Sunday Afternoon This and That

We’re having a brief warm spell, the days in the 70s and the nights dropping not much below 50 or so. Very pleasant, and a fine excuse to tidy up the garden after the winter’s depredations. Not too much was lost, mostly because I dragged almost every pot indoors as the Big Frost approached. It’s a lovely Sunday afternoon, and after a month’s break from the fringes of academe, I’m feeling pretty relaxed. Wish this could go on forever!

Last night, after enjoying a couple of concerts in a Bach series for which I’d snagged some free tickets, I ponied up $35 to go to the grand finale, the Mass in B Minor, once described as “the greatest artwork of all time.” It was very beautiful, impressive indeed, conducted by our own illustrious choir director, who has been one of the founders of the Bach festival.

By chance, I happened to sit next to an old-time Phoenician, a gentleman who could remember what this area was like in the 40s and 50s. He was a chemist—had spent a career with the City Water Department—and his wife, a Ph.D. in chemistry, taught on the college level most of her career; their son went off to become a physicist and then gravitated to Tucson, where he presently works for a research facility.

He and his wife still live in the house they bought as newlyweds—in the very neighborhood of pretty little red brick homes M’hijito is living in! He must live a few steps from M’hijito’s house. He described with great pleasure how much they loved living there and how the area has evolved since it was out in the suburbs of a large small town.

This morning one of my choir friends, of the very couple who gave me the beautiful purple bicycle, brought in a bunch of iris bulbs she’d cleaned out of her garden. She gave me two large rooted bulbs, each of which had a babe. So now the olive tree in the front courtyard has four nascent bearded iris at its feet.

Don’t know how they’ll do there. I dug some of this winter’s compost into the holes around them, so assuming bulbs like compost, that should give them a little tonic. But over the summer it gets awfully hot out there. Under the tree is probably the most temperate place in front, but “temperate” compared to the surface of the planet Mercury is a relative term. I hope they live. Love iris.

Never did get around to finishing the tree-trimming I started yesterday. Oh well. There’s one more day before class starts, so maybe it’ll get done tomorrow.

Grabbed a few handsful of bok choy (which, amazingly, is starting to bolt to seed despite the cool weather) and chard, to embellish the rich chicken broth I concocted a day or two ago and finally bestirred myself to strain and pack up in freezer containers today. Made a very fine lunch!

The Bok Choy Monster living in the backyard was not deterred by the hard freeze. Really, I thought it would kill off the bug-eyed little guy, but nooooo… The bok choy continues to get chewed, and now the critter has moved on to the chard. So I guess I’d better eat that while there’s still some to eat.