Amaryllis sillyramA

I just heard from a friend’s blog (thanks, Cat!) that 826 Valencia is expanding to Seattle! Yay! Welcome Dave Eggers and cohorts. I only wish I hadn’t missed the benefit.. that’s what I get for relaxing over the weekend instead of going to Bumbershoot.

e-Scrabble’s old files will probably be disappearing soon. Couldn’t let this one get away. That Krista is something else.

[9/27: and now e-scrabble is gone for good.. waah!]

Magnolia bud

This morning I finished Bel Canto. One of the main characters in the book is a soprano, a diva. A diva in a good way.

And, by sheer coincidence, a few weeks ago I found a podcast of nothing but opera. At the time I subscribed to the podcast, there were several pieces available to download. I decided to listen first to a Bellini opera, Norma. Been listening to it in bits and pieces for the last week or so (not ideal, but I’ll take it over no opera). Act II finished up just as I arrived at work this morning, and I finally remembered to look and see if I could find anything about the story line. Here’s a quotation from the first paragraph of the first hit on the search bellini norma story:

Prepared for all lovers of great opera, including the serious undergraduate music student, this bibliography is structured to help its users develop and all-around appreciation of Bellini’s operatic masterpiece Norma. Materials chosen include biographies of Bellini, recordings of the opera by the greatest contemporary sopranos, reviews of the recordings, articles about current stagings, copies of the score, and discussions of Bel Canto singing, the style in which Bellini was noted.

—L.R. Most / G. Frost

Bel Canto singing! I had no idea it was a style of singing or notation. Now I understand the book that tiny bit better. It is a good book and I do recommend it. It is not for the faint of heart.

Still looking for the story, I fumbled around in google for awhile longer, then finally figured out to check Wikipedia. Bingo!

I’d like to see that opera someday. The story sounds quite wrenching.

Also. Looking up the word Norma on Wikipedia brought these lovely results:

Norma is a constellation of the southern sky. See Norma (constellation).
Norma is an opera by Vincenzo Bellini. See Norma (opera).
Norma is a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy. See Norma arm.

I heart Wikipedia.

We had a lovely, too-short trip to Lake Wenatchee the last few days. Back to the Allen’s cabin, where we used to vacation when I was little. It was so much fun! We might try to go earlier and catch the Perseids next year.

And this is only Part I.