Updates

Smokey Rose received a lovely Valentine's card from Woody, her friend in the Netherlands. Woody had an adventure. He went out into the garden and found that everything was covered with the cold, wet, white stuff. He wasn't real fond of it, so he ran back inside and snuggled with his mom in bed for quite some time in order to recover from the whole thing.

Smokey Rose did go out for a little field trip, but not alone. She went in her carrier box to meet her new friend, Dr. Nancy. The visit was pretty successful. Dr. Nancy declared that Smokey Rose was indeed a very fine kitty, and Smokey Rose was on her best behavior and did not get all stressed over the visit.

In the waiting room at Dancing Cats, Dr. Nancy's place, we met a family that brought in three new kitties they had adopted from Best Friends. AND when I was working at Sundance, I met a woman wearing a Best Friends sweatshirt. I got to talking about her, and she said she was pretty sure that a while ago she had been a sponsor for Smokey, back when things weren't looking so good for Smokey's adoption possibilities. I thanked her so very much. All those good folks like her helped bring Smokey Rose to me.

Rosie and I also met Ms Colleen who is going to come to the apartment and take care of Ms Rosie all next week when I go away for 6 days to southern California. (Normally it would be Mr. Russ who comes to visit, but Mr. Russ is taking a vacation himself in Mexico! He deserves it.) This will be Rosie's first time being cared for by someone else. It has to happen sooner or later. I'm trusting that Colleen, a professional at this, will do just fine.

And look at what I found .... 50% off and very cheap at the Golden Braid store. I've worn it a couple of times and think it works just fine.

I also made this for myself. I have made two of these nice scarves and given them to friends who like them quite a bit. I decided I needed one for me, and I found this color combination that featured some green along with my colors of black, gray and turquoise. I am very pleased with this. Now the whole green scarf thing is put to rest!

Utah Symphony - Beethoven's Fifth

" Do you want to buy the very last ticket, middle of the main floor, $68.00?"
I took about 2 seconds to think and then said "Yes. Do you take American Express?"

Yesterday my dear friends, Larry, Maria & Dante were in town for the weekend to attend Dante's Suzuki cello graduation. Dante plays so very well and seems to be addicted to composing. I was very impressed with all the students. Everybody played well, and the concert was well organized. It took about an hour or so and was pretty enjoyable, all things considered.

My friends were going to see the Utah Symphony after supper and asked me to join them. But I didn't have a ticket and didn't think I could get one just a couple of hours before the concert. Maria called Arttix while we were in the car going to the restaurant. One last ticket only. I got it.

I've never been to Abravanel Hall, have never heard the Utah Symphony. About time I did and starting with the most famous four notes in all of classical music.....a mighty fine idea.

I had a wonderful seat. right in the center, about 1/4 of the way from the front. The floor slants down, so unless Lincoln with his hat sits in front of you, the view is fine.

I enjoyed the whole program which included 3 short pieces by Gabriel Fauré and a world premier new piece by Michael Jarrell called "Émergenences (Nachlese VI) for cello and orchestra" with Jean-Guhihen Queryas soloist. I'm not sure what to say about the new piece. It is modern and so has no melody. I have no specific memory of any part of it except the REALLY LOUD and SUDDEN drum beats that happened from time to time. A lot of the piece was whisper quiet, and the soloist made the cello make a whole lot of sounds I didn't know I cello could do. I noticed that the pianist was doing something by standing up and reaching into the body where the strings are, and someone else way in the back was doing something unknown with two sticks of some kind. When I wasn't watching the cellist, I was studying the three percussionists who had a heck of a lot of interesting things to pound on.

And then it was time for Beethovan. I'm pretty sure I have never heard this piece live, but, of course, I knew the whole of it.  This may be the only time I get to hear the Fifth Symphony in person. So I made the most of it. I was not disappointed. In fact, I loved it, every second of it. Leaning forward in my wonderful seat, I just drank it in.

This is how I want to spend my time and money - creating totally memorable experiences to carry with me the rest of my life.