Paradise

It is such a beautiful morning in Aspen and we are all thankful for being here and being safe and healthy.  Yesterday was moderately busy.  Abe had a tennis lesson with Tory, Maya had a rehearsal with Tamara then studio class.  Jamuna babysat for three hours and Abe had a lesson with Ms. Whitney.  Somewhere in there the VWs, Maya and I took a short walk around the neighborhood.  After all that we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the Hickory House after which another hot tub event occurred.  I turned on the TV for a rare indulgence in fake news a la Comedy Central.

Above is Abe working with Ms. Whitney.  She was recently "promoted" to play with the Aspen Festival Orchestra as assistant principal violist.  She had been in the same position with the Aspen Chamber Symphony.

Below is a pic of a proliferating weed that caught Dr. Carl's eye during our walk.

Here is the entrance to the restaurant.  We'll be having leftovers for a couple of days.

Right this moment Abe is practicing his viola without being asked to do so.  I hope he is feeling well.  The girls are going to be practicing soon, and Dr. Carl and I will bike into town to stop by the dub office and conduct a couple of other errands.

Later Maya will rehearse again with Ms. Tamara.

Vocabulary Lesson

It's raining again as I listen to a recording of the evening of Baroque music we attended live at Harris Hall on July 19.  The AMFS records just about every performance and makes these recordings available to students for their review (and pleasure).  I dropped by the "dub" office today and requested a couple of CDs, one of which they had already dubbed so I'm listening to it now.  BTW, dubbing is the process of making a copy of a recording.

Today was more like the good old days of Aspen - very busy with a lot of running around.  I awoke with a nasty headache so popped a few ibuprofen, drank some OJ and a bit of coffee then forced myself to ride the bike into town to get bread.  Alas, there was no day-old bread available at 7:30 and the fresh stuff doesn't come out until after 10:00 am.  So I settled for some bagels, apple fritters, and a few other sweet pastries.  I made it back before anyone else was up for the day.

Abe had a nice viola lesson with Ms. Whitney at 9:00 and then a fantastic tennis lesson at 10:30.  While he was having his tennis lesson Dr. Carl and I found a place to park in town.  On a slow-news day I'll report on the system that is available in Aspen to pay for parking on the street.  We walked up to Wheeler Opera House where AMFS has a box office.  I got tickets for the opera (Verdi's Flagstaff), another concert, and the final opera of the season, West Side Story.  WSS will be performed three times and the two regular shows were already sold out.  The first of the three shows is a benefit program which sells tickets for $1000 per seat but thankfully there were some seats in the balcony which were offered for just a little bit more than the usual price.  I snagged five of those as I know the kids always like those gang fighting shows.

After we got the tickets we ambled down to the bakery and were able to get a couple of loaves of bread.  We picked up Abe and returned to the duplex.  While we were gone the girls accomplished some serious practicing - so I'm told.

We had some lunch then I took Jamuna and Ms. Nicolette up to the Aspen Middle School for Jamuna's lesson with Mr. Lilleslatten.  I think I mentioned that he is from Norway so we briefly discussed the recent tragedy there.  Above is a photo of the lesson-event.  Mr. L. conducts his lessons in the foreign language classroom.  Here also is a shot of a poster in the hall.

I believe the caption is "Oh No!  I forgot my homework!"



During Jamuna's lesson I went back to the dupe to get Maya.  She was having a theory lesson with Dr. Carl.  The kids always amaze their music teachers with their knowledge of music theory, thanks to these lessons with Carl.  Here's a shot of granny Maya in the midst of a lesson.

I then took Maya with me to collect Jamuna and Ms. Nic and then on up to the music school for a rehearsal with Ms. Tamara.  While Maya and Nic were there I drove Jamuna to her babysitting gig.  I had a few minutes so that is when I went to the dub office.

On my way back to the music school I drove past a property we looked at while Peter and Naila were here.  I learned a new word that is actually quite self-evident.  A property on which sits a house of no value to a buyer, when they really just want the land, is called a "scraper".  If you want the lot you buy it and scrape off the house.  Here's a photo of a scraper in Aspen.

Asking price:  $ 3,800,000  (yes, almost four MILLION).  No, I'm not joking.

Sounds like trouble....

Obama's on the tape and the spooz are falling.

