November 1, 2011

"Cops aren't lawyers, Mr. Wyler.  We just bring 'em in, we don't cook 'em"--Murder One

    Dreamed of Britain's tabloid press reporting a non-existent story on the Duke of Cambridge getting into a fight in his school days, in Canada during winter.

    Started spading the garden. (Yesterday I spread peat moss on it.) Next year I think we'll focus on potatoes.

    Dinner was beef stew.

    At opera rehearsal, we went through all of Lucia di Lamermoor.  Giuseppe's concerned that we're behind schedule. (Adolfo's a bit of a perfectionist, which can slow things down.) Next week we'll finally get started on The Merry Widow.

October 31, 2011

 Dreamed of a sequel to Grease with the children of the high schoolers now in high school themselves.

    Baked whole wheat bread.

    Dinner was pork chops.

    At choir practice we did the rest of the first act of Norma.  Quite a few people were missing, but Giuseppe praised us at the end of the rehearsal (which he doesn't often do!).

October 30, 2011

    Went on a morning Walking Meetup.  We passed through Casa Loma, Wychwood Park and Wychwood Barns.

    Father nad I were going to bundle up the branches from the cedar we cut down yesterday, but a neighbour took a lot of them off our hands.

    Dinner was the rest of the fettucine.

October 29, 2011

Don Giovanni: "Do you like that music?"

Leporello (his servant): "You deserve it!"

--Don Giovanni

"To be faithful to one woman would be cruel to all the others!"--ibid.

    Saw the cinemacast of the Met production of Don Giovanni at the Sheppard Grande.  I liked the long pitchforks some of Massetto's posse were carrying!

    John and Kathrine came over and helped with some chores like cutting down a cedar growing next to the house which allowed a squirrel to climb into the attic.  They stayed for dinner, which was Indian food.

    The Omnivore's Dilemma is an interesting book indeed.  It's showing me a new way to look at food.

    Kathrine had to borrow my computer to send an email to arrange the placement of a dog she'd help buy off an abusive owner for $80 and a pack of cigarettes.

October 28, 2011

    Dreamed of the Shirley Temple musical Captain January; a new movie multiplex in Aulac, near my hometown Sackville, N.B.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

October 27, 2011

    Dreamed of trying to find a French consulate near some bicycle paths; the line from The Fabulous Baker Boys "I thought you were a loser, but you're worse--you're a coward!"; a non-existent episode of Kung Fu; being invited to a convention for the (actual) New York State Liberal Party.

    Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked).

    Went to a talk on the opera Don Giovanni at the Italian Cultural Institute as part of a Classica Music Meetup.  I didn't stay for the reception because I felt unwell.

October 26, 2011

"What you think we ain't, we are.  Remember that"--Ride With the Devil

Norm: "I'm not proud of myself, but then again I never am"--Cheers!

    Dreamed of meeting Eva Marie Saint (whom I'd seen in North by Northwest last week); the South Kensington area in London with all the museums.

    Saw the DVD of Ang Lee's Ride With the Devil (for the second time). An eloquent and believable Civil War story.

    Dinner was steak.