So, a little maintenance by Zach, my computer guy (better known as TechnoGod), and all problems have been solved. I rely on the blog to clarify my thoughts, and would have hated to give it up due to technical difficulties. (Married people don't, I think, have these problems. They clarify their thought by bouncing them off one another!)
Well, where were we? In anticipation of Mariah's going back home to Seattle (otherwise known as the Frozen North), we indulged in a few nights of watching the Borgias on the DVD. It was that fabulous production they had on PBS a number of years back. What a piece of work they were, those Borgias. I couldn't wait till Alexander died, at the end. I learned how to use my DVD player, and Mariah and I had some lovely girl nights, something we don't often get the chance to do in The Frozen North.
Before she left, Mariah wanted to take her friends out to dinner. We now have our own local sports bar, called The Smokey Burger, where happy hour is from 3 to 6 every day; well drinks and appys are all $5, and there is more conversation than television (my kind of "sports" bar!).
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| Art, and Soo's sun Jeff |
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| Mariah and Wally (looking good after recent heart attack) |
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| Soo and Jake |
And, on Thursday, Mariah was off. It was so nice having her here (her house is just five doors down), coffee on her patio or mine, even grocery shopping together. "Hanging out" is not something I do a lot of in Vancouver, and I guess that is what makes Palm Springs so nice for me.
Sunday afternoon was actually overcast - no rain, of course, just lots of high clouds - so it seemed like a movie kind of afternoon to me. I went to see Blue is the Warmest Colour, a French film about, to put it bluntly, lesbian love (with some straight and homosexual sex thrown in for contrast). It was French, of course, so everyone was beautiful, and the directly was definitely an ass man (a man after my own heart!), but in the end, I found it boring. And maybe too realistic - the heroine ended up alone!
I had a friend in from Vancouver, and spent some quality time with him this week (albeit his main objective was his golf game), which was very nice. On Wednesday, though, Robin and Grant and I went to see Tosca, from the Met, the encore performance. It was dreadful. Oh, the music was glorious, as always, and the singing was good (although I found the soprano not to my liking, and she certainly did not get a rousing ovation for her big aria in the second act), but the staging! My lord, the staging! It was booed at the Met two years ago - why they would bring it back defies logic! Oh, well, as I said, the music was glorious, Robin had packed a picnic dinner, and a good time was had by all. (Sometimes it is as much fun to "dis" something as it is to praise it!)
Classes continue to do well. The opera classes in the two weeks since I last wrote were on Rusalka and Prince Igor, neither of which I had ever seen or heard before. Apparently, New York is awash in Russian singers, hence the push to perform Russian operas. Rusalka is by Dvorak, Prince Igor by Borodin, very different composers, but both heavily in to Russian folk music. Again, the music is the thing. To illustrate the Rusalka, the teacher (John Nyberg, have I said?) used a modern Russian production, which was the kind of thing that I would normally hate. However, it included interviews with the director and the singers, explaining their "take" on the opera, and it became totally gripping. I can't wait to see what the Met does with it next winter. For Prince Igor, we had a movie made in 1965 in Soviet Russia in full cultural mode, with horses riding across the steppes, great costumes, etc. Again, the music was wonderful (I love Russian music!), but it is amazing how far cinematography has come in the 50 years since that movie was made! Again, it will be interesting to see what the Met does with it.
The art class (given by Patrick Blyth, a sculptor in his own right) discussed the new Diebenkorn exhibit at the Palm Springs Art Museum (which I had seen a year ago in San Francisco at the de Yonge). It was very apt, and providential, in a way, as Diebenkorn had gone from non-representational to representational in the Berkeley years shown in this exhibit. We walked through the exhibit discussing the paintings, after an hour discussing the influences on Diebenkorn such as Motherwel, Hassell Smith, Cliforn Still and Rothko. Thanks to friend Peter, I was not totally ignorant about those painters (and had indeed, seen a great deal of them, including, most recently Rothko's Chapel in Houston). I may even be starting to "get" this!
For those of you who don't remember from last year, and for those of you who have recently tuned in, I thought I would do a few "Home and Garden" pictures:
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| Patio, #1 |
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| Patio, #2 |
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| "My" pool! |
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| My garden - note grapefruit and lemons! |
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| The front of my house |
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| My baby! |
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| The second baby, a working juke box! How Palm Springs! |
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| Dining Room |
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| Living Room |
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| Family Room |
And more Palm Springs views....
(Aren't you guys going to be sorry that my computer is fixed! And wait till I get a better camera!)
Friday night, neighbor (and, of course, friend) Michael and I went out to dinner at - wait for it - a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet, called Hibachi City Buffet. Yes, I know, I swore I would never do it - what we won't do for friends. However, as these things go, it was pretty good. The food was quite exceptional, lots of fresh crab and shrimp and other seafood, plus an assortment of dim sum, soups, and meat and chicken dishes, not to mention desserts (admittedly not Chinese). And all for $12.95. (Michael is a big believer in cheap. Good thing, too, he keeps me in line!). So, we sat, and talked and ate, and laughed at our fellow diners, and altogether had a good time.
And, finally, last night, I went over to Marion and Peter's place for dinner. I met Marion several years ago at the gym, and have been to their lovely apartment before. As always, great wine, great food, and great conversation. It is especially interesting to me to get the German viewpoint about things. They were children in the war, and left shortly thereafter, but have totally different views as to the situation in Germany. Marion, who was younger at the time, of course, is adamant that noone really knew what was happening to the Jews at the time (although, when pressed, she acknowledged that she knew of two who had "disappeared"). Peter, on the other hand, was equally adamant that everyone knew (the country was dotted with "labour" camps), and knew that people were disappearing, but by that time, it was too late to do anything.
Any thoughts?
Speaking of which, a friend recently sent me a picture of the main synagogue in Berlin destroyed in the Kristalnacht, now 50 years ago. It has been totally restored (although now, apparently with armed guards), and is glorious. Try U-Tube, I bet you'll find it. And yes, my next task is to try to learn to upload links to share with you.
That's enough for now, except to say I would love to see you guys in Palm Springs. More anon.