We're back from a 5-miler down the bike path, through town, then back to the dupe via an alternate route.  Nice ride.  Rain was a threat when we left but we made it back before it started to sprinkle.  The hot water system had failed but we were able to figure out how to reset the boiler and I found an error-code list on the internet that suggests there was a power outage earlier.  All is good now.  Dr. Carl, Ms. Nicolette, Jamuna and  Abe are sitting in the hot tub now that the threat of lightening has passed.  I think Maya is watching a cartoon - believe it or not.

Earlier today we stopped at the fruit and vegetable stand just west of town and picked up some delicious peaches and a variety of nice, fresh vegetables.  They are roasting in the oven right now.  We'll have them with some penne, chicken and shrimp shortly.

And Happy Birthday to John S. in Yellowstone.

Day 1 of Second Session

Today is Monday and I have some catching up to do here.  It is also the first day of the second session at AMFS (Aspen Music Festival and School).  We've been here just two weeks and have about four weeks to go (we arrived midway through the first session due to BLYAP in Ottawa, KS).  While Maya was having a lesson with Natalie, Mr. Kantor's assistant this summer, I ran into a couple of new friends that we met in Kansas, Emily and Gloria.  Hopefully I will remember to post some information about how Maya's second week in Kansas went even though I wasn't there to record the details.  One of these days I need to mention a trip that Jamuna, Abe, Uncle John and I took to Florida in the spring.

Peter, Naila and Shalini left yesterday morning after a delightful visit.  We had supper at Little Annie's after the girls endured yet another exhausting day of bag collecting.  Here are a few documentary shots:


































As you can see I drove the B-Squad bus right up to the plane.  I was nervous that I would clip a wing while driving among all the private planes.

Later in the day we picked up Ms. Nicolette and Dr. Carl who will be spending a week with us helping with practices and enjoying the music festival.  Last night we celebrated their arrival with dinner at Asie's, fish eyeballs and all.

Today I dropped Prema at the airport so she can head back to work then took Maya and Ms. Nicolette up to the music school to find Natalie.  While I was there I noticed the temporary restrooms.  I thought it was odd that a special gas pipeline had been installed but I suppose that makes sense.



















I didn't proofread this yet.  We're going for a bike ride.

Slow news day (in Aspen)

Lots of crazy events being reported from around the world but here in Aspen we had a slow day.  Maya did have a lesson with Mr. Kantor.  Abe had his first viola lesson with Ms. Whitney Bullock of Houston, TX (don't confuse with Whitney Houston).  Peter, Abe, Jamuna and Shalini biked into town where Prema and Naila were "running errands".  We all met up at an Israeli-Mediterranean restaurant for lunch.  The girls needed additional time in town so Peter, Abe, Shalini and are just hanging out at the dupe.

Not much photography to display.

Uneventful day, so far.

Not much going on so far today.  Maya did have a session with Ms. Tamara today.  Jamuna, Abe, Shalini, Peter and I rode into town and acquired some carbohydrates at Main St. Bakery.  We then acquired some sandwiches from the Grateful Deli and sat in Peapcke Park for lunch.

As we were riding down Silver King Drive Prema, Naila and Jamuna were racing into town for something they referred to as "shopping".  I noticed that the grocery list is still on the kitchen counter so I suppose they'll be calling any minute (but they left over two hours ago?!).

I just got up to call Waste Management to inquire why the trash had not been collected yet and can see that the trash and recycling was collected a couple of minutes ago.  I mention this our of sheer desperation for a news item and also because earlier today a WM truck drove right past our stuff while I was waiting outside before the bike ride.  It has collected a couple of house down the street, drove by and waved (no kidding) and then collected the trash a few houses past.  Makes no sense to me but, hey, it's Aspen.

This evening we will be treated to Julia Fischer again, playing the Bach Double among other pieces.

I spy eight knees.

Single-engine prop set

Today was a great day.  Abe had a great tennis lesson, Jamuna and Maya had a good day of practice and fun with their "cousin" Shalini, Prema and Naila (childhood friend of Prema's) went shopping and Peter and I flew his plane to Taos, New Mexico.  He conducted some business there then we drove down to Santa Fe for a bit more business and lunch.  Drove back to Taos the flew back to Aspen.

Here are the kids packed into the back of the van.

