If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know I love fresh figs. Love, love, love them!

All year I wait until August, when they are in season here in the Midwest. This year, I bought a fig tree so I will be able to have figs any time I want–so I thought. What I didn’t know was how finicky the trees are.

Fig tress cannot withstand temperatures below 10 degrees F, so I had to buy a smallish tree and re-pot it in a plastic pot–not ceramic–so I will be able to drag it across my patio. It needs to ‘winter’ in my garage. A bit of work, but for fresh figs, I am willing. And with our temps often in the 100s this summer, I have had to water, water, water so it wouldn’t die. And I did and it didn’t die, exactly. What did happen was leaves fell off regularly. The small figs I so looked forward to maturing have fallen off, except for one. That fig looks healthy and should be just about ready to pick…..but I am not sure I can do it! After trying to keep it alive since May, I don’t have the heart to pluck the last, lone fig. Today, I broke down and bought some figs from the grocery store and will continue to until my fig tree is ready to harvest next year.

Planning for my concert cycles for the Midwest Motet Society can be likened to the plans I had for my fig tree–sometimes, we must first prepare and be willing to wait a bit. And, it will “pay off” eventually. But first, we must wait until everything is in place.

It’s been a busy summer around here. Not much different from any other summer.

I spent a good portion of late June and much of July filing music. Any choral director will tell you that’s the worst part of the job. In most of my church jobs, I had a music librarian who did this but even so, some of it fell to me anyway. This summer has been especially messy with filing for some reason but I’m almost finished. I am on the last bag of handouts and old programs and my only problem will be deciding what to keep and what to recycle. It should take one more afternoon and then I should be done but not for long–I have to put together fall folders.

Many of my peers–directors and conductors–can’t be bothered with this “busy work” but I almost like it. I see what we have and don’t have. I see what condition the copies are in. Sometimes, I find music I forgot we have and am inspired to program it!

I am really one of those “hands on” people and have no problem pitching in when needed. I find if I want something to happen, some times I have to make it happen. And while I have wonderful volunteers, the buck stops with me but at times, it starts with me as well.

I suppose it would be wonderful to be a Diva and be waited on…..or maybe it wouldn’t, I wouldn’t know. I’ve always pitched in and gotten my hands dirty. I don’t know any other way.