Spring/Summer
2009
It is already
summer and I am way behind with this blog, especially regarding all the activity
that has taken place since the beginning of the new year. I would like to
keep this portion of my blog on a more positive note though even with the
political change the economy remains as the #1 problem in the U.S. Last month
on June 5, our 18 year old grandson Sergio Maxim Ortuno graduated from Clear
Creek High School in League City, TX. Having had a few side working jobs,
he is still undecided somewhat as to his objective, however, he would like
to attend San Jacinto College South here in SE Houston..
More recently
Margaret had her annual Active Arts Dance Academy recital near us at Chavez
High School this last Saturday, July 18. The theme this year was "Out
of this World".
In Memoriam
2008
Wayne
Conner (5-9-08) Philadelphia, PA (Curtis
Colleague and Friend)
Erik
Buck Townsend (9-9-08) Modesto, CA
(Dear personal friend and Curtis Colleague. Artistic Direstor of the Townsend
Opera Players
Sister
Ernest (Sacred Heart Dominican College) Houston, TX
(Margaret's music teacher and choral conductor at Sacred Heart)
Lillian
Storey (10-1-08) Friendswood, TX (Church
friend from St. Christopher's parish)
Kathryn
Fischer Valentine (10-16-08) Mesa AZ (Rodney's
aunt who married Asa Valentine) (Kathryn lived to be 90 years)
Lorraine
Esther Valentine Stenborg (11-12-08) Webster, TX (Rodney's
dear 95 year old mother born in Detroit, MI (8-1-1913))
Jack
Buckhannan (12-23-08) Fort Worth, TX (Personal
friend and accompanist who accompanied Rodney's "farewell recital"
in 1999 and later became principle conductor of the Fort Worth Ballet)
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HAPPY
NEW YEAR 2009!
The New Year is finally
here and we have said goodbye to 2008 forever. Our New Years Eve was spent
very quietly, first by watching Live from Lincoln Center a performance by
the NY Philharmonic with Music Director, Lorin Maazel conducting.which featured
a guest mezzo soprano. It was interesting to note that the opening music selection
was the overture to Guiseppe Verdi's opera, "La Forza del Destino"
or the Force of Destiny. For me that particular musc selection is very symbolic
from having perfomed my first major role in that opera in Osnabrueck, Germany
some forty plus years ago. The NY Philharmonic concert was comprised of a
"classical music hit parade" with very familiar selections. After
the program was over, we went to my sister-in-law Lavergne's apartment for
a New Years celebration. The celebration consisted only of the three of us:
myself, Margaret and Lavergne. Sierra and the other Ortuno grandchildren were
celebrating New Years Eve with their dad. We watched MSNBC's political countdown
satire of 2008 then later Carson Daly's Times Square celebration.on NBC. After
12:00 midnight, we proceeded to League City to pick up Sierra and bring her
back to our house, as she has been staying with us while her mother has been
away. We wished all the Ortunos a Happy New Year the few moments we were there
in front of her dad's trailer. Interestingly enough, my DVD recording of the
movie trailer I was cast in arrived yesterday in time for the new year. It
was quite interesting, it has yet to be picked up and made into a feature
film. One can only hope that will happen.
Today is New Years Day 2009.
There is much to do today and for the remainder of what could be a very historic
year. We can only pray that the economic situation improves for everyone.
The new President-Elect has a great burden on his shoulders when he takes
office later this month. He will also need our prayers. HAPPY NEW YEAR
2009 EVERYONE!!
(RES -1/1/2009)
CHRISTMAS
SEASON 2008
December, 2008
CHRISTMAS
2008
December 21 -26
Well,
for us you might say that Christmas came and went, however, despite everything
that was different this year, there were a few pluses. I speak of our Christmas
Eve service, Dec. 24 at Trinity Episcopal Church, Galveston, TX late in the
afternoon around 5;OOPM. With the absence of the carpet in the sanctuary adding
to the accoustical properties of the church, along with the augmented choir,the
Christmas Eve service was the best thing to happen. In fact, as long as we
have been at Trinity Episcopal Church in Galveston, TX, it was the best Christmas
Eve service we have ever experienced.Trinity Episcopal is one of the few churches
to have had a Christmas Eve service in the Galveston area as many of the churches
in Galveston are still in the process of restoration after Hurricane Ike.
