"Chopin at Night"...

 

Good "electrifried" Sunday Morning, all bodies.

Oh man, if it wasn't for the "mo-skeetos" I would have stayed for the entire show. Returning from a pool party around 8 or so, an electrical storm south of us somewhere in Covington, lit up the sky. The muffled sound of thunder in the distance added a soundtrack to the performance!

Mother Nature at her most dangerous best!

Earlier that day, digging my second cup, Tyler, our resident Chopin fan, came by to play for awhile. He's learning some new tunes, but stayed with the standard ones he feels confident enough to play.

He left early, but returned because of a large accident blocking traffic. So, we chatted about some of the more emotional passages of Chopin's nocturnals... especially Nocturne Op.9, No. 2.

It's really hard to talk about classical music with such great titles to the songs, ya know?

The Nocturnes, Op. 9 are a set of three nocturnes for solo piano written between 1831 and 1832, and dedicated to Madame Marie Pleyel. Apparently, she was an accomplished pianist herself engaged to the composer, Hector Berlioz, but changed her mind and married Camille Pleyel, son of Ignaz Pleyel, and heir to the piano manufacturing business.

There's a connection between Chopin's use of Pleyel piano and Pleyel foot pedals. According to Tyler, Chopin incorporated pedal use in all of his nocturnes.

After the traffic bottleneck was cleared away, Tyler split and I decided to do a sketch of the pedals on the baby grand piano there at GiddyUp. All I had was a Sharpie to draw with, so that's what I went with.

All in all, it was a very nice Saturday... to have!

First cup... 

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"He's Not A Licker... He's A Kisser!

 

Pierre le Pooch

Good "Thus with a kiss, I die", Monday Morning, all bodies.

On another less stressful thought, I sketched this photo of Pierre this morning after a first cup. I love when he takes the lead on our walks, but has to look back to see if we are following. Le Pooch doesn't hear too well and even though he gets all excited when I grab his leash, it doesn't take too long before his pace around the bird sanctuary slows down.

I usually stretch in the morning in a place where Pierre is not, but every now and then, I'll watch the morning news and lay on the living room floor to go through my pseudo pilates pace in an effort to improve physical strength, flexibility, and posture, and "mental awareness."

Aware of what is the question!

Anyway, Pierre jumped off the couch and came over to inspect my progress. Maybe it was a goodbye kiss since he thought I was in some kind of peril laying on the floor. Maybe he thought he was losing his meal ticket. Nevertheless, he nuzzled my head, sniff around a bit and then, gave me a kiss.

Okay, okay... it was not really a kiss. A cynic would say Pierre sniffed some leftover food item stuck to my forehead and decided to try and lick it off with one timid uh... um, lick!

I choose to call it a kiss because our cocker spaniel is not one to slobber his tongue on people in an effort to grab a lick of facial salt. This dog, in all the thirteen years we've shared together, has never licked Brian or Tee or me... Ever.

He's not a licker... he's a kisser!

That's not to say that he is not happy to see you when you arrive through the front door or wake up in the morning. He is a "Dino the Dinosaur" from the Flintstones when he greets you... especially if he smells the slightest chance of food.

His nose knows all, and I insist that after a few sniffs, he gave me a kiss on my forehead... food or no food!

Second cup, y'all...

Copyright 2021/Ben Bensen III