it begins again

off for my first day of the annual Sarasota Film Festival- here are my choices -

running out

LOL- I am sooo running out of time- I had hoped to get the house projects done before we headed north but that is alas not to be and the entire next week is taken up with films films films - so this is my catch up post before the craziness of the festival...  which includes not only thirty plus films between the two of us but also dinner plans four nights of festival around the film schedule with film going friends...

so in an effort to bring the blog up to speed I am going to do a quick run through of the projects we have accomplished in house maintenance and rehab since last time I posted, and other things along the way-

We had just come back from the trip to the Ape Sanctuary when I last posted                                   

We had the HVAC serviced and learned that our AC needed all new duct work due to the prior rat infestation (before we moved in ) - all the insulation and covering had been torn up and eaten through (YUCK!) and oh by the way your AC has not been cleaned in years and getting it back to working order will be four figures of repair and maintenance work (and at that age - of course - there would be no point in it) so yes we ended up putting new HVAC and ductwork in-

We had the locksmith out to do some work- but hey - that one was just a single door LOL-

The electricians came back for the remainder of the work - installed GFIs in all the places needed to bring the house  up to code and did some installation of new lights for us under the kitchen cabinets and in our newly built out closets- and outlets outside for our use-

The "cage" guy came to install a structural strut in the Florida room so we could hang the fan/light fixture in that room...

The awning people came to install one of two exterior shades - (the other will be completed Monday AM) - we get morning sun in the bedroom and makes it difficult to cool, hence a shade to help keep the sun from beating on the triple sliders and heating up the room...

at this point I feel tired just listing the things that were done in the last week of March and first week of April alone... maybe this should be entitled running ON - as in - empty  which is about how much energy I have left for organizing the work around here -

oh and did I mention we got ourselves on the bathroom rehab schedule of the guy who will do the gut renovation of the master bath- IN OCTOBER since he was booked through the end of July....

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

I had a series of annual check ups at the eye doc - the internal med doc etc... and I am still in class LOL

but on the true fun side -

We met friends Barry & Ellen for lunch right before they left to go north after their three months in Venice (FL)

We had the last concert of the season at the symphony and another play at the theater -

We had dinner with friends Gene & MA and dinner with friends CBGB in Tampa (GA broke her foot a couple of weeks back to it was good to get to see her out and somewhat about) and we had dinner with friends Al & Carol before they head to North Carolina - and CBGB are already talking about their departure for Traverse City area... but will make a visit to Chicago this summer... YEA!

We had a "farewell tour" stop at Blue Marlin to have a super meal and wines with our buddies there - meeting family and friends of theirs as well...

So with that recitation let's go back and get some details painted in-

School - lectures on suburbanization and the fourth skyscraper age-

the Asolo theater production of the entertaining and mercifully short (the conceit wears thin quite quickly) Rhinoceros by Ionesco -

 

the symphony -  an energetic performance of several difficult and complex works- quite rousing and a lovely encore as they ended their Masterworks Season.../

This is from Gayle Williams review for the Herald Tribune-

The Sarasota Orchestra ended its Masterworks season with a challenging trio of works highlighting the many shades of orchestra color captained by three monumental composers from 1940 through 2003. The date range and inclusion of composers Sergei Rachmaninoff, John Adams, and John Corigliano made this one of the most remarkable Masterworks concerts of music director Anu Tali’s tenure.

John Adam’s brief character piece, “Short Ride in a Fast Machine,” took off at an unrelenting pace marked by a steady woodblock. In the best performances of this breathless example of Adam’s style of minimalism, flashes of brilliance and textures emerge and subside. The piccolo, then trumpets make a bright flash and are gone. The low brass, then cellos and basses, take over for a moment. The beat never ceases, though the musicians and conductor are navigating shifting meters throughout the repetitive landscape.  It’s a great exercise in concentration and the Sarasota musicians pulled the timing off without a hitch. 

Corigliano’s Violin Concerto (“The Red Violin”) is a delicious addition to the solo violin repertoire so heavily weighted in the 19th century. In this case, the rich melodic baby was not thrown out with the bathwater. Soloist Elina Vähälä played the demanding score with great passion and bravura evoking a vision of Paganini’s sister.

Drawn from Corigliano’s Oscar-winning score for the eponymous 2000 movie, the concerto begins with the chaconne of “Anna’s theme,” but continues miles beyond. There is still a fresh new thrill to this concerto. A lyric interlude transitioned into a raucous reckless finale which included a nostalgic return of Anna’s theme and topped it all with an astounding cadenza as Vähälä produced every ounce of technique and expression required.

If you were expecting old school Rachmaninoff of the piano concertos to close the concert, you likely left with eyes and ears open to an even broader world of color from the old Russian’s pen. His Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 was his last composition. Based on this performance alone, I vote it his best.

The orchestra was in peak form and Tali was clearly in her element. Rachmaninoff’s masterful orchestration was even more delightful due to the panache of each solo musician and section. A refreshing sense of breath and elasticity injected more joy into the music-making.  This generosity of spirit extended through grateful applause and more Rachmaninoff in an encore. What an adventurous ride to end a wonderful season.

and tomorrow we begin the film orgy of the festival with these two shared by both of us and additional individual film for Phil - so 2 for me and 3 for Phil on day ONE ---

we meet Jean for a quick dinner before RBG - at Nancy's a BBQ place we like - love the brisket... so more to follow when we get a chance to breathe - as Sunday brings four more films for me and two more for Phil - we will lots to report on... stay tuned....

oops - I did it again

LOL- OK this time it hasn't been quite as long but still.... I haven't kept up....

so last post we were at the Jewish Film Festival... the next day we had a lecture and that night we had the symphony- after the same day where I finished decorating the Florida room (furniture delivery.)

