It's Hot!

I'm still doing pretty much nothing.

The last (for me) National Theater Live production this season was the HD broadcast of Tom Stoppard's new play, The Hard Thing.  It is about our study of the brain, and what it means to be conscious.  Or at least, I think that is what it was about.  I enjoyed the witty dialogue and snappy repartee all right, but I don't think I understood very much of it.   And that, my friends, is very distressing to me!!!!  (I am way too old to feel stupid - I'm feeling like I don't have enough time to catch up!)

Friend Hank drove down from San Francisco - a very recently retired Hank, and looking lots better than the last time I saw him, although he is still wrapping his head around the concept - retirement, that is!

After all these many years, we don't seem to run out of things to talk about.  It is a good thing too, because we didn't do much of anything else!!!  A few days later, friends Ted and Kathleen drove down from Flagstaff, Arizona to join us.  Ted, Kathleen and Hank had gone to high school together in Hila Bend, Arizona, lo these many years ago.  I first met Ted an Kathleen about 5 years ago, when they briefly joined Hank and me in Rome, and saw Ted again when Hank and I stayed with him on our recent trip to Egypt (since retired - semi, like the rest of us - he was working in Egypt at the time).  I am quite fond of them, and was glad that they were able to join us.

We did get to a few of my favourite restaurants.  Here we are at Trilusa, the local Italian joint....

Art and Wally joined us for a meal at Billy Reed's.....

....and I even dragged them up to the tram (it was snowing up there, a first for me)....

....but mostly, we just sat on the patio and watched the wildlife and visited.....

...... which seemed to suit all of us just fine.

After they left, Hank and I got back into our usual (San Francisco) routine of reading interspersed with a movie or two.  In this case, we saw The Woman in Gold (Helen Mirren, about the return of the Klimpt painting to its rightful, Jewish, owner, some 50 years after the war, four thumbs up) and The Water Diviner (Russell Crowe acting, and first-time directing, about a man trying to find his sons who were lost in Gallipoli - I didn't know anything about this movie, and Russell Crowe not being a particular favourite, would probably not have gone but for Hank.  Turns out, it was pretty good.  And that, my friends, is what friends are for, to drag you kicking and screaming where you wouldn't ordinarily go!)

On Sunday (the 26th, for those of you who are keeping track), I returned the favour to Hank.  He is not, generally speaking a jazz fan, but I dragged him (truth of the matter was too much dragging was not required) to Melvyn's. the venerable lounge/restaurant/ Inn where jazz is to be had on Sunday afternoons.

Melvyn's has previously been reviewed in these pages. so I won't say much.  I still like the crowd (very old Palm Springs, where it would surprise no-one for Sammy Davis Jr. to come out and play), but was happier when they served some kibble with their drinks and enforced a dress code - no shorts, no jeans.  Still, the music and the drinks were good, and it was worth doing.

One last hurrah in the restaurant department - We went to a Mexican joint called JJ's Mexican Cantina on North Palm Canyon.

It had been recommended by Hank's step father, and we were pretty much required to provide a review.  Well. I would go again if I were in the neighborhood, but I am not sure I would go out of my way.  Actually, I am momentarily "off" Mexican food, so I guess it would only be fair to try it again when I am more in the mood!

On Tuesday, Hank and I went downtown to the Palm Springs Art Gallery (there is not too much in the way of culture here to throw at people, but lord knows, I do my best), after which we went our separate says, Hank driving back to San Francisco and I driving on to LA, in preparation for my Wednesday flight to Houston, where I was meeting friend Peter for the opera.

I stayed at the Concourse Hotel, right by LAX, where I could park my car and have a shuttle take me to my crack of dawn flight to Houston.

Dinner at the hotel wasn't bad either...

...and the flight to Houston the next day was just the way I like it - short and uneventful.

Peter's flight came in a bit later, and we met at the hotel, The Four Seasons in downtown Houston,  Peter is also newly retired - we're all getting to be of the age, don't you know - so I guess there won't be too many Four Seasons stays in our future, but we certainly enjoyed this one,

A nap was followed by a Bistro dinner (name to follow.  Peter?)

.....which was quite good, and, at the opera, Sweeney Todd, which was - okay. The singing was uniformly good.   (Nathan Gunn, who we had seen in the operas before, was Sweeney).  And the staging was certainly adequate.  I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong, but Peter did - it was just not evil enough.  Gunn is too much of a nice guy, and the staging was way too polite.  So, the consensus was that we were glad to have come, but that we had both seen better Sweeney Todd performances (I saw my first a million years ago in New York, with Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovitt!)


On Thursday, we went to the Munil Gallery ....

