EXPECTING THE WORST AND GETTING THE BEST

This evening the Boston Symphony Orchestra surprised me with a most pleasurable musical experience. For some time I have been jaundiced by 'new music' in all its dissonance, mathematical formulas, and atonal auditory unpleasantness. I saw that the composer of the first two pieces was Osvaldo Golijov. He lives locally in the Boston area and came from Argentina. The program notes read: "Golijov's inherent curiosity, his ability to find inspiration throughout many facets, musical and otherwise, of many cultures, was nurtured by studies with the similarly exploratory composers Mark Kopytman in Israel and George Crumb in the United States." I expected a younger Elliot Carter and got a 21st C Dvorak!

The notes further state: "His style, in a broad sense, is in part a network of resonances, some more, some less, apparent to the listener, existing in dynamic equilibrium with the composer's own individual voice, characterized by a strong penchant for lyricism and an ear for unusual and brilliant instrumentation." The first piece, Ausencia (absence), for cello solo, 8 minutes, added strings with cello for the next 7 minutes. Actually, I was prepared a little by having gone to the pre-concert talk. Yo-Yo Ma and Golijov both came on stage and talked about the performance of the two cello pieces. The light, relaxed repartee between them was wonderful, funny, and set a positive expectation, to be realized in what was to come. The second piece was AZUL, actually commissioned for the BSO to celebrate their 125th anniversary, and written for Yo-Yo Ma. The notes read: "In conceiving AZUL, Golijov chose contemplation over conflict and wrote a work that is not a concerto....." This piece had everything; rhythm, defined harmonic movement, excitement, unusual instruments and above all, it magically captivated the audience.

Borrowed from the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the conductor made his BSO debut at Tanglewood in 2003. Miguel Harth-Bedova was born in Peru and now lives in Fort Worth. He is much younger than most of the conductors I have seen over the past few years and brought with him an energy and spirit that, along with Yo-Yo Ma's playing and Golijov's composing, electrified the enormous hall.

The second half of the program was Dvorak's FOUR SONGS WITH ORCHESTRA. The similarity in conceptualization, while at the same time totally different, made for an exceptional evening of music which will be long remembered by this listener.

TRUTHINESS OR LIEFULNESS?

As though there can be any sane or intelligent person out there who can have any doubts about whether we have been told truths by our President and this current Administration, today we are presented with a President who is whining about not having been properly informed! Did Cheney forget to pull the puppet strings?

When asking 'who knew what when?' more serious considerations about how much we can believe are raised about what we have been told for the last eight years. Can anyone respect a President who asked no questions when given intelligence reversals and continued his rhetoric about the threat Iran presents?

I HAD IT WRONG

For years I have operated on the principle: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. Today my father's voice boomed into my head saying, "No! No! No! Do it today; don't put things off until tomorrow....why if I had....the hay would have been rained on and ruined....someone else would have bought that property.......(ad nauseum)". The problem with putting things off, or at least one of the many problems raised, is that once you start a project all the pieces involved migrate out of sight as soon as you leave the room. I had a project all ready to mail just last seven months ago and now I can't find all the parts, proving my point that like mice, they travel when you are least apt to see them.

When I find shoes that fit, and I like them, I usually buy them in each color (I have a wide foot and a high instep so am limited as to selection that fits). I add them to the boxes piled up in my closet, neatly marked with the date and shoe description on the box, often with a picture of the shoe as it came from the store. I'm proud that I almost always put shoes back in the right box. Somehow they also seem to migrate to strange boxes at night. In fact, they are uncanny. A shoe I don't want to wear is always the first found but not the one I planned to wear. Today a new problem appeared. I put on a pair of never worn shoes (They couldn't have been more than a mere ten years old) and after walking through a few rooms, the soles felt like something had shifted. When I lifted my foot, a saw a trail of spongy stuff across the tile floor. The entire spongy sole and heel had deteriorated leaving a space under my foot through which I could see light, as in a tunnel. Had I worn them daily for months, I might have beaten the decomposition. Then my father wouldn't have to be saying, "I told you so." from wherever he is mumbling in my head.

