Pondering the world

Bottger Mansion of Old Town

Victorian bed & breakfast in historic Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico
110 San Felipe Street NW, Albuquerque, NM   87104
(800) 758-3639
www.bottger.com
 

locked in the subway--caught in the SEPTA strike

Our transportation went fairly smoothly at first--the plane to Philadelphia airport, then the train from the airport to downtown.  The last leg was a subway ride from the train stop over to the next stop on the subway and a short walk to the hotel.

The train station was in East Market Mall.  I have to admit that very little is clearly marked in Philadelphia, where one would expect to see signs when you get off the train saying, "subway--> this way," and continue with the signs until you get there.  Nope.  Fortunately, Steve had recently been there and knew his way around.  However, when we came to the entrance to the subway station, the gates were closed.  Strange, we thought.  We could find no other way to get in.  No problem--he knew that there were entrances to the subway on the street.  We went out and crossed over to the street entrance at 12th street and went down, and down, and around.  We noticed that we only saw one other person the whole way along. 

We finally reached the turnstile area to get onto the subway, but the gates were closed there, too.  One lone attendant told us that the SEPTA strike had started and the station was closed--we would have to go back out the way we came.  On the way out, we decided that we would just walk the distance to the hotel.

Imagine our surprise and concern when we went up the steps to the street level to find the exit gate closed--we had been locked in.  There was no one around to unlock the gate, so we went back down to try to find another exit.  This time we went down the tunnel where we had seen that one other person.  We ended up on the other side of the tracks with another gate across the turnstiles.  At least there was another attendant there.  When we told her what had happened, she said we must have entered during that short window of time between when they went on strike and when they locked the gates.  She was kind enough to take us up to an exit gate at street level and let us out.

We always seem to have adventures when we travel--getting caught in thousands of motorcycles on their way to Sturgis, having to fly to northern Japan via Korea because an earthquake had disrupted all train traffic, driving hundreds of miles out of our way to avoid massive flooding...  seems like there's always something.

When did the SEPTA strike end?  Just as we were in Philadelphia airport flying out, of course.

Morris House Hotel in Philadelphia

While in Philadelphia, we stayed for several nights at the Morris House Hotel, a lovely colonial-era B&Bin the heart of Philadelphia.  The house has been restored to its original splendor, with modern conveniences added, of course.  Our room was quite lovely, and in addition to being a historic home full of character, the location is fabulous.

The Morris House Hotel is on St. James Street, just off 8th Street (called "Jewelers' Row" because of the concentration of jewelry stores) only a few blocks from Market Street.  Its location between the Old City historic district to the east and downtown to the west makes it a perfect spot for visiting much of Philadelphia on foot. 

And visit on foot I did!  I'm thankful that I had just bought a new pair of Dr. Scholl's sneakers, because I covered most of the city close in over two days--from Front Street and Elfreth's Alley all the way over to the Reading Terminal Market on Arch and 12th. 

I'll post more about all of the things we saw later.  As always, we seem to have adventures on our trips.  The next post is called "getting locked in on the Philadelphia subway."

Church of Beethoven--sign me up as a member!

This morning I finally had the opportunity to attend the Church of Beethoven, which convenes every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. 

I was intrigued by their description posted on an Albuquerque calendar of events:  "weekly chamber music and spoken word performances by professional musicians and poets.  Concise and varied programs washed down with great espresso drinks." 

And the slogan on their website:  "church minus the religion."

It's in a former warehouse/industrial building on Fifth Street just south of I-40, and the space is now called The Kosmos.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it's a nice performance space that has been cleaned and painted, with a small stage at one end and rows of folding chairs.  It's at the end of the building and the roof starts to slope down, so with the exposed beams and the shape, it reminds me of the "ark" type roof adopted by many Lutheran churches, including the past two of which we have been members.  They also have a translucent "stained glass" fabric over the windows, so it takes little imagination to envision it as a church.