Right before we went to Galveston, we had a Christmas Eve day gathering at
sister-in-law Lavergne's apartment. There were a few gifts exchanged among
the family that was present. This year, as we did last year, we drew names.
Lavergne gave Margaret and myself a big surprise, namely a special turntable
to transmit old LP recordings on to MP3s with the help of our computer. We
only could stay a couple of hours as we had to travel to Galveston for a rehearsal
prior to the Christmas Eve service. When we returned home, we continued with
the gift exchange. I couldn't afford very much, so I gave Margaret a bottle
of Bailey's Irish Creme with a couple of glasses. Beverly had drawn my name,
and presented me with a new Polaroid Digital Camera. I hadn't expected that,
and thought that any gift would suffice as only a simple remembrance. The
digital camera was my second surprise. These are some of the pluses or positive
elements we experienced this Christmas.
About
a week before Christmas, when Margaret was in the midst of her three Active
Arts Academy dance Christmas programs, she blew a rod on her 2001 Ford Focus
which would involve very costly major repair. There is no way we can afford
the repair, let alone replace her vehicle. So we are now with only one car,
which is parked in our driveway. I still had a couple of Dickens Quartet performances
to do,which once again involves after so many years of my being a chauffeur.
We managed the inconvenience for the most part, however, are not very happy
about the added expense upon everything else of mechanical auto repair.
Early
Christmas Day, we drove our daughter, Jeanne to Bush Intercontinental Airport.
One major gift Jeanne received, was from her friend in Alaska, namely, round-trip
air fare to spend with him during the rest of Christmas and a few days into
the new year before returning to Houston. As I have earlier briefly mentioned,
Jeanne and Sergio will be getting a divorce sometime at the beginning of the
new year. The situation is very sad, especially for the children. Since the
divorce is yet to be finalized, I will spare the details of how all this happened.
Jeanne invited us to use her house(which is still up for sale) to have the
traditional Christmas Day family gathering. Sergio is now living in a trailer
and has moved his belongings and much of the furniture to his new abode. There
were still a few chairs and a living room sofa available for the family members
who gathered, but I could sense a dark cloud which prevailed this Christmas,
much like the strange warm weather with continued overcast skies we have been
experiencing. Sergio was invited to attend the gathering, but declined. All
three of Jeanne's children were present as well as Julie and Ovi and their
two children. Lavergne, along with brother-in-law Jerry and cousin Joan arrived
later. If we were to look back on Christmas past, there is an entirely different
picture of our family gathering. Then there was family "gemuetlichkeit".
Those were the good days, Christmas 2008 with all its present economic and
personal problems didn't come close to capturing what once was.
Sergie
now lives with his uncle Vicente and cousins Tito and Jorge, who have moved
from Galveston to League City and live close by. Hopefully, he will graduate
from League City's Clear Creek High School in June 2009. Sammy lives with
his dad in his trailer and Sierra lives with her mother,Jeanne. Right now,
Sierra is living with us until her mother returns. Julie and Ovi's house is
for all practical purposes finished with regard to its renovation/restoration
from the ravages of Hurricane Ike. Instead of moving back into their old house,
they will be putting it up for sale while they look for another house. Before
long, I will be downloading some recent family photos, especially of the grandchildren
to their respective webpages on paparod.com. Even despite all the doom and
gloom shared with others which has prevailed during this year into the Christmas
season, I am very thankful for my wife, Margaret, our children and friends
along with our lovely grandchildren. I look forward continuing to have fun
takiing photos of them with my new digital camera.
RES
(12/27/08)
Happy
41st Wedding Anniversary
Margaret & Rodney
December
19, 2008
Today
Margaret and I celebrate our 41st Wedding Anniversary. I must personally say
in this regard that I can consider myself the luckiest person in the world
to have found this beautiful, warm, kind and radiant woman in 1964 back in
Evanston, IL. We met at a Boris Goldovsky Opera Workshop, in other words we
met singing opera. Three years later we were married in New York City as part
of an ecumenical wedding ceremony. Margaret has been the rock of my life,
without her I would have never survived. She has and always will be my one
true love in addition to our children, parents and grandchildren. Even today
she has the resourcefulness of conducting her own business, being a dance
and music academy proprietor and owner. That was quite a jump after she was
forced into retirement in 2004 from having taught over 35 years elementary
school music in Catholic parochial and Houston area public schools. During
that time not only did she teach, but also joined me singing with the Houston
Grand Opera chorus. Although, I had the solo career in addition to having
sung chorus, Margaret was just as talented if not more so to have had the
same operatic career as myself or even better. After I retired from opera
10 years ago, Margaret still continued to teach school right up to retirement.
