I frequent a charming British video blog on YouTube by Miranda Mills, devoted mainly to books but with some cooking and Yorkshire sight-seeing sprinkled in. On one of her videos, she made her own marmalade using this UK product, “Ma Made” (as in, “like your Ma made it”). It has only the sliced Seville oranges with the pectin in the can. They are very bitter to taste until you add the specified amount of sugar and some water and boil the mixture according to the recipe on the back of the can. So I got online and ordered a couple of cans, along with a little Paddington Bear to keep us company while we make our marmalade. We might get around to doing it during the holiday break; we’ll see.

Crystal already does canning and has all the equipment. However, on the video they didn’t do that method, just poured it into jars to give away immediately and be put into people’s fridges to be consumed within a few weeks before it goes bad. Either way is fine. One of the cans makes about nine half-pint jars. I happen to LOVE orange marmalade on toast, at least the British brands. Most U.S. groceries have at least one of those brands. They are darker in color and more expensive than the cheaper American brands that (in my opinion) don’t have the same intensity of orange flavor.  

Last Friday, I met up with the CEO of my record company (Parma Recordings), Bob Lord, for breakfast in downtown Nashville and had a great visit. He happened to be in town for a performance by the Nashville Symphony on Sunday afternoon. They were playing music by one of the label’s other composers, the novelist Dan Brown (DaVinci Code), who, surprisingly, majored in music composition in college and has written a children’s book called Wild Symphony, for which he composed an accompanying sound track portraying many zoo animals. This was on one of the NSO’s children’s concerts and was enjoyed by all, with a narrator and the book’s illustrations shown on a screen. Dan himself was not here for it, but Bob got me a comp ticket. Afterwards, he and my friend Kip Winger (yes, that one) had drinks and lots of wonderful shop talk at Nashville’s relatively new “Sinatra Bar and Lounge,” where I ate 18 raw oysters!  Why? I love them, especially in season as these were, but mainly because one raw oyster only has ten calories – only 180 calories in all (not counting my martini, of course)!

If you didn’t see it on Facebook or just want to watch it again, here is the cool 2-minute animated cover-art video they made to promote my new album.

In spite of all my disclaimers in previous diary entries about not yet feeling any inspiration or knowing what kind of music to compose next, I confess that music finally did start to come to me since I last wrote here. As usual, it began to rattle around in my head, demanding to be let out. So I began taking dictation and writing it down, and that has so far turned into five minutes of what will be movement two of a new symphony. If you are losing track, this will be my fourth symphony. It’s confusing, since the recording of Symphony No. 3: English will not be released until February 7. This new symphony will have the subtitle “Enchanted Lake.” The second movement, the first to be composed and still in progress, is subtitled simply “Night.” Here is its rather brief program note:  “In the moonlight, a loon cries out mournfully across the enchanted lake, and from the distance is heard in reply a mysterious song of consolation.”

My “Unhook the Feedbag” diet continues, now clocking in at a loss (so far) of minus thirty pounds, and counting. I’m starting to migrate into some clothes that have not fit me for a few years. Before long, I plan to have some new professional composer photos made, too.  I already feel better without carrying around the weight of three, ten-pound bags of flour! To go with that photo shoot, in early 2025 Parma Recordings plans to create for me a whole new and updated composer web site at the same address as my current one, which they say is just too dated.

On the subject of web pages and such, I’m very grateful to one of the people who administers the Kip Winger’s fan pages (mentioned above) for putting in a lovely plug and review of my new Symphony No. 3: English album. The connection is that I was one of Kip’s composition teachers and remain a good friend of his, and his fans have been kind enough to adopt me.

Crystal’s current show, Guys and Dolls, has its final weekend coming up at the Arts Center of Cannon County. And on weeknights she’s already rehearsing her next show, Chicago, at the Gift of Song Theater in Murfreesboro, to perform in February.

I already found a great sale and bought a turkey! I probably look forward as much to boiling the carcass and smaller parts for hours in a huge pot to make a stock! I will strain and freeze that elixir in zip-lock bags to use in grandmother-ish healing soups for when we get colds.

I will close now by wishing you and yours a thankful and enjoyable holiday! Look for my second “bonus” Hilltop installment in one week, the day before Thanksgiving. Signing off now, with regards.