Introducing the Band

Piano: Pianists are intellectuals and know-it-alls since they studied theory, harmony and composition in college. Most are riddled with self-doubt and are usually bald. They should have big hands, but often don’t. They were social rejects as adolescents. They go home after the gig and play with toy soldiers. Pianists have a special love-hate relationship with singers. If you talk to the piano player during a break, he will condescend.

Go to A Passion for Jazz to read the rest…

The challenge involves reading tasks (as I think I’ve explained before) that are worth different point rewards. Bonus points are also involved. The tasks were just announced and I’ve started my planning. The actual reading must happen between July 1 and September 30, 2013, but challenge groupies get planning well in advance. I admit to staying up until 3:30 this morning searching for books (when I should have been reading my book club selection due tomorrow….).

Summer is one of my favorite times to read, and I have fit a number of my must-read books into the challenge parameters. For example, we’ll be reading Wolf Hall for book club so it’s there. I’ve got a couple of novels set in Turkey as I’ll be in Istanbul for a week in August. I received Arlene Dickinson’s book Persuasion for Christmas a year and a half ago and very much want to read it, so it’s on the pile.

If you enjoy Goodreads and like to discover new and sometimes challenging books, consider joining the Bookish group. If you’re a Bookish member and planning to join the challenge, feel free to use my spreadsheet. Otherwise, have a look at what I will be (trying) to read this summer.

Reality check: this is something of a fantasy list. I only read half the books I planned for in the last challenge, but at least I’m never scrambling for ideas.

1. Yikes, it’s suddenly gotten chilly again! A couple of weeks ago, I committed to losing the socks for the season, but I may need to dig out a pair today.
2. Attended a concert at Michael’s school last night, featuring the Senior Stage Band (in which he plays bass trombone) and the Jazz.fm Youth Big Band in which he played for two years. As well as a chance to showcase these terrific young players, the concert raised money to send one of the high schoolers to Jazz Camp at Kincardine this summer. Michael was asked to sit in on a couple of tunes with the Jazz.fm folks, as well as their special guest, saxophonist Alex Dean, who sat in with both bands and treated us to some incredible solos.
3. My book club is meeting chez moi this Sunday afternoon. I’m preparing a Venetian-inspired light lunch for our discussion of The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper (which I still have to finish.)
4. I joined the Sea Change Program hosted by Leo Babauta at Zen Habits. It encourages people to pick up a new habit each month. I have been meeting with my accountability group via Skype once a week to discuss how we’re progressing on this month’s habit: writing. It has certainly gotten me back into the daily writing habit and I’ve enjoyed meeting some new people who are working on the same changes. Next month’s habit is “Simplify your day” which is not so much an issue for me, but we’ll see what he has to offer.
5. We need to get visas for our trip to Istanbul in August. I am very excited about this vacation. Z and I will be meeting my brother-in-law, his wife, and two of their grown children, and the plan is to rent a centrally-located apartment. Unfortunately, our boys can’t join us this time, but I’m sure we’ll be back. This trip has been on our bucket list for a long time.
6. Next week I will head back to Ottawa to work some more with my mother to organize her new apartment and sort through the stuff in the condo. In particular, I want to go through a lot of old photos and annotate them with names, places, stories. I should pick up a few decorative boxes to sort and store these items.
7. Henry’s and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra are offering an interesting course for photographers. It’s June 4, from 10 am to 1 pm. Attendees will have an opportunity to shoot in Roy Thomson Hall, and work with musicians in rehearsal and back-stage. Funds raised go to support the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, of which Michael is an alumna. More info here.
   

   Roy Thomson Hall

For more Seven Quick Takes from bloggers around the world, visit Conversion Diary.

Last night, the main event was the Brahms German Requiem, Op. 45. where he was joined by Soprano Klara Ek and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. I was not familiar with much of this work except for the Mäßig bewegt (How wonderful are thy tabernacles), a choral piece that I have sung in the past. Finley did a wonderful job, although the solo parts are small. The choir was great. I wasn’t enamoured of the soprano, although excerpts I’ve listened to online are wonderful.

The first half of the program was the Canadian premiere of “Songs of Love and Sorrow” written by Peter Lieberson based on poems by Pablo Neruda. This work was premiered by Finley in Boston in 2010, and conductor Peter Oundjian noted that they were written with Finley in mind. The story behind this and Lieberson’s previous song cycle “Neruda Songs” is very touching. There is some beautiful music here and a program insert provided the text and translation for the songs, which is very powerful.