Retirement has never been a real word to her. She is now more active than
she ever was when she sang and taught school. She is not only my loving wife,
but a loving mother to our three wonderful adult children and especially a
loving grandmother to our seven grandchildren, who know her simply as "Mimi".
Margaret and I still sing together every Sunday as section leaders and soloists
at Trinity Episcopal Church in Galveston, TX. I consider myself to be very
wealthy, maybe not monetarily, but having had such a wonderful family with
Margaret at the helm, I am a millionaire!
RES
(December 19, 2008)
"No
Virginia, there is no Santa Claus...but there is something else!
Virginia
may not be receiving any gifts from Santa this year, as well as millions of
other children throughout the world.
Then there are many children, especially in Third World Countries, who have
never heard of Santa Claus and never received presents on Christmas. Who is
Santa Claus anyway? I personally describe him as the fictional character created
somehow from the real Saint Nikolaus back centuries ago. I have heard the
story, but can't elaborate on it only to say that the real Saint Nick was
quite a different person from the jolly old elf who flies an a ultra supersonic
speed sleigh with eight reindeer and delivers presents to everyone on Christmas
Eve. It has always been a puzzle as to how this Santa Claus fictional myth
survived, and the real importance of Christmas, namely the birth of the Savior
Jesus Christ remained more or less in the background.
The exchange
of gifts during Christmas goes back centuries, but within the last couple
of centuries the whole concept has evolved super commercially in the character
of Santa Claus. We have had countless number of Hollywood films about Santa,
even the newer ones with their animated special effects making the children
believe that it is possible for a sleigh of eight reindeer to achieve something
that NASA can't even conceive. Despite, the world financial crisis, somehow
the urgency to keep this myth activated prevails, while the real meaning of
Christmas is still alive, but isn't.
My job is
and has been to sing Christmas music, which I have always loved to the extent
of the true Christmas spirit being present. But lately, my duties rehearsing
and performing the sounds of the season have been clouded with the true Chrismas
spirit being absent and more mechanical.. I am constantly reminded of our
family's economic turmoil and the loss which I describe in my previous blog
entry. Now my wife, Margaret's car recently blew a rod and requires over two-thousand
dollars worth of repair. So the financial woes continue to mount with no hope
in sight. I know it sounds like I am complaining and feeling sorry for myself
and family. I rather consider it more like sympathetically sharing our problems
with others who have experienced the same or much worse. There is a biblical
verse from the King James version which describes life on Earth as "a
veil of tears with weeping and gnashing of teeth." and then there is
the phrase of the "dashing of one's foot against a stone(or rock)."
Those verses certainly give a very well described overview.
Instead
of exchanging wrapped Christmas gifts and waiting for Santa to deliver presents
Christmas Eve, Virginia and the rest of us need to discover the true meaning
of Christmas which is simply "love". Jesus said "love one another
even as I have loved you". Maybe our love can best be shown with either
giving a small gift like a remembrance to someone or simply better by saying
"I love you, Merry Christmas!"
RES (12/17/08)
Christmas is "the
most happiest time of the year"!
At least that is what the repetitive words to a well-known Christmas song
played on one Houston's radio stations, who over play Christmas music from
Thanksgiving to Christmas Day constantly say. But what about this year 2008,
can the majority of the nation's people honestly say that?! The economy
is considered by the experts to be the worst in our Nation's history since
the Great Depression This not only affects the Nation but the entire world.
Hurricane Ike produced astronmical damage locally this past September which
caused a number of lost jobs., Beside the loss of income and property, there
were personal losses as well. I include the loss of family friends as well
as the passing of my mother on 11/12/08. But it is not just our family...there
are many families rich and poor affected in very similar, if not worse ways.
I have described the year 2008 as the year of Murphy's Law
on another blog (if anything
can go wrong, it will...and did!). Despite this, the commerciality of Christmas
is still pretty evident on TV and radio as if to say "if you don't
have the money to buy it, buy it anyway, it's on sale". I have stated
before that this has to be the Wrath of God, and when I am feeling particularly
depressed, discouraged and dissolutioned, I have repeated the following
words:, "there is no hope". I have been accused of being a pessimist
many times, not looking at the bright side,rather keeping a negative approach
to life and dwelling on the past. (A program on the History Channel may
also confirm my feelings..) When I think of the Stock Market, I can only
conclude that all of humankind's economic woes are based basically on *"greed*"!