 This is Peter's plane, parked in Aspen.

 Pre-flight check.  My left knee is in just the right place for take off (not bad for a beginner).

That's Peter looking at some architectural pieces to use in a house he and Naila are building.

The same merchant had a huge room full of colorful rugs from India.

 Here's another view of some other stuff they had for sale.

When we were getting gas at the small Taos airport I noticed this jet.  Peter was pretty sure it belongs to John Travolta.











On the way back Peter let me take the stick for much of the journey.  It was a bit more involved than I thought but he kept saying I was doing a fine job.  After we landed and he got out of the plane I noticed that his back was drenched with sweat.  I think his side of the plane was in the sun, or something.

This is final approach into Aspen.

Here are the kids awaiting dinner at an outdoor sushi restaurant.



Below is a moment of play before the girls all went to hear Gil Shaham and others while the boys all came back to the duplex.

I'm Baroque

Monday night we went to the the Wheeler Opera House to see a production of Bill Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with music composed by Mozart.  It was an interesting event.  I figured the opera would be in Italian with English supra-titles like last year but I should have known it would be in good old English (and I do mean OLD English).  The challenge was that the operatic singing was very difficult (impossible) to understand and the supra-titles (the "translation" that was displayed on an electronic board above the stage), being in Shakespearean English, was also hard to understand.  Thankfully we had printed out a summary from Wikipedia which Prema read to us on the drive to the Opera House.

A man that sat right behind Abe and me was snoring quite a bit during the first two acts.  I thought that was extremely...unfair.

Yesterday Jamuna had a lesson with Espen Lilleslatten, her Aspen teacher.  He is quite a nice man, originally from Norway, now on faculty at Louisiana State University.  Her lessons are at the Aspen Middle School.  We found a nice chair in the lobby which will see a fair bit of action while she is in her lessons.  Here is Jamuna getting it warmed up for me.

I've been reading a lot of mystery/crime/thriller novels lately.  Just finished A Cold Wind by CJ Box and Gideon's Sword by Doug Preston and Lincoln Child.  Currently working on a Linda Costello novel Breaking Silence.  Taking a break from the quantum physics material I was reading last summer.

Last evening we attended a Harris Hall concert of Baroque period chamber music.  It was fun to listen to and watch a group of performers play music that was familiar.

Peter and Naila Lewis arrived with their 6 year-old daughter Shalini for a short visit.  Peter flew their airplane here in just about four hours from southern California.  It was fun to see the "general aviation" area of the Aspen airport where private planes are kept.

The day was kept fresh with other activities and events including Jamuna and Abe babysitting, Maya's studio class, flood alarm at the house, and so on.  The alarm was false but it was alarming.  It took about 15 minutes to get the system cleared and the ear-piercing noise shut off.

Stimulus Plan

This morning Abe and I did our part to stimulate the economy of Aspen by purchasing a yo-yo, two books, two brownies and two croissants.  I suppose we should have picked up another yo-yo.  We rode bikes down the Rio Grande (I did measure the distance and it is just a bit over six miles round trip so not all that strenuous).  Funny thing about this route is that it is downhill both ways.  That doesn't make sense to me but I guess it is related to the high property taxes and the needs of the full-time Aspenites.  Even the laws of physics are suspended here in Fantasyland.

I have more to say about the opera and plans for later today but must get ready to do some chauffeuring (I had no clue how to spell that but spell checker came to rescue).

Bakery and Bookstore...finally.

I am so happy to have made it to the bakery and bookstore.  I rode one of the bikes into town by myself and had a very nice time.  First I picked up a couple of loaves of bread and some bagels (two for the price of one!), then dropped into Explore Bookstore in search of a Stefan Jackiw CD.  They didn't have it but I did find a Gil Shaham/Adele Anthony recording of some Sarasate.  I didn't have time to do much else other than to say hello to Cashmere.

On the ride back I passed Lance Armstrong (I had recently heard he lived in the area so I wasn't all that surprised).  He did seem shorter than I imagined and he had gained a fair bit of weight.  The odd thing was he was wearing a pastel orange biking skirt and matching sport bra.  Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was him.  I also had to break to avoid hitting a deer.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get my camera out for any shots but here are a few from recent days.  Maya was sitting on the fourth floor deck transferring her notes from one copy of music to another.

