synopsis of diversion.

inspiring, ne? 
source


"But the child who has outgrown spade and bucket, and who is a little fagged [that means tired! -a.] with school work, needs, like his elders, engrossing interests which shall compel him to think new thoughts. Fresh air for the lungs, fresh scenes for the eye, are fully healing and helpful only when the mind, too, is taken into account, and the jaded brain is spoon-fed, as it were, with new ideas. This is why foreign travel is delightful... " - Charlotte Mason

The above statement was one of the main thoughts in my recent presentation on The Delightfulness of Travel. Wouldn't you agree with it? Sometimes the usual, normal, mundane routines of life can become quite tiresome, and all we want is a bit of diversion! Travel is one of many ways to do something out of the ordinary, and it needn't be far from home. 'Fresh air for the lungs, fresh scenes for the eye ... [and] new ideas' are what make coming home so lovely; a change of pace [and perhaps place] gives new vigor to the mind and cheerfulness to the spirit. I've had a rather diverting past week, and here are some of the highlights.

Well, as you know, I went to the opera [Don Giovanni] in downtown St Paul last Friday. I was back again in St Paul this Thursday with my friend Teresa to see the second of my SPCO concerts for the year. As we walked down the aisle to our appointed places, we became increasingly astonished; our seats were in the third row! We were off to the left side, so our view of the entire orchestra was really somewhat poor. But we were delighted to watch the bassists, oboist, and first-chair-second-violinist. We could also see the backs of the first violinists, and chuckled as the first-chair/concertmaster proceeded to break 3 of his bow strings throughout the performance. You just don't see those things from the nosebleeds.

Our greatest delight was watching Gil Shaham, the featured artist, who is one of the most animated classical musicians I've personally seen! He plays a 1699 Stradivarius violin. [Yes, 1699. That is 311 years old. They just don't make them like that anymore.] It was our great pleasure to see his facial expressions, his winks to the other musicians, his infectious joy in playing the wonderful music of Hadyn and Mendelssohn. It may or may not be true, but I would think he's a jokester.

The SPCO also played Beethoven's 2nd- without a conductor!

Having now driven twice in a week through downtown St Paul, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it- at least with finding the Ordway! I was back in the cities on Saturday with my friend Mel, to see Wicked at the Orpheum in Minneapolis. My, but I do like downtown Minneapolis. Wicked was fun too. I still wake up singing the songs.. it's time to try defying gravity! We met up with 3 friends for the show, and an additional friend for dinner, and afterwards spent quite a while walking and exploring downtown, all the way to the River [the Mississippi, of course!], Nicollet Island, and back. I think I'd like to live downtown somewhere big sometime. Minneapolis may be it... someday? We'll do London first. :)

Well, after all the excitement and probably 30+ hours in the car in the past week, it's nice to be home. You know, there's no place like home. It really is refreshing to get away and do interesting things though, and to spend time with new people. Friends on the prairie aren't exactly, shall we say, excessive? So, new or old, it's a pleasure to see them, whoever they may be. I'm working lots this week, and have a few projects on the agenda, as well as a stack of library books to peruse and a couple of letters to write.

But it's 72 degrees and sunny. Sooo.. maybe just a little more diversion in form of a bike ride would be fitting?