The program was absolutely delightful and lasted for about an hour.  It began with an operatic performance of "A Hand of Bridge," Op. 35 composed by Samuel Barber is 1959.  The performers were Thomas Munro, Matt Amend, Nilam Brown and Essence Johnson of the UNM Opera Theatre, accompanied by Ivan Koska on piano.  I had never heard this piece before.  Four people are playing a hand of bridge, and the lyrics are the thoughts of each of the players as they sit at the table.  While Barber composed some fabulous "serious" music, it's nice to know he had such an interesting sense of humor.

That was followed by a reading by Anthony Hunt of selected American poems, so I heard "A Certain Slant of Light" by Emily Dickinson, Section 6 of "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, and a work of T.S. Eliot (I didn't catch the title).  It made me want to go read more works by those poets.  Isn't that the point of exposure to culture and art?

A celebration of silence lasted for two minutes, which seemed to be a nod to the "church" part of the program.

A delightful string quartet performed the Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 by Antonin Dvorak.  ("Hey--I know this piece!"  I know and appreciate fine classical music--I've just never been able to remember titles or composers.)  The four movements were "allegro ma non troppo" (quickly but not too much), "lento" (slowly), "molto vivace" (very lively), and "vivace ma non troppo (lively but not too much).  I looked those up in an online Italian-English dictionary.  It was performed by David Felberg and Roberta Arruda on violins, Ikoku Kanda on viola, and James Holland on cello.  It was as fine a performance as any chamber music concert I've ever attended.

There is one more thing that happened which added to my extreme delight in the morning.  Soon after the performance began, a black pug trotted out of the audience seating area and through a door into a back room.  Ah--the "job dog" as our family calls them.  He obviously belongs to someone who works there or operates the place and has the run of the building.  I didn't see him for a while.  Then, during the "lento" section of the Dvorak piece (remember, this is the "slow" and "solemn" movement), the pug came wandering through the audience between people's legs and under chairs, surreptitiously sampling any drinks or food from the dishes people had set on the floor.  He finished the last dregs of the espresso of the lady sitting next to me, then lapped up water from the glass of the woman in the row in front of me.  I was trying to be quiet, but I was laughing so hard my shoulders were shaking and my eyes were watering!

There was more entertainment involved and just about as much serenity as in any church service I've ever attended.  I could tell that a lot of the people attending (it was packed) were regulars, and, just like after a real church service, they lingered to talk and have coffee after the performance was over.

Sign me up as a member of the Church of Beethoven!

Where:  1715 Fifth Street NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico

When:  Sundays at 10:30 a.m.

Cost:  $15 per person

Extra:  frequent attender passes available, volunteers wanted, and a jar is designated for "offerings to the Kosmos."

queen of the tool geeks

Last week we were at Lowe's picking up some repair supplies, as always.  Near the cash registers was a display rack of those cool hats with the LED lights built into the brim.

"I need one of those so I can find things in the storage building," I said.  Our storage building is about 20x23 and has no power, so finding things in the back can be a challenge and requires a flashlight, which I almost never have with me.

"I've been thinking about getting one myself," Steve replied.  "There are times when I need to have a light but be working with both hands."

So we each got one.  His is hanging on a hook in the office so he'll know where it is.   Mine hangs on a hook just inside the storage building door, so it will be right where I need it when I go in.

How geeky is that?  But I'm all about tools, and you can't do the job right if you don't have the right tools in the right place.  And it really works--there are three settings for brightness, so I can put my hat on and see all the way to the boxes on the upper shelves in the far back corner.

There's a reason my nickname at one of my past jobs was "The Tool Queen."

another cute dog costume

Jarrod Quon--I knew him "when!"

Today we had the pleasure of watching Jarrod Quon in an episode of NBC's "Trauma."  Jarrod was a good friend of our daughter in high school, and, between marching band, concert band and high school musicals, his family and ours spent way more time at the high school than anywhere else.