Turning around and looking into the fourth floor you can see the living area, kitchen, and dining room.  The secret door to the master bedroom suite is open so please don't mention this or show it to anyone.

Here is a view of entrance to "Castle Classroom 1" where Maya has her studio class.  I believe this particular room is on the National Registry of Acoustically Worst Music Performance Rooms.  I'm not an expert by any measure but I have to admit I have never been in a room that sucks the life out of a violin performance more than this one.

Other noteworthy events so far today:  Jamuna babysat for new friends Ms. Chloe and her three kids, major thunderstorm with hail, spaghetti. We are heading in to see A Midsummer Night's Dream Opera.

21st Century Autograph

It seems that a handwritten autograph is old-school.  Nowadays a snapshot is the way to go.  Here's a snap of Julia Fischer with the girls after yesterday afternoon's performance at the Benedict Music Tent.

Julia Fischer is a role-model for our family of young musicians.  Her stage presence along with her beautiful sound are exquisite.

As this encounter was occurring I was driving Mrs. White to the airport for her journey back to Big Sky Country.  We had a nice time with her and greatly appreciate her musical tutelage this past week.

My plan for the next couple of hours is to bike into town in search of some day-old bread from Main Street Bakery.

Julia Fischer Sunday

Maybe it just fits my personality but one thing I really like about Aspen is that at least when it comes to municipal signage they leave very little to chance.  Here is one example I noticed at the airport.

We said goodbye to cousin Mathew and his support team (Simon and Angie) on Saturday morning at BB's Kitchen.  Below you can see Mathew and Abe bonding through text messaging each other.  Jamuna wasn't sure what to make of her peanut butter and jelly smoothy.

Yesterday afternoon we had a brief but nice visit with friends from Denver whose daughter and her family are finishing remodeling a beautiful house in Aspen.  Then Jamuna and Abe met up with Jamuna's friend Oliver (who she met at Sound Encounters) for a viewing of the new Harry Potter movie.

Yesterday evening we went to a recital featuring Stefan Jackiw (violin) and Joyce Yang (piano), two young and rising stars in the classical performance field.  Tonight we will attend the Aspen Festival Orchestra with soloist Julia Fischer.

Her are the girls with Stefan.

First Bike Ride

We brought out the bikes today and rode about 5-6 miles into town and back via the Rio Grande Trail.  Other than having to endure my incessant badgering about slowing down, being careful, look where you're going, etc., I think a good time was had by all.

The tires of a couple of the bikes were low on air and I couldn't find a pump in the house.  We rode the first 3 miles to a bike shop where we borrowed a pump.  We then made a refreshment stop at Clark's Market and then rode back to SKD (Silver King Drive).

We're going to get cleaned up then head in to the tent to hear the Emerson Quartet.  I had hoped to attend a physics lecture about the Large Hadron Collider but I don't think I'll have the time.

Studio Class, Ice Cream, Etc.

Maybe because I'm a year older or the place we are staying this year is a few hundred feet higher in elevation but for whatever reason I've been feeling more tired than usual.  Yesterday offered us a variety of activities.  I dropped Maya and Mrs. White at the music campus for rehearsal with the pianist, practicing, a stroll in the woods, lunch, more practicing and then her studio class.  Studio class is a group class for all of the students in Mr. Kantor's Aspen group.  Each week a few students are asked to play a piece for the class then the other students and Mr. Kantor offer comments and suggestions for improvement.  These events are open to the public.  Yesterday Maya played the 3rd movement of Bruch's Concerto No. 1 in G minor.  She did a fantastic job which was well received.  It was especially nice that her Uncle Simon, Angie, and cousin Mathew were able to observe.

While Maya was hard at work Jamuna and I took a walk in our new neighborhood.   We found the way to the Rio Grande bike path that we will use to walk or bike into town.  We just walked down to the Roaring Fork River and back which was under two miles round trip.  The trip into town will be about three miles each way but I think it will be an easy ride except for the climb back up from the river.  We are planning to give it a try after lunch today.   Here are a couple of views from the walk:

After the studio class we returned to the Silver King place for a couple of hours so Jamuna, Abe and Maya could practice.  We rushed through supper (pizza delivery arrived late) then went to the Benedict Music Tent for a concert.  I ran into a couple of friends we met last summer.  After that we met up with Simon and Angie at Paradise Cafe.

