I live mostly in my head - really, when you get right down to it, intellect is the only thing that's important to me. Yes, I can appreciate people being good, or nice, or funny. And I certainly appreciate a good meal. Mostly, though, it's smarts that I appreciate....
That said, I have only three outings to report (aside from the usual classes and bridge, head games in and of themselves). Went on a group outing (arranged by the Osher School of Life Long Learning, fondly, and henceforth, known as Ollie) to the Huntington in Pasadena. I haven't been there in decades - not since I lived in California in the 80's - and I had forgotten how lovely it was. In my usual "living in my head" style, the gardens didn't do much for me. But the library (an original Gutenberg Bible, an early Shakespeare folio, illustrated 8' by 4' Audobon portfolio, and so much more) and the American collection, were wonderful, and the weather was glorious - sunny and warm with the most amazing Desert skies - it's what we come to the Desert for. Great day!
The Met's production this week was Agrippina, a baroque opera by Handel. I am not overly fond of baroque operas - they repeat everything four times and consequently go on way too long (funny, I never feel that way about Wagner...). However, the music and voices were glorious, and even if the staging was a little too full of sexual innuendo for my taste, it was certainly interesting (usually, I don't like being distracted from the music by the staging, but when everything is repeated four times, a little distraction is in order). I had two friends with me, which was also fun, and Sue has - I am proud to say at my urging - become quite the opera fan! The jury is still out with Michael, but he seemed to enjoy it. Both want to join me for The Flying Dutchman in two weeks!!!
The final outing was a dinner with friend Chaya to Mama Ginas, a fabulous - and naturally very popular - Italian restaurant on El Paseo. Chaya has been having a hard time of it recently, both physically and mentally, but I was glad to find that she was in a better space. Ah, the wonders of modern chemistry! Good meal, too. This restaurant gets two thumbs up on all counts - ambiance, service, and, of course, food!
Finally, lots of books. They are all over the map in terms of genre, but - for a change - there wasn't a dud in the bunch. First, The Age of Anxiety, a novel by Peter Townshend, the lead drummer of The Who, back in the day. Who knew he wrote books too? Although billed as a novel, it read like an autobiography to me, or at least a description - names changed, of course - of the lives and loves in the music world. Well, it wasn't great literature, but it passed the interest test - I actually cared what happened to these people, and kept reading to the end.
Next, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor, by Steven Greenhouse. It wasn't an assignment, but it fit right in to my reading for my Economics of Work course. Turned out to be basically a history of the labor movement, and filled in some of the (gaping) holes in my knowledge.
Back to fun reading with Beating Around the Bush, by M. Beaton, part of a series of books with a very difficult, not very young, heroine. I liked it well enough so I will look for the others.
Jacob's Ladder by Ludmilla Ulitskaya also billed itself as a novel, but it seemed more like a personal history. The author is apparently very popular in her native Russia, and is of an age where this will probably be her last (of, apparently, many, although I have never encountered her before) book. It travels back and forth among various generations of an intellectual, at least partially Jewish, family in the Ukraine. It was fascinating; the casual anti-Semitism (only so many Jews allowed in the universities, the occasional pogrom), the Stalin purges and the effect on the rest of the family of one partner being in Siberia, the highly intellectual and political nature of their lives. As depressing as it was, I couldn't put it down. Again, I will look for more translations of her work.
Back to lighter fare - Murder on Millionaires' Row and A Golden Grave, two mysteries by Erin Lindsey. This was complete bits of fluff, mysteries set in New York in the Gilded Age.in New York. But the setting was the thing - her descriptions of the New York of the time, including the Pinkertons, the casual discrimination against the Irish and the "coloreds", cameo appearances by Mark Twain and Teddy Roosevvelt, and description of the fascination with the paranormal at the time, and, of course, the city itself - well, they were fun reads!
Oh, one more thing. I had my annual Wellness Examination, which I do each year as part of my Medicare coverage here in the States. You will all be happy to hear that I am well, and will - unless I get hit by a car - be around to annoy you all with my musings for a little while yet! And me turning 74 this summer!!!
