I haven't written for while, thinking that there was nothing of interest to report. Turns out, I have done quite a bit.
First, as a reminder of why I am here.....
.....picked fresh from my bush....
.....The inside is pretty nice too, but I don't sit here very much....
Lot's of culture this month too. Anthony and Cleopatra at the National Theater Live. I have never been very much taken with this play, but Ralph Feines was fabulous as Anthony, as was the young black women (whose name escapes me, which is a pity, because she is going places) as Cleopatra. I was actually moved to tears, which doesn't happen to me often.
The Met did a new production of Traviata. I wasn't going to go (I have seen enough Traviatas to last a lifetime, I thought), but everyone raved about it, so I caught the encore performance. It was, I think, the best Traviata I have ever seen - singing, acting, staging, costumes, directing, the whole package was terrific.
Even got to the movies with Peter (see below), to see The Favourite, a strange and beautiful and, apparently, quite accurate, historical period piece about Queen Anne.
And, to get all the "culture" out of the way, I read Circe, a new take on the old myths (the first thing Peter said when he saw what I was reading was "Oh, yes, she has been getting a feminist makeover recently". It's true, but I hate it that he always knows everything before I do... (I actually don't hate it at all, it is rather neat that we twig on the same things, I don't have too many people I can say that about.)
Also just re-read The Master and Margarita, by Bulgakov, the first on my extended reading list left over from Russia. I loved it even more this time, as Moscow unfolded before my eyes again. (It was even more special to remember that Violetta, our tour guide, had read the book in Samizdat, as it had been banned in Russia when it first came out.)
Also read 1492, by Barnet Litvinoff. It has been around - and on my night table - for a while, but just now got around to it. It takes the titled year as a divide between the middle ages and the renaissance, in the arts, exploration, religion and social life. A different take on things, always good to be exposed to, but a difficult read.
Finally, I read Educated, by Tara Westover. It was recommended to me, and I wanted to like it, but it was too painful. She was raised as a Mormon, home schooled, and totally brutalized by her family, until, through a hard won education (she had been home schooled before going off to college), she was liberated. Her liberation, though, came at the cost of her roots. The book brought out the worst in me - I wanted to kill her father and brothers, and her mother for being too weak to support her daughter. I didn't want father and mother to be successful, as they were. I wanted the whole thing to stop.....
Looking at what I have written, it seems as if I have been quite emotionally labile, not like me a bit. Who knows what is going on with my psyche??? And more emotional stuff to follow.
But there was respite at the Palm Springs Regional Bridge Tournament, held in early December. My dance card was full - I played two sessions every day for seven days, with different partners almost every day. People seem to like to play with me. It must be my charming personality; it certainly isn't my sterling bridge playing ..... (although it was a very successful tournament for me)
We played at the Westin Mission Hills, a lovely venue, all decked out for Christmas...
On a sadder note, friend Jim died. He has been sick for a while - COPD - but has been getting worse in recent months (oxygen at the ready, and several visits to the emergency room). He and his partner John played bridge on the first Monday of the tournament; by Friday he was dead, the third of my friends in recent years to die of smoking.
John will need - and have - my support.
Peter paid his usual Christmas visit, with the usual round of museums (see below)....
.....movies, good food (we reprised the Schnitzel House and Sherman's Deli, and I introduced him to Mamma Gina's); we cooked, too, which is always fun with Peter, and, of course, lot's of sitting on the patio watching the wildlife.
And so, the year draws to a close. All in all, it has been a good year, and I am looking forward to the one to come. Hope you all are too - see previous good wishes.... and will, I hope, be able to share my ongoing adventures.
Ta ta for now...
First, as a reminder of why I am here.....
Now that the grapefruit are ripe, I have a glass every day....
.....picked fresh from my bush....
.....The inside is pretty nice too, but I don't sit here very much....
Lot's of culture this month too. Anthony and Cleopatra at the National Theater Live. I have never been very much taken with this play, but Ralph Feines was fabulous as Anthony, as was the young black women (whose name escapes me, which is a pity, because she is going places) as Cleopatra. I was actually moved to tears, which doesn't happen to me often.
The Met did a new production of Traviata. I wasn't going to go (I have seen enough Traviatas to last a lifetime, I thought), but everyone raved about it, so I caught the encore performance. It was, I think, the best Traviata I have ever seen - singing, acting, staging, costumes, directing, the whole package was terrific.
Even got to the movies with Peter (see below), to see The Favourite, a strange and beautiful and, apparently, quite accurate, historical period piece about Queen Anne.
And, to get all the "culture" out of the way, I read Circe, a new take on the old myths (the first thing Peter said when he saw what I was reading was "Oh, yes, she has been getting a feminist makeover recently". It's true, but I hate it that he always knows everything before I do... (I actually don't hate it at all, it is rather neat that we twig on the same things, I don't have too many people I can say that about.)
Also just re-read The Master and Margarita, by Bulgakov, the first on my extended reading list left over from Russia. I loved it even more this time, as Moscow unfolded before my eyes again. (It was even more special to remember that Violetta, our tour guide, had read the book in Samizdat, as it had been banned in Russia when it first came out.)
Also read 1492, by Barnet Litvinoff. It has been around - and on my night table - for a while, but just now got around to it. It takes the titled year as a divide between the middle ages and the renaissance, in the arts, exploration, religion and social life. A different take on things, always good to be exposed to, but a difficult read.
Finally, I read Educated, by Tara Westover. It was recommended to me, and I wanted to like it, but it was too painful. She was raised as a Mormon, home schooled, and totally brutalized by her family, until, through a hard won education (she had been home schooled before going off to college), she was liberated. Her liberation, though, came at the cost of her roots. The book brought out the worst in me - I wanted to kill her father and brothers, and her mother for being too weak to support her daughter. I didn't want father and mother to be successful, as they were. I wanted the whole thing to stop.....
Looking at what I have written, it seems as if I have been quite emotionally labile, not like me a bit. Who knows what is going on with my psyche??? And more emotional stuff to follow.
But there was respite at the Palm Springs Regional Bridge Tournament, held in early December. My dance card was full - I played two sessions every day for seven days, with different partners almost every day. People seem to like to play with me. It must be my charming personality; it certainly isn't my sterling bridge playing ..... (although it was a very successful tournament for me)
We played at the Westin Mission Hills, a lovely venue, all decked out for Christmas...
On a sadder note, friend Jim died. He has been sick for a while - COPD - but has been getting worse in recent months (oxygen at the ready, and several visits to the emergency room). He and his partner John played bridge on the first Monday of the tournament; by Friday he was dead, the third of my friends in recent years to die of smoking.
John will need - and have - my support.
Peter paid his usual Christmas visit, with the usual round of museums (see below)....
.....movies, good food (we reprised the Schnitzel House and Sherman's Deli, and I introduced him to Mamma Gina's); we cooked, too, which is always fun with Peter, and, of course, lot's of sitting on the patio watching the wildlife.
And so, the year draws to a close. All in all, it has been a good year, and I am looking forward to the one to come. Hope you all are too - see previous good wishes.... and will, I hope, be able to share my ongoing adventures.
Ta ta for now...
