I am one week into my hill training for the upcoming mountain hiking. It has been a cool week, which has helped immensely. However, the heat will be on for the upcoming week's workouts. I was quite stiff in the legs after Day 2 training last Saturday. Yesterday was a longer walk, completing 3.6 miles (5.8 km). My two longest upcoming hikes in the American west are over 8 miles in length (over 13 km), with over 3,000 vertical feet added in there of ascent. Will I make it? Well, past history tells me yes, as these prep workouts managed to do the job in previous years. However, I am five years older now, and haven't been to the mountains for that long. So don't bet too highly on my success.
For part of the week before my first major climb, we will be in Cincinnati, and I plan to make use of the hills in that city to add a sixth week of training. Along the way west we will hike in the Wichita Mtns in southwest Oklahoma, then move on to Palo Duro Canyon, south of Amarillo, Texas. A few days later is Big Climb #1. Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas, and a very challenging (for me) hike. It is almost on the state line with New Mexico. Then comes an even higher hike in the Manzano Mountains in New Mexico. Then comes the biggest of them all, up to Jicarita Peak in the NM Rocky Mountains, southeast of Taos. Then a slow recovery as we take our time (for once) driving home. Back to the flatlands, at 570' of elevation.
It will be an exciting trip, with or without the climbing successes I hope to achieve. Our stay in Albuquerque this time will be very limited. During the ten day balloon festival (mid-October), hotel room prices are way beyond our reach. We may spend one day there, at most. Anyway, one week of training down, four to go at home.
Iaido training included a three hour session of live cutting last Sunday. It was a spectacular day for it, cool and sunny. Eleven members turned out to cut mostly 2 litre bottles filled with water, but I brought three soaked and rolled wara mats to cut, one for each of the senior ranks present. My cutting was adequate, but I do need much more practice, even with the iaito. I have been training again for two months now, and am not feeling it yet. Only going once per week isn't the best system, either, but that is all the time I have just now.
This Friday the new piano will have been in the house for 4 weeks. I use the headphones full time, and find it does help with my concentration. Less straying and daydreaming, more work and faster progress. I still have a full page of memory work left on Op 10 #3, first movement, by Beethoven. I am hoping to begin memory work on the 4th movement very soon. I am also memorizing the Chopin Nocturne in F, Op. 15 #1. I am slowly adding in some Alexina Louie astronomy pieces to the program, too.
And here is the film report! By the way, the August reading report should come out later tomorrow. Deb's film leaving choice was called So Late So Soon, a documentary that showed two aged married Chicago artists, and how each of the them deals with aging. From 2020, it is certainly different in approach to most films about artists, and how it shows them living at home. She seems to be in denial of getting older, while he becomes more and more fragile as time progresses (the film covers about five years, flashing back and forth). Not terribly fascinating, but it is watchable. Her arrangements of furniture and assorted items within the house are rather original and fun.
It's film festival week here at the Homestead, and yours truly gets to choose. I picked two films from the Sight and Sound top 100 list again, as we continue to get through all the ones showing on Criterion. Tied for 67th place is 1948's The Red Shoes. Completely restored in 2009 by Martin Scorcese's Film Foundation, this film is a sight to behold! I had never seen the complete film before, only parts of it here and there. A truly amazing accomplishment. I loved how film can enhance a ballet, without totally making it into a film. The Red Shoes ballet mixes in some cool photographic techniques with the dancing in a very creative way. Scottish actress and dancer Shearer glows in the part of a young dancer who wants to dance more than anything else. Too bad her husband didn't think it was such a great idea. One of the extras that come with the film shows the restoration in progress. The before and after scenes are almost unbelievable. Apparently the restoration, in overall opinion, looks better than the original print would have. I can believe it! It is a long film, but it practically zooms past the viewer. Don't miss! A Powell-Pressburger delight!
The film festival continues today with Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, and a whole slew of extras that come with it on Criterion. And tune in tomorrow, when the subject will be books read in August.
Mapman Mike
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