Hand clapping

When you really think about it, the act of hand clapping in applause can look a bit absurd, particularly when done in communistic congresses where the head honcho being honored, who should be quiescent during the applause, is himself (or herself) energetically clapping.

For Those Who Miss Our Fair City

I Stumbled Upon this beautiful panorama taken from Treasure Island.

SFfromTIWithBridges.jpg (JPEG Image, 13750x880 pixels) - Scaled (11%)

Benjamin Zander on music and passion | Video on TED.com

Benjamin Zander on music and passion | Video on TED.com

And slowly it slips away

Yeah, well. It goes like this. Your start off with a lot of energy, blogging daily, or almost, and then you run out of steam. Or there isn't enough time nowadays to sit and compose something, and just adding photos or links to other people's musical interludes or stories becomes less satisfying, and so the blog starts to fade. Or else other social networks capture your attention, because they make it easier to post short one-liners that do not require much thought. The young 'uns love them, Facebook, Twitter and the others. Texting from their smart phones. The new conversation.

But you just watch, things will get better for the ol' blog. There will be a renaissance. Soon.

Or at the very least, a risorgimento.

Yeah.

Andre Rieu & Ravel's 'Bolero'

Renee Fleming in Beijing - Strauss "Morgen"

Silencio - Madredeus

More old films of Hong Kong by Michael Rogge

These fine videos came from old films taken with Mr Rogge's 9.5mm movie camera

Michael Rogge's Hong Kong of the 1950s

Clouds over San Francisco Bay

Have I posted this photo before? I don't recall.

Put on your Sunday clothes

What a joyous song!

Grilled cheese sandwich

Do it the right way

Gustav Mahler's 150th

A celebration of the composer's 150th birthday, by Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun

Tikal, Guatemala

These photos of the Mayan ruins at Tikal were scanned from

Kodachrome slides taken with a new Nikon FM camera in 1984

Ford Model T

Reno, Nevada - April morning

Dry Spell

It has been the longest dry spell in the nearly five year career of The Occasional Muse. There has not been much to blog about this month, other that the vagaries of Northern California weather. Maybe I'll just keep things moving along a bit by posting a couple of recent photos.

The Trouble With Chinese

Cruise ship coming in to Puerto Vallarta

Click on the above.

Gas prices

Gasoline prices In 1986

Interregnum

I acknowledge that my blog postings have been sparse these past couple of months. The Muse has not been active, as more pressing matters have claimed her attention. I have taken the expedient course of inserting some links to other sites as they turn up in my surfing, but I find that easy substitute to be far from satisfactory.

An old and dear friend of mine passed away last week, and I am to deliver the eulogy at his memorial service in two days' time. It is tough to see one’s contemporaries ‘go over the mountain’ as the Chinese expression has it. But of course for the surviving family members it is a whole lot tougher.

Yesterday it hailed. But it was sunny today.

The Bronze Bell

This is worth a listen. From the BBC podcast of "A History of the World". Takes about 13 minutes.

Thought for Today

Elgar's 'Enigma Variations - Nimrod'

If you have ten minutes to spare

Mahler's music, Hopper's paintings. A poignant combination.

The Visit

My wife and I visited an old friend who is recovering from a recent operation. He is looking much better than he had sounded recently on the phone, and he and his wife were delighted that we came.

Having learned that his appetite had diminished, we brought with us some barbecued delicacies in hopes of whetting it.

I think we were successful.
_

Schubert - Impromptu in G flat Major

New Year's Day - 2010

A time for reflection.

Here in Northern California, the day dawns bright and clear, and quite chilly, as befits the season. Clouds, yes, but blue sky too, in the spaces between.

In a few days your humble scribe will have completed three-fourths of a century of terrestrial existence, and retains hopes of a continuance of the same for some time to come. How much time is of course the real question, but one that he is not really of a mind to pursue on this beautiful day.

At such times we think of the living people we love, and also of the ones who have gone on. Nostalgic reflections upon the past, rooted in a present laced with uncertainty.

At the party last night, over a hundred people. Hats, noisemakers, music, the whole shebang. A countdown from ten. The acquaintances, both auld and new, formed a circle, arms crossed and holding hands. Swaying to the strains of 'Auld Lang Syne', we cheered the birth of the new year.

Then a lot of kissing of cheeks and shaking of hands. And dancing.

And hopes for the future.

­_