Fidelio gets hot and wobbly

9:00 to 1:00 today.

Ride the Cedar River;

35.6 miles,
3:24:44 hours,
10.3 average speed.
1248 total miles,
Temperature 73 to 84,
Cooler by the river on the trail lined with trees, moss, ferns, rosebush hedges and the Maple Valley highway.

Some welcome shade. A lot of it.

Schattenfreunde.

Maximum speed 63.4 I doubt it.
Computer glitch, I guess.

1:00 to 5:00 today

Asleep, tired, rubber legged, eck setra.

The wobble in the pedal shaft has been diagnosed (loose nut on the pedal side) and will adjusted as soon as I recover.

Or later.

The chain shield I made worked fine, chain stayed on for the whole trip but I still got greasy fingers from fooling with the loose bearing.

Some day I will have a clean trouble free ride.

Melinda Bargreen

Just returned from the latest Seattle Symphony program with the premiere of a new cello concerto. A mighty effort from soloist, conductor, and orchestra. As for the concerto itself: sorry, but it should have been served with a side of cranberry sauce, if you take my meaning.

Ha!and just last Wednesday I finally found the basis, or "inspiration" for MY Cello concerto which will be almost as good as the Elgar.

Yesterday was full.
Financial consultant counting our money and shuffling it around a bit. (I am still not used to being independently wealthy)
Lawyer writing a will to make sure SSO don't get any. I never had a rich uncle but Ruby and Wyatt do (sort of)

Lunch at Trattoria Michelli's. Exchanged Hi howarya's with Danny.

Went home and fell asleep.

Ciao!

Couple a days or so, or so what?

Yesterday, after the ritual pureeing of the yard waste, we popped off to the blood bank and dumped a couple of quarts for the cause.
Then had lunch and goofed off for the rest of the day.

So, if a pint's a pound, I only weigh 199 today, right?

Today I frantically edited the 2vln concerto piano reduction for some spelling and playability concerns.

Not everybody has a span of a tenth.

An octave will do nicely.

The usual prelims, walking downtown, parking, Ladro for caf&carb, the library, where I got bored until I found Alex Shapiro's other world cartoon persona, as gorgeous as a 'toon as in real life.

Full story on my Facebook profile.

Walking back uphill.

Although, when you think about it, who's to say which is the reality and which is the imagination? All your senses accumulate in your head and forms pattern that one's brain assembles and labels "reality" which have no more proof of accuracy than the amusing scenarios one experiences upon waking from sleep.

But what the hell, as long as I don't bump into too many invisibles.

How can CA be so dim about Prop 8?

A good proportion of my commenters are from the other team.

Let's face it show biz without gays is as lame as music without blacks.

LAME LAME LAME

Here's a picture


I can't sneer out of that side of my mouth anymore.

Folklife

Sankofa,

African-American acapella.

Lovely voices.
Especially Katy Webber.

Seattle Mandolin Orchestra,
nice sound no available seats.

Klezmer;

Yeshivas Goldenshteyn.
The Erev Ravs.
Kosher Red Hots.

File Gumbo,

Zydeco, Zydeco, Zydeco.

Some Gospel,

a Baritone Saxophone trio....and...

Nyamuziwa,

Marimba ensemble

Especially the Big Big Bass marimba.

All those kids wailing away. B-yooteyful

Love that sound.
That low down sound.
Rattle yer windows like the next world war.

32' Organ pipes, Tuba bottoms, Big Bass Drums, Big Big Gongs, Contra Bassoons,
Dig it Dig it Dig it Dig it.

Egad a base note tones a bad agE

Day after Schoolday

'Nother nice day. Chipped sticks untill we both collapsed. Had a little lunch and a lot of water then popped into Zipper the Prius and headed north to get a DVD of the amphibian copied so I can send it to the guy in CA who bought it.
Up the lake and through the tree-lined boulevards and the flower infested arboretum we wended our way north, north, to the quiet neighborhood of Greenwood, (or Phinney Ridge, hard to tell the two apart).

Nice quiet ride in a nice quiet car.
So little gas to take us so far.

The CD shop is in Greenwood not far from the ZOO.
But that wasn't the sole motivation for the trip, after the copyshop, we started our little jaunt home again, Meredith wanted to smell the azaleas in the arboretum.
On the way there we spotted the Red Mill (est 1937, where Phinney turns into Greenwood) and decided to go there for a 'burger, cause we always wanted to do that.

Good Burger.

Anyway we walked the arboretum and smelled the 'zalies and came home.

Whereupon I continued south after dropping M off at home and went to Fry's for some CD blanks and to check out new computers to replace this diesel powered relic.

Then to McClendon's for some ends to repair a 50 ft long power cord that had a short in it.

Fixed the cord, ate some ice cream and wrote this.

Next four days is Folklife some of which I will attend.

Schooldays

I am at the library, trying to think of something to say.