Full woman, carnal apple, hot moon, thick smell of seaweed, mud, and light in masquerade, what secret clarity opens up between your columns?
What ancient night does man touch with his senses?

Finley’s voice is so pure and strong. He sang with much emotion. This may be anathema for some, but I wish that there had been surtitles during the performance. I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage to peer at the text in my program in the dim light of the hall. But I believe my experience would have been improved with a sense of the meaning of the songs during the performance.

My companion felt that the work was a bit monotonous and I’d have to agree, possibly due to the above. Finley’s voice was sometimes swallowed up by the much-reduced orchestra behind him.

I would have to say that the Westben performance gave so much more of Finley. It was a selection of favourites from the song repertoire and was in a much more intimate setting, possibly a better way to experience what Oundjian called “one of the most extraordinary voices to hit the planet.”

Ingredients:

• Edamame
• Peas
• Daikon
• Bell peppers
• Corn
• Onions
• Fresh parsley and dill.

I figure any combination of the above would work just fine.

Main dressing ingredients (excluding additives/emulsifiers):

• Yogurt
• Mayonnaise
• Cream
• Liquid Egg
• Canola Oil
• Lemon Juice
• Vinegar
• Herbs
• Spices

Based on the ingredient list, I’d probably try a recipe like this one from Mark Bittman for a creamy vinaigrette.

I’ll try it out and get back to y’all.

Rob Ford Crackstarter | Indiegogo.

I took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and decided to return to the Apple fold.

I used Macs of various sorts through a good part of my paid-work life but had migrated to a PC late in my career and through my second round of grad school. As a statistician, I was concerned about what analysis packages would be available for Mac. I had started my family history endeavours using Family Tree Maker on a PC. So I stuck with it for 15 years.

My previous machine, a 6 year old Dell something-or-other was a large, heavy laptop. I was getting frequent blue screens of death despite my scrupulous management of security, updates, and all other types of safe-computing tasks. I lost a keycap and the associated attachment thingy which was annoying as I couldn’t fix it myself. It was painfully slow. I never updated past Vista as I was worried that my printer wouldn’t work, a problem I’d had in the past with an HP printer.  I use an iPhone and an iPad, ITunes to manage my music and books, and have progressively moved to the cloud with my documents and family history stuff.

I had no more excuses, and the blessing for the expenditure.

When I was in Ottawa last week, I transferred data from my Dell to my brand new MacBook Air, an amazingly easy process if you have a network connecting the machines. I did it on my mom’s WiFi network. Overnight. (I had a lot of photos that weren’t yet uploaded to PicasaWeb.

I tried the Safari browser for a few days but am so used to Chrome that I moved back to that. I love that all my bookmarks and extensions moved seamlessly to my new machine.

I’m still getting used to the slightly different keyboard layout and the clickable trackpad. The gesture interface is similar to the iPad so that’s easy to figure out, although scrolling is backwards. (Well, actually the Apple scrolling interface makes more sense, directionally, than the WIndows one, but I was used to the latter.)

I still need to get Family Tree Maker for the Mac, the ancestry.com product. There are probably other programs that I will need, but so far, things are going just fine.

Finally, this workhorse is tiny. I got the 13″ screen, but even so, it’s about 1/3 the size of the Dell (width-wise) and seems to melt into my desk when it’s open. I may want to invest in a larger screen sometime down the road, but for now, I believe I have found computing perfection.

Le livre défendu. – The forbidden book.

How did I get to this place of having four (or five) books on the go?

I used to be a single-book-at-a-time gal. Then I started listening to audiobooks, but that was mainly when driving or doing housework, so I typically had two books underway. I also need to balance library book due dates and book club assignments.

I’ve ended up with four books in my currently reading pile (five as of yesterday) and I’m finding it a little distracting.

Hardcover: The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper – For book club this Sunday.
Audiobook: Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry – checked out from library. Will expire.
Kobo: Why Men Lie by Linden MacIntyre – checked out from library. Will expire.
Paperback : S.E.C.R.E.T by L. Marie Adeline – passed on by a friend. Started it when Kobo lost power and it was in my bag. Completed and ready to give away.
Hardcover: Wife Dressing: The Fine Art of Being a Well-Dressed Wife by Ann Fogarty. Easy to dip in to for a chapter every now and then.

I use Goodreads to manage my books in progress, but most importantly, to keep track of the books I want to read.  It’s a terrifically helpful tool as well as an easy way for book lovers to dip a toe into social networking.

What are you reading these days?

(Book links are to my affiliate account at amazon.ca.)