The cast of Katya Kabanova

We saw the opera Katya Kabanova by Leos Janacek Thanksgiving Eve

Car shopping

We went shopping for a car. On the left - our old SUV - on the right - the Honda Insight, looking ludicrously small in in comparison. We ended up splitting the difference and buying a Prius.

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Low Rider

Low Rider

It was a sunny, but brisk day. This car was parked near the Lake.

Making Reservations for Israel

We have just made airline reservations to go to Israel next June with the whole family.

Jacob and I spent a day in the city

We did the Arts thing. The Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Institute, and the CSO.

Mahler Symphony #1 on TV

Does it get any better than this?

I send my TV sound through an Onkyo amplier to Ohm 2xO speakers and I listen to sound as good as most concert halls (but not as good as Boston) and see better than any I could from any seat I have ever had.
Gustavo Dudamel conducting the LA Philharmonic of which he is the new music director. Outstanding.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

We went to another superb performance at the Writer's Theater last night.

Tom Stoppard's play is funny and thought provoking.

The cast, as always at Writer's, was wonderful.

It's a dogs life

-- Clive http://clive.moss.net From my iPhone - please excuse typos

Almost disaster

Our entrance hall light fixture broke - suddenly, without warning!

I was baking a challah (another story.) The loaf was in the oven in last minute or so of baking. I heard a metallic clang and Bernie (Karen's dog for whom we are dog-sitting) started barking.

I followed the noise, and saw that our large glass bowl had come away from its mounting. Three of the four supports had failed, the fourth was barely supporting it - see the picture. At that moment, the timer sounded that the challah had to come out of the oven.

Putting first things first, I took the challah out (possibly prematurely).

I found a ladder in the garage, but it was not high enough for me to reach the fixture (and fall off, as I did last Friday, but that's also another story.) The bruises are now fading.

Fortunately we had workmen nearby in another part of the building. I enlisted one of them to help. I swung the the fixture over the railing that you can see in the background and while he held the glass I unscrewed the last support.

If that heavy glass had fallen on a person or a dog it could have been fatal.

All safe now, however.

The public knows the GOP is fibbing

Salon
September 24, 2009 5:24 AM
by Gene Lyons

The public knows the GOP is fibbing

Only Republicans really buy the anti-healthcare reform lies. So why are some Dems settling for such an awful bill?

--

Clive

http://clive.moss.net

From my iPhone - please excuse typos

At Piccolo Sogno for lunch

I can now post from my iPhone!

I am back from our road trip and whining

We have dear friends who live in Sydney, Australia. When we were much younger we used to vacation with them.

In May they told us they were coming to California to a wedding, and wondered if we would like to show them America, as we had rashly promised to do earlier in the year. So we did, and we drove to Irvine, picked them up, and drove back via many parks, canyons, and monuments. We took three weeks, and drove over 5000 miles.

More about that later when I have finished culling my 1500 pictures down to a more reasonable number.

What I want to do today is whine.

Last Thursday night, driving from downtown Chicago to Highland Park in a drizzle, I ran over a Chicago pothole and blew out two tires.

This morning I started the tedious process of claiming the cost of the tires from the City of Chicago - and that is where my troubles really started. I found the website with claim instructions, and proceeded to fill out the form.

I needed coffee before I started. I cranked up our wonderful Jura Capressa coffee maker, and it said "CLEAN MACHINE" - so I dutifully ran the cleaning cycle feeding it the little white tablet when asked. The cycle ended - and it said "CLEAN MACHINE" again - so again I did. This time, it groaned (really groaned) to a halt, and said, helpfully, "error 8"

I called the help number listed on the little crumpled, coffee stained card, and after a suitable delay I was caller 4 in the queue. When I spoke to the man, he said to feel around in the innards of the machine and remove whatever gunk I found and run the cleaning cycle again. I did this. Ran the cycle again. "ERROR 8" again. Did it again. Success! A cup of coffee!

