2009

Greetings!

Where did the summer go?

I must put part of the blame on the fact that since buying a Mac laptop in April (switching from the olD Dell and Microsoft Windows system), and taking the weekly one on one training sessions in the Apple Store in San Luis Obispo, I’ve been embroiled in a Big Learning Curve-- learning the different terminology used by this company, and how to cope with some of the many things the machine can do. Although basically I like the machine and all its possibilities, I still say all computers make simple clerical tasks complex and difficult to learn. Hence, just the process of feeding everyone’s addresses into the machine’s “address book,” producing the annual generic letter, and, hopefully, some sticky mailing address labels, has eaten up a great deal of time. I probably could have done it all much faster by hand.

The year’s activities included, as usual, a couple of visits to Santa Barbara (another wonderful polo match!), and several trips to San Francisco, seeing friends, museum and art gallery exhibits, and attending a few Wagner Society events.

One of the latter was an internal fundraiser in which members donated some of their books and Cd’s, etc., for others to buy. But the big event of our year was the annual “Cosima Birthday Party” (early December). Wagner’s wife Cosima Liszt Von Bulow having been born on Christmas, this also becomes our Christmas party, as it were. This year we were fortunate to have the nationally-acclaimed Wagnerian soprano Jane Eaglen, and a young heldentenor, Gregory Carroll, give us a concert: scenes from Walkfire (in the roles of Siegmund and Sieglinde) and Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) in the Crystal Ballroom of the real elegant Marines’ Memorial Club, followed by a late luncheon. A  splendid dress-up occasion, and Ms Eaglen’s great voice gave a real “Wagnerian fix,” so to speak.

The most notable museum exhibits I saw in SF were ones of the Yves St. Laurent’s many years of fashions, and one of Fabergé, Lalique and Tiffany objects and designs.

On the home front, I had cataract surgery in November on my “other eye.” another roaring success (the first one having been done a year ago). I’m impressed with the speed and efficiency and relative lack of discomfort or inconvenience this procedure involves. Let’s hear it for modern ophthalmological surgery!

I saw a couple of plays at the charming Pewter Plough Theatre in Cambria (and luncheons at the aptly named Tea Cosy Restaurant, emphasizing English dishes and teas).

I’ve heard several Christmas carol concerts already, including the Festival of Lessons and Carols at the local Episcopal Church (modeled on the program originated at Kings College, Cambridge, in England).

An exhibit of about 350 small-scale (table top) crèchescenes at the Lutheran church was fascinating. Many carved wooden ones, the kind we’re accustomed to from Germany, Italy and the Holy Land, plus some in ceramics and other materials. But the most interesting and unusual ones were made by various African tribes, some utilizing seeds, pods, leaves and plant materials I’d never seen before.

Incidentally, at the Monterey Museum of Art opening, some ladies came up to tell me I look like Julia Child. Since this also happened when I went to the Laguna Art Museum retrospective of William Wendt’s paintings last year, and has happened to me at several other times and places over the years, I’m beginning to feel as if Julia’s ghost is trying to take over my body. I always insist that I don’t look like her (or cook like her), it’s just that we’re both tall. And I also point out that Julia was in fact several inches taller than I.

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In keeping with the Christmas and midwinter emphasis on lights (Winter Solstice!), the neighborhood I live  in, from my corner west and south, went all out and organised to display hundreds of luminarias the evening of December 13. These are little brown paper bags filled with a base of cementsand and a votive candle lit inside each one, and they were arranged about two or three feet apart all along the roadside of each house. Their flicking lights made a charming and cheerful sight, and drew many visitors on foot or by car.

By the time I’d returned from the Lessons and Carols and its refreshments, a short cloudburst had extinguished about a fourth of my lights, so I went out with a long candle to re-light those, although the visitor traffic had abated by that time.

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Another noteworthy recent event was seeing the new movie Invictus. The screenplay was written by Anthony (Tony) Peckham, who lives here--formerly about a block from me, now out on the rural edge of town. He is from South Africa, and the film is about Nelson Mandela’s effort to unite blacks and whites through sport--in support of the Springbok Rugby team, winning the World Cup against New Zealand’s team. An exciting--and moving film--Bravo, Tony!

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Now for NATURE NOTES. I saw only two frogs in myrain barrels this year--and even noted them on my calendar: a grey-ish tan one on Aug. 6 and a green one on Aug. 15. I don’t know if it’s the same frog changing his color to match the bins, or two different frogs. But in any case, it’s a lonely life for him/them. I wonder how they keep their species going at all. I wish they could make a big comeback--I’ve grown fond of the little creatures, and I miss their choral songs of yore.

The cats, Jazz and BB, are in fine form, even though, as the veterinarian puts it, they are now “middle-aged”--8 years! They continue to catch a few gophers (burrowing rodents -- garden pests), which they bring indoors to devour, and/or offer up to me for the family larder (thanks, cats!). Of course they leave the messy remains and blood for me to clean up.  Alas, small birds are also pretty--one of which escaped Jazz’s jaws to fly briefly around my living room before Jazz leapt over the back of the sofa and caught him again. (I had to leave the room: I wasn’t fast enough to save the bird.) Butterflies, unfortunately, are also occasional victims--evidently just for the thrill of the chase, because they hardly qualify as “food.”

Another species gave me a big surprise when I was outfor my exercise walk one morning. Suddenly a plump brown rabbit came from behind, hopping in a circle around me, about two feet from me. I thought I was hallucinating. turned around to see if there really was a rabbit, and sure enough, there he was. I said “Good Morning,” and started to continue on my way, but he followed me. I feared he would get lost or run over by a car, so I needed to try to find his home. He was obviously tame, somebody’s escaped pet, and not the kind of rabbits that are found in the wild here. The nearest house seemed to have no pathway to the front door from the street I was on, but while I tried to make my way in, a woman emerged from the house. “Is this your rabbit?” I asked. She said no, he belonged to a little girl in a house farther back up the road, and she picked him up to take him home. He was a cuddlesome, adorable little creature. She said he lives in his owner’s house and is so domesticated he uses a cat-litter box for toilet purposes!

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