Finding My Way Back: Life, Music, and Big Changes

After a summer and fall full of travel, home projects, and reflection, I’m ready to reconnect, write, and embrace a new chapter with fresh energy—while staying hopeful for what’s next.

I’m sorry I’ve been away…

It’s been a busy summer and fall, and I haven’t written in far too long. I apologize! I’ve missed you!

In considering my absence, I can only offer how busy it’s been. A choral tour of Italy, then a family vacation, and a lot of home improvement projects. There’s work, of course, and family and good things. But the election has also been weighing heavily on me, creating a sort of intense and thrumming anxiety that is constant, consumes my energy, and sometimes paralyzes me. I am hopeful that we’ll find a new way forward.

Finding small ways to act —whether through conversations, community work, or self-care— has been critical to me in recent months.

Post-election - if we choose a hopeful version of democracy - our nation should consider a process perhaps modeled along the lines of South Africa’s post-apartheid truth and reconciliation commission to examine what has occurred, require accountability, and provide a place for reconciliation.

Alleviating stress by writing postcards to voters in swing state

More time for writing!

A big life change: I’ve decided to step away from my day job as an editor/writer at a nonprofit to focus on my own writing, including blogging and finishing edits on my novel. I will miss the work and the people very, very much, but it’s time. I’ll be back to regular blogging, which I’ve missed! Expect a new post nearly every week.

I’m jumping back into novel edits, kicking off with a nice little reading and writing retreat next week in a cabin in the Columbia Gorge. I’ll post about that trip and process, which I’m very excited about!

Music

The title of this blog is a music term, and I nearly always include a bit in each post about what I’m singing and listening to.

“Polyphony” derives from the Greek word of “many sounds” and it reflects that you’ll read about a lot of different things in this blog: music, books, writing, home, family, food, faith, nature, and history.

A number of you have messaged me about my choir’s trip to Italy. It was a wonderful experience. My choir friends are among my best friends in the world, and the experience deepened these important relationships. Singing in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi was an experience beyond compare; I’ve included the video below. The second half of the video is the Illuminare, a five-movement masterwork composed by Elaine Hagenberg, who was in residence with us in both Assisi and Rome. I’ll be sharing some observations and photos from that trip in upcoming posts.

In addition to singing in Assisi, we had the honor of performing at the Vatican. And this last week brought another remarkable singing experience: offering Compline in the San Buenaventura Mission, established in my hometown in 1782. Below is one selection from that service, recorded on an iPhone by one of our friends.

It’s remarkable to me that our chamber-sized choir from a small Episcopal church in a sleepy beach community in Southern California has had these experiences this year. (It’s all about the leadership and mentorship we receive from our amazing team of music ministers, and about the group itself…dedicated and focused.) So grateful to sing with these people every week.

Birds in my backyard

A big passion of mine is bird watching. Over the summer, three California scrub-jays fledged in our backyard. We’ve developed a strong connection in the last several months. They have distinct personalities. One of the jays always holds back a bit, one sits close by, and watches me carefully. I’ve bonded with the most curious of the three. I feed all the birds each morning, but save peanuts as a special treat for the jays. If they miss me or want additional food, the boldest calls out, and I go running to offer more food.

Birds I’m seeing on a daily basis besides the jays include wrens, white-throated sparrows, hummingbirds (two kinds!), pigeons, the California thrasher, towhees, warblers, goldfinches, house finches, black phoebes, and American crows.

One of the three California scrub-jays that frequents my backyard. This is the boldest one.

Substack Recommendations

A really warm welcome to those of you who’ve started following me on the recommendation of Lisa Kivirist, who has been a dear friend from the moment we met in a fellowship program in 2008.

If you are a subscriber who’s not familiar with Lisa’s work, please be sure to check out Stirring the Pot. Lisa and her family are American expats living in Estonia. Her writing is magical.

I also highly recommend a brand-new Substack penned by my friend Laura McDonagh, who writes from her home in England. Laura and I met in a writing program in the UK a number of years ago, and she is a bright light. Follow her!

Another recommendation is the Substack written by my friend Elizabeth Wainwright, a writer and coach from Devon, England. We also met in that UK writing program. She writes lyrical things about nature, generations, motherhood, and community at RedLands.

My life in photos - just a few!

The choir in Italy and at the San Buenaventura Mission. A reminder of my upcoming visit to the magical PNW, including the Columbia River. Night in Assisi. Me, excited!