Saturday I attended two concerts at the High School in Mammoth. The first was a piano recital by the Felici Trio pianist, Steven at 10:00 am then another in the evening with the whole trio and guest artists, all world class and giving an absolutely marvelous performance.
Sunday morning I took the bus down to the High School and listened to two hours of really excellent sound, produced by the Sierra Academy of Music kids who come from all over for a two week music camp. Only outstanding young musicians make the cut. This year they were about one third American, one third Chinese, and the rest from Canada. Vancouver is fast becoming the largest Chinese populated city in North America I am told, and so the SAM group were two thirds Asian and one third Caucasian! Boy, were they good. Ages were ten, to seventeen.
Monday I figured a new easy way to meet the girls for coffee at the Looney Bean. There is a bus stop right in front of the Westin! In the afternoon I took the summer trolley to the Mammoth lakes, yes, there a quite a few, and went past Twin Lakes, Lake Mary, Horseshoe Lake, Lake Mamie, and Pokenobe, but not Lake Geogre. Its fun to spend a jolly hour on the trolley and I was dropped off right near the hotel.
After that, what better way to spend the afternoon than lounging by the pool? I did exercises in the hot tub, then read an Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot novel that I got second hand at the local bookstore. It was written in 1931 and is still very current in her observations on human nature.
I am entertaining two couples tonight who have not yet had the 'Westin condo experience'! We will have a drink upstairs, then go down and BBQ near the pool. Depending on conditions, we will either eat down there or come back up to the room. The skies have been dramatically cloudy all day, with prospects of rain. We certainly need rain as the fires near Yosemite are impacting tourism, and causing a state of emergency with residential areas like Mariposa which are under evacuation watch.
I will try to do another Japan story tomorrow.
Trevor is heading back to Manhattan Beach from St. George today.
Love to you all,
Val
Hi Val, Such a delight to get a little caught up on your doings... you've been busy and sounds like very connected - that's awesome!
ReplyDeleteWe've had a busy time here too - Fiddle Camp was great and then I had a writing retreat for three solid days... followed by our anniversary celebration - returning to the Wedgewood Manor (you'd love it - was built by Wedgewood who was married to Lucy, the niece of Charles Darwin! a really magical place... where we had our wedding night 20 years ago! A lovely night and day and then home to celebrate with a kayak adventure and sme special G&T's with Mum and Dad..
Since returning, we've been busy at home with gardening and preparing the trailer to receive several sets of grandkids. We've also been raking up a full truckload of pine needles in our attempt to move towards fire safety. So many fires in BC - fortunately not really close to us right now however we've had lots of smoky days...
Also have been busy painting some stools for my outdoor studio - crafting area. They were stools from the lab in 1966 when the college opened and I got them for a great deal and now they have lovely teal tops and spin wonderfully - all set for my crafting grandkiddos...
Maeve (soon to be 8) has written a letter to let me know she has almost finished reading the second of the Harry Potter books and is fascinated by Hermione. Wants to be her for Halloween - a big decision!
So Andrew and I rented the movies to equip ourselves for their arrival!
Also made a huge playhouse out of a furniture box and have been having fun making all sides work for the 4 who are coming first - so one side is Gryffendor (a house from Harry Potter), one side is fairy princess with a picture window where Miss Molly can put her art... and the entrance is Bevan safe with a window to make sure he can see out. The final side is for both Bevan and Sullivan and is still in my imagination - with a car track and a marble chute and a number of other exciting features... Hope I can make them materialize!
Blueberries and raspberries are out in full force and Andrew just picked a full colander of beans - yellow and purple, from the garden.
And we have patty pans - sweet squashes to fry up gently...
This morning, I made blueberry scones - cooked them on the griddle the way Andrew remembered his grandmother making them - rather than baking. They were declared perfect - so I imagine we shall make some when the kids come...
OK.. time to get back to the exciting conclusion of the Harry Potter movie...
So glad that things are rolling along Val - I think of you every day and send big love... we all do...
Keep up your blogging - and I love the stories from Japan!
Janie xox...