Dmitri Shostakovich just came back from the dead and took a bow for me while his Tenth Symphony was being played on satellite radio. When I think about the difficulties of his life and compare it to how easy mine has been, I am ashamed that it has been six weeks since I touched my blog. Of course I have excuses: S got me an iPhone for Christmas, and it would be possible to spend all one's waking hours playing with this device. Actually, since the screen is backlit, I can read my Kindle books on it in the middle of the night without turning on the light--and often do so. It is also ridiculously easy to spend money for new books, or iPhone applications, or apps, as they are familiarly known. And then to spend more time with photos, painting, puzzles and suchlike.
Plus, we had Christmas company for three weeks. And we are almost through with the installation of new wood floors in the main room and one bedroom, in the hopes it will cut down on dog dander for asthmatic visitors. It was a lovely Christmas, our tree was very pretty, thanks to a quick visit to Home Depot, where we got lights and red and gold ornaments in a remarkably uncrowded Christmas Store.
They even had porcelain houses with a light inside. My favorite was a replica of a Home Depot store with skylights that let the light come out. Sure, at home I have churches, an Oast House, and even a Carnegie Library, but I never thought my collection would include a modern store. The favorite of my grandchildren was a small train that goes round and round in a landscape while Christmas music plays.
Some people went snowmobiling or snowboarding, the little ones made cookies, and we had feasts on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. All our descendants were here, except our two daughters and one grandson. So that was about as special as it gets.
Still, I could have posted.
This is an etching I made long ago, in my now lost printmaking class. I based it on a photo I took of a window in the San Jose Museum of Art after Nathan Oliveira's lecture. What a nice man he was and how sweetly he talked to people afterwards. I love his art, too. More and more I am interested in art and music. I'm having trouble with politics, government, global warming, loss of habitat, business overreaching and monopolists emerging from under every rock. But so are we all.
