It's been two and a half years now of mostly indoor living, the longest period of daily routine I have ever imagined possible for me. Now I know that I would have been a good candidate for a Mars journey. A typical day includes two hours of piano practice, at a pretty intense level. Then there is about 3 hours of reading, half an hour of exercise (more on yard work days), some map gazing, and of course movie watching. But I did something this week that I haven't done in quite a while; I prepped some astronomy work, as observations will resume next weekend, weather permitting. I am very excited about getting back to dark night skies, and since last night was a full moon (complete with party and opera!), it will take about a week for dark skies to return for a sufficient length of time to make my 50 minute journey worthwhile.
This month's opera was Die Walkure, the 2nd of Wagner's Ring trilogy, and certainly one of the most powerful and finest operas ever written. I possess the complete set (4 actually, with the prelude opera) conducted by George Solti, with the Vienna Philharmonic, seen as pretty much the finest recordings of the Ring ever made. We heard five sides of records (of ten), and will finish the opera on Equinox, the 22nd of September. At that time we'll also read some more of Tolkien's Lost Tales aloud. And perhaps, but not likely, have our first wood fire of the season. So there are enough pagan holidays in the year to break up the routines a little bit.
But last week we really blew a hole in our routines. We went on a picnic! I'm certain National Geographic Magazine will be interested once I send them the details. Each year since retiring we have headed out on the first or second day of school resuming to the shore of Lake Erie and had a picnic. It's usually a sunny, warm day, with plenty of bees in attendance. This year was no different. For Deb, who hasn't been to Sudbury with me since before the Pandemic, or to Detroit, it was a big outing! We enjoyed a walk near the lake, then afterwards went downtown Amherstburg to a real, actual cafe.
Lake Erie and geese.
One of Deb's films is showing at a festival in Cleveland, only 3 hours drive from Detroit. She would like to go, but it's the same old story. Most people likely won't be wearing masks, and will be sitting too close together for a long period of time. So we almost had a major overnight trip, but probably not. As a consolation prize we will spend a long day in Ann Arbor, visiting their museums (art and archeology), book and record stores, etc. Hopefully Tuesday.
Glancing at the news lately, it would appear that the Queen has passed away. In fact, I see nothing but this news. In the same week the UK gets a new Prime Minister and a new King. I saw the Queen once, on her visit to Sudbury in 1957 (?). I was four years old, but remember it quite clearly. She did look up at our balcony and wave to our party as she drove past. So I guess you could say that we were pretty close, if not best friends. Why she was visiting such a dreary northern mining town is beyond me, but I know that our mines worked flat out during the war, greatly aiding the ally cause (after we stopped selling our goods to Germany, that is--gotta love capitalism).
It's still super dry around here, but still the weeds grow (if not much else). The corn near us in the county is quite short and sickly looking, probably not a good thing. 70% chance of rain again this weekend. When it does come, there is very little of it, enough to wet the surface. The trees must be getting thirsty. And the heat is still around, though the nights are cooler now, at least.
Coming next: viewing news update.
Mapman Mike
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