 ....we had loved it last year, and it did not disappoint.  That's all we had time for, as we needed to fortify ourselves with a nap and an early supper before the 6 o'clock curtain for Die Walkure (it is, after all, a 5 hour opera...).

(You can see it was still light at the music center when we arrived.)

And here we are, waiting for the performance..

And it was great!  The voices were fabulous, And if someone had told me in advance about the staging (cherry pickers to haul the gods around?, not to mention video scrims), I would have been prepared to loathe it, but as it turned out, it worked!  We are already plotting our return next spring for Sigfried!

Breakfast at the hotel on Friday morning.....

and then back to LA  Once again, the flight was fine.  However, it was a four hour drive back from LA to Palm Springs, normally only 1 1/2 to 2 hours!  Remind me not to do that on a Friday afternoon again!  I mean, it wasn't a parking lot, but it sure wasn't 70 mph either!   Anyway, I got home safe and sound.

So, what else can I report?  My reading has been pretty mundane - two McColl-Smith books I hadn't yet read (The Minor Adjustments Beauty Salon and Trains and Lovers), three more Maigret mysteries, and the newest Martha Grimes.  The only book of substance was Atul Gawande's book called Being Mortal.  He is a geriatric physician, and the book (it has been on the New York Times best seller list for ages) is about end-of life care and how we can make it better.  All I can say is, when I get there, someone take me to the vet!!!!  (Depressing as it was, it is definitely a must-read!)

And back to where we started, the heat.  It is unseasonably warm here in Palm Springs, and the truth of the matter is, I don't do well in the extreme heat.  I get listless and apathetic, I don't want to eat (that's not so bad....) and I sleep a lot.  Don't get me wrong, my place is cool, but the outdoors is not....

Anyway, I will be back in Vancouver next Friday - bridge games, meals and theater outings are being planned as we speak - and so my next report will be Dateline:Vancouver!  I am actually ready for the change!

Finally, another retirement skill!!

Yes, another retirement skill.  I have learned how to do - absolutely nothing!!!!  Who would have thunk, the one who always had to be in motion.  Even David, not a complainer, complained that we always seemed to be in a hurry!!!

Not any more.  Robin has gone back to Vancouver, I have fired Nancy, and Art is preoccupied with other things, so no more regular bridge partners.  I played with pick-up partners a few times this week, but really, I am going through withdrawal.  So, what to do?  Well, I have spent a lot of time on my patio, drinking coffee and listening to the birds and the coyotes and watching the bunny convention every morning on the lawn.  Then there is always the doing nothing at the pool part!  And, surprisingly enough, I am not feeling anxious or unhappy, or in any way that I want to be doing anything else.  Shocking, isn't it?

There were a few items on the agenda this week.   I was back to the gym every day, of course.  Friend Gerry is here from Vancouver, and came over for dinner last Monday.  Here's something else shocking; I actually cooked!  (Yes, I know how, I just don't do it very often any more.  It was quite pleasant to sit around and catch up over a (not bad) home cooked meal!)

Tuesday was another "Theater in the Movies" outing, this one King John.  As always with Stratford, a great production, but, well, there is a reason they don't produce it very often.......

Sunday was the much anticipated Opera in the Park.  I had been looking forward to taking bunches of pictures - it is always a very colourful event.  Unfortunately, I got there (hours early, as always, to get a good seat) only to find that my camera's battery didn't have any juice.  So, lucky you, you don't get thousands of pictures of young, budding opera stars and sunburned fans!!  It was a wonderful afternoon, though, lots of people I knew, the usual crowd-pleaser arias, and glorious young voices.  I do think it was the best concert ever. although I think I managed to give myself sun-stroke, being out in the sun for so long!  (By the way, the crowd was estimated at about 6,000.  Not much for San Francisco, maybe, but for Palm Springs it was a big deal!)

 And yesterday, we had our last gym party, at the Hacienda, a newly renovated place known for Taco Tuesdays (drinks and tacos, $3.)

This was the Ladies Washroom.....

As you can see, we had a good turnout (almost 40 people!).  A lot of the Snowbirds are leaving, so it really was the last hurrah.  Neither drinks nor tacos were spectacular, but the service and atmosphere were friendly, and a good time was had by all.

What else can I tell you?  I (finally!) finished The Bully Pulpit, the Doris Kearns Goodwin book about Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Muckrakers.  Also, The Rossetti Letter, a "historical" novel, if you will, about the Spanish conspiracy in Venice in the 1600's, my first (of many, I think) Maigret mystery, my second (and perhaps last - this one was too dark for me) Alan Furst thriller, and, am back to non-fiction with the still-in-process Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts (she of NPR fame).