After listening to a woodwind trio and enjoying a scoop Simon and Angie headed out for dinner while the rest of us walked to the movie theater to get tickets to the new Harry Potter movie.  The midnight show was sold out and we couldn't decide which other show to attend because of potential conflicts and also we are trying to include a friend of Jamuna's who is also here for the summer.  We then retrieved Mrs. White's lost (and found) glasses from a restaurant we visited a couple of night ago.

It was fun to walk around town and reminisce about last summer.  We eventually made it back to the duplex and went to bed.

Today we will be practicing in the morning.  Mathew will reconnect with Simon and Angie then we will make a bike trip into town.  That should be fun.

It Feels Like We Never Left

Today we really got back into the groove of being in Aspen.  Yesterday Jamuna and Abe flew from Dallas to Denver then roamed around the airport for a few hours while waiting to meet Mrs. White who flew in from Helena, MT.  They all flew up to Aspen together for a slightly delayed arrival.  We didn't even wait for Jamuna's bag because we wanted to get over to hear Maya's teacher Mr. Paul Kantor play in an ensemble at Harris Hall.  We barely made it, but we did.  Because Maya is an enrolled student Prema and I get "parent" passes and we purchased youth passes for Abe and Jamuna.  These passes allow us to get into a lot of events "free".  Last night we needed an additional ticket for Mrs. White so I went to the box office.  A nice lady asked me in a whisper if I needed a ticket and I said yes and that I would be happy to pay her for it but she insisted on giving it to me.  So, we enjoyed the concert despite Abe and Jamuna being exhausted.  We then drove back to the airport to get Jamuna's bag then back to the Silver King place.

The photo above is at the airport, snapped just as Prema was telling Abe that we were heading to a recital.  Click to zoom in on his expression.

This morning we gave Jamuna some belated birthday presents.  She seems to like her bandanna depicting North American Mammal Scat.




We then headed up to the music school campus for Maya's lesson with Mr. Kantor.  It was nice to see him and Tamara Goldstein, the pianist who works with Mr. Kantor and Maya all summer.  Seeing both of them at the music campus really made it feel like we had never left.  I performed my duty of driving, dropping off, parking, setting up the video camera, and waiting.

Last year I liked to sit on the deck of a building in which the American Academy of Conducting - Aspen (aka AACA) rehearsed.  I enjoyed reading while listening to the music.  Unfortunately that building was condemned and demolished.  It didn't take long to find an alternative waiting area with just about the same view.  I did miss the orchestra but did enjoy a piano student practicing nearby.  Here's my bench. Now that I look at the photo I realize it looks almost exactly like the view I had last year except that it is oriented differently.
                                                                                                                                                                                                 














Below is a shot of Prema holding a 1722 Stradivarius.  They're asking $5,000,000 for it but I could tell there was a bit of wiggle room.  I got to hold it and look at it and it seemed a lot like all the other violins I've handled so I told Prema I thought we should hold tight right now.




This evening we saw Gil Shaham play a solo with the AACA and a group of the student conductors.  Here is a picture Mrs. White took of the girls getting an autograph while I was driving Prema to the airport.  We had to rush out at intermission.  I think Prema is on her way from Denver to RC as I write this.

Accumulating in Aspen

I arrived yesterday afternoon and immediately met with our realtor Jeff along with another realtor and the property manager to take possession of the duplex and get a crash course on how to operate the various attributes such as the elevator, the twenty-or-so televisions, the hot tub, steam showers, electronically controlled fireplace, power shades and drapes, and so on.

In this view of the outside you can see three of the four levels.  Behind what appears to be a garage door is a large game room.  I'll post more photos in the coming days.

Later in the afternoon I went to the airport to meet Prema and Maya.  Naturally their flight was delayed by about 45 minutes due to weather.  Poor Maya had been motion sick all day starting before she left Kansas City.  I think all the hard work and hard partying finally caught up with her.  She is better today but still tired and dehydrated.

Here is a view looking west out of the top level.  The kitchen is behind me and off to my left is the master bedroom suite.  The bathroom is larger than the cabins at Lamar Buffalo Ranch.

We are looking forward to tomorrows arrival of the rest of the squad along with Mrs. White.  Hoping for nice weather.