It was the Halloween episode of the series, so I'm sure everyone had a great time filming it.  Jarrod's part was brief, so I'm going to have to watch it again.  It's the first time I've ever seen "Trauma," and I enjoyed it.  It had all the hallmarks of a good show for me--drama, humor, and interesting and sensitive treatment of the episode's subject.

Pretty exciting to see someone on network TV whom I've known since he was in eighth grade, huh?

dust, dust mites and other allergens

I feel as if I've been gone forever, in seclusion and cut off from the rest of the world.  And I didn't care.  All I wanted was to finish my work for the day and climb back into bed.

As the busy season winds down, it becomes time for deep cleaning, especially since we have a lot of painting and improvements to do over the winter.  The first rule in painting is to make sure the surfaces are clean, so the deep cleaning goes hand-in-hand with preparing to paint.

When I do deep cleaning, all of the linens come out of the room to be washed--curtains, rugs, bed linens, mattress covers.  The room is completely stripped right down to the bare mattresses and furniture.

That's when the trouble began.  My housekeeper and I had completed one room on Wednesday and started on one that is particularly prone to dust.  It's a small room on the northeast corner of the house facing the mountains.  It has windows all the way around on two sides, which gives it a spectacular view. 

By the end of the day, I was sneezing and wheezing and could hardly make it up and down the stairs any more.  Uh-oh--allergy-induced asthma, which I've had before.  Last year I raked leaves in the fall for five hours and had the same thing happen.  Once I took allergy medicine and went home and slept for 10 hours, I was fine. 

Not this time. I don't think I got a sinus infection, but close.  For three days I've sneezed and hacked and coughed, all night one time.  The Sudafed finally started cleaning out my sinuses, but then it kept me awake all night.  Did you know it's loaded with something like caffeine?  I'm especially sensitive to it, which is why I don't take it unless I absolutely have to. 

In the past three days, I've read three books--The Battling Prophet by Arthur Upfield, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, and A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare--and am nearly done with American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.  What else do you do when you don't have enough energy to work but the drugs keep you awake?

Today I am nearly back to normal--still slightly congested, periodically coughing, and wide awake.  I expect that by the end of the day, the lack of sleep will catch up with me. 

out of the mouths of babes...

Yesterday we were out walking around Old Town and made a circuit around Tiguex Park.  What a gorgeous day!  It was 75 degrees, sunny, puffy clouds, no wind at all...  it was a good day for lingering, so we sat on a bench by the playground and watched the kids for a while.

The most amazing thing was watching the tiniest kids negotiate the steps or the plastic tube ladder up to the bridge that led to the roller slide.  Many of them were in the three- or four-year-old range, and those steps were a big stretch for their little legs but, by golly, they made it. 

Then along came a two-year-old, still with chubby baby legs, a bit unsteady on the run.  Around and around he went, up the steps one at a time, across the bridge, and down the roller slide with the bigger kids.  After a while, Dad called out, "one more time, buddy!" and he had his one more time, then another, and another.  Finally, Dad had to catch him and start leading him back to the car.

As the little boy passed by our bench, he asked quite clearly, "Go Starbucks, Daddy?"

Are you sure you're not an author?

I recently got a book from a wonderful lady named Monty, who is married to Steve's uncle, Richard Peck.  I was chuckling because the book is Amanda/Miranda by Richard Peck. 

"It's actually a really good book," said Monty.  "There are several authors named Richard Peck, and we have a number of books by all of them.

"You know, Roger Miller lived in Santa Fe for years and was a good friend of ours.  He would come over to the house and see all those books by 'Richard Peck' on the shelves in the den, so he thought Richard was a writer.  We told him he wasn't, but Roger never did quite believe it."

"See a penny, pick it up..."

"... and all the day you'll have good luck."  I remember that rhyme from when I was a kid.  I've always had a sharp eye for finding money on the ground.

Then someone said that if it's face up, it's good luck.  If it's face down, it's bad luck.  Wait... there are conditions attached?

And if I find one penny face up and another face down, do they cancel each other out?