Suddenly, Autumn, and All That Entails

(Photo by Pete)

Seriously, it was a bit unseasonably high for most of August. Then a couple Mondays ago, we had a big (well, "big") evening rainstorm, and woke up to autumn. Cool weather, golden light. Nice — but a little too sudden.

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But August's end means two things: Jamie's annual gallery show and Bubonicon. On the same weekend this year. A problem because we were staying in Albuquerque Saturday (after such a great time last year). Meant that Cheyenne had to get to the dogsitter (the other one, about 30 minutes out of town) Friday. The night of Jamie's opening.

Monica was able to juggle her schedule, pack the dog up, meet me downtown so we could all go to the opening. Cheyenne just loves Jamie; generally dancing around when he appears, pestering him for pets and, I'm told, talking to him last time he stopped by. All the crowds threw her off, but she was still happy to see him.



Opening was apparently a big success. We made it to the dropoff and home. Up and on the road early so I could set up for a 10:00 presentation Jamie, Pete, Paul, and I were giving at the convention; sparsely attended, but went well. Staffed the 7000 BC table, sporting the Babelfish that Susanne made to go with the con's Hitchhiker's theme; with all other members there, we could come and go, so I took some time to run errands in the big (well, "big") city.

Gathered up a group, none of us from Abq, to head out dinner. To the Vietnamese place we went last year, one of two places I know in town. Where they were out of rice. And rice noodles. Well, everything really. But they directed us to their sibling restaurant nearby. Which apparently decided to close early. So, to Flying Star, the other place I know, just before low blood sugar just did us in. Worked out well, and even ran into Chris.



Stayed up late gaming with Jon and Susanne. Staffed the table for a little while, added to the rats drawing, then lunch (Flying Star again) to catch up with Rob. Spent a while there, visiting, falling for his iPad. And then on home, exhausted.

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Been busybusy at work. But also, let's see, in there was also a day at a fencing clinic run by the coach's coach, dinner at Stacy and Jim's, and forgetting M+D's anniversary (wince; sorry).

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And Thursday night. Cheyenne, as is often her way when she's had enough of us, was outside in her bed. Some sort of yelp or squeal had us rushing out into the dark, where she was just kind of standing. The stink said skunk activity, though it wasn't much worse than the average summer night smell.

The blood on her collar, well, that spoke to something else. And she did kind of have the stench on her face, but no other visible marks. While Monica got the peroxide/soap/baking soda bath going, I went outside to find messy evidence of Cheyenne's victory. It was only the next morning that we discovered it was just a stub of tail. Ecch.

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This morning, Farmers Market in my new birthday shirt.

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.

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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.