On a Long Weekend
As you might have guessed, I was in Boise this weekend.
Suffice it to say that the score is now something like P-A 10, Sarah 1. I'm workin' on it, OK? But while I'm down I might as well enjoy it:
Here is an illustrative example: if you give someone a song on a mix cd, a quite good song, do you find it charming or insufferable that the recipient's comment is that one of Jim James' guitar strings was terribly out of tune, rendering it nearly unlistenable? I mean, charming that they can tell, insufferable that something like would ruin a song.
Another: if you make a vegetable risotto with lots of basil and parmesan and black pepper for a dining companion who claims to appreciate subtler flavors and vigorously denies dependence on various hot sauces, how do you respond when said companion says, "Hey, this is really good - when I add some more pepper and hot sauce." I mean, you've got to just laugh, right?
Multiply that by about a hundred and you have my weekend.
On the bright side, I did get to go on a lovely snowshoe adventure in some incredible powder, almost got frostbite, went for a long solo walk in the woods and saw mergansers, geese, quail, a great blue heron, rabbits, AND two foxes, saw Babel (eh), finally ordered some boots and gaiters and a camera bag (thanks to those who offered input), found some nice Spanish white wine and a bottle of red that has yet to be opened, ate a very tasty donut, enjoyed a near-constantly lit-and-toasty woodstove, finished Cold Mountain (I know, I'm several years late on this one), and found myself more charmed than I expected to be by Jonathan Franzen's memoir. Now I'm just waiting for this one to arrive and the reading can continue (Thanks, Pam!).
Another good thing - a good two-thirds of my waking hours this weekend were accompanied by Steve Reich, and that was great. Driving through the snowy mountains outside of Boise, listening to William Carlos Williams' words as musically interpreted through Reich: awesome.