In the Quiet Moments

…some of the most earth-shattering things can happen.

That’s not to say that things have been quiet here, or very loud even.  Life has simply been good.    See –>  How can one argue with a rainbow (grabbed out the car window as we drove down the highway yesterday evening)  😀

But in the quiet moments, we find the clarity to absorb all the things that happened in more chaotic times.   We find time for reflection, for processing, for rejuvenation…

… and time for wonder.

Last night, the three of us went to the Albany Symphony to see their performance with Cirque de la Symphonie a small troupe of acrobats, gymnasts, and clowns that perform in music theatres around the world.  If you’d like to see some of what we saw last night, please watch the Cirque’s promotional video from their website.  It’s a good representation, though our local venue, the Albany Palace Theater, does not have the height of ceiling nor the depth of stage for them to have performed all the stunts.  However, the piece from Swan Lake was spot on (in the video, contortionist Elena Tsarkova, in the white leotard on the doubled stool), the juggling…  I think the only thing we missed out on was the airborne ring-work, but performer Vitalii Buza gave us some astounding Cyr wheel work to make up for that lack.  As my husband noted, to just be able to spin that long and still walk steadily afterwards is impressive, not to mention doing tricks at the same time.

And of course…  The Albany Symphony Orchestra was at its usual awesome standard.  The selection of pieces where the orchestra performed sans circus acts came off as perfect interludes to allow us to savor the prior act and contemplate what new delight awaited us.  Frankly, the evening ended way to soon, and I was so glad that Dan didn’t oppose my suggestion that we go to Applebee’s for a nibble and some discussion of the show.

Picture from Mr. Cockrell’s concert last year

The only disappointing part of the evening?  How many empty seats there were in the theatre.   I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me.  I tried this year to encourage families at my son’s school to come to the Family Sunday symphonies that the ASO puts on by posting a flyer on the school bulletin board and having a copy of the flyer sent home to parents….  no one, not a single parent spoke to me about our experience or asked how to get tickets or…

Thankfully, the school’s director and I share a similar view regarding the value of field trips and exploring local artistic offerings whenever possible.Well, on May 13th , Findlay Cockrell’s  will be performing again at the Troy Saving’s Bank Music Hall to close out the Tuesdays at Noon season.  And he’s doing the original piano score of one of my favorite pieces, Moussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.  YES!  The Boodle and I already looking forward to that field trip.
So, let me leave you with a “quiet moment” (before theROW80 check-in) from another favorite artist of mine, Roger Hodgson ofSupertramp:

ROW80 Check-in

Progress, yes, but I’m still not reaching that consistency goal I set for myself at the beginning of the Round One.  I’m sabotaging myself somewhere along the way here… have to think more about it.

• write every day; at the minimum, do 5 sentences mostly journaling and some fanfiction
  
• finish a complete (rough) draft of Courting the Swan Song   ignored
  
• make twice weekly blog posts (WIPpet Wednesdays and Some Thing 4 Sundays) check
  
• maintain active sponsor participation  check
• energize myself with more physical activity  feeling definitely more active…  must be Spring
  
• reclaim my writing space dreamed about shelving…
  
• go through some piece of my electronic home (desktop, laptop, server space, Dropbox, etc.) some progress in photo directories and writing backups
  
• laugh more, hug my family more, share myself with friends more…  yes, Yes, YES!  😀
  
• attend chats and sprints on Twitter (at least one of each) oh, yes!