I played an outdoor concert last night with the Gateway Festival Orchestra and afterwards I saw this little fellow.
I was thinking he was a frog, but Louie said he was a toad (or she, I don’t know how to tell) and I suppose I forgot about toads as an option. The toad stood very still as I walked by and took his picture.
The week went by quickly with teaching, practicing, and well, relaxing. Summer has been really refreshing for me. I’ve had plenty of work so I don’t worry, but between traveling and having more free time than normal, it’s been really wonderful. On the one hand, I wouldn’t be mad if life continued like this, but on the other hand, my monthly take home is a little lower than I want all year long. I do enjoy some of my other jobs (especially teaching at Wash U, I’ve had such wonderful students there!) but man, it is nice sometimes just teaching from home and playing some orchestra concerts and chamber music with friends.
There’s more chamber music this week, and opera as well. It’s perhaps my lightest teaching week all summer, so I have some “early” evenings (7:15 is early, I guess) and plenty of time during the day to do what needs to be done. This does not entail gardening this year: 1) too hot to do yardwork, at least for me. 2) I never did get the vegetable garden in last year.
I think what I need to do is in the fall I need to really put the garden bed away, do a lot of yard work once things die off and then make a real plan in the spring. I miss having fresh veggies, but then again, we may end up traveling a lot next summer too. Either way, we never did our fall “yard clean up” last year and we are paying the price this year with some overgrown stuff happening. (Alternately, we need to just pay somebody to come do that, plus take care of a few trees which are too big probably.)
We haven’t been doing too much cooking, but I’ve got a Purple Carrot box coming this week. I think it’ll get us out of the rut, maybe. I want to do more meal planning and make fabulous meals, but then I remember there are only 2 of us…it’s much easier to just roast some broccoli and make a frozen veggie burger, or open a can of beans.
Book wise: I haven’t mentioned much lately, so here’s what I’ve been reading:
The Inspector Brunetti Series by Donna Leon (I’ve read about 15 of these)
Glass Houses by Louise Penny, Inspector Gamache series (loved this series for the most part)
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling: I like this series, even though I am upset by Rowling’s anti-trans stance. I checked it out from the library so I feel like it didn’t really help her out, but I am conflicted.
Maid by Stephanie Land. I’d watched the tv show and the book was more detailed and really made me think about how lucky I am and how we can treat workers better.
The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri. Great read, about an Iranian women and her and her family’s experience immigrating as well as other refugees as well. Reading too many books like this can be overwhelming, but it makes you consider your privilege, what you could lose, and how other people are connected to you.
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. Good read , recommend.
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. Also enjoyed this one, recommend. (I don’t have to write a book report, use google 🙂 )
Book Lovers by Emily Henry. Quick read, predictable but delightful.
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza. Very good, recommend.
Ruth Galloway Mystery Series by Elly Griffiths. I’m 4 books in and really enjoying it.
TV: Barry–we finished Season 3 recently. Not as good as Seasons 1 and 2, but still enjoyable.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: currently watching. It’s entertaining but starting to feel a little bit cliche, like the characters are developed beyond being actual people and are now just the most ridiculous parts of their personalities. Or it’s always been like that but I’m just in a darker place now?
Anatomy of a Scandal: I wanted to like this, and I did for parts, but overall eh, not recommend.
Oh, and we watched the new Borgen show, I forget the name, while traveling. Loved Borgen, loved the newest season taking place in Greenland as well as Denmark.
We could probably use some television recommendations, as it feels like Netflix isn’t hitting the mark anyway and the other apps are super annoying to browse. Right now we have Netflix, Apple, Amazon and HBO (too many probably!)
Oh, and we went to see Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky with Union Avenue Opera. I thought it was well done, but I didn’t love it. The first act was slow and I wish there could have been a bigger orchestra for some of the music. It was nice to see though, I’m always glad to see new things and I was unfamiliar with the opera.
I guess that’s it for now! I have some practicing to do. Oh, and stay tuned, I am still planning to recap our trip to Austin and tell you what we did there, but I just haven’t yet.