Back to the claim form - I could not specify the location of the pothole. I thought we were driving on Clybourne, but I could not remember the exact location of the gas station at which I stopped after the big bang. I scanned Google maps and other satellite views of the city, but no luck. Hilda came home - her iPhone had pictures with GPS coordinates in them and I located the place where the problem occurred.

Next I discovered that I did not have acceptable documentation to prove the cost of the claim, so I called the dealer that replaced the tires, and they said they would FAX me the receipt.

The FAX did not come. My online FAX service has stopped providing the service.

I cranked up my FAX modem on my iMac. Not working. I called the phone company. FAX phone line had troubles. ATT will fix it, sometime. I connected the FAX to the other line - also not working!

I gave up and we went out to see the movie "Julie and Julia"

Chicago Panorama

Pano Chicago 5000-2

Test upload by mail from Facebook

Move on, nothing of interest here

Romeo and Juliet

So much for great weather. We had brief shower! The music is great,
however.

--
Clive
From my iPhone

At Millennium Park waiting for "Opera Hits on Venetian Night" to begin

The weather is great! After the concert, dinner and fireworks. Hilda
is so happy to be here!

--
Clive
From my iPhone

The Challah, finished

I have started to bake a challah

And I want to test how posting to my blog by mail works!

Cuba Trip Pictures are up!

My thoughts on Cuba:

There are two Cubas - the CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso) Cuba supported by Dollars and other hard currencies derived from tourism and relatives in Florida, and the local currency (Peso) Cuba, which is used to pay salaries and buy goods in local stores.

The lens through which these Cubas are viewed provides two very different perspectives.

Through my lens I see a country that is doing very well, given that the most powerful nation in the world has being trying to bankrupt it for the last several decades. Its people are less poor than its neighbors, education and medical care are available to all, not just the privileged, few if any are starving. The CUC Cuba is relatively prosperous, the local currency Cuba survives, which is wonderful in the context of third world countries.

Others in our group see through their lens a downtrodden, impoverished people yearning to be free. They see the CUC Cubans as potential upper middle class, with no prospects of making it there. They see the Cuban exiles, the people who thrived under Batista, as the wronged class. They see the local currency Cubans getting what they deserve, the damn Communists who did not leave the country when they had a chance!

Through both lenses we see a country whose potential is not being achieved because of the lack of incentives in the centrally planned Communist economy.

The pictures through my lens (mostly a Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux) can be found at:

http://clive.smugmug.com/Travel/834331

We have a iPhones!

We have bought iPhones and are having a ball. An online computer in the pocket is a revelation!
The iPhones built in camera also makes it much easier to post up to date. Pictures - but unfortunately it is much easier to post to Facebook than to Blogger. I cannot find a good way to post pictures to Blogger.

To see my current set of pictures, friend me on Facebook, at
http://www.facebook.com/clivemoss

Julia turned Nine

A week in Chicago with Jacob

Last week I took Jacob downtown for a week to experience life in a city (vs a suburb).
Click on the picture to see a slideshow of the week's events.

Owen Wingrave by Benjamin Britten

Last night we went downtown to the Chicago Opera Theater to see the opera "Owen Wingrave" by Benjamin Britten.

The drive took longer than we had planned. We wanted to go to the pre-opera talk since we knew nothing about this production. We had to decide between a meal at a real restaurant, or fast food. We chose the fast food route so we went to Noodles and Company on Michigan Ave (and it was actually very good.)
We made the talk on time, and listened to a brief introduction from one of the assistant directors (I think). After about 15 minutes, she ran out of things to say. She said that she spoke faster than she had planned, and confessed to know nothing about the music, being that she was a director.

I was thinking that maybe we should have had a real meal rather than fast food when a man in the audience asked in a deep resonant voice if he could say something. Relieved, the presenter agreed, and the man stood up and said "I am Benjamin Luxon, the original Owen Wingrave"

He proceeded to regale us with stories of his work with Britten on the first production. Fascinating.

