Festival!

When I went to the Acme on Saturday, I saw some streets were blocked off. It turned out that they were setting up for the Italian Market Festival on Ninth Street. It looked like it would get pretty crowded later on in the day, so I was glad to walk through there in the early … Continue reading Festival!

In case there’s a change in the weather

The wheels are yeller, the upholstery's brown,The dashboard's genuine leather,With isinglass curtains y' can roll right down,In case there's a change in the weather.—“The Surrey With the Fringe on Top” by Oscar Hammerstein II And what a change in the weather we’ve had these past couple days.  

Winter Dreams

Chaikovsky’s First Symphony is nicknamed “Winter Dreams”, although in recent years that's often more literally translated as “Winter Daydreams”. I like the original, if slightly less accurate, translation, as that’s the one I’ve known for decades. But it’s not his first symphony that’s on my mind right now. I just listened to a performance of … Continue reading Winter Dreams

Plowing On

Things haven’t changed much. Our street still hasn’t been plowed. I don’t blame the mayor for that, even though I don’t hold her in very high esteem. Cities plan their budgets for the kind of weather that they normally expect. We haven’t had a snowstorm like this in ten years, so naturally I don’t expect … Continue reading Plowing On