Grounded, again...

Nothing terribly exciting happened today nor did I take many photos.  But, here is a picture of the bed in which Prema is likely to sleep tonight.  It would be reasonable to wonder why I am making a point of this (and for showing a somewhat messy room).  The reason is that Prema was scheduled to return to RC this afternoon but AGAIN her flight was canceled due to wind.  Actually, the take-off from Aspen (ASE) was delayed due to wind and during the delay the Denver airport (DEN) was closed due to weather.  So, she is back at the condo and rescheduled to leave in the morning.  We are glad to have her here with us a bit longer but I know this creates a hassle with her practice.

Last night I was planning to stay home and relax but literally at the last moment I decided to accompany the rest of the squad to a performance of the opera The Barber of Seville.  I'm glad I went as it was a great show.  The kids seemed to truly like it.  I noticed that there were no other children there.  Seems a shame.  Abe and I had to slink out a bit before intermission because he forgot his glasses and could not read the supra-script translation of the Italian.  We made it to the condo and back to Wheeler Opera House in 13 minutes, arriving even before intermission started.

Speaking of intermission, we witnessed a near-terrible event in the balcony.  Thankfully, as far as we know, no one was injured.  A woman on the other side of the balcony fell backwards into another elderly woman.  They both crashed down the stairs leading to the front edge of the balcony.  Had they been one or two steps closer one or both surely would have gone over the edge - no kidding.  The balcony rail is so low it is dangerous.  I sprinted up and around then down to the scene in about five seconds but even by then others were helping one lady to sit up.  I tried to slow down the movement process and verbally assess the situation. I asked the elderly lady if she had any neck pain (had you seen her at the moment of impact you would have thought she was seriously injured) and she said "no" and demonstrated frighteningly quick and full range of motion.  I cringed think she was going to go limp with quadriplegia at any moment.  By then the theater manager arrived and all seemed remarkably in order so I just faded into the background.  I sure hope they are all OK.

Another boring opera story.  There was an elderly man with a young blonde on his arm (actually he was hanging onto her and despite his cane was wobbling all over the place and heading down the steps toward the balcony rail (Oh no!).  I offered to assist them and he was happy to let me walk ahead of him just in case he fell, which he did not.  As he turned into his front row his companion said something to me that started with "I was talking to a couple of his other girlfriends last week..."  I don't recall what she said after that as I was too distracted by that concept.  He said that when I was 93 years old he would return the favor.  At the end of the opera I again helped him up the stairs and learned that he is Kurt Bresnitz, one of the founding fathers of Aspen and a contemporary of a lot of the individuals for whom many places are named in the town. (Here is an interesting introduction to Mr. Bresnitz). He was the first jeweler in Aspen, having opened his business some 60 years ago.  He was born in Vienna.  His lady-friend said he is a town icon and everyone just calls him "Kurt the Jeweler".  I didn't notice if he was wearing a watch but if I run into him again I be sure to check.

Today Maya had her usual Sunday rehearsal and private lesson.   After lunch we dropped Prema at the airport then went to the local fruit stand then rec center for ice skating.  I swam about a half mile of laps.  We arrived back at the condo only to get a call from Prema. Now we're going to celebrate with a dinner out.

Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to show and report tomorrow.