A Long Drive

Fuel Injector

Working on cars is good…Working on cars is bad…

“I don’t want to work on cars again”. I complained as we headed to our garage in Hayward where the Miata was waiting for us with its guts spilled out. I was petulant as I could think of a thousand different and more enjoyable ways of spending our weekend. Hiking Montara mountain, cooking up delicious meals, enjoying a nice glass of wine while debating what Fellini was really trying to convey in “8-1/2”.

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Paolo and Francesca

Don Giovanni is a man of immoderate desires. The outcome of a lifetime of vice.

The libretto bills this opera as “Dramma Giocoso”, a comedic opera. It opens with the nihilistic Don Giovanni attempting the rape of a young woman whose cries bring her father to her aid. Dad, perturbed at the attempted rape comes at the perp swinging his sword, and Don Giovanni, the poster child for poor impulse control ends up killing him. He follows this up by crashing a wedding and seducing the bride to be! Pretty funny, huh?

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A consideration for birding.

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Steampunk Neena

A Fund raiser for a Tree House – Fireballs in Oakland. (Map this!)

We could have been at a medieval alchemist workshop as flaming balls of fire lit up the dusk with a resounding “boom”, a merry-go-round powered by a steam engine whirled ephemerally through the surrounding vapor and a steam powered blender busily prepared margaritas consumed eagerly by the waiting crowd.

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San Francisco Opera House

Opera as inspiration. The road to Manaus.

Opera has woven itself into our lives and provides inspiration and motivation for many of our actions. When the lights dim and the curtain rises the world is transformed. This world, our ordinary world, disappears and is replaced with one of magic and illusion, a new world of acoustic richness and a vocabulary of its own.

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