Can't

Sun's out, gonna walk.

I've been advised many times to do so.

Usually the word used is "hike"

As in, "take a"

Notes from the hive

Bees can be tricky.
Some say they have a secret life,
others say they have spirit life
in their beehive.
I just stay out of their damned way.
I love the honey, but hate the sting.
I suppose then that makes me
some kind of coward,
but there it is.
I do not keep pet reptiles
or pet rodents either;
some things just kick up
my fear factor,
it's vitriolic, unreasonable.
So three cheers for Miss M
and the other brave beekeepers
on this planet.
Somebody has to do it,
to be it, just not me.

Glenn said that

I've got nothing to say today, I'm going back to bed.

BBBBBBB

Well, we caught the bees and got them in the box, but the next morning, they were gone.
Probably they took a look at the neighborhood and seeing as the box was in the driveway and they were surrounded by concrete and iron, they left for greener climes.

Attended Seattle Opera's "Le Nozze de Figaro" magnificent show.
Seattle Opera is truly a world class outfit.
Wish we had a Symphony Orchestra that was of that stature.

The Rainier Orchestra ought to stage a hostile takeover of Benaroya.

Yeah, that'd be cool.

We are going to Tukwila today to hear the Rainier play Mahler's second symphony.

I have a theory about Mahler;

He claims to have written only nine symphonies, but I think he wrote more like twenty. He just stuck them together to make it seem like there was only nine of 'em.

That's my theory and I'm stickin' to it.

I never veldt this way before

Got up ate cheerios went to the SAFEWAY!! For gas. The Safeway for gas. Remember when we were so much older then?
Gast up the lawn mower and the chipper then went back to the kitchen and installed the new garbage disposal.

The grass has been neglected.
It has continued to grow all the while we were chipping away at the other verdant infestation.
Fired up the Honda and attacked.
Halfway through the tall grass I ran into an elephant in my pajamas.
Why I was mowing the lawn in my pajamas I dunno.
I apologized for running into him and he said it was no big deal but could I tell him which way to the savannah.
I told him and he took off.
Just then I realized that I had directed him to Georgia.
Hope he gets it straightened out.

After a bit of lunch I went out and looked at the swarming bees for awhile.
Meredith called her favorite beekeeper who advised her to wait till evening when it cooled down then cut the branch they were huddling on and shake them into the hive box.
She has a bunch of beekeeping stuff her brother gave her.

So we did that and now they or a lot of them anyway are resting in their new abode.







You like picture? this is a week ago there's more stuff than there was last picture but soon soon it will be all cleared and you wont never noe it was sucha mess.
This is before the lon was mode and the gong is on ONE side and there's nothing on the OTHER side

Round

Trying to remember what I did yesterday.
Can't
Trying to remember what I did today.
Got up late went out to Camera's west to get old fotoz scanned.
Come back at 2:00.
Went to Lowes can't find a garbage disposal.
Go to McClendons can find a garbage disposal.
Buy it.
Take it home.
Get back in the car and go to Q.A. for some of the bread that Keth still likes although the sleazy Sara whatsis megacorp has raped the stuff so that it is now just another loaf of bread a pox on 'em.
Coffee at Starbuggers anyway.
Went to the Safeway at the bottom of the hill for decaf coffee 'cause we're almost out of the stuff.
And some cran-raspberry juice.
Went home.
Put the stuff away.
Took a pee.
Went back to south center and the Photo place to pick up the pic disc not ready yet comeback in 15 minutes.
Walked around for 15 minutes.
Got the pics and went home.
Read a book until just a little while ago.
Cooked some pork and vegetable and Chinese sauce and ate it then came here and did this.

now I remember some of yesterday went to school went to the library loaded some new music to my facebook site had coffee at caffee ladro licked a stamp saw a movie dropped a stamp and robbed a bank shot my way out of an argentine prison got elected president of a tiny mid european principality read a new yorker review of waiting for godot pushed a button pushed a button pushed a button pushed a button and




waited.

Mothers Day 2009

A poem by a friend of mine.
His site is;

Feel Free To Read

Unstrung

My flight as a projectile began in 1944.
My mother was 17 years old,
pregnant first at 15,
veteran of a back room abortion,
a real horror story in 1942;
pregnant again at 16 with me;
7 months pregnant when she saw Snoqualamie Pass
for the first time, from the front seat of a Model A,
watching my grandfather fix the fifth flat
since leaving Spokane the day before;
her mother already in Seattle, gone on ahead
to work at Boeings, doing her part for the war effort,
having spent Mother's Day alone.

As a child, as an adolescent, Mother's Day
didn't mean a hell of a lot to me,
just another Hallmark moment, another day
where presents could be purchased,
and cards, and ribbons, and roses.

But in 1966, when my mother was barely 39 years old,
she died of uterine cancer,
looking like an Auschwitz resident,
with a ten pound tumor swelling her uterus,
looking pregnant again, bravely awaiting
to give birth to death.

