Organ

I will likely start working full-time in early December. Last night I had the first opportunity to converse with Les since three weeks ago when he asked whether I would be available to work occasionally as his assistant (Les builds pipe organs). He is just waiting to sign a contract. The upcoming job involves a church gutted by fire in the 1970s, rebuilt within the original stone structure. An electric organ has been in use for years, and the congregation dislikes the tinny, rasping sound. They want one with mellow tones. The church has acquired parts of an old organ, to which we will add a new console and additional stops. The parts are lying around the sanctuary and foyer. Our first task will be to move them and install a facade in the sanctuary in time for Christmas. After the holidays, the next stage of construction will take until May, he says, but additional work will continue through the summer. He expects to finish next fall.

Turn me around

Music brings back memories, mostly happy ones. "Love Will Turn You Around" puts me back in grade 13, infatuated with D. I would drive past his house at night to be near him. I fell in love with Country and Western to be like him. He and his sister took me to stock car races, which didn't interest me in the least, but it was an excuse to go out with him.

From this safe vantage, 24 years later, I can savour the memory of youthful desire, forget how tortured, silent and miserable I was.

D and his sister took me to see Kenny Rogers in concert at Joe Louis Arena, which I loved. It was nothing to cross the border from Windsor to Detroit in those days, but what culture shock. There was a bullet hole in the door of the arena.

After leaving home for university, I stopped listening to C&W, but to this day I am drawn to men in t-shirts and tight jeans. I practically live in Levi's 501s. I'm glad I won't have to change my uniform for work.

There's no need any longer to draw boundaries around what kind of music I like. Kenny, Dolly and Shania can slip into iTunes alongside Joni, Rufus and Annie.