daniel Guilet.  Daniel Guilet (1899-1990) played in the Calvert string quartet and accompanied Maurice Ravel before he formed the "Guilet string quartet" in 1942. He combined playing in that quartet with the position of first violin in Toscanini's NBC symphony orchestra.  Strange enough, Guilet quartet records are not that well known, and have rarely been re-issued. Today's Musical Moment is a 1950 MMS/Concert Hall recording of a String Quartet Number 1 in D Minor and Number 2 in A Major by the Spanish composer Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga.  You may also hear Arriaga's Symphony in D and his overture to the opera Los Esclavos Felices over on my tumblr.  

Finally for today, I have a little collection of muscly men on display below the play list who are your Tuesday Temptations for this week.  There is further  inspiration to be found in the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for bearing with me during this time of trial in my life, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!