About those pictures I promised you. well, I haven't yet found a program which will compress my photos so the blogger will accept them. I'm still trying. Stay tuned.....
That said, I have only three outings to report (aside from the usual classes and bridge, head games in and of themselves). Went on a group outing (arranged by the Osher School of Life Long Learning, fondly, and henceforth, known as Ollie) to the Huntington in Pasadena. I haven't been there in decades - not since I lived in California in the 80's - and I had forgotten how lovely it was. In my usual "living in my head" style, the gardens didn't do much for me. But the library (an original Gutenberg Bible, an early Shakespeare folio, illustrated 8' by 4' Audobon portfolio, and so much more) and the American collection, were wonderful, and the weather was glorious - sunny and warm with the most amazing Desert skies - it's what we come to the Desert for. Great day!
The Met's production this week was Agrippina, a baroque opera by Handel. I am not overly fond of baroque operas - they repeat everything four times and consequently go on way too long (funny, I never feel that way about Wagner...). However, the music and voices were glorious, and even if the staging was a little too full of sexual innuendo for my taste, it was certainly interesting (usually, I don't like being distracted from the music by the staging, but when everything is repeated four times, a little distraction is in order). I had two friends with me, which was also fun, and Sue has - I am proud to say at my urging - become quite the opera fan! The jury is still out with Michael, but he seemed to enjoy it. Both want to join me for The Flying Dutchman in two weeks!!!
The final outing was a dinner with friend Chaya to Mama Ginas, a fabulous - and naturally very popular - Italian restaurant on El Paseo. Chaya has been having a hard time of it recently, both physically and mentally, but I was glad to find that she was in a better space. Ah, the wonders of modern chemistry! Good meal, too. This restaurant gets two thumbs up on all counts - ambiance, service, and, of course, food!
Finally, lots of books. They are all over the map in terms of genre, but - for a change - there wasn't a dud in the bunch. First, The Age of Anxiety, a novel by Peter Townshend, the lead drummer of The Who, back in the day. Who knew he wrote books too? Although billed as a novel, it read like an autobiography to me, or at least a description - names changed, of course - of the lives and loves in the music world. Well, it wasn't great literature, but it passed the interest test - I actually cared what happened to these people, and kept reading to the end.
Next, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor, by Steven Greenhouse. It wasn't an assignment, but it fit right in to my reading for my Economics of Work course. Turned out to be basically a history of the labor movement, and filled in some of the (gaping) holes in my knowledge.
Back to fun reading with Beating Around the Bush, by M. Beaton, part of a series of books with a very difficult, not very young, heroine. I liked it well enough so I will look for the others.
Jacob's Ladder by Ludmilla Ulitskaya also billed itself as a novel, but it seemed more like a personal history. The author is apparently very popular in her native Russia, and is of an age where this will probably be her last (of, apparently, many, although I have never encountered her before) book. It travels back and forth among various generations of an intellectual, at least partially Jewish, family in the Ukraine. It was fascinating; the casual anti-Semitism (only so many Jews allowed in the universities, the occasional pogrom), the Stalin purges and the effect on the rest of the family of one partner being in Siberia, the highly intellectual and political nature of their lives. As depressing as it was, I couldn't put it down. Again, I will look for more translations of her work.
Back to lighter fare - Murder on Millionaires' Row and A Golden Grave, two mysteries by Erin Lindsey. This was complete bits of fluff, mysteries set in New York in the Gilded Age.in New York. But the setting was the thing - her descriptions of the New York of the time, including the Pinkertons, the casual discrimination against the Irish and the "coloreds", cameo appearances by Mark Twain and Teddy Roosevvelt, and description of the fascination with the paranormal at the time, and, of course, the city itself - well, they were fun reads!
Oh, one more thing. I had my annual Wellness Examination, which I do each year as part of my Medicare coverage here in the States. You will all be happy to hear that I am well, and will - unless I get hit by a car - be around to annoy you all with my musings for a little while yet! And me turning 74 this summer!!!
About those pictures I promised you. well, I haven't yet found a program which will compress my photos so the blogger will accept them. I'm still trying. Stay tuned.....
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