Akhnaten: YES!!

The lovely yellow flowers of Oregon Grape are turning
the forest yellow right now.

This is a plant I don't know, but it has absolutely spectacular
Fuschia-like blossoms that are very tiny. (See below.)

This is my attempt at a close-up of the beautiful little blossoms
that cover these shrubs in the forest. I had no idea how many
and how beautiful plants we had growing in our forests.

The sun came out yesterday afternoon, just before I went to meet Anna and Gunther, so I went into the garden and did my first bit of weeding. I got many of the weeds out of the vegetable garden and it was actually fun. (The vegetable garden is raised, so it’s easy on the back.)

I look forward to doing more weeding soon because it’s so incredibly and quickly rewarding. I get a huge emotional lift when I see how clean the garden is when I am done. Plus, there’ll be no competition for water for my plants. But I only weed when the sun in out. 

I can see a zillions of teeny light green Strawberries emerging. There are oodles of buds on my Grape vines and the Blueberry bushes are lush with blossoms and little emerging berries. I won’t get a huge harvest of anything, but I’ll have lots of fruit to accompany ice cream and for breakfast.

My joy is over a joke of a garden. You should see how some people garden around here! But I’ve got a bad dose of lethargy this year. But I’m fine with it because last year, my second summer in a row of endless physical work, I decided to just take it easy this year.

My plan is to take lots of road trips to Victoria and up the east coast of the big island and limit my work here to mowing the lawns and gardens. I’ll go on some riverside and beach walks on my own or do so safely with friends who live on the big island.

Besides the berries and grapes, I’ve got a whopping crop of Garlic and nine herbs growing, and I’ll be getting more herbs. I’ll likely add to the veggie garden too, over time, because it’s where the most sunlight hits my yard and it’s fenced. 

Last night, joy of joys, I watched Akhnaten. I’m not, as I have said, an opera fan, per se, but I love theatre, music and design so every once in a while, an opera comes along that lures me into its hall. House of the Dead (Janáček), Nixon in China (Adams) and Akhnaten (Glass) have all thrilled me. They are my faves!

Akhnaten was absolutely fabulous. It's a festival of spectacular images and extraordinary choreography. I'm so, so glad that I was finally able to see it. (One thing though: When we meet Akhnaten, he descends a staircase—in this filmed performance he wears a kind of diaper but in the regular performances he was naked. (Nixon in China is currently up on the Met Website (metopera.org) 

Below are some shots of the MET production of Akhnaten. 

Anthony Roth Costanzo plays the title pharaoh role. 

He plays the revolutionary ruler who made Egypt 

the first monotheistic empire. I adore Mr. Constanzo, 

a counter tenor) is the most charming of opera stars.