The return of the phoebes

Normally, I would be delighted to witness the return of the phoebes to our back yard.  There's one sitting on our deck as I write this.

But this is November, dammit!  Next week will be Thanksgiving.  What chance of survival does our little phoebe have now?  It seems reasonably clear that she (I think it's a she) has been lured back by this ridiculously warm weather.  When it does turn cold, our little phoebe will be thousands of miles from a nice cozy place.

And it's not just the phoebes.  The wrens, woodpeckers, all kinds of birds are hopelessly confused.

We really have screwed this planet up, haven't we?

Decisions, decisions

What a great game! Will was here to watch the Sunday evening match-up: Patriots versus the unbeaten colts in Indianapolis. The old Brady-Moss magic was back. The Patriots were playing really well: stellar performances from the two stars, with Welker, Faulk and the rest of the offense on a tear, while the defense was seemingly able to shut the Colts down. Or so it was until the fourth quarter. For much of the game, the Pats led by 10 or 17 points. It could have been more but for an end-zone interception and a goal line fumble. The Colts got two friendly defensive-pass-interference decisions from the officials, the second one of these was just mind-boggling. The Patriots were able, with good justification, to go into the "prevent defense" during the last half of the fourth quarter with an 13 point lead. Will and I have always joked that the prevent defense usually prevents the winning side from winning, but last night it seemed appropriate. Injuries had reduced the defensive front seven to a situation where there were no backups and they certainly were tired. However, once the lead was down to 6, it was time to just play good football again. But His Hoodiness (aka Bill Belichik) treated us to a new concept in football: the prevent offense. With fourth-and-two at your own 38 yard line, what does coaching 101 tell you to do? Punt! The punt unit were on the field. But, OMG, they ran off and we're going