(We have already returned home, but we thought our family and friends would like to see more of what we did last weekend!)
Saturday began with another hot breakfast of waffles, sausages, eggs, bagels, and juice and then a bus ride back to Saint Meinrad Archabbey. On Friday we recorded seven hymns and we hoped to sing seven more on Saturday. We started off singing, O Day of Peace, the title of our album, and then worked on All My Hope on God is Founded, and concluded the morning session with our favorite, O Strength and Stay. Each night we conclude our evening prayer service with O Strength and Stay, asking for peace and safety as day passes into night. It was a tough session as the temperature outside was close to 97 degrees and we got a little dehydrated. The Archabbey is air conditioned, but it only takes a quick jaunt outside to be zapped of your energy!
Our lunch on Saturday included all you can eat tacos, salad, fruit, and sandwiches. After lunch and before our next recording sessions the singers explored the adjacent courtyard where Mrs. Duffy led the singers in a cartwheel contest. While Anthony won with an impressive display of flips and jumps, Dr. Doerries attempted his first cartwheel only to wipe-out in the grass (his big toe was a pretty black and blue later that day!).
Despite our food coma after lunch, the afternoon recording session was incredibly efficient and we recorded six hymns including Notre Dame Our Mother, the Alma Mater. We attended Vespers for a second night. The first night we sang a little too loudly and drowned out the monk’s beautiful Gregorian chant. This evening we adopted a new technique of listening louder than we sang. The choir understood that this was a prayer service unlike any other they had ever witnessed, one that was communal, personal, and private all simultaneously.
After Vespers, we had a fabulous dinner of crab cakes, fish, and chicken entrees and pumpkin bread for dessert, though this was only the beginning of our dessert course. After a brief Compline service with the Monks at 7pm, this is the final communal prayer service for the monks each day (Monastic Midnight is 10pm!), we boarded the bus for the Frostop in Tell City. We each had ice cream before hitting the pool before our choir evening-prayer service.
It was a full day of singing, prayer, eating, swimming, and fun. A few singers felt the affects of passing illnesses, but most had recovered by the end of the day. The middle day of any choir trip is the most demanding physically and emotionally. Despite sore throats and a few hurt feelings throughout the day, our singers rallied and came together as a choir and as friends to sing beautiful music.
By 10:30pm we were all in bed to get ready for our final day of singing!