1. To be honest, I just hadn't given much thought to symphonies over the past seventy-two years. They would come on the different classical music radio stations I've listened to over the years and I enjoyed them playing in background as I drove a car or went about my business at home.
I think I've had a small breakthrough, though, in developing an appreciation for this art form.
Symphonies wander.
Much like novels which can move easily from setting to setting, travel in time, and, in the course of exercising this flexibility, experiment with point of view, language, and with the genre itself, I've begun to hear the same sort of wandering, exploration, and experimentation in symphonies.
I'll leave it at that for now, except to say that I've been much more receptive to the multiple aspects of symphonic music over the last few days as I've given into the wandering in the movements of these compositions.
2. Our family decided a few years ago to have our holiday prime rib dinner on New Year's Day. We used to have it closer to Christmas -- even on Christmas Day,
Tonight's dinner was thoroughly delicious. We started with a simple shrimp cocktail that Cosette and Taylor assembled and before long paraded to the dining table where the perfectly seasoned and tender, juicy prime rib Carol roasted was accompanied by Zoe's terrific chopped salad (I think Saphire helped her), Christy's perfectly baked Hasselback potatoes with a smooth white sauce, and Carol's flawless Yorkshire pudding. I contributed a mundane pickle and olive plate, compliments of jars purchased at Yoke's Fresh Market.
3. As our fantastic dinner wound down, Carol hushed the table and announced that she wanted us to divide into two teams and play Pub Trivia. By some randomizing method, Christy, Taylor, and I became one team and the other was Paul, Carol, and Cosette. The best part of the game was that Christy, Taylor, and I all contributed answers and in our collaborative effort we answered quite a few questions correctly. It was a lot of fun.
