It's been a busy beginning of the year. We have (thankfully) had more rain than last year. But some politicians, bureaucrats and environmentalists are still set on dramatically limiting irrigation water to the West Side, despite the greater-than-normal rainfall. Our region's unemployment rate is likely to remain among the highest in the nation. One of the most productive food-growing areas in the world is being taken out of production. More wrangling ahead.
We also had some beautiful sunny days in January, sort of like Southern California January days. Then more rain, and chillier weather, even a little fog. Worrisome during apricot and peach blossom time. But we need the water.
Aunt Helen
Perhaps the most notable personal thing which has happened since the beginning of the year was our fond farewell to David's Aunt Helen at her funeral Saturday. She was staying with David when we got married, and she continued to stay with us for a while before moving in with David's Mom and Dad. David told the people at the funeral about Aunt Helen's contented reaction to his insistence that she not wait for him to tell her what to do. And he told the story about her over-enthusiastic jump into the rocking chair, which went backward through the window. She was lots of fun. We'll miss her a lot. So will other people.
At 92, though, she was ready to go home. She did not have an easy life. She had developed some difficult health problems.
Her childhood was one of extreme poverty. But you would not know it from her cheerful, straightforward, fun-loving manner. Nice to think of her with her husband, Uncle Pete, again.
We took a wrong turn on the Weedpatch Highway, on the way to the funeral, and saw the little town of Lamont near Bakerfield, where Aunt Helen once lived with Uncle Pete and their children. The town has nice homes behind fancy gates next to run-down trailers with goats in the front yard. It also features a refinery, and many typical elements of a hard-scrabble rural California town. When Aunt Helen and Uncle Pete were first married, they lived in a tent. Living in a home in Lamont was a big step up for them.
Trip to Utah
We went for another short trip to Utah early in the month. We got to see some wonderful mountain vistas and we went to a family birthday dinner celebration for Jake and others at Rainbow Gardens, where I swam as a child, and where cousin Marie once got a nasty shin injury, as I recall. The swimming pools are gone now. The clientele got too rowdy. The bowling alley survived longer, but it's gone now, too. Rainbow Gardens has gone moderately up-scale.
The Ogden River runs under a corner of the building, and you can go onto the porch in the (now) gift shop and watch the water. An ancestor of the King Family which owns this establishment gave my grandparents credit for their photography business during the Great Depression. They always expressed gratitude for this act of kindness.
We also got to visit with Keira, and we saw where Wally works. I heard a book review at Mom's book club, in a beautiful home in the hills. I took charge of their newly inherited little dog.
We took a look at the Felix home up the road from Mom. It's for sale again. Probably not an option for us at this time. Big yard, big kitchen, out-dated, needs work. Not that David couldn't do the work.
Music
Mom took us, and two of her friends, to a Utah Symphony Pops concert featuring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy during the second half of the program. The first half of the program featured standard Pops fare such as the Hungarian Dance No. 5, Sabre Dance and the Beautiful Blue Danube. The conductor, David Cho, was chatty and engaged in a little Pops-type comedy - even juggling during the "Dance of the Comedians". They played a Big Band medley. It was all great.
The guest artists were refreshingly non-nihilistic and non-whiny for contemporary pop music - mostly a Big Band "retro" sound with other jazz and contemporary flavors. They're rather self-promoting showmen. Tons of energy. They did some familiar Cab Calloway pieces. They involved the audience as singers in some of them. Noisy. Fun, brash, theatrical, but not the ultimate in musicianship. It was an interesting cultural encounter for many regular symphony patrons. Some felt open-minded listening to this group. Others were not sure quite what to think. Mom's friend Valeen said "I don't like being yelled at". I can barely imagine what their reaction would be to, say, Lady GaGa.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's original works are no match for, say, Gershwin. Still, I think it's nice that they are successful. Although they've been doing the rounds with pops orchestras, I have a feeling that the "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Experience" would be more suited to a nightclub stage than to a sliver of stage in front of a big orchestra. When they played with the larger group, the effect was sometimes a bit ponderous. One interesting effect was their use of bass and tenor (I think) saxophones playing the same notes. Gave an interesting depth to certain licks.
The symphony's chief clarinetist plays Big Band pieces with more finesse than the famous guest artists did. He's doing an Artie Shaw retrospective concert at a synagogue in Salt Lake soon. We spoke with him backstage before the performance.
I also went with Mom to one of her music clubs, and heard an interesting lesson on the musical sons (and a grandson) of J.S. Bach. I hadn't given them enough credit in the past, I think. One, the "London Bach", was Mozart's mentor, and some of his work sounds like early Mozart. Another wrote pieces which sound more like Haydn, yet another used counterpoint in a way which differed a little from his father's use of this musical style. They deserve to be known as more than the children of J.S. Bach. The family apparently dominated the musical world in Germany for some time.
We also heard a summery Lullaby by contemporary American composer George Winston. Sheet music can be bought and printed online. I think I might even be able to learn it.
On the Home Front
Back home, David's been tearing parts of the house apart and putting them back together, better. I've planted way more tomato seeds than we can use. That good January weather looked so promising, and it's the standard time for planting tomato seeds here - even a week or two late, actually. I planted some other things, too. We'll see how they do through the coming storms.
David and I have both had persistent respiratory infections, like a lot of people in town. We're starting to get back up to speed.
I buried our shy, shy kitty Brewster today. I think he had been hit by a car. David saw a cat he though looked like Brewster at the edge of the road a ways from the house, and I went to check. Sure looked like Brewster, though I couldn't find the knot that had always been on his tummy (the Vet didn't seem concerned - don't know what it was). I didn't look too hard, though. He had been feeling a little punky before he disappeared a couple of days ago, I think. But he was still eating, etc. He had let me pick him up and pet him a few times during the last couple of weeks, which was rare behavior for him. But he was terrified when I took him in the house, and he would not let me look into his face. He was being extra affectionate with the other cats toward the end of his life, too.
He was too shy to have been a full-fledged "pet" - one of those cats who sometimes panic when you try to pet them and nearly die of fright on a trip to the vet. But it's nice to have a half-wild cat around. Especially a gentle one. We'll miss him.
We've learned of some very serious challenges for friends. One young friend has just undergone a bone marrow transplant for a rare blood disorder. She's grateful for the chance of a cure. Another friend's grandson was born with displaced organs. She was highly touched by a nurse who expressed appreciation for being able to help families with problems like these.
We need to count our blessings. Loving family and friends, people who help, rain, etc., etc.
