The Fredösphere

The sister-in-lawösphere joined the Peace Corps and they just sent her to Macedonia.  She's living in a city called Sveti Nikole -- that would be Santa Claus to you, bub.

The saint has a webpage, of course.  No sign of his blog, although given the good man's record of astounding miracles, I half expected to find one.

My friend Brian, a college choir director, loaned me the score and recording of Benjamin Britten's cantata Saint Nicholas.  (Here's a summary.)  It is Brian's dream to perform the piece, but it would be impossible at his school.  They put on a boar's head festival each December, and as the event is regionally famous and serves as a major marketing effort for the school, all the Christmas music he picks must be boar's head-compliant.  I suspect Brian wishes I would be able to mount a production of Saint Nicholas somehow.  (This is a problem I experience very commonly:  people wanting to live vicariously through me.  I don't understand why that is.  It just is.)

Tomorrow, a special treat:  after an extremely long hiatus, Wobegon Boy makes his triumphant return to the Fredösphere.  Don't miss it!