リッタのミュージックルーム

Springtime in Denmark.

Saturday the 12th of May.

Spring is fantastic.
A new season begin.
The animals are getting small ones.
And so on……….
I enjoy the springtime so much. It is great…………

Around my church the leaves are light green and the Danish cherry
blossoms are blooming.





In the church we had a concert called performed by three choirs of
the church and title of the concert was
“We are singing for this coming summer”

The childrens choir

The choir of young people and grownups.

The altar and pots with leaves of beech

”Narnia” a musical in my church

Wednesday the 25th of April.

Last weekend the children club of the church performed a musical
named “Narnia” based on the book “The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe” dramatized by a volunteer in club and the music is
composed by the organist of the church.
The writer of “Narnia” was director on the musical and I was director
assistant.
We have been working two hours a week in a half year on this musical.
And we have made all the costumes and properties by ourselves.
We had one performance for 250 children coming from schools and one
performance for the actor’s families and friends and people coming from
the parish of the church.
Both performances were held in the church room and became a big
success and were a great experience for all of us.
Mostly I’m working with the music, but for the first time I was director
assistant and it was very exciting to try and I’m very, very happy about
the performance. I will never forget it…………………
I’m very glad working as volunteer in the club. It gives me so many
exciting and fantastic experiences.

Here are some photos from the first perfomance of “Narnia”.

Before the performance. Making-up of the actors for example the beaver.



Performance for school children


The witch in her sleigh


The lion “Aslan” and unicorns


The lion “Aslan” and one of the four children


“Aslan” has just crowned the kings and queens


All the actors

Visit from Japan.

Tuesday the 17th of April.

During Easter Yukiko was visiting Denmark. Among many things she was
so kind to visit me at my church and afterwards we had a delicious
meal together at a restaurant.
It was exciting to talk with her a listen to all her experiences in Denmark
and at home in Japan.

Yukiko in the church and at restaurant.



During Easter there was a big gymnastic festival in Denmark.
Kis were participating with a group showing gymnastic exercises
from 1964.
Yukiko and Sumiyo attended the group and I became the pianist.
It was a great experience for all of us to be at that festival.

Yukiko and the team are warming up just before showing their gymnastic.

Easter in Denmark.

Monday the 9th of April.

Easter is very important occasion in Christianity and it means many
services and activities in the church as holding services on “Palm
Sunday”, where Jesus on a palm covered road came riding on a
donkey back into Jerusalem, and two services on “Maundy Thursday”,
where Jesus instituted the Holy Communion and had the last supper
together with his disciples, and service on “Good Friday” the day of the
crucifixion of Jesus, and “Easter Day” the day for Jesus resurrection,
and service on “Easter Monday” because the resurrected Jesus show
himself in front of the disciples.

The Bible does not tell what really happened on Easter morning when
Jesus rose from the dead, but it says what it means for the people
who knew him, and for the people who are at all times think that it
really happened, that life won over death on Easter morning
Life's victory over death makes Easter the most important day in the
Christian church.

“Maundy Thursday” in my church.
After the evening service we had an Easter meal in memory of that
night when Jesus instituted the sacrament, the Holy Communion.

Thinking of you…………..

Wednesday the 14th of March.

Sunday the 11th one year after the big disaster, I was thinking
much of Japanese people and especially of my friends living in Japan.
Visiting Japan last summer affected me and I wish the best for
everybody.
I hope to visit Japan again in August or in September.

In Denmark spring little by little it coming even the weather is cold
and sometimes rain.
The day length is about 5 hours more than at Christmas that means
sunrise is 6:30 and sunset is 6:30.
We all enjoy the daylight and looking forward to spring and summer.

Some photos of spring flowers.
Crocus

Snowdrop

Small daffodils will soon bloom

Crocus

Shrovetide.

Tuesday the 21st of February.

Sunday the 19th of February we celebrated Shrovetide with a Shrovetide event at my church.
About 70 children and 75 adults were gathered and all the children were dressed up in many kinds of costumes.



The arrangement started with a short service in the church.

Afterwards we went to another room and the children did “Barrel
slashing”.
The barrel before the slashing

The barrel slashing



The child, who slashed the bottom of the barrel became the queen and
the child, who slashed the last board of the barrel down became the
king.
In the barrel were lots of sweets. The children were very eager and
after 45 minutes barrel slashing the queen and the king was found.


After such a powerful activity it was time for the refreshment consisting
of Shrovetide soft roll. It is also a tradition at the Shrovetide event.
We all enjoyed the arrangement very much.

Haruki Murakami.

Thursday the 2nd of February.

I have just been reading these three books of Haruki Murakami.
They are translated into Danish by a Danish lady named Mette Holm.

I don’t know the English titles, but in Japanese it is:
“Kami no kodomo-tachi wa mina oduru”
“Suputoniku no koibito”
“Nejimaki-dori kuronikure”


I’m very fascinated of Murakami’s way of writing and I’m looking forward
to reading 1Q84 book number 3, which will be published in Denmark
in August.


It is winter in Denmark with snow and very cold days (about minus
7 degrees) and nights (about minus 18 degrees). Time to time the
sun is shining and we have beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
Since Christmas the length of the day has increased 1½ hour.

Winter aconite in January and....

Saturday the 14th of January.

This week I have attended a course about working in a church with
subject as church services and how to handle the church silver and
how to take good care the old objects in the church and how to do
the cleaning of the church in the best way and many other things.
It was very interesting and exciting course and I have learned much
for my further work.



Afterwards I went for a visit to my mother. She has just have had
a successfully operation for cataract in her right eye. She is so glad
that she now can read the newspaper without glasses.
It is fantastic and I’m so happy about it.
In three weeks she will have an operation in her left eye.

In mothers garden new winter aconite is ready to bloom. It is so early,
mostly they start blooming in the end of February. But this winter in
Denmark has been warm with no frost and no snow yet………

Mother is looking at winter aconite and so happy with her new sight.

Christmas and New Year.

Wednesday the 4th of January.

Christmas time is a busy time. It is a nice solemn with many fine
arrangements and activities.

In the afternoon before the Christmas Eve we had three services in the
church and about 1200 people from our the parishioners attended the
services and listened to the Christmas message about the birth of Christ.

In Denmark we celebrate Christmas Eve in the family with nice food and
walking around the Christmas tree while singing Christmas songs and
everyone get Christmas presents.

Some of the parishioners at the Christmas service



The vicar is wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.


The New Year evening we celebrate with friends. We eat nice food and
during the evening we have fireworks, but at the turn of the year there
are at lot of fireworks. It was a fantastic and beautiful sight.

Christmas 2011

Dear friends in Japan.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year.

Thank you very much to everyone for all your kindness and help
to mee during the year 2011.

Rita