We enjoyed a private tour of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, courtesy of Sister Bunton (Rocha). I've never seen a sanctuary bathed in so much blue light, or such blue-predominant windows. Perhaps my favorite house on the tour was the former German-American Ladies' College, now owned by Alan Pogue and D'Ann Johnson. One or two of the houses were owned by the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation. We loved the one with two parakeets in the kitchen--that was the most lived-in establishment on the tour. We started the tour at one of the secondary points for beginning and so avoided the picket excitement at the main tent. We kept seeing neighbors and people from former lives from afar. It'll be interesting to see what Susan Smith publishes in the Statesman, probably on Wednesday. There's a force that doesn't want us to go to any of our operas this year--events beyond our control kept us from la Fanciulla del West and the curse almost worked again with Rigoletto. Ping Yu, who sang the lead role, was the best we've ever seen or heard in that part, which is usually taken by the superannuated. Joe McClain says he's a practioner of traditional Chinese medicine.