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Live Music: Jeffrey Kahane solo
I can’t help wondering to myself whether Jeffrey Kahane can maintain the intensity of the performances he delivered last week through another long weekend. Tonight he has no help from the orchestra – the piano sits alone on the stage. Only Beethoven will be there to keep him company on the music stand, Sonata No.…
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A traipse on Greyrock Trail
In improvisation mode, Mom asks for a drive up Poudre Canyon, and then a short hike along Greyrock Trail, one of my favorites. The flowers are in bloom here too, and today I get some very nice photos of Scarlet Globemallow and Bull Thistle. Mom spots a new bird I’ve now forgotten, and Fairy Ring…
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Din Din
East Moon treats us particularly well tonight. Mom, Ann, Sean, Doug, Liz and I have a serious, subdued meal governed entirely by the dictums of propriety.
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Button Rock
We take Mom up to Buttonrock Reservoir to do a couple of the roadside climbs that she can watch. Ann and I both enjoy Green Slab 5.9+, then toprope the strenuous Buick 5.10a, an overhanging lieback crack. Ann gives Dihedral 5.8 a try, but is turned back by the insecure stemming and finishes it on…
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Live Music: Jeffrey Kahane plays and conducts Beethoven’s piano concertos
We all return to Boettcher Concert Hall to see if Jeffery can pull off the two remaining concertos, Nos. 1 and 5. He does so with the same composure we’ve come to admire fondly. The impossibility of the task is less imposing now that we’ve seen him do it a few times, but I’m still…
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Bear Creek Trail Blooms
Now that the few patches of snow on Bear Creek Trail have melted, it’s swarming with mountain bikers. Ann and Dad contend with them for the full 5 mile trail, while Mom and I take the opportunity to examine all the wildflowers that are blooming just off the trail while we dodge the bikes. Neither…
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Live Music: Jeffrey Kahane plays and conducts Beehoven’s piano concertos
My mom is here visiting, and to mark the occasion Dad has procured tickets for all of us to this Colorado Symphony Orchestra season finalé. The CSO director Jeffrey Kahane has been gone for months to recover from a serious case of hypertension, but he has returned for this performance. We’ve missed him, and feel…
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Pi is wrong!
I’m still rummaging through my copy of Where Mathematics Comes From, reveling in each revolutionary detail. It represents such an upheaval in my understanding of math, I started feeling more free to question basic mathematical concepts. Lately I’ve been wondering about the mystical value of Pi. Why do we divide a circle’s circumference by its…
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Movie: Quinceanera (2006)
I felt like I learned something about Hispanic culture in Los Angeles from this movie, which is a measure of success even for pure fiction. A Quinceañera is a girl’s fifteenth birthday, and the introduction plunges you into a youthful world. Characters who identify with their cellphones are plunged into adulthood when confronted with a…
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Cheesehead Ranch Climbing Festival – Dark Side
It feels like it will be a hot day, so we go to the Dark Side to look for shade. The views and flowers at The Bank Campground are enough to make me giddy. Bright sun shines on many wildflowers, while the snowy Sange de Christo mountains loom over the southern horizon. It turns out…