In the film "Wall Street", Michael Douglas, who played a very
driven stockbroker spoke the cliche line that "Greed is Good!".
Everyone at one point gets greedy...better this, than that. We see it is
especially true, for example with corporate executives, politicians, and
many so-called leaders who want undeserved pay raises, but the average middle
class person is also guilty. We all want better. The list goes on with wanting
better, more luxurious commercial items like HD receivers, better cell phones,
better cars with more amenities, better this, and better that.. and on and
on it goes...until the bottom drops out. It is like an inflated balloon...what
goes up, must come down! It is always, "I want or we want". Will
there ever come the time when people are encouraged not to buy Christmas
gifts for themselves,family and friends, but rather buy gifts or donate
money to those who are less fortunate than ones self? I doubt it very seriously.
Possibly,
what I am writing and have written
so far on this blog will rarely
if ever be read. Lately,there have been only occasional visitors to our
website, which really
amount to practically nothing.
As far as I know, friends and family seldom visit www.paparod.com anymore
and sign our Guest Register, I haven't seen a new name added for well over
a year. If I were to send emails to family and friends to visit www.paparod.com
or better yet, the webpage www.paparod.com/Paparod'sBlog, I may receive
some visitors. However, I shouldn't have to do that. Our website www.paparod.com
is listed with several search engines. If there are friends and family members
or even distant acquaintances, who are curious as to what is happening with
the Stenborg family, they can easily look us up.
What I have said in
the preceding paragraphs are only my thoughts and do not reflect the feelings
of my family. My friends and family members still regard me as a pessimist,(
however, at times certain family members may give in only slightly). I don't
believe in any Christmas Miracle(being in the form of unexpected prosperity
or gifts), other than the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. If we are
ever going to rise above the duress and doldrums we are now experiencing,
we have to make the ultimate effort to make a miracle happen. But can we?
Miracles just don't happen, or can we expect them to happen. We have to
make them happen, and I sincerely believe, at this point that I personally
am not a miracle worker. Instead of just saying Merry Christmas, I can only
say, "Despite the present circumstances in our world we are all experiencing,
try to have a Merry Christmas and pray very hard that 2009 is a better year
than the previous one" But then, the year ain't over yet.....!
RES - 12/12/08.
* In reference to "greed"
and what goes up must come down, notice how the oil prices recently have plummeted!
Is it my imagination, or is there suddenly an "oil glut"? Oil prices
for a gallon of gasoline in some states have dropped more than $2.00 a gallon.
Hmmm!...now that the economy is taking a dive, so are the oil prices. Despite
earlier how the oil companies have defended themselves concerning the price
hike of oil, it certainly appears now that they were really "greedy"!
POLITICS
EARLY VOTING IN HARRIS COUNTY
10-28-08
Margaret and I did something
I thought we would never do is "vote early". This advice has been
given several times by those apparently concerned with voter fraud. Well we
did after waiting in line for approximately a half hour at one of the county
courthouses in Pasadena, TX, (Pasadena is a very close suburb to Houston,
in case some of you are wondering). We were happy to have done it and recommend
it to all voters. From what we understand the lines at many of the voting
precincts Nov. 4, 2008 are going to be very long. If you read this in time:
VOTE EARLY!. RES
10-29-08
It is just less than a week
to go and we will know who the next President will be!? Or will we?? It could
be a repeat of the 2000 Election, only worse! Accepting the fact that "politics"
is a very dirty business, we can expect that anything will happen. It seems
that it always comes at the expense of the voters themselves. I am not making
any predictions...no sireee! What will be, will be, and let us hope that the
right person wins, whoever that may be. "Gott segne uns, Amen!"
RES
GALVESTON, TX 10-25/10-26-2008
We made our first trip to
Galveston last weekend since Hurricane Ike. There was much cleanup progress,
however, with all the hurricane destruction, there is still much more to be
done and it may take months before Galveston is completely back to normal.
As we drove the Causeway onto the island, we noticed countless number of various
types of boats piled up on each other off to the side of the Causeway. The
trash has not been completely removed off Broadway, which is still considered
to be I-45 and the State of Texas's responsibility. Our main concern was the
church where we have sung for eight years namely,Trinity Episcopal Church.