As with all of the move I used things I had and then filled in as needed- in this case I had the chairs and rug and pillows and throw and art work and lamps and plants and the round end table LOL- sounds like it should be finished right? Wrong... The room is sizable maybe twice the size of the previous Florida room so I purchased two love seats and a small center table to fill it out-

the new room views-

LOL the cat likes it!  she's already left lots of cat hair on the throw LOL

where the chairs and rug came from - below- the chests went to Phil's office and the lamp to the living room along with the small garden stool table - art work reworked for entry hall and bath

So let's see - that was Thursday morning and in the afternoon we went to a lecture on the Stratemeyer syndicate -

and while there were many interesting facts- one tidbit I should have put together in thinking of history but had not- was that the big surge in young adult books was due in part to the fact that Child Labor Laws had been passed and now kids were no longer slaving their days away in factories....

that night we had the symphony - with a mix of Mozart and Beethoven on the program - below shown tuning up before the performance....

Throughout the last few weeks we have had various projects going--- I installed a kick plate on the door to the garage - which entailed returning the first one due to poor measuring and buying a second one which was sized more appropriately LOL

and getting new garage door openers programmed and a key pad installed for exterior access-

and when the guy came to do the installation of the closet build outs I negotiated a jigsaw cut of the hall closet door to install the new cat portal into Lucy's "toilette" litter closet LOL- so the hall closet door can stay closed but she still has 24/7 access.... brilliant-

so after the Thursday night orchestra performance we moved into the weekend - Phil went to a ball game with CB- friend Chuck of CBGB "fame" LOL-  unfortunately GA (the GB of CBGB) broke her foot the day before and so she couldn't come down to visit with Chuck and rather than cancel our Michael's plans for dinner we just went later on our own after Chuck headed home to Tampa to pick up dinner for GA.... we managed to have two terrific wines for an excellent dinner- we had never tried the steaks at Michael's (Allen Brothers from Chicago) so we did that night and it was fabulous... and big enough to have for lunch on Saturday when Phil went off to a St Patrick's Day thing with friend Jean...

Sunday we went to Craftsman House in St Pete for a concert by Pat Donahue - who apparently is semi famous from Prairie Home Companion shows - he was charming and funny and an excellent guitar player. So well worth seeing/hearing....

and then had dinner at the delicious Sea Salt after the concert! Three terrific crudos to start along with an excellent Caesar salad which was rolled like sushi (we split it easily as it had four sections LOL) I had the crispy whole fish (yellowtail snapper) served with broccolini, wakame seaweed, crispy gnocchi, and lobster cappuccino. Phil had the red snapper with tuscan black kale, artichokes, red grapes, and truffle vinaigrette. For sweet endings Phil had the Milk Chocolate Dome with warm caramel sauce and murray river salt and I had the Vanilla Gelato with warm salted caramel sauce.  All a big yum

Oh and I went to a couple more classes - in my Skyscraper class- both interesting and we are down to only four more weeks and lectures- it has really been a good class- happy I decided to attend-

And we went to see Roe at the Asolo Rep Theater- we had mixed reviews of - the acting was good and the script was fast paced - packing a lot into the two hours and twenty minutes of stage time. I found it less than it could be and a disservice to both the complexity of the cause and of the law. 

Then we reached the point of the year where we furiously juggle papers and computer screens and sharpies to come up with our schedule for the Sarasota Film Festival.  The tickets went on sale to members on Saturday, just as we entered the Center for Great Apes for their quarterly open house.
It was not exactly convenient but there was enough of a phone signal to get mostly what we wanted. We finished it when we got home and were able to sort out what we got and what we still wanted tickets for...

We ended up with tickets to nearly thirty films with about a third of them together and the remainder divided between us. I ended up with more because Phil is headed north before the festival ends so I have two extra days to catch more goodies after he leaves and before I begin the process of closing the place for the summer. 

Yesterday then -  fun fun fun- we went to see the apes.  John, Barb and Beth went along.  As we have gotten to know the various residents and their stories, and even recognize them by sight in some cases, it was even more enjoyable than the last visit. 

Once we began our walk around the grounds in earnest I headed directly to my favorite guy Louie who lives with Allie who was paralyzed by an infection and who has no use of her legs- and restricted use of her hands.  Louie helps her out and takes good care of her.  I like him so much that we became the birthday sponsor for Louie's birthday party.  He has a December birthday so his birthday will be while we are here in Florida and I am sure we will see all his goodies on FB posts!

here are few photos from yesterday and some info from the Center-

first a lovely photo of Harry - handsome guy he is described in detail below because he is among the newer residents at the Center-

Harry in full regal mode-

I think this is Christopher- not a good photo so identification is a bit more difficult - they each are very unique and so it doesn't take too long to start learning which one is which -

 Below is Archie- what a cutie- he also is pretty new here and has more info below-

Knuckles is a chimp with CP (cerebral palsy) who lost his companion Toddy last year - everyone was soooo sad because she had been his caring friend for all his time at the Center (he lives alone now and is one of just a few apes that has human interaction inside his enclosure in an effort to stimulate his intellectual and physical development. 

this is Linus- a shy guy who never the less likes to watch everything going on around him.

and Radcliffe-

and Sunshine (another relative newbie)

While I like the Orangs the best, Phil is a  big fan of the chimps to balance out any potential hurt feelings LOL!

so while I haven't been very good at keeping up the posting I have gotten a number of things done and have stayed very very busy..... much on the calendar between now and the end of the film festival... #keepingbusy