Anniversary

… two nights ago. Back to Secreto to let Chris concoct for us. Another fun evening out of good food and drink, concluding back home with fresh peaches in the cool evening.

There, met his partner in the bitters business, who noted that they're now selling online at Bitter End Bitters. I'm thinking Moroccan.

Opera, Again

In what's getting to be a habit for our anniversary, we returned to the Santa Fe Opera.

Couple weeks back Jon and Susanne were over for dinner; they've been attending most of this year's perfomances and thought it a tragedy that we hadn't seen any. They suggested we all do an evening at the Apprentice Scenes, so we booked seats.

Last night, the clouds encircled town in the afternoon, but the rain didn't actually start until we were driving up there at 6:30.



It wasn't actually that bad, not as windy and cold as feared for tailgating (with Jon's pickup, we had an actual tailgate). And there was only a few minutes there where we had to pull out the umbrellas out over hors d'oevres; luckily, we still had the old Traveler's one. By the time we were into the pan bagna that Monica made, the little drizzle wasn't a problem.

There was a bit of time for people-watching, then to our seats. The single (cheap) price for all tickets meant that we had better ones than we would've even gotten for an opera. The Apprentice Scenes are, just that — performances by participants in the Apprentice Program. They're singers, technicians, costume designers, everything.

Two "acts," each with four scenes from assorted operas; two hours total with intermission. Most of the scenes were in English, which was a little disappointing, but it was a fun, fast-paced evening. Not really an opera experience, because everything was so brief and minimal. But the whole evening was most definitely a great Santa Fe Opera experience.

Addendum: so I can remember when I'm checking the blog next year, the performances were Little Women by Mark Adamo, Act I, Scene 1; La Fille Du Régiment by Gaetono Donizetti, Marie/Tonio duet; Antony and Cleopatra by Samuel Barber, Act I, Scene 1; I Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, Nedda! Silvio! Duet; The Tender Land by Aaron Copeland, Act II, Duet; Vanessa by Samuel Barber, Act 1, Scene 2; Werther by Jules Massenet, Act II, Street Scene by Kurt Weill, Ice Cream Sextet

Zap

"I think it's a spider," said the barely discernible figure on our roof.

"Really?'

The repairman, peering into our air conditioning unit by the light of his little LED flashlight, caught my amused tone. "Yeah, there something on one of the contacts. I can see legs."

I don't think any of us were particularly happy about repairs at 9 PM; though I had called a half-hour earlier to cancel the visit, Zack showed up just as the opening credits were about to roll on Fantastic Mr. Fox and we were about to enjoy our sandwiches. He wearily said that the last job was more complicated than expected, and that seemed an understatement.

Monica, running home earlier in the day, had noticed the air conditioner wasn't blowing any cold air. A good excuse to bring the dog into work, where it's much cooler in our near-record-setting heat. She called the company that moved the unit when we had the roof insulated.

Turns out, it's not the brand they install or usually service. But a good eye and some sandpaper was, apparently, all that was needed to get it running. And sitting out in the yard in the cool night, under the stars, the dog finding her bone in the grass — that wasn't so bad.

-=-=-=-=-

Work's been busy, but there haven't been much other goings-on; yard work, we enjoyed Inception. Things are about to pick up. Afternoon-long 7000 BC meeting in a little bit, we're going to try to stop by a new exhibit Monica worked on (that we got a preview of a couple months back; John's half the exhibit, though it doesn't say so at the site).

Tomorrow, after chores, we're off to the Apprentice Showcase at the Opera with Jon and Susanne. In charge of the tailgate fare, I think we're just leaning toward fancy sandwiches.

Sleeping in on Sunday

Well for some. Those of us with thumbs and credit cards have cleaning and grocery shopping to do.