Each day I promise myself I will read through that humongous pile of mail that is dropped and properly dispose each piece. Too often, my don't-do-today-what-you-can-do-tomorrow grabs hold and I can't face another catalog, request to save the world, buy a magazine at a discount rate, pay a bill, or whatever the day's waste of trees drops on me. The piles get higher and the tomorrows just keep adding up until I need the table and just take everything and make one huge pile that "I will look through someday soon." Usually I do manage to throw away catalogs as the season finally changes, otherwise I'm not sure I would still have room to live here.

Today I have resolved to do better tomorrow and will now go to bed and sleep on that vision, hoping I will remember it in the morning.

A GRINCH CHRISTMAS

The Grinch didn't steal Christmas, he invented it. This is no longer the era of The Gift of the Magi. People should not sacrifice, though many will. People without jobs will try to make the same Christmas they have always made but with great sacrifice after the Holidays. Others will impulsively charge more than they can pay off quickly and be paying for Christmas 2007 until Christmas 2008.

Today I heard a woman in a store say she was only there to buy food for her work lunches. She finished all her gift shopping two months ago. I think there was a halo shining under her hat. It is my belief that, rather than gift giving, people should just be loving and nice to one another all year long.

I am with many friends who feel as I do. I don't lack for anything and usually buy what I want....fortunately, I don't have impossible yearnings. As it goes in the Three Little Pigs, my house is built of brick and is as wolf proof as I can make it.

TOILET SEAT TREATISE

Toilet seats can make my life comfortable or decidedly uncomfortable. I've sat on wooden seats that were cracked and pinched in an area where only tender fingers should be felt . Cushioned seats, of plastic that ages. can harden and crack, edges sharp as razors. Split seats, while great for training little boys, can trap an overly obese person the seat and bowl.

Temperature may cause a little less physical pain but can be equally unpleasant. I've wondered whether a cold seat that can be anticipated in advance in a cold room is any better that falling into the bowl backwards when it is dark, you are sleepy trying not to wake up, and some inconsiderate male has left the toilet seat up in your bathroom.

While I love Jane Austen movies, I can't help but think of the era of commodes...bad even if there were servants to empty them, impossible to live with otherwise. Outhouses were not an improved invention. I suppose I should be grateful for modern, flushable blessings indoors, but all things being relative, I'd like a nice warm bathroom with a fabric seat that people will leave alone and go use one of the two other bathrooms in the house. Is that too much to ask for from Santa?

DECORATING THE HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS

As I drive in my neighborhood towards my house, people have done 'pretty' and 'pretty tacky'. Some people think more is better. One house has a yard full of everything that can be lit that vaguely resembles the Season. Lights are in every window, around the windows, all along the roof lines, every tree, every inch of what used to be lawn, the fence, the walkway....and I'm still probably forgetting some parts trimmed. a few houses away, there are big, blow up things that look great when air is being pumped in but lie around like dead carcasses all day.

Years ago we trimmed outside; local kids stole bulbs. Little Grinches! That did it! Now I no longer get myself chilled. Everything lives inside where I stay warm and don't have to re-buy all the time.

There are musical Santas, tiny Santas, tall Santas, modified Santas, in every space not filled by an angel or nutcracker. The mantel piece, bay window, top of the entertainment center, and lots of other spaces show off a collection of nutcrackers that has taken forty years to gather, augmented by my daughter's collection, as well. Like the Nutcracker Ballet, I would like to get up after midnight and see all of them alive, just once!

I begrudge having to go though the season. Think, decide, buy or not, wrap, wasted money. Two things I never liked doing are wrapping and mailing things and making salads. Both tasks have crept into my life and labeled themselves necessities! Whereas I went for years without having to do either, my life somehow has become infested with their popping up whether I call for them or not.

If I had a religion I'd change it! I'd change the celebrations that split the world. I'd start with advertising. First I'd start a truth in Ad inquisition, then a campaign for people to stop buying unasked for gifts. No guessing....and here the dream ends.