Swan song from the desert - for now

Hard to believe I am leaving in six days.  I really am sorry to go this season; in seasons past, I have been more than ready to go by this time.  Part of it is the deepening of friendships here with the passage of the years, I think, and the comfort level of really knowing my way around.  ....

It really was a quiet week.  Dinner on Thursday with friend Geoff and his childhood friend Lee from Atlanta (I had met Lee previously when we were both visiting San Francisco - and Geoff - at the same time.)

Lee is quite a cultured guy...

....as is Geoff...

..so there was great conversation, as well as great food (we ate at Johnny Costa's, previously mentioned in these pages, and our current favourite for what we call "Mama Mia Italian", that is, Italian comfort food.)

Friday night was opening night for a world premiere of a play called Dare by gay playwright and activist Alan Baker.  I think you will hear more about this play.  The premise is that an old gay man, is in a nursing home - as it was put, one hour from Marin and one hour from Modesto.   He has been through Harvey Milk and the Castro and AIDS, and wants no more.  He has stopped eating.  He is therefore attended by a psychologist, a married gay psychologist.  A discussion of past and present ensues.  At first I thought it too preachy, but then I was rapt, and have been thinking about the issues raised ever since.  And that is my idea of a good play.

Let's be clear.  These are very amateur productions.  The acting is spotty (the old man was terrific, the doctor, not so much).  And the play is no Normal Heart or Angeles in America.  But it is a thoughtful look at gay life past and present, and worth seeing, if you get the chance.

Finished reading two books as well.  The first, a Japanese mystery in the Professor Galileo series, well known in Japan, but not to me.  Don't ask, I don't remember the author's name, although he is apparently one of the most read authors in Japan.  It was called a Midsummer's Equation, and I liked it.  I tend to like place and time specific novels - the descriptions of food eaten and cigarettes smoked and stops on the subway passed bring those places alive for me.  And not a bad little mystery either.

And yesterday, just finished The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides.  He wrote Middlesex a few years back, you might have read it (it was all over the New York Times Best Seller list.)  In this book, in the middles of a so-so book on upper middle class youth angst, is one of the most harrowing descriptions of what it is like to be a manic depressive that I have ever read.  Since that condition has tangentially touched my life in recent years, it was very meaningful to me, making an otherwise mediocre book worth while.

That's all folks.  Next time I write, I will be in rainy Vancouver (I have soaking up as much sun at the pool as I can at the pool to store up some vitamin D...)

Til then....

Hello, my name is Nora and I am an addict......

...and with nothing else to divert my attention, the addiction was out in full force.  I played bridge five times last week!  I remember reading - maybe in college? - that the way to train people - or at least mice - was not to be consistent, but, rather, variable in response.  That is, don't reward every time the mouse pushes the lever, but only enough to keep her interested.  So it is with bridge.  I go from first place to last with the flip of a calendar page, and I keep coming back for more!

Had friends Chaya, John and Jim for dinner...

.....and bridge, believe it or not.  However, it was not serious bridge, and it was a chance to get to know one another away from the hustle and bustle of the bridge club.  Everyone apparently had a good time, even though the meal itself was not an unqualified success.  (Chaya is a vegetarian, and I tried some new things.  The vegetable lasagna got a thumbs up, the scalloped potatoes, not so much.)

The only other social outing for me this week - except for bridge, of course, which is, surprisingly, very social in its desert incarnation -  was breakfast this morning with bridge partner Alex and his wife Vicki.  They wanted to introduce my to a Coachella Valley tradition, Keady's, a diner, really, but hugely popular since the 50's.  When they found out I had never been, they insisted.  I love diners, the atmosphere, the loud but friendly waitresses and staff, the retro food.  It was great!

Not much else, really,  Finished The Storm Before the Storm, about the beginning of the end of the Roman republic.  What is astounding is the similarities between then and now.  Huge disparity between rich and poor.  Great migration; fear of the dilution of the vote by allowing others to become citizens with the ability to vote; the rallies leading to violence, even the big lie:  "...this was an age when a lie was not a lie if a man had the audacity to keep asserting the lie was true....."  (sound familiar?)

Who said history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce?

I can't really recommend the book as a read - too many "sentences" without a verb (I'm sorry, that kind of thing bothers me - it distracts me from the message), and too many names.  Colleen McCullough's series of about 20 years ago was a better read, but I found the reminder about history was actually comforting.  We've lived through this before, and all of that.....