The Gulf surge from the hurricane having a tsunami effect perhaps did the
worse damage compared to wind. The stained glass altar window was blown out,
but what was even worse was the salt water damage that was done to the church's
electrical system. The electrical system was immersed in salt water and has
to be completely replaced.. How soon electricity will be restored is anyone's
guess. However, our rector says that November 16th is the date set to reopen
the church. I will keep you posted on that. "Gott hilfe uns. Amen!
RES
October
23, 2008
"Hello Everyone!"
That
was how the late musicologist, pianist host of Adventures in Good Music,Dr.
Karl Haas greeted his radio audience on his syndicated radio program five
days a week while he played on the piano the second movement of Beethoven's
Pathetique sonata. Judging from the listening audience, his program
perhaps was the best classical music education program ever presented on the
airways. Karl Haas died several years ago in his late eighties. A lot has
changed since his passing and I would say not for the better. I am not referring
to classical music or performance, but rather the mental state we are all
in at the present. Since I wrote my last blog, our US economy is collapsing,
here in Houston and Galveston,we endured and survived for the most part one
of the worst hurricanes to ever strike the Gulf Coast namely,Hurricane Ike.
Our oldest daughter, Jeanne has filed for divorce against her husband of some
15 years,Sergio Ortuno. Their house they built just a few years ago was recently
up for foreclosure, fortunately,they were able to get a buyer before the inevitable
happened. The church where Rodney,Margaret and Jeanne sing every Sunday was
severely damaged by the high water surge and winds of Hurricane Ike on Galveston
Island. This was Rodney and Margaret's means of part time employment, now
put on hold until the middle of November. We had no electricity for a little
over two weeks as a result of the storm,causing Margaret to temporarily close
her Active Arts Academy business until power was restored. Our daughter Julie,Ovi
and their children had to move out of their house as the roof was nearly blown
off due to the storm. They are now living in temporary housing until their
home is repaired. In addition, there is the uncontrolable financial debt we
all have to contend with. The positive is that we are all alive. Our family
experienced no injuries from this devastating storm...but the aftermath exists
both here and worse still in Galveston.
Beside
everything that has happened, we have a National Election in a couple of weeks
which promises to be the most controversial election in American history,
the fact that many potential voters are not being allowed to vote, due to
apparently some voting glitches or whatever ie. reminiscent of what happened
in 2000. It seems that this is unbelievable here in the USA,such a thing happening?
Fixed elections only happen in third world countries, not in the USA. What
really scares me is what could happen after all the votes(or supposed votes)
are counted? We are being told to believe everything will work out...but will
it? Stay tuned for the next chapter. Thank God we can still sing and relieve
our frustrations despite all the mess that has occurred and is still happening.
RES
August
23, 2007
Dear
Family & Friends!!!!
Finally,
I know what a "blog" is, ie. anything that is personal, pertaining
to family and friendsor
even political in nature, that is commentary or parody etc. It should'nt be
for what I was originally doing trying to advertise affiliates in a home marketing
business. Oh, I guess I can have a little bit of that, but discretely. I plan
to combine whatever I write on this blog and MyFamily.com. I will be adding
some recent photos and possibly work on some sort of design for my blog page.
Eventually, there will be soundbites and videos. But now this blog will devote
itself to current events or the latest news.
Opinion(Energy)
- 4/29/2007
Remember
the days when the American people actually tried to conserve energy?!
We
all complain about the rising gasoline prices today and the possibility that
the fault lies with the petroleum industry. When we lived in Europe some almost
40 years ago, it was only natural that Europeans in general would conserve
energy. Thermostats were turned down at night, unecessary lights were turned
off etc. and since gasoline has always been more expensive across the Atlantic,
unecessary auto trips were avoided. But today what do we have here in the
US?. Gas guzzling Pick-ups and SUVs are the norm where these very same yahoo
motorists who drive them complain about the high price of gasoline. The big
three auto companies also share much of the blame. They still believe in the
slogan, "Build it and they will buy it" without any regard to fuel
economy. They brought back eight cylinder vehicles, while there was talk of
global warming and soaring energy prices. It took Japanese and other foreign
auto makers to show the mistakes of the big three twenty years ago, and it
is going to be deja vu all over again only this time in spades. I wonder what
the American motorist would think if a 55 mile an hour speed limit again would
have to become law? Probably this and other factors will be necessary, because
today's US motorist just doesn't seem to have the savvy to learn how to conserve
!....
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