So, I guess it is not totally right to say I've done nothing.  I have been all over America in the early 20th century, to Venice in the 16th century, to Belgium in the 20th century, to Eastern Europe before World War II, and back to revolutionary America!!!  Ah, the joys of reading for pleasure!!!

This and That

After I left you last, I went to another in my series of dramatic/musical productions filmed live in HD.  This one is from Stratford, England, and, as might be expected, films their Shakespeare productions.  This one was Titus Andronicus.  Never heard of it?  You are not alone, most people haven't.  I have seen it live twice, once in Ashland, Oregon at the Shakespeare festival, the other at Bard on the Beach in Vancouver.  It is by far his bloodiest play, which is, of course, saying something.  Before he even gets onstage, Titus has lost 21 sons in battle.  Immediately he gets onstage, he puts a captive queen's son to death as a sacrifice.  Seeking revenge she has Titus's daughter raped, with hands and tongue cut off so she can't point out the perpetrators (the queen's sons, of course).  Titus eventually finds out, has her two sons tortured and killed and baked into meat pies (the predecessor of Sweeney Todd if I ever saw it),which he then feeds to the queen and her new consort.  I think I have missed a few deaths here and there, but you get my point.  Well done, of course, but really.......  not his best play!!!

Tuesday, April 1, Art and I headed out (in his shiny, red Chrysler Sebring convertible - it is such a treat to be driven rather than having to drive, when you are single!) to San Diego for the regional bridge tournament.  Our accommodations at the Travel Lodge were fine (and half the price of the Convention Center five minutes away where the event was held), and had the benefit of two grand restaurants close by.

Well, you get the idea.  I did fine, as long as we stuck to fine dining at Adams, double pork chops, prime rib and the like.  But something at Bunz and Burgers (possibly the impossibly large milk shake?) made me sick sick sick for the next two days.  And, as most of you know, I am a terrible patient!  Art, god bless him, is a great care giver, there with the kind words and the ginger ale, and the chocolate bar (for caffeine when I couldn't get a cup of coffee down - have to stay awake for the bridge don't you know....)

Anyway, I wish I could blame my bad bridge playing on being sick, but I can't.  We came out with points in only two sessions out of seven - not a good result - but at least we didn't get skunked.  It was a good facility, the tournament was well run, we met some very nice people, and has a lovely drive both ways (we never seem to run out of things to talk about).  All in all, we were both satisfied with the outing, and will probably try again next year..

We got back mid day on Easter Sunday, and I must say, it was good to be home (if one has to be sick, it is I think better to be at home, and I was still pretty weak).  Time to sit in my garden for a bit.....

.....and head out to the pool.

On Monday, dreadful news.  Friend Leslie called from Vancouver; our colleague and friend Janice had died over the weekend, of kidney failure.  She had had a number of health issues, was on dialysis, and was on the list for a kidney transplant, but this was totally unexpected, and, at 61 years of age, shocking.  She was not a person I saw every day, and so it will, I think, take a while to realize that I will never see her again.  (And thank god I never expressed my annoyance with her badgering the office yet again for silent auction contributions, book sale items,and more contributions to the food bank!!  Who will take over the baton, I wonder?)

Friends and colleagues Andrew and Elaine called right after Leslie did.  They had come by last week, just before I left for San Diego (they come to Palm Springs every year about this time), and we had arranged for dinner last night.  They had not heard about Janis, and we felt good being able to relive some fond memories and raise a glass in her honour at dinner at Shame on the Moon (an old favourite, previously reviewed in these pages)

Andy and Elaine are among my favourite people on the planet; we can talk about politics, the arts, human nature, and the meaning of the universe, all while laughing!  And Janice was fondly remembered.

And the take away message?  Carpe diem.  (And no-one does that better than Andy and Elaine.  And me, of course.)

What else?  Although I did not feel well enough to eat last night (if I lose one or two ounces, the western world as we know it will certainly not come to an end, but I do love the food at Shame on the Moon, and Andy was buying!), I am feeling loads better today.  I am back to almost full throttle at the gym (I actually went back yesterday, but I didn't do a lot).    I finished another book which I can recommend; The Postmistress, by Sarah Blake.  A novel,yes, and perhaps a bit dated, but
big themes and characters you cared to spend time with.  As opposed to The Book Thief, which everyone has raved about - they made a movie from it, I understand - and which I put down after 40 pages with absolutely no interest in continuing.

Unfortunately, my time in California is drawing to a close for another year - a few more visitors, a brief trip to Houston at the end of the month for the opera, and then I will be back to Vancouver.  This year, I truly do not want to go back.