Sunday Ballet in Seattle
Greg drove the rest of us to the Pacific Northwest Ballet theatre in downtown Seattle. What could be more Christmasy than The Nutcracker Suite, Tchaikovsky’s nonsense story about regarding a dream sequence Just a good excuse for some romantic music and dance. Who goes to a ballet for a in depth story?
The place was full and the ballet was well received. From my perspective the music could have been louder given that one ear is not working as well as it should.
After you have seen the dancers at The Royal Opera House then anything else will seem a little bit tame. Not that I’m a great judge of the ballet, but I thought that the performance of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet was just magical and this wasn’t.
Christmas carols
On Monday Alex drove us into town for a festival of Carols and Lessons at the Benaroya Hall. This time the party consistedted of just Maggi, Alex and me. We parked underneath the very modern concert hall.
As usual for these types of events the audience didn’t represent the full breadth of society. The hall had some black middle class Americans, but I didn’t see anyone with an Asian heritage.
We had a fairly small orchestra, but a full choir. Maybe because we sat theee quarters back from the stage that the sound wasn’t very strong or perhaps it was my dodgy hearing.
When younger I wouldn’t have considered this music as at all entertaining. Now I try to listen to the music in more detail and derive benefit from all aspects of the playing as well as the tunes and how the instruments are orchestrated.
The performance lasted roughly 90 minutes, but the strange thing about the concert was that the concert finished without them playing the final musical piece on the programme.
We managed to be one of the first bunch of people to exit from the car park so arrived home quite quickly. I was in bed by 10 pm.
Tuesday 23rd
Like the other days this week it involved a walk and for me still messing around with Immich to make sure all my photos are in one place and then something in the evening. Oh yes and we have always done some shopping.
Today followed the same pattern, shop, walk and computer. In the evening we had a visit from Tim and Sonya who a brought their daughter Eva. A level of anxiety surrounded their visit. Tim had told Greg that they would come at 6 pm and leave at 8pm. No one knew whether that meant nibbles or snacks rather than a proper meal.
It turned out they expected a meal. They had no intention of going elsewhere for the evening. They just didn’t want to spend more than two hours at Alex and Greg’s house. Personally I thought this rather an arrogant approach to seeing friends, we want to have a meal with you but not spend any time with you.
I found it extraordinary that Alex made no contribution to the preparation or crealing up for their guests. She didn’t buy the food, cook, lay the table, clear away or wash up. She must think she is above all that sort of thing..
I might not contribute to the making of meals, but I make sure I clear away
Tim and Sonya didn’t impress me. Fancy sending your only daughter to a Christian Faith based private University. What does that say about your concern for diversity and understanding of the world around you? All very much a negative as far as I’m concerned.
Wednesday Xmas Eve
Today followed the same as Sunday, Monday and Tuesday except nothing happened in the evening. Everyone else drove Miriam’s on McGraw St for a cocktail with others. I didn’t fancy going so I stayed behind and looked after Bennett. Who I must say behaved very well.
When they returned Greg made a very good vegetarian curry. To end the day we all watched Daddy’s Home 2 which we all found very funny. It’s not often that I laugh out loud at half dozens points in a movie, but this one succeeded even though Mel Gibson was one of the stars.