..... and I am unusually sad. Usually by this time, I am ready to leave, but not this year. I am not sure why. I guess it is because I am becoming more and more connected here, meeting great people both at the gym and at bridge.
Two of the bridge guys invited me over to their place Monday last week for dinner and bridge, two of my favourite pasttimes....
Below, right, host John and "4th" John...
.....and second host James......
.....(I am going to have to do something about my picture taking. I don't know how I made three such good looking guys look, well, not. You will just have to use your collective imaginations...)
We had lots of laughs, and, I think, a good time was had by all.
The spring semester Osher courses started last week. The cinema course is looking to be a disappointment. The instructors recently seem to have been given license to be self indulgent, and I certainly didn't like this fellow's choice of film - a depressing Swedish film taking place in the early 1900's, where a stupid (albeit pretty) woman allows herself to be beaten, and almost killed, and impregnated 7 times, by a drunken lout of a hustand.....I mean, the cinematography was great, but really, not worth over 2 hours of angst.
The second part of America and Islam looks to be better. Our first lecture included a U-Tube clip on the results of drone warfare (this guy really hates the CIA and Black Ops). At any rate, it is beyond the usual echo-chamber of things we usually listen to....
Wednesday, I was on the way to Houston for a long planned opera outing. Peter got in earlier than I, so I met him at the hotel (the Lancaster, right down the street from the Music Center) for a snack and a drink at the bar (soooo sophisticated.....)
Thursday, we made our usual pilgrimage to the Menil Gallery (including the Cy Twombley exhibit but passing this time on the Rothko Chapel)....
.....no pictures allowed in the gallery, but I loved this tree outside.....
In spite of the early curtain (6 P.M. - it is Wagner, after all), we had time for a nap, and an early dinner at Birraporetti's, a local Italian eatery on the way to the Music Hall.
Well, two thumbs down for the eatery, but two thumbs up for the performance of Sigfried. The singers (Jay Hunter Morris as Sigfried, Rodell Rosel as Mime and Christine Goerke as Brunhilde)and the orchestra were superb. The staging started off reasonably well (the first time I ever found Sigfried and Mime even reasonably likeable...) but deteriorated by the third act (for which I kept my eyes shut most of the time, and no, I wasn't sleeping). But it is all about the music, after all, and that was glorious.
And I do like being able to walk home from the opera. We are already plotting strategy for Gotterdamerung in Houston next year.
Friday, we headed for the Houston Fine Arts Museum. It is a huge museum (I had never been....), and I only had two hours before having to head to the airport, but with Peter's guidance (he has been many times before), I made a start...
(...sorry, I could have sworn I rotated this picture....)
Two of the bridge guys invited me over to their place Monday last week for dinner and bridge, two of my favourite pasttimes....
Below, right, host John and "4th" John...
.....and second host James......
.....(I am going to have to do something about my picture taking. I don't know how I made three such good looking guys look, well, not. You will just have to use your collective imaginations...)
We had lots of laughs, and, I think, a good time was had by all.
The spring semester Osher courses started last week. The cinema course is looking to be a disappointment. The instructors recently seem to have been given license to be self indulgent, and I certainly didn't like this fellow's choice of film - a depressing Swedish film taking place in the early 1900's, where a stupid (albeit pretty) woman allows herself to be beaten, and almost killed, and impregnated 7 times, by a drunken lout of a hustand.....I mean, the cinematography was great, but really, not worth over 2 hours of angst.
The second part of America and Islam looks to be better. Our first lecture included a U-Tube clip on the results of drone warfare (this guy really hates the CIA and Black Ops). At any rate, it is beyond the usual echo-chamber of things we usually listen to....
Wednesday, I was on the way to Houston for a long planned opera outing. Peter got in earlier than I, so I met him at the hotel (the Lancaster, right down the street from the Music Center) for a snack and a drink at the bar (soooo sophisticated.....)
Thursday, we made our usual pilgrimage to the Menil Gallery (including the Cy Twombley exhibit but passing this time on the Rothko Chapel)....
.....no pictures allowed in the gallery, but I loved this tree outside.....
In spite of the early curtain (6 P.M. - it is Wagner, after all), we had time for a nap, and an early dinner at Birraporetti's, a local Italian eatery on the way to the Music Hall.
Well, two thumbs down for the eatery, but two thumbs up for the performance of Sigfried. The singers (Jay Hunter Morris as Sigfried, Rodell Rosel as Mime and Christine Goerke as Brunhilde)and the orchestra were superb. The staging started off reasonably well (the first time I ever found Sigfried and Mime even reasonably likeable...) but deteriorated by the third act (for which I kept my eyes shut most of the time, and no, I wasn't sleeping). But it is all about the music, after all, and that was glorious.
And I do like being able to walk home from the opera. We are already plotting strategy for Gotterdamerung in Houston next year.
Friday, we headed for the Houston Fine Arts Museum. It is a huge museum (I had never been....), and I only had two hours before having to head to the airport, but with Peter's guidance (he has been many times before), I made a start...
(...sorry, I could have sworn I rotated this picture....)
(You see how all things tie together... the above statue is a Brancusi, an artist about whom I saw a documentary film last week..)
In any event, it was a great little trip-let, and I arrived home safe and sound, thanks to a pick up at the airport from friend Michael, even though the plane was late.
More opera Saturday morning, this time the Metropolitan Opera in the movies, Strauss's Elektra, with Nina Stemma. (Peter had seen in twice live in New York - I was green with envy). It was fabulous - I might even go for the encore tonight). Friend Geoff decided to come, and we had lunch after at Sherman's Deli down the street from the movie theater. All in all, a great New York outing in Palm Springs. I mean, really, the Met and the deli? Really?
Sunday was a pool day ( I have to get as many as I can in - there won't be time for too many more), and Monday back to the gym, bridge and classes.
What more can I add? Oh, yes, the reading list. The library yielded some bad (Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older - glad I didn't pay for it...) and something good (The Queen of the Night - note the opera theme - by Alexander Chee (the book jacket contained a review by Hanya Yanagihara, who wrote A Little Life, which I read and highly praised just a few months ago - see what I mean about everything tying together....)
Peter lent me a book called Interpreting Wagner, by Treadwell, saying it was "a bit dense" but interesting. So far, I don't think I have understood one complete paragraph. But I will (I hope) persevere.
Another 10 days, and I am back to the north country. Hopefully, one more post before I go....
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