Letters to Holly

Monday, June 30

And the Band Played On

I met Your Sis and Parents at the music center Friday for the season's opener. We had lawn seats, and I was worried about a string of storms moving through. Somehow the storms grazed us well before the show. Your Sis packed a cooler, and you should picture a large pirate chest of food. She even packed poundcake, fruit, and whipped cream for dessert, and those sitting around us stared and drooled. She's gone utterly Southern Living.

The show was my first classical concert, and it was incredible. We stole Keith Lockhart from the Boston Pops, and Yo-Yo Ma was the featured soloist. I know very little about the cello. I don't think I've seen one up close since my fifth-grade orchestra class. But Ma conveyed what the true greats can: Powerful Effort. Watching him or a Tiger of LeBron, the casual audience can see these guys know what they are doing and are doing it on a superior level. I hope to attend some of the opera dress rehearsals. I've never seen an opera before.

On Saturday, I drove to a work seminar to take pictures before helping Mom clean out Louis's house. It's a pile of plump garbage bags, currently. Mom and her cousin Jean were selecting what can be sold and what must be chucked. I was put on file-cabinet duty. This was what I did after Dad died: organizing loose receipts and legal documents. I found out Louis was in the Air Force for two weeks before bein shipped home with a bum foot. He had shot himself "accidentally" after getting his Selective Service notice, and when the military found out, they discharged him. We will be taking his old piano -- actually, Granny's old piano -- to our house before summer is over.

Your Sis was in Greenville to visit a college buddy, and I spent my bachelor weekend pruning the garden (accidentally uprooted a squash plant) and seeding the grass. She came back Sunday evening, and we watched the Olympic trials for track and swimming. I readily admit I have Olympic fever. I'm a sucker for them every year.

I hear someone got a Matrix.

Moving Picture of the Day
The trailer for the new James Bond film.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm sorry to hear about your uncle. it's awful to have such a double-whammy so close together...same funeral parlor even.

sounds like the concert was amazing.

yup, my father was so impressed with your ride and its quality, that when i said it could easily hold a kayak on a roof rack, he was able to find one pretty quickly.

how goes the facebook hunt for saea alumnia and your old friends?

Gregory said...

The search is WEIRD. I've been contacted by two people I never thought I'd hear from: a guy of mutual dislike from high school, and a girl I briefly dated during college whom I thought hated me.

The work stuff is generally overblown. No one benefits from learning what our rituals are from FaceBook or another site. It is a excommunicating offense, however.