Eileen walked home during the day yesterday and we had lunch outside together. She has been taking advantage of the good weather to do this. Then I picked her up after work and we went to our favorite restaurant. Even before we sat down the waitress asked us if we wanted our “usual.” This meant a gin martini for me and an espresso martini for Eileen. We sat outside and drank, talked and ate. It was a very nice anniversary. And what is more this is a usual date for us at least once a week. I marvel almost every day at how good my life is and how lucky I am to be living with Eileen.
I seem to be on a Saint-Saëns kick. Fauré was his student.
Both composers have my attention these days for some reason. They have lots of music available online. My piano trio is learning Fauré’s piano trio. Yesterday my violinist didn’t show for rehearsal, so the cellist and I played through material with just the two of us. It’s slightly surprising how helpful this. We worked on the Fauré and Hovhaness. After the cellist left, I put up Sunday’s hymns on the hymn board then settled down and practiced organ for a couple of hours. Spent most of the time on the upcoming Saint-Saëns pieces. But I also returned to Buxtehude.
Are you asleep yet?
I have been wondering about this blog. When I started doing this online blathering, the term blog wasn’t even coined yet. I wanted to build my own website. I envisioned a platform where I could put up interesting ideas and stimulate conversation. As quickly as possible I included a way for people to comment.
I had not anticipated how easy it is to lurk and not connect. It’s what we all do online.
It has occurred to me that maybe this daily pouring out of “dear diary” stuff might be winding down.
Nothing lasts forever.
When I skipped a day recently, my daughter in England (hi Sarah) was a bit concerned that I hadn’t put anything up for 24 hours. My wide spread family is indeed one of my motivations for doing this. I’m pretty sure they read this on occasion if not regularly. I clock about fifty hits a day.
And then I do check Facebook for my fam and friends. That is a way people connect.
Oh well. We’ll see. I know that putting up something once a day makes checking here more worthwhile (not that I actually come up with stuff that many people necessarily think is worthwhile). I usually write about 500 words. I know that many people who check here don’t read them that carefully. That’s one reason I put up pics. Another reason is that I like collages and serendipitous juxtapositions.
I got up a little later than usual this morning but I have already read some Shakespeare and Updike (poetry) and filled the dishwasher. Now I need to stop this and do my and my Mom’s bills.
See you on the funway.
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Syria Says It Has ‘Cleansed’ Al Heffa – NYTimes.com
I hate this use of language. It distances as it enlarges evil. IMO. Not to mention the awful actions it describes.
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Books: Camille Saint-Saëns (sorted by popularity) – Project Gutenberg
Saint-Saëns was a bit of genius. A prodigy in many ways, he wrote several books and edited an edition of Rameau. This is a link to several of his books available online in both in English and French.
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Churches Challenge Britain Over Same-Sex Marriage – NYTimes.com
C of E and the RCs jump in bed together. Fuck it. Now that’s a marriage of shame if I’ve ever seen one. May they both sink.
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I’ve been doing some reading in Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow. He explains some very interesting ideas about statistics and studies. It helps me put oscillating recommendations as the result of a recent study like this in better perspective. Often the study seems to be asking one question but is reported as answering a different question.
This is also something Kahneman deals with. When we react to something often we change the subject by answering a different (easier to deal with) problem in our head. Example: Should I vote for Romney(Obama)? Yes, I think he looks cute (I don’t consider that whether he will govern well or not).
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