He closed off with a tale about his first visit to the USA, to the Opera at Saratoga. He was asked to attend a party by a very attractive lady, so naturally he agreed. As the evening wore on he was surrounded by opera fans of the female persuasion, who enticed him with comments like "We can go off later, my husband will get drunk and pass out soon" and similar lines. He enjoyed the attention, but did not partake of the offerings. On the way home he asked his companion if America was always like this. She confessed that the group had decided to try to find out if he was gay.
He said "They never found out!"

At that point the conductor of the night's performance Steuart Bedford who had also taken part in the original production came in, cried "Benjamin" in a surprised voice, and ran to embrace him.

Benjamin Luxon

Cast of Owen Wingrave

The new wing of the Art Institute of Chicago

Sunday we visited the new wing (The Modern Wing} of the Art Institute of Chicago.

It is amazing - huge, beautiful, and filled with some of the best art of the 20th Century.

If you have not been there - run, do not walk to the nearest exit and head to downtown Chicago.

All my pics of the new wing start here

Bullfight in Spain

My new watercolor - from a photograph I took in 1972 in Madrid, Spain.

"Le Tragedie de Carmen" at the Harris Theater

We went to see "La Tragedie de Carmen" produced by the Chicago Opera Theater at the Harris theater in Millenium Park last night. It is an interesting remix of Bizet's Carmen by Marius Constant. Same music (different sequence), smaller orchestra, condensed down to about 75 minutes by eliminating dancing, choruses, and happy parts. The whole cast plus the conductor appear in the photo above. Four of the six characters ended up dead. Two plus the conductor lived on.
The cast had great singing talent, with somwhat awkward acting by the Lead, Carmen.
We especially enjoyed the pre-concert talk by the assistant which gave us an insight into what Constant did, and why.

Abigail and Julia

Abigail and Julia

A walk around Streeterville

Shakespeare and Mozart's last works.

This week we went downtown to see two excellent productions - Shakespeare's last play - "The Tempest" and Mozart's last work - "La Clemenza di Tito".
Both were unusual and excellent productions.

"The Tempest" at Steppenwolf was played in non-traditional dress, with the players shunning traditional Shakespearean declamatory style in favor of totally modern prosody. The result was an enthralling performance.



"La Clemenza di Tito" was played on a simple, but credible, set. By any measure the Chicago Opera Theater is Chicago's second string Opera Company. However, this production was in no way inferior to anything produced by the Chicago Lyric Opera. The voices of the young singers were world class. I have no doubt that their names will become famous. Watch, in particular, for Dominic Armstrong, Charlotte Dobbs, and Renata Pokupic.

What is not mentioned in the course of the performance is that the Tito of the title is the Titus who destroyed the second Temple in Jerusalem!

Haitink and the Chicago Symphony

We listened to a program of Webern, Mahler and Schubert (The Great Symphony) at the CSO last night. Despite walking with the aid of a cane, Haitink delivered his usual masterful performance.

The Botanic Gardens

We rode to the Gardens on one of the first nice days of spring. This is one of my favorite views - not hard to find - its from the bridge as one walks in.


On the other hand, this field of Crocuses (Crocii) looks like it is afflicted with the pox.

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center

The design is impressive and moving. Moving around it is disorienting, with a surprise at every turn. An eerie feeling. We attended the Yom Hashoah Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration last Tuesday. Click on the photo for more pictures.

Back at watercolor class again

This week's effort - from a photo taken in Spain in 1972

Botanic Garden

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Paris in the 70s

I have been neglecting my blog in favor of Facebook and LinkedIn, and scanning old slides and negatives - so, here is an album of a day in Paris sometime in the 1970s. Enjoy.

My Grandfathers Mother

Our earliest photographed ancestor - my great granddmother - Ruscha - 1848-1918

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