It’s April. I look apprehensively at the weather the night before the concert, which features Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 5. At that moment, it’s not looking good–April has once again become the cruelest month. But somehow, the day of the event, everything aligns. The weather abates enough to make the concert possible…

That was 2018. It was also yesterday. I can’t help but believe this brings something full circle. I’ve already mentioned that I’ve felt the frenzy ebbing, the almost physical obsession to seek out and attend Shostakovich concerts. Yesterday’s was in Ottawa. I knew the night before, when the weather looked so awful, that if I missed it, I wouldn’t have lost the chance of a lifetime. It was the 5th–though it’s my favourite of Shostakovich’s symphonies, I HAVE heard it live –how many times? Eight, maybe? I already have it booked in locally next Spring, and if I was really pining, I could go see the Cleveland Orchestra play it at Blossom in July–but that was just a nice-to-have. Luckily, the weather gods were on my side. I left a little later than I’d planned to, thinking I’d forego my booked tour at the Royal Canadian Mint if the trip proved a little arduous, but to my surprise and delight the trip was trouble-free. Not only did I make the tour (which was short, but fascinating–not least for seeing a whole pile of gold just stacked on the floor and other huge coils of silver waiting to be turned into coins) but I was early enough to visit my favourite stores in the Byward Market and to acquire a beaver tail. I was staying with friends this time who also had concert tickets, and I got to their place, got changed for the concert, and then had a lovely dinner at the Metropolitain, a charming French-style restaurant where I decided to eat something different and got the Croque Monsieur. The last Croque Monsieur I had was on a visit to a French restaurant as a field trip with my grade 9 French class, and then our class held a “French food fair” where I teamed up with another student and made a really basic version of the Croque Monsieur. I am so glad I did. Melted cheese with ham and Bechemel sauce needs to happen more in my life. There were also profiterols for dessert.
The concert featured the NAC Orchestra, second largest in Ontario, with a rather eclectic program including Mozart’s Symphony no. 40 (always a favourite), Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending, which, despite its massive popularity (especially in England), I’d never actually heard. and then, after the break, the Shostakovich, which was played very well (if occasionally a little laggy in the outer movements) and with a proper, non-Bernsteined ending. The brass playing particularly stood out in this performance. This morning, there were maple pancakes before returning home. And there was almost no stress, after all, about the weather.

It was a good conclusion to a rather bleh week, at least health-wise. I apparently picked up something at Kingdom A&S and gave it to my husband, so we had to forego plans for Easter dinner with friends. Before he came down with it, we did manage to see Dune Part 2 in an actual cinema, the first movie we’ve gone out for since well before the pandemic. Glad we did. Denis Villeneuve movies really benefit from a large screen.

The other good news this week was we have officially added another kitty girl to our clowder. She’s a small dilute torbie and we’re calling her Gertrude. She’s officially a foster fail. We finalized the adoption on the first anniversary of Zoya’s adoption.

Tomorrow and the next day are Gryphcon, and then I have Monday off for the eclipse. Fingers crossed for good weather–at least it’s currently predicted as “partly sunny.”