Next book up is called Improvement, by Joan Silber.  She has apparently been around for a while - 7 books to her credit, including some New York Times best sellers, but I had never heard of her before.  (Aren't libraries wonderful?)  I love finding "new" (to me) authors.  The plot (such as it is) is not that unusual.  One action by one person, and its ramifications affecting many others in unanticipated ways.  This is very well written, though, and I can't put it down......

Except for the New York Times today....

A few items up for next week, although not much.  I am starting to put things in order for my departure for Vancouver on April 28.  (I even brought a suitcase for Alex and Vicki to take back to Vancouver in their car...)  Sigh.

More anon.

Oops

Missed my usual Sunday post.  No particular reason, except that I was loggy from lying out in the sun, and couldn't rouse myself to do much of anything.

As advertised, things have been slowing down.  A lot of the snowbirds leave around now - fewer tables at the bridge games, no cars on the road, no lines at the restaurants, and, of course, fewer activities, cultural or otherwise.

Not totally bereft of activities, though.  I had coffee on El Paseo with new friend Nancy.  She and I met and chatted on several of the OLLI (for those of you who have already forgotten, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) activities, and decided that we might try rooming together for the Adriatic trip in 2019.  Have I mentioned that yet?  Anyway, more about it later - it is a long way away yet.  Suffice it to say that, as all of you singles out there know, a ship cabin is almost as expensive for one as for two, so it was worth exploring the idea of sharing.  After a delightful morning, we have pretty well agreed that we will be able to pull it off.  (She has earplugs just in case I snore - David said that I didn't, but then, he would never say anything bad about me, and I have gotten older since then - and she has other friends aboard with whom she can drink the copious amount of wine she alleges she consumes.  Well, as I said, more anon.

Tuesday was Jazz at the Rep, the first time I attended.  I wouldn't exactly call it a concert.  The venue was intimate, very informal; it was more like a jam session, with Peter Sprague on guitar and Leonard Patton on "drums" and vocals.  Both were excellent - Peter has worked with the likes of Chick Corea and Pat Metheny - and the audience was enthusiastic.  I could have done with less patter and more music, but, overall, a nice evening.  I will join them for their concerts next season.

Wednesday was the long-awaited Warner Brothers studio tour.  This was organized in conjunction with one of the OLLI movie courses this year.  I didn't attend this one, but all were invited on the trip, so we had a busload of 60 for the trip to Burbank.  Butch Epps, the instructor, had arranged for a movie about the original Warner brothers to amuse us on the 2 1/2 hour busride, and it was a big success, informative and full of Hollywood gossip as well, and who doesn't like Hollywood gossip.  We had lunch at the canteen (no stars, though), and had a three hour guided tour of the back lots and sound stages and sets and prop departments which make up a working studio.  Some highlights:

...the infamous Warner Brothers water tower, the original, with logo...

....the more infamous Bugs Bunny and friends.. (also known as the rabbit who made a studio...)

...our intrepid tour guide and jitney driver (we divided up into groups of 15, and each tour, as could be expected, was different.  Jessica, here, obviously loves the movies, and it was infectious....

...just one of many outdoor locations....

Warner Brothers also does the Marvel Comics movies.....

......as well as all things Harry Potter.....

...here, a pile of rejected scripts.....

..... and here, Nora holding an Oscar.  (They are surprisingly heavy....)

For all you old time movie buffs out there, Warner Brothers also put out the oldies but goodies such as Casablanca, the Maltese Falcon, Blade Runner, and many, many more.

So, after a coffee at Central Perk (Friends, anyone?  Yes, they do television too...), we were back on the bus with the 1938 Warner Brothers version of Robin Hood  to amuse us on the way home.

Altogether a successful trip.  Not only did the tour itself live up to expectations, it is very nice to - slowly, slowly - get to know some of the regulars on these trips, lots of varied backgrounds, but a coming thread of the love of learning.

Speaking of learning, Friday was the last class in the Canadian Voices series, this time about First Nations actors and singers, including Gary Farmer, Adam Beach and Irene Bedard, none of whom I had even heard of, which in and of itself is a statement.  In particular, we watched a film called Red Velvet, with Andrea Menard.  Not only does she have a voice like an angel, but it was a wonderful telling of the story of someone caught between two worlds.

So, fewer activities, more time for reading.  Pretty eclectic pickings at the library this time.  First, Wallis in Love, about Wallis Simpson and the future Edward VIII.  This was written by Andrew Morton, the royal watcher more famous for his biography of Princess Diana.  Pretty trashy, really, but I did learn (and/or confirm) some factoids, including the rampant anti-Semitism of the Royal House of Windsor.  Simpson probably saved the world from the rule of a Hitler-loving idiot!  Anyway, like most trashy books, I couldn't put it down....

