It's been raining all day Sunday, something we needed badly 5 months ago. But it has finally rained and broken the jinx. We will have had about 1" of rain when it is all over, the most rain we have had since early June. And it's been a mild week, and I was able to snag two perfect nights for deep sky astronomy! November and December are our two cloudiest months, so if I get even one good night between those months I am surprised. Of course these are not normal times for climate; we've had plenty of sunshine this month, and mild air. Looking ahead, Dec. 1st returns us to the world of more normal weather.
My two clear nights, Wednesday and Friday last, were both very different. Wednesday was quite damp (and chilly), and I ended up driving home through some very atmospheric fog for a time. Friday night was dry as can be. Both nights were good for observing distant and faint galaxies, though I always pepper my sessions with a few show pieces, to place things into perspective. I have been working late autumn skies the past few years in the constellation Cetus (The Whale). It covers a vast area of sky, much of it low on my horizon, making it very challenging to see faint objects. But my windmill site is perfect for this sort of thing, with dark skies pretty much down to the horizon. I just finished writing up my field notes today. Hopefully I will get a night or two in December, but being realistic, I am probably done now till March. My warm clothing is good for several hours at temps down as far as 25 F, with little to no breeze. It got down to 29 F Friday night, but I had no problems. Dressing for cold weather is quite different when you are going to spend that time standing or sitting in one place. One has to dress for temps about 20 F below what they actually are to remain warm.
Practicing is going well, though I have been off a bit in my schedule this past week. All of the pieces are playable, though not yet ready for any type of performance. They are, however, ready for a lesson from Philip, if I can squeeze one in there before the holidays. It is a lot of fun to play so much Bach, more than I have ever done at once before (7 pieces). I have always loved to play Bach, and I am getting a good workout this time around. I haven't played any Grieg since about 1974/75, so it was about time I took on a series of his Lyric Pieces. The influence of Bach (and others) can be seen and heard throughout these pieces.
Our nightly listening program continues to progress, always in three directions. We are continuing our complete Beethoven project, and have nearly completed his middle period works. We are also alternating Haydn's Paris Symphonies with Schumann's complete piano music as the 2nd part of our program. The third part consists of playing through all of our Baroque LP records. This used to be a favourite time for the cats, too, who are always sorely missed.
Turning to viewing news, we have finished watching the 8 episode season of Tales From the Loop. The series is uneven in quality, but when it's good, it is really good. Our favourites were episode 1 (which we are going to rewatch now), episode 5, and episode 7. The final episode was really good, but relied on a poor choice of plot interference to kill off one of the characters. There were so many better ways this could have been done. The series has links to each episode through characters, especially a young boy, Cole, though each story is pretty much independent. The series leaves a lot of mysteries untouched, including what research goes on at the Loop itself. No season two has been announced, but it would be a shame if no others were ever made.
Three movies from Criterion we watched were The Daughter of Dawn from 1920, Deep Cover from 1992, and The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, from 1968. Daughter is a recent rediscovery of a silent film made entirely with a cast of Native Americans, and tells a story of trouble between the Kiowa and Comanche tribes. Entirely filmed in Oklahoma, it is the only film that shows Plains Indians in the true plains where they lived.
Deep Cover features Jeff Goldblum and Lawrence Fishburne in a stylish noir. Fishburne plays an undercover cop trying to take down some drug middlemen, as he is told not to touch the top echelon. But he goes all the way up, and a good script and some fine acting make the time fly past.
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a touching and sad film from the deep south starring Alan Arkin as a deaf mute. To be near a deaf mute friend who has become institutionalized, who is also mentally challenged, he moves towns and takes a room with a family suffering through its own hardships. A teenage girl at first abhors the thought of a "dummy" living in their house, but soon becomes enamoured with him, and comes to love him as a dear friend. She wants to become a classical pianist, and loves music. He buys her records and she tries to describe music to him as it happens. Their friendship becomes very touching. The book by Carson McCullers is something I would like to track down via Kindle, and read soon. Painful at times, mostly due to white against black racism. A very good film, and highly recommended.
I'll finish up with another great Van Gogh painting visiting Detroit during its unparalleled exhibit. This is one of several works sent to Detroit by the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. Thank you Amsterdam!
I'll be back in a few days with the November reading summary.
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