Holy Moses

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I had my day all planned out — go to the second service, get material on the way home to finish the door, do more watering, herd cats — or so I thought. After the service, which had a wonderful liturgical dance to “Moses”, Jerri asked me if I had gone to their concert at Keller Hall last night and photographed it — I hadn’t, so she asked me if I could photograph the concert this afternoon. The concert was great. A mixed Choir, with the  Symphony Orchestra of Albuquerque, performed the Easter selections from Handel’s Messiah, then the SOA played Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” and Camille Saint-Saens’ “Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor,” with Natalia Tikhovidova on piano. Ms Tikhovidova is a phenomenal pianist and the “Piano Concerto…” was very lively and showy. The SOA and choirs will do another performance on March 17, 2013, 2:00 pm at John XXIII Catholic Community, 4831 Tramway Ridge, NE.

I started out the photo session standing with the choir in the beginning of the concert, so I got a super-wide angle photo from the choir’s/orchestra’s point-of-view, with the audience in the pews.  The percussionists were fun to watch because they followed their music with such intensity — there were times they played only one or two notes, so they obviously didn’t want to miss them.

Although I had to lay aside my well-laid plans for the day, the concert was well worth it.

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Stormy Saturday

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We had a stormy Saturday that produced a lot of clouds, wind, and few snow flurries and but basically not precipitation at our place.  Despite the weather, I managed to get half of the iris I had to dig up for the electrical upgrade planted, watered the tulips that are starting to come up, got a door installed on the study, and made it out to get photographs of the stormy day. I am feeling quite productive today.

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666 Route 66

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Today is my 666th consecutive post since I moved to Word Press. The number 666 is dear to me because I woman once called me the Antichrist in a public meeting (I really, really made her mad). Later I used the same formula that Boris used in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” to add up the numbers that corresponded to the letters in his name to see what they added up to, which turned out to be 666, making him think he was the Antichrist. Guess what? The numeric values of my full name also added up to 666. But it’s all for fun, as Nero was thought to be the Antichrist referred to in the Book of Revelations, and apparently, the Mark of the Beast could be 606 or 616, so all the superstition about 666 may all be for naught. The State of NM changed NM Highway 666 between Gallup and Shiprock to US Highway 491 a few years ago so they wouldn’t be mixing church and state.

So when Bruce and I were discussing what I should do for photos for this special post, he gave me the idea to google 666 Route 66. There are were actually four choices between SW, NW, SE and NE depending on which side on Central Avenue your on, east or west of the railroad tracks. East of the tracks was a hotel or the building the Baptist Convention used to be in. West of the tracks is El Rey Theater and a parking lot. If the Baptist Convention was still at 666 Route 66, that building would have been the photo of the day, but it’s a boring building and I have no history with it. So the El Rey got it. I go way back with the  El Rey. When I was a kid I went to movies there, and about 20 years ago we went to see a band friend liked — the band sucked but our friend was entertaining. Around the same time, we went to a couple of salsa dances, performed flamenco, and  we went to concert by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the El Rey. Bela Fleck was fantastic and he changed my opinion of the banjo forever. I still get mail from the Flecktones every now and then.

At lunchtime Bruce and I walked over to the El Rey Theater and he posed for me on the spot that would be 666 Route 66 SW. I used a super-wide angle lens, which made Bruce look a little like the Terminator, which was perfect. The we went around behind the building to find the back wall colorfully painted with an outline of the Virgin de Guadalupe on a back door — super!  Then we photographed our way back to the office through the well painted and graffitied alleys.

 

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Pipes

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I was studying for the French test tomorrow while listening to the choir rehearse Messiah pieces with the Symphony Orchestra of Albuquerque at Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church. On the way home I started thinking about what kind of effect studying while under the influence of Handel might have. Let’s say there’s a question like “Why did the south lose the Albigensian Crusade?” I could answer “They were like sheep!”  and that answer would be correct.

The Choir and SOA are performing selected pieces from Handel’s Messiah this Saturday, March 9  at 7:00 pm at Keller Hall at UNM and Sunday, March 10 at 2:00 pm at Eastern Hills Baptist, 3100 Morris St NE.

 

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Morning Glow

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I was awakened by a pink glow — by the time I got outside with my camera the pinks were turning into reds and yellows. The sky and clouds were interesting throughout the day.

 

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I Have A Missing Sock!

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When I got to the bottom of the laundry basket tonight, I announced “I have a missing sock!” Linguist Laur told me “It’s funny how we say ‘I have a missing sock!’ If you had it the sock wouldn’t be missing!”  “How about I don’t have a sock, because I’m missing it!” I replied. Then we went off on a discussion of the philosophy and linguistics behind how best to announce that you have or don’t have a missing sock. By the time we got the laundry put away, Diné was glaring at us and Mama Manx found a box to pout in for turning those piles of comfy socks into piles of missing socks!  Wait, that’s not right! How about missing socks formerly known as piles of comfy sock under cats?

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Dog & Pony…

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On my way back from photographing the sunset in the bosque, I stopped to photograph the horses in the soft light at dusk.  My buddy, Turbo, came out to say hi, and wanted to be included in the photo session as well.

 

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