OK, so here are a few of the words from one of the pieces we performed last night for our second-of-three Summerfest concerts (
I am not making this up):
"See'st thou these slave-maidens? They are beauties that I have imported from over the Caspian. Tell me which of them pleases you best, my lord; Straight-way I'll give you the maiden you choose for your own!"
I, myself, didn't have to sing them (I was busy shrieking "Hail, Oh Great and Famous Khan!"), but it was part of the general story line from the opera, "Prince Igor" by Alexander Borodin, the "Polovetzian Dances" being the specific song. Yup. It's all about war, sex-slaves and all manner of mayhem (oh, and a little don't-we-have-a-beautiful-country-la-la thrown in). Of course, it's fabulous music, otherwise, and way fun to sing!. You've heard the primary musical theme of this piece all your life--"Stranger in Paradise"--a direct rip-off (though the words have been, say, altered some for obvious reasons). We actually tried learning it in Russian, at first, to blunt the impact of the goofy lyrics, but we didn't have enough collective extra brain cells to pull it off. Turns out the sound man made the subject moot by cutting our volume to almost nothing for that song--SOUND MEN (me shaking fist)!!
We perform three concerts this time of year. Last week was an indoor affair all about opera.We sang gorgeous pieces by Verdi ("Va Pensiero" from "Nabucco"), "The Humming Chorus" from "Madame Butterfly" (no kidding--it's just all of us humming the whole thing--and so beautiful!), the "Anvil Chorus" (accompanied by actual anvils) from Verdi's "Il Trovatore", and a couple pieces from G & S's "HMS Pinafore"--fun crowd-pleaser, and, on the music of which I have left, inadvertently, a substantial amount of my personal DNA in the form of blood from some little nick on my hand during rehearsal, not normally a particularly treacherous exercise. My first choir-related injury. A few quite accomplished opera singers performed several various lovely arias (including "Nessun Dorma") and we pulled off the world premier of a piece written by a local composer (one of us) about riding in a glider. Very dissonant and airy. Two a capella pieces we sang were Whitacre's "A Boy and a Girl" (listen to a much smaller group singing this rich and challenging creation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg7kOOkP8wo) and an amazing arrangement of "Shenandoah". I'd say the whole evening was rather wonderful--except for the sound man having kept the chorus volume too low during most of it (SOUND MEN [another fist]!!!).
For the outdoor-picnic event last night, besides performing the previously-mentioned, "Rape and Kill", we accompanied the orchestra for the theme from "Saving Private Ryan" (all "oohed")--SO pretty!! And also, to end the program (which was mostly orchestra playing some truly great movie music) we did Tchaikovsky's magnificent "1812 Overture"--which is, as you know, quite majestic and exciting and, uh, militaristic, as well. The vocal parts are truly grand and evocative--and include the words, "God save our gracious Tsar, valiant and righteous (?), reigning in glory, reigning against his foes!" (the tune borrowed for "God the Omnipotent", a popular hymn). Music can (and always has) help sell war and misogyny, among other things.
(Oh, and there's Tom eating our picnic dinner before the crowd filled in around him. And that's me--and a few others--singing in the tent behind the orchestra)
Next week, on Friday night the 3rd of July and another outdoor gig, we'll sing our last performance of the season. The obvious theme here is American patriotism. Eight pieces, from "Song of Democracy" (a Walt Whitman poem set too music) to a repeat of "Shenandoah" (my favorite) with, yes, a bit of war-type music in between, will wrap it up for the summer.
I hope that before Friday, our director, Ryan, will have time for a little chat with YOU-KNOW-WHO (fist). I'll let you know how it goes. Hail Great Khan!
We celebrated Fathers Day on Summer Solstice in San Francisco this year. So, of course, we needed our jackets in the bright sun while wearing shorts. It's one of the things I love about SF, the schizoid weather. Rachel, Dylan, Emi and the two of us munched some lunch at the Embarcadero as we hung with Dad and discussed some of the details of Dylan's business plan and website. The site is up, but it still needs some tweaking here and there, mostly there, in the copy, so The Family Board of Directors was weighing in with the ideas. It was just for the afternoon, each of us needing to get back to something-or-other, but fun! Love how easy it is to cascade on down to the City for even a short visit!
