You know, when I get back here every year, everyone says "Welcome Home"! And it does feel like home. I'm content here, even with the day to day.
I left you last Sunday, in my usual chair, about to pick up the Sunday New York Times. Later in the afternoon, I met friend Laurel for a walk. She was a neighbor in Salt Spring Island, some of you may recall, and is a neighbor here in Palm Springs. She has just arrived from Canada, having lost her husband of long standing, Murray, to the last of a series of strokes in the spring. As you can imagine, I empathize.
As you can see, she has a new companion, an apricot poodle named Chloe, the excuse for a brisk walk around Laurel's complex, literally six blocks from mine, followed by a cold drink on Laurel's patio. She is always busy with their (now her) business, family and friends, but we'll try to get together regularly. Nothing like a little death to remind you about the dearness of friends.
The week was, as usual, filled with bridge, including 2nd place overall at the Duncan Bridge Club on Monday, and, for a change of pace, friends over on Tuesday for bridge at my place.
....followed by yet another lovely sunset....
And here's something novel - for Palm Springs, anyway! It rained the end of the week.
The opera class on Thursday was about Werther, by Massenet, based on the novel which made Goethe famous and caused a series of copycat suicides all over Europe! It really is a gloomy opera, which I did not much like when I first heard it 20-odd years ago. I like it much better now, although lord knows, it is still very dark. The question is what will the Met's new production be like. I will report back.
On Friday, I did my daily stint at the gym early to squeeze in a coffee with new acquaintance Nan, a fellow student at Friday's art classes. We have been sneaking in the odd sentence before class, but felt that a coffee and a chat might be nice. And it was. Nan is an interesting character, with a checkered career, very different from mine. She is very sympatish, and we seem to understand one another. It is harder to make new friends, I think, at my (advanced) age, and I am grateful to have the opportunity.
The class was interesting too. We talked about (and saw slides of) installation art. I was most impressed with the Serra installation at the Getty in Bilbao, but we also saw representative works by Baptiste Debombourg, Urs Fischer, Tara Donovan, Walter de Maria, the ubiquitous Christo, and many more, and discussed questions such as should the materials determine the vision, or should the artist's vision determine the materials. The professor is of the opinion that it doesn't matter what the artist intended, it is what you bring to the piece that matters. Our professor is in the process of doing an installation in Coventry in England. Again, news at 11.
What else is happening? Well, I finally finished Conrad Black's biography of Richard Nixon (all 1,059 pages), and not a minute too soon. Black really is a wonderful writer, and although he in no way whitewashed Nixon's flaws, the book was a good reminder of his breakthroughs in foreign policy, and his benign and often farsighted ideas on social policy as well. I have Black's book called Flight of the Eagle, which he calls a strategic history of the US, but I can't jump right into that. Instead, I went on a buying spree on Amazon (yes, Bill, I got free shipping), and am starting with something a bit light, a book of short stories/novellas by Andre Dubus IIIcalled "Dirty Love"! Well, I wanted a change!
Feeling poopy today - or maybe just tired - so have readyand napped the whole day, and will be ready to start the rounds again tomorrow. Meanwhile, back to my wine and my book.....
I left you last Sunday, in my usual chair, about to pick up the Sunday New York Times. Later in the afternoon, I met friend Laurel for a walk. She was a neighbor in Salt Spring Island, some of you may recall, and is a neighbor here in Palm Springs. She has just arrived from Canada, having lost her husband of long standing, Murray, to the last of a series of strokes in the spring. As you can imagine, I empathize.
As you can see, she has a new companion, an apricot poodle named Chloe, the excuse for a brisk walk around Laurel's complex, literally six blocks from mine, followed by a cold drink on Laurel's patio. She is always busy with their (now her) business, family and friends, but we'll try to get together regularly. Nothing like a little death to remind you about the dearness of friends.
The week was, as usual, filled with bridge, including 2nd place overall at the Duncan Bridge Club on Monday, and, for a change of pace, friends over on Tuesday for bridge at my place.
....followed by yet another lovely sunset....
And here's something novel - for Palm Springs, anyway! It rained the end of the week.
The opera class on Thursday was about Werther, by Massenet, based on the novel which made Goethe famous and caused a series of copycat suicides all over Europe! It really is a gloomy opera, which I did not much like when I first heard it 20-odd years ago. I like it much better now, although lord knows, it is still very dark. The question is what will the Met's new production be like. I will report back.
On Friday, I did my daily stint at the gym early to squeeze in a coffee with new acquaintance Nan, a fellow student at Friday's art classes. We have been sneaking in the odd sentence before class, but felt that a coffee and a chat might be nice. And it was. Nan is an interesting character, with a checkered career, very different from mine. She is very sympatish, and we seem to understand one another. It is harder to make new friends, I think, at my (advanced) age, and I am grateful to have the opportunity.
The class was interesting too. We talked about (and saw slides of) installation art. I was most impressed with the Serra installation at the Getty in Bilbao, but we also saw representative works by Baptiste Debombourg, Urs Fischer, Tara Donovan, Walter de Maria, the ubiquitous Christo, and many more, and discussed questions such as should the materials determine the vision, or should the artist's vision determine the materials. The professor is of the opinion that it doesn't matter what the artist intended, it is what you bring to the piece that matters. Our professor is in the process of doing an installation in Coventry in England. Again, news at 11.
What else is happening? Well, I finally finished Conrad Black's biography of Richard Nixon (all 1,059 pages), and not a minute too soon. Black really is a wonderful writer, and although he in no way whitewashed Nixon's flaws, the book was a good reminder of his breakthroughs in foreign policy, and his benign and often farsighted ideas on social policy as well. I have Black's book called Flight of the Eagle, which he calls a strategic history of the US, but I can't jump right into that. Instead, I went on a buying spree on Amazon (yes, Bill, I got free shipping), and am starting with something a bit light, a book of short stories/novellas by Andre Dubus IIIcalled "Dirty Love"! Well, I wanted a change!
Feeling poopy today - or maybe just tired - so have readyand napped the whole day, and will be ready to start the rounds again tomorrow. Meanwhile, back to my wine and my book.....
No comments:
Post a Comment