chanukah and plainsong

laura and jake gave a chanukah dinner on saturday night before catherine's christmas concert with the san francisco bach choir. they made great latkes (even though a minor commotion at the woodshop caused me to get to them cold rather than hot), a slow-cooked beef brisket, chicken with prunes, olives, and bay leaves, a butternut squash pie, and rice krispie squares stuffed with apricots and cranberries. it was all good, and i met a pair of woodworkers who'd converted the middle apartment in their castro victorian into a woodshop (one of the two has photos online, so here's some of john's stuff  and more of john's stuff). we've arranged a shop visit. sfbc is a bit larger this year and was rejoicing in a new-found love of the theatrical. after the relatively serious music of the first half and the intermission, the lights went out and the choir came in with candles and plainsong, plunging us instantly into the middle ages. tiffany leaned over and wondered how the music must have sounded the very first time it was sung; i just thought of the great unwashed masses in medieval churches and was happy to not be there. church workers used to lay great masses of satureja branches onto the floors of churches to keep down the smell of humanity. we went to the grove after, and nursed a bottle of wine for a few hours. incredibly, when i got home at 1am, i found a parking spot on the corner of church and 23rd.