That was 43 years ago,
and every Mother's Day since
has grown more bittersweet.
Mother, if I was the arrow that you projected
out into this world
with the all the strength and verve you could muster,
then you became the stringless bow
of my dreams and misty memories;
a lovely face from a few photographs,
always with that flower in your hair.

Tomorrow your day arrives again,
and that knot of pain in my chest
will come, swell, and ebb,
as it has always done,
as it shall continue to do, until
our reconciliation.

I have let these days come and go
in silence, with a sad smile,
but not this one. No,
I celebrate the 22 Mother's Days
we shared in my ignorance and arrogance,
and Mother who can hear me--
I love you.
Thanks for being my bow.

Glenn Buttkus May 2009



To be perfectly honest here, thinking about my mother just pisses me off for some reason.

Trainwreck

We started early (8:00) and drove up Lk. Wash through Bothell and Monroe to Sultan where breakfast at the Sultan Bakery for me was a "trainwreck scramble" which was a gigantic pile of hashbrowns, eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, green pepper, and onion, covered with grated cheese and served with a bowl of gravy!

Ate half of it.

Stopped on our way over the pass at Deception falls, lots of noisy rushing water.
Snow on the ground.
Skunk cabbage too.
Got pictures which may show up on this very site.

Some light snowfall at the top of the pass then swooped on down to...
Ohme Gardens in Wenatchee.
Great place, hangs off the cliff face overlooking the river and the scenery beyond
(usual stuff, mountains, fruit orchards et cetera)

Crashed at a motel of some sort then went to a fancy restaurant and had an expensive Japanese Wagyu Kogo steak. was not impressed.

Also a Bare Knuckle stout. was impressed.

Cost a lot of money.

Nothing worth a damn on TeeVee went to sleep. Probably snored.

Next day popped back up the hiway to Peshastin or thereabouts to a great historical museum.
And a not-so-great "antique mall"

Further on we turned toward Ellensburg on the Blewitt pass road and realized that the gas gauge was reading low.
Something it rarely does.
Can't remember the last time.

Pulled a quick u-ey, blasted back to Leavenworth and stuffed 'er full of Safeway's finest. (Safeway, can you dig it?)

Due to the climb over Stevens pass we only got 43.7879495562111163007940214853 miles per gallon on that tank.

Then back to I-90 and Seattle.

Ate the rest of the trainwreck for dinner.

Today it was back to the yard to chip'n'chop until the chipper ran out of gas.

Tonight it's back to the Chapel for what looks to be an interesting show by one of my new music comrades.

Road trip

We are heading out for a overnighter to east WA and the mountains in between.

Packing a few things for the trip.

Found a new LeCarre at the library.

Found out you can buy Cage's 4'33" as a ringtone.

WUWT?

Found some great things to listen to on Alex Ross's site.

Getting 50 mpg out of the Prius.

Getting hungry.

Good bye.

Violins

Lots of work.
Over years of time.
Mediocre workmanship.
Have no clue as to sound quality.
Haven't cranked them up to tune yet.
The pochette really could use a smaller tailpiece.

One of my ugliest violins is actually being used by a violinist because she thought toe tone was very good.
Better than her expensive store bought one.
I still need to put a soundpost in the violin and move the one in the pochette.

Dealing with soundposts is impossible.

Went to a concert Sunday.
Had lunch at Julia's in Wallingford.
Listened to a great performance of the Sibelius violin concerto.

Poetry selections

Twit-ku

I just found my periodic table.
Krypton is a gas
An inert gas
A noble inert gas.
How do you suppose that makes me feel?

Not Twit-ku

My Muse
She is a stiff necked girl
She looks neither to the left
Nor to the right
What she does not see tears at my heart

When she comes to me
My desert is gone
Replaced by a rugged landscape
Of formal rocks
And proud trees
My thirst is forgotten

But where are we?
Who are we?
We say a few words;
What do they mean?

Then she walks away like the last train out of Paris
Leaving a vacuum
For the armies of doubt to invade

She is a stiff necked girl
Yet she sees everything
Does she see me?

And who cares?

I've posted this before. In 2006.

I am going to try real hard to do nothing today.

But there is the possibility that I will string up the violins and take a picture.

More backyard

On your far left, the gong, fallen over.
Little to the right of that, a sawhorse.
In the center, the chipper, silent now.
Off to your left we see the tarp.

Chipper got jammed up with some very stringy vine and I had to take it apart to get it cleared.
We quit working after that.

This could have all been done in a couple hours if we had wanted to pay the young guys to do it when they cut the stuff, but two weeks for a pair of old folks (combined age 134 years) an hour or two at a time when we felt like it.

Oh yeah, apple blossoms (right) and lilac blooms (left) also frame this magnificent portrait of the 6.5 horsepower Sears garden chipper.