One Week in the Neighborhood

Last Wednesday night Tom and the girls were out of town, so Iain and I took in Food Truck Wednesday on North Highland.  This was our first time to try it and it was fun.  We got sandwiches from MIX’d UP and split an order of classic fries.  My lamb burger with tzatziki sauce was excellent, but with the large bun there seemed to be too much bread, so I just didn't eat all of it.  Iain got a spicy chicken sandwich that he said was quite good.  We hadn't brought folding chairs (note to self for next time) so we sat on the curb at the back of the parking lot.  Afterwards we got popsicles from King of Pops and ate them on the way home.

On Saturday Iain and I made our Saturday morning trip to Alon’s and the Morningside Farmer’s Market.  Lettuce and arugula and heritage zucchini and cherry tomatoes from Crystal Organic Farm, blueberries and green onions and tomatoes and giant banana peppers (or peppers that looked like giant banana peppers) from D & A Farm, and Italian sausage from Riverview Farms.

Later that morning I went looking for the other Little Free Library in the neighborhood; after I wrote about the one we found at Cumberland and Reeder, I heard from a neighbor that there was also one on North Pelham, and a few day earlier the girls told me they had spotted it and told me where to look for it.  So I found it, between Pine Ridge and the traffic circle, adjacent to the sidewalk and facing the street.

That afternoon the girls and I went to the Goat Farm Arts Center to hear part of the Chamber Cartel's performance of Erik Satie's Vexations.  No one really knows what Erik Satie envisioned when he wrote the three lines that constitute this piece and its accompanying instructions ("In order to play the theme 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities"), but since the 1960s when John Cage and Lewis Lloyd organized a relay team of pianists for the work's first public performance, this has been interpreted to mean that Satie intended for the theme and its two variations to be played 840 times. According to the Chamber Cartel's program notes, "the piece was once attempted by a soloist who, having experienced intense hallucinations as a result, stopped after only 15 hours."

When we got there, Cecilia Trode and Chamber Cartel's Caleb Herron were playing.  At precisely 6 p.m., the musical baton (figuratively speaking) was passed to the Resile Quartet, a saxophone quartet.  The venue -- Goodson Yard at the Goat Farm Arts Center -- was gorgeous and the audience small but appreciative.

I decided I really wanted to be there for the end of the performance, so I went back late Sunday morning and heard Bora Moon, Johnny Brown, and Robert Marshall on clarinet, flute, and cello (not necessarily in that order); they were wonderful.  

Caleb Herron was back for the last hour (he actually played for 5 hours of the 24 hour performance) and was amazing, especially given he had not slept in over 24 hours.  He played the vibraphone (I think it's a vibraphone) with different mallets, then with bows like a string player would use, and finally with his hands, ending at precisely noon.  There was moment of silence between when the music stopped and we started to clap (no one wanted to be that awkward concertgoer who claps at the wrong time) but it was the right time and Mr. Herron looked happy but exhausted.  He said he was going to go home and get some sleep.

That night we made soup from the peppers that might or might not be banana peppers and a salad from our Farmers' Market lettuce, arugula, and tomatoes.  It was pretty good.  Afterwards Iain and I walked back to the Little Free Library at Cumberland and Reeder and I found a book I wanted to read.

Yesterday morning I walked to work, and there was a duck in the creek at Durand's Mill.  

So, it was a good week, except for my car getting totalled on Thursday.  But that's another post.