First, a leftover picture, Peter and Nora at the opera in San Francisco.....
A handsome couple, aren't we?
....and back to Palm Springs.....
I started two classes under the auspices of the Osher School of Life Long Learning, under the University of California. Neither is too much of a stretch - the first is a course on the opera, reviewing the operas being presented in HD by the Metropolitan Opera this season, discussing the history of the operas, the composers. context, etc. The second is a course entitled "Why is That Art? So far (I've now had two of each), both professors are very knowledgeable and fun. Who knows? I might actually feel better about modern art? The class is being held at the Palm Springs Art Museum, and we have started doing the class, in part, while exploring the collection.
So, what would a typical day in paradise be? Well, it might start with coffee on the patio, looking out at...
Then off to the gym every day, for a half an hour to an hour and a half, depending on my mood and my schedule. Then either off to class, or home for lunch, and, three afternoons a week, more or less, duplicate bridge. If there are no bridge games or classes, there is always the pool...
Then there is all the socializing - coffees on the patio, or lunches out, and, of course, the parties....
The first Metropolitan Opera at the Movies for me in Palm Springs was The Nose, an opera by Shostokovich, based on a short story by Gogol. For a silly thing, it was actually staged quite brilliantly, but I am still not sophisticated enough to be able to stand 2 1/2 hours of Shostokovich; we left after Act II.
Halloween at Palm Springs View Estates is quite the event......
The party was early on Saturday evening, October 27th. In contrast to the hoopla indoors, was the non-untypical, glorious sunset...
.....And on to LA, and Disney Hall....
...... to meet friend Ray. Originally from Boston, I met Ray in the Bank America days of my checkered career. He has graced these pages before, but have I ever mentioned how we met? We were both living in Marin County (I was living on a sailboat, but that is another very long story, for another day), both (unbeknownst to each other) working for B of A. It was December, he was hitchiking to work, I was driving my convertible with the top down, and I picked him up. We started taking about opera and the symphony and the Bank, and, well, we have been friends for the 30 + years since.
Anyway, Ray was visiting Southern California, and scored tickets to the LA Philharmonic. We were both quite excited, as neither of us had seen Disney Hall, in spite of the fact that it is 10 years old this year. It was a wonderful concert, a short piece by Ives, a piece written by Salinen, who was conducting, for the violinist who was playing it, and Sibelius' 5th Symphony. The accoustics were glorious, as advertised. Afterwards, we explored downtown LA a bit (quite a different place from when I worked there for Security Pacific, as it then was, many moons ago). (see pictures above)
We ended up at the top of the Ritz Carlton, where Ray had made reservations at WP24, Wolfgang Puck's (reasonably) new restaurant. I must say, it was a lovely dining experience, with lots to time for us to catch up. The drive from LA to Palm Springs was a breeze at that time of night (about an hour and forty five minutes), and it altogether a lovely day.
Monday was another lovely day in paradise (see above for approximate details). Robin and Grant flew in from Vancouver; I picked them up at the airport (an easy matter here, of course), and we had a "welcome back to the desert" lunch at Sherman's Deli - another tradition recently started.
This was followed by a nice dinner (and you wonder why I have to go to the gym every day) at Johanna's for schnitzel with new friend Robert, introduced to me by David, from Vancouver. (There seems to be quite a cohort of guys who divide their time between Vancouver, Palm Springs and Puerto Vallarta - I keep meeting more and more of them!)
This turned out to be a big bridge week - Tuesday with the above-noted Robert, Wednesday with old friend Art, and Friday with Robin.
Thursday night was, of course, Halloween, a civic holiday in this town, for sure. I went out to dinner with friend Geoff at Tropicale, where all of the staff and most of the clientele were in costume.....
By Saturday, I was plumb tuckered out, so no gay pride parade for me this weekend. Just sitting by the pool on Saturday afternoon, a quick cheap Mexican dinner at La Gallita, our neighborhood dive, and on Sunday, the New York Times.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing technical difficulties. Those blank spaces above? They are for pictures, none of which I am able to upload (having spent hours editing them!) The site has a lovely new look, which means that the ##!!## programers have been mucking with it, and, as usual, did not put things back the way they found them. I suspect they will fix it eventually; meanwhile, I will publish sans pictures, and republish later with pics. As for the Halloween festivities, well, just use your imaginations!!!
P.S.
It took me two hourss, but, as you can see, pictures are downloaded. However, although the computer says the pictures were compressed, I think they were not, so your respective computers may explode when opening this blog post. If anyone has a solution, please please please let me know, Meanwhile, I will have to be judicious with the pictures!!!
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