Arent they cute?
Meanwhile, sheesh!! The Blotter bits have been building up to dangerous levels! Here are a few to release the pressure...
"10:40 p.m.--A caller from a business in the 100 block of Mill Street reported a "karate guy" was causing a disturbance." [who hasn't been there?]
"2:20 p.m.--A woman from the 11000 block of Miwok Path reported finding a rectangular black sheet in her car after leaving it unlocked. It was found to be an insert from her reusable grocery bag that fell out in her car." [Oh, please! How exactly do the Police get in on this little drama?]
"5:37 p.m.--A caller from the 100 block of Neal Street [downtown] reported a person in a Toyota 4Runner was swearing at people over a loudspeaker. The person was advised to leave and to stop using the PA system." [What? There's no "Doofus" Jail?]
"8:12 a.m.--A woman from the 10000 block of Boulder Street reported a water bottle in her driveway that was bubbling for unknown reasons." [Another example of "yes, you CAN be too careful"]
"10:06 p.m.--A caller from Kidder Cemetery said she could hear bottles and cans and juveniles belching in the cemetery." ["reporting felony indigestion in the cemetery..."]
"12:48 p.m.-- A caller from the 13000 block of Tervetuloa Lane reported an argument with the neighbors about peacocks running loose. The neighbor said the initial caller verbally assaulted her and the other party's donkeys are running around and her peacocks have nothing to do with it." [another pin in the map indicating "neighborhoods to avoid at all costs"]
"5:53 p.m.--A caller in the 200 block of Church Street reported a possible bobcat or mountain lion on top of a carport. When police arrived, they determined it was a large domestic cat." [who screens these calls?]
"5:27 a.m.--A woman from the 10000 block of Partridge Road reported hearing people downstairs. It was found to be the heater." [*sigh* Only call if the heater actually picks up a knife and makes threatening gestures, next time]
It's probably not the first thought that comes to mind when driving into view of our house, but there was a distinct feeling of being nearer some Major Crossroads, Tuesday, when we had three sets of friends coming/going/passing through! It was way fun and quite a change of pace from our usual, rather more quiet existence!
To begin with, Noel and Kyle Becchetti had somehow patched us into their crazy quilt of meetings, international travel and visits with myriad friends/relations. Truly moss-free rolling stones (I checked). They arrived late afternoon on Sunday (just after we got home from one of my choral concerts--the Opera Program).
Though we keep in touch electronically, how rich and wonderful to be able to hang out in person for a couple of days! They are jetting to India and back every few weeks, it seems, as they grow into their new involvement with the ministry, Truthseekers (http://www.truthseekersna.org/--I've mentioned it here before, but check it out, again, as the website is always changing!). Truthseekers is an Indian movement with the goal of breaking down the millenias-old caste system (gee, what'll they do after that?).
On Monday afternoon, Noel, Kyle and I took ourselves off to the Endangered Empire Mine SHP, which gave Tom a chance to get a bit of work done. We hiked all over the trails, ending up at the center of the Park where you can enter and learn all about gold mining through indoor exhibits, an unintentionally-hilarious mining film from the fifties and an outdoor actual-factual defunct mine and adjacent fabulous owner's mansion and gardens. It's one of the facilities in danger of closing due to the budget crisis, unfortunately (check it out here http://www.empiremine.org/, but, more important, do what you can to lobby your reps to keep the parks open!).
After a great visit of conversation and laughter, byTuesday morning the Becchettis had to be heading back to San Diego and missed, by a few hours, the arrival of Kathy and Andy Frederiksen (also good friends of the Becchettis). The Frederiksens have kids and grandkids in the area and we were lucky to be folded into the itinerary this time! After lunch, and as we were showing them around the place, Tom received a call from his cousin Joan, who, with a friend, happened to be shopping in Grass Valley that day (Joan lives in Southern California). So, she and Pam came to hang out for a little while before they went back to Pam's place in Auburn. Good to see Joan (after a few years) and meet Pam! Unfortunately, the part of my brain that takes the pictures was dozing at the time, and I didn't get a shot of our afternoon visitors.
Far too soon, Wednesday morning, after more stimulating conversation (gardens, politics, boat-building, quilting, family, etc.) and lots more laughter, with adventures in Taiwan thrown in (they were missionaries there for 30 years!), the Frederiksens had to be trekking south toward home in San Diego, as well. As they drove away, we couldn't help but notice how quiet and still it was! We're back to our usual schedules, today, but loved the fun of having good friends around for awhile! We know they're all busy and we live far away, so it makes it quite the special treat to be included in their travels!
I don't really mind HAVING the slowest, tardiest garden on the planet. It's just trying to EXPLAIN the silly thing to other people when they ask. Yes, we have a vegetable garden and it is, uh, moving right along. Seems like we're ALWAYS down there doing something to it. For two years we've been busy working on one thing or another. Fence/gate, soil amendments, cover crop, weed whacking, irrigation, compost, irrigation (again). But actual plants growing? We-e-l-l-l-l-l, not so much. We talk a good garden.
Until today!! ACTUAL plants IN the dirt!! Woo hoo!
To recap: This year, I started my little seedlings from actual seeds, as usual (and, yes, I'm a little stubborn about that part), in March--thinking I'm a little late out of the gate as it is. I would put them out to sun during the day, and bring them in at night. Usually. Turns out, that plan doesn't work so well up here as it did in San Diego because it's just too cold during the day. They sprout and just sit there, shivering and refusing to grow. Until I forget to bring them in on a night when it freezes (in May!!) when they mostly all die (sigh). I started them again, and they're now just about an inch (or less) high. Note to self: make a little greenhouse or cold frame for them next year. Check. Then, there was the great cover crop I planted (inoculated with special nitrogen-fixing bacteria!). Got it cut down and turned over in late April, I think. So far, so good. Then, our outdoor electrical system developed a short and we couldn't (can't) find it, so we had to find a work-around to operate the irrigation (grr). Tom figured that out, today.
So I finally planted. Yay! So, while, to the casual observer, the first photo (before) might not look very different from the second photo (after), I know that all those yellow tags mean little plants are getting ready to shoot up and feed the earth! It's not that nothing is growing down there, mind you. The berries, trees and sweet grass are all looking great. Now, we'll see about the veggies. Maybe we'll have the first tomato (out of 12 varieties) by, um, maybe September? But everyone else's will be old and tired by then! AND I think I've discovered a new (to us) secret weapon:
WORMS! Red wigglers, to be specific.
A little more than a week ago, I'd never heard of them. Sounds like a kids' water toy, to me--"turn on the Red Wiggler so's we can play in the water!" You see, we've had nice compost heaps before, all steamy and bacterial, but I've been more lazy about this one, and, though stuff has been breaking down (even under the snow!), it's been very slow because I haven't paid that much attention to the proportions of brown (not enough) and green (too much), as you probably guessed, already. But, for a change, my laziness has produced a big, beautiful crop of RED WIGGLERS, transforming all our table scraps, etc., into lovely worm castings (yup, it's poop--but "castings" sounds so much better--dog castings, bird castings--see?)! The heat of a real, functional compost heap kills red wigglers, as it happens.
Last week, at the first of the summer's weekly evening street parties/growers markets, a woman had a bin of reddish worms that I recognized from ones living in our heap, which I thought were garden variety earthworms (night crawlers, I found out), even though they seemed the wrong color. She explained that they are nearly miraculous at creating amazing compost, even indoors. Wow! Who knew!
I went home and studied up on vermiculture (not "vermin-culture"), and sometime next week, I should have a special composting station in the mud room where my new little friends will be working away, night and day, year 'round, producing SuperSoil for our garden and trees! How cool is THAT? YOU just might want to do it, too--you know you will! For now, they are happily munching garbage under that black thing, but I can hardly wait to start my special worm farm!
So, here we are. Now I no longer fear the casual "how's the garden?" question. Plants IN the ground. Worms "casting" IN the compost heap. Life is good!
Go see it! In 3D.