Next was Fools and Mortals, by Bernard Cornwell, a wonderful piece of fluff around Shakespeare's London, the rise of the theater as we know it, and the creation of Midsummer Night's Dream.  Fiction, of course, but lots of clever allusions (to things like Equivocation, for example), and Queen Elizabeth's court.  Altogether delightful.

Finally, Death in St. Petersburg, by Tasha Alexander.  As you know, I am going to Russia this summer, hence the fascination for anything having to do with Russia in the title.  This one turned out well, a mystery set in 1900 tzarist Russia, specifically the Marinsky Theater and the Ballet Russe.  No great expenditure of little grey cells required, but lots of good descriptions of St. Petersburg and the Hermitage, and a good read.

Two final thoughts:

"A moral monopoly is the antithesis of a marketplace of ideas." Thomas Sowell

and, the final word...

"Worrying won't stop the bad stuff from happening, it just stops you from enjoying the good."  Charlie Brown

Which fits right in with my philosophy of not worrying about things I can't do anything about...

Trying to live in the moment

The weather has turned glorious, or, I should say, even more glorious, the days hot, the evenings balmy.  Instead of bemoaning the fact that I am leaving at the end of the month, I am trying to be aware of and enjoy each and every day.

In spite of my saying last time that this was not going to be a busy week, well, life intervened.

The musicals class on Tuesday went out with a bang, including talk about - and, of course, music from, Hair, Bob Fosse's contributions (Pajama Game - who knew? - Damn Yankees - ditto - Chicago, and All that Jazz), and Hamilton (amazingly enough, I was one of the few people in the class who had seen it).

Final recommendation on this:  Hamilton:  One Shot to Broadway, An Unauthorized Documentary.  Available on Netflix, I think.

Got a call from colleagues and friends Elaine and Andrew, in town for their annual outing.  I love them both madly - they have an appreciation for life, and know how to live it.  They chose the restaurant, Watercress, new to me, a Vietnamese restaurant down town.

Liked the decor; the food and service, not so much.  But the company was outstanding.  We caught up on the gossip from Vancouver, and all things Palm Springs, and laughed a lot, confirming the opinion of all three of us that Palm Springs is our happy place.

Wednesday morning, I had yet another food outing.  Barbara Seagram and hubby Alex (you might have noticed that, generally speaking, I do not use last names or other identifiers on this blog, for purposes of privacy.  However, Barbara is such a public figure - renowned Canadian Bridge teacher and guru - that I make an exception in her case, which I think falls under the rubric of "There is no such thing as bad publicity".) wanted to take the other Alex and me out to breakfast as a thank you for aforementioned book sales.  Alex's wife Vicki joined us (we ate at the Palms Cafe in Palm Desert, another new-to-me restaurant, but this one could be added to my list of go-to breakfast places) and we had quite a lively time.

Barbara and Alex are on the left, Vicki and Alex on the right.

Wednesday evening, met friends Marvin and Geoff at the Desert Rose Theater.  As I think I have mentioned before, this is our LGBTQ theater group.  Their theme this season is Romance:  Real or Imagined, and this was the weirdest offering yet, Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia.  Extra credit to anyone who has seen it before; I certainly had not.  (The only Albee play I have ever seen was Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf.)  Did you know that Albee also worked on Breakfast at Tiffany's - The Musical?  Who knew?  The ads refer to this play as "shocking" and "provocative".  Provocative, maybe; shocking, not so much these days.  Anyway, well acted and directed, and it was great fun to have friends there to discuss it with after.

It was a roller coaster week for bridge, from highs of winning to the lows of coming in last, and enlivened by fellow-bridge-player Carolyn's Easter chapeau ....

.........and still more bridge lessons from everyone's favourite director, Jamie...

I did manage to finish two more books, one a piece of fluff, the other less so.  The piece of fluff - Elizabeth Peters The Painted Queen.  This is her last - she recently died - in the series about an intrepid Egyptologist and his equally intrepid wife.  I love them all for their backdrop of Egypt at the turn of the last century, when all the great archaeological finds were being made.  God, I hate it when your authors die on you.....

Next was a re-read of The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shield, a Canadian author.  I had read it many years - decades? - ago, but it was much more meaningful this time around, dealing as it does with the death of a matriarch, and, more to the point, the review of her life.  I was glad to reconnect with it.

And, finally, today's quote:  Life isn't about finding yourself.  it is about creating yourself."  Who wrote it?  George Bernard Shaw.

More next week.  Who would have thought there was so much to do in this sleepy little backwater?