October Happenings

Happy Halloween!

Warning: This is going to be a very long blog post! 

Dear Family and Friends,

Is it really almost the middle of November? I'm sorry I am so behind with my monthly update. October was such a busy month for our family that it just seemed to fly by. It was an incredibly beautiful month with mostly warm, sunny weather and amazing fall foliage. I don't think we have ever experienced such a wonderful fall since moving to Connecticut five years ago.

This beautiful tree is right down the street from where we live.

Calvary House, the place we call home, is also looking beautiful these days. The repairs and painting are complete, and the house looks so much better and friendlier than before.

The new Calvary House.

Clara on the porch.

This month we enjoyed seeing a lot of family. My parents came to visit at the beginning of October for a week,s and my aunt and uncle from Virginia also came up to see all of us for a weekend during that time. A few days after my family left, Joey's mom came to visit for two weeks. Clara really loved seeing all of the family and, since Joey's mom Cathy had a longer visit, we were able to take some fun trips, including a visit to one of our new favorite places, Kringle Candles in Massachusetts. Kringle Candles is located in a beautiful part of MA and is home to a large selection of candles, a toy store, a Christms shop, a chocolate shop and a farm to table restaurant. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed looking at the various shops and fall decorations.

Clara and Grandma Ripka.

Fun at Kringle Candles.

  
Joey, Clara and I took a ride on the Essex Steam Train and river boat this month with members of the New London American Guilld of Organists, of which Joey is currently dean. Clara loved riding on the train, and the boat trip down the CT river was beautiful.

Fun on the Essex steam train!

Clara continues to enjoy ballet classes. She is always so excited to go to class and doesn't want the class to end. Sometimes we have to pick her up off the dance floor and carry her out of the building, because she is refusing to stop dancing and get dressed. It's fun to see how much she loves her class and her teacher and fellow little ballerinas. She also really loves spending time playing on the Calvary Nursery School playground in our backyard. 

Going to ballet class.

Getting dressed after class.

Having tea in the CNS playhouse.

Joey and I had a busy performance month in October. We performed an organ/violin recital of about 90 minutes of music on October 20th at Emmanual Episcopol Church in Killingworth, CT. It's a beautiful little white church out in the woods. We had a really good turn out, and the audience was very receptive. There was a wonderful reception following the recital, and we enjoyed talking with various audience members. We also performed on Calvary Music School's annual faculty concert. We played some piano trio music by Piazzola with our friend and CMS cello teacher Carly, as well as a piece for violin and organ. We recently had some new publicity photos taken, a couple of which are shown below.

Rehearsing together. (We don't always look this happy when we rehearse. Haha!)

We celebrated my 30th birthday on October 19th. We went out to a Mexican restaurant with Joey's mom, since she was here visiting. Somehow the waiter figured out it was my birthday, and I ended up wearing a sombrero and being sung to by wait staff. Anyway, it was fun, and so far being 30 isn't so bad.

Joey made the cake and Clara decorated it.

Unfortunately, October also turned out to be a rough health month for all three of us. I developed a cold toward the middle of September that would not go away. After 5 weeks of severe sinus congestion, I finally sought medical advice and was told I most likely had the beginnings of a sinus infection. I have just finished a 10 day course of antibiotics and am feeling better, although I still feel a bit stuffy. Clara also developed two separate colds during the month and is currently dealing with a cough. 

Joey definitely suffered the most last month. He did manage to avoid the cold virus, but had to deal with something much more uncomfortable. While Joey's mom was visiting, Joey woke up about 4:30 AM one morning with horrible back pain. It was so severe that he could barely stand up. Thank goodness Joey's mom was visiting and was able to stay with Clara while I drove him to the Westerly Hospital ER. When we arrived Joey was given heavy pain medications and underwent a CT scan. It turned out Joey had developed a kidney stone. This is the first time he has ever had a kidney stone (and hopefully the last time!). He was given pain medications to take at home and was told the stone should pass quickly. Joey suffered for almost three days before the stone passed. We all felt so bad watching him deal with such severe waves of pain. The pain medications also made him feel sick, and he was unable to eat much. Somehow Joey still managed to play Sunday services, which amazed me because he was suffering so much. It was a terrible experience, but we are thankful that it was not something more serious. 

We ended the month of October with a fun Halloween day. Clara developed a bad cold the day before Halloween, and we were afraid she might not be up for trick-or-treating, but when the time came she was so excited that we decided to let her go out. She dressed as a ballerina kitty. We invited some friends over with their daughter who is a few months younger than Clara, and we went trick-or-treating for about 40 minutes. I was surprised the girls lasted as long as they did. Clara had so much fun, and we enjoyed giving out candy to a lot of children, including some of our music students and choristers. 

Helping daddy get the pumpkin ready for carving.

Clara and her friend going out to trick-or-treat.

We hope you had a wonderful October and that November is going well. Joey and I are giving concerts both this month and next month, so we are keeping really busy practicing and rehearsing. We leave for Binghamton, NY early tomorrow morning to prepare for a Friday evening concert. See information about our upcoming concerts at the bottom of this blog.

I will try to post a bit sooner next month. We hope you have a fun and safe Thanksgiving Holiday!

Until next post!
Joey, Erin and Clara

CONCERTS 2013/2014:

Sunday, September 15, 2013  Joseph Ripka, organ, Joint Presentation & Recital with Scot Huntington on the 1870 Hook organ at United Church in Stonington, CT.  Program begins at 4:00 p.m.  (Sponsored by the Stonington Historical Society)


Sunday, October 20, 2013  Emanuel Episcopal Church in Killingworth, CT 4:00 p.m recital, with organist Joseph Ripka and violinist Erin Ripka as the Ripka Duo

Friday, November 15, 2013  Recital for the Binghampton Chapter of the American Guild of Organists with Joseph Ripka, organ and Erin Ripka, violin. Joseph Ripka   Workshop on Saturday Nov. 16.  United Presbyterian Church, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday December 14th, 2013 La Grua Center Music Matters Series presents the Ripka Duo: Chamber Music Recital, 5pm

Sunday, February 2, 2014  House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, MN recital, with organist Joseph Ripka and violinist Erin Ripka as the Ripka Duo. 4:00 pm. 

Friday, March 21, 2014  Joseph Ripka, organ, St John's Episcopal Church in Niantic, CT. Bach birthday celebration featuring the Leipzig Chorales with members of the New London CT chapter of the AGO.


Wednesday, March 26, 2014  Joseph Ripka, organ, St Paul's on-the-green in Norwalk, CT.  Lunchtime Recital, begins at noon.  


Wednesday, July 16, 2014  Joseph Ripka, organ, Bethel College, Saint Paul, MN.  Part of the Young Artists World Piano Festival.