Lunch & a Stroll

This past Wednesday, we went out for lunch and a nice long walk in Old Town Alexandria. It was nearly 70º (21C) sunny and with an incredible blue sky--glorious. Found a yummy new Vietnamese café, open only 24 days ago. It was pretty much a perfect day. Here are more pics than you can probably stand:

 

 City Hall & Market Square

 

 

George Washington's parish church

 

Washington's pew (if a president attends services, they get to sit there)

 

Yuja Wang

Those familiar with my old Facebook page will perhaps remember my enthusiasm for Yuja Wang, who I and many others across the globe consider to be the most brilliant pianist living today. (My apologies to Daniil Trifonov, who is coming in a very close second with me these days and who I'll be seeing next weekend at the Kennedy Center.)

Here is a great video of Yuja in 2007 at age 19, in a practice room before her subscription concert debut with San Francisco Symphony. She has loads of personality, even in her current superstar days.

 

 And here is a truly stellar performance from 2022 in Berlin, in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 (1st movement, cadenza). The poster kindly provided the score so y'all can play along at home if you wish.

 

Here are my pics of her at the Kennedy Center in 2023. How DOES she play in those heels??? 

I just adore her...

CVS strikes again

I wanted to share this proud moment with y'all.  Today I stopped at CVS -- for those unfamiliar, CVS is a US drugstore chain notorious for its absurdly long receipts -- and scored a personal best. 34.5 inches (87.6 cm)!!!  

This Week's Flowers

NSO Concert

A delightful afternoon at the Kennedy Center. The guest cellist was amazing, both a tremendously skilled and passionate performance. The program was:

Vasily Petrenko, conductor
Edgar Moreau, cello

Anatoly Lyadov: Kikimora
Camille Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony 

Vasily Petrenko, whose Manfred performances have garnered international acclaim and earned him a place on numerous “Best Recordings” lists, captures the torment and colorful beauty of Tchaikovsky’s four-movement symphony inspired by Lord Byron’s poem.

Award-winning young virtuoso Edgar Moreau joins the program for Saint-Saëns’ First Cello Concerto—an impassioned departure from the standard concerto form.

Born in 1994, Moreau is a Prizewinner at the 2009 Rostropovich competition, 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition, and winner of the 2014 Young Concert Artist Award. He took up his studies with Philippe Muller at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and continued at the Kronberg Academy under the guidance of Frans Helmerson. At the age of 11, he made his debut with the Teatro Regio Orchestra in Torino, playing Dvorak’s cello concerto.

I don't believe I've shared any photos of the concert hall at the KC, so here are a few:

Little Timmy said he wanted to get out of the house, so David kindly brought him along:

The gift shop had some interesting items:

but I decided to forgo the Shatner and went for the Beethoven Symphonies instead:

Life

Lately, nothing much has been happening with me. As the most-eminent Spo would say "I lead a boring life." I've been sleeping a lot, haven't been interested in things, I'm bored but I don't feel like doing anything, and my back hurts. Gee, sounds like a bout of depression, doesn't it--aside from the backache. The world bothers me immensely, and though it has for a while its been kind of a constant hum in the background of my existence lately. The very cold weather hasn't helped either, limiting the possibility for getting out of the house.

The goodly John of Going Gently wrote a post about gratitude a few days ago, which was most timely and helped a great deal. I have an enormous amount to be grateful for, health (more or less), security, comfort, my sweet poopsie David, etc., etc.  Reading is proving to be a wonderful distraction.  I'm reading a book about the history of sheep in America, which David gave me for Christmas. It is quite absorbing, especially as we think quite highly of sheep in this house.

Anywho, I have a regular doctor's appointment scheduled for Tuesday, and on Monday I'll probably go grocery shopping, which I usually find highly distracting--and yes, I'm going to keep a constant eye on my shopping bags. This afternoon we have a concert at the Kennedy Center, getting out and enjoying the vast amenities of the area will likely help. So that's what's going on with me these days. Till next time... 

Break Time

 We will now take a brief pause to contemplate the aethereal spheres.

Previous Incarnations

As many of you know, this is only the most recent incarnation of the HamsterBlog. The blog started back in 2006 and has gone on and off again ever since, with various changes in tone and focus. For a while it featured the slightly deranged story of The Hamster's attempts to subdue the world. The biggest episode from that epoch was the conquest of Scotland, occasioned by a delightful vacation in Yorkshire with friends from London. For those interested, here is the chronicle:

1. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/468035504608386702
2. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/5124528956622947417
3. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/8508079498412302226
4. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/804722670693859854
5. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/1727063439214052949
6. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/443320995961863573
7. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/3118463452905111816
8. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/3806606096529723781
9. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/3975595449188435540
10. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/6994683056217793479
11. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/1467229275021000459
12. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/1451122121446771775
13. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/515274965955261571621
14. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31715654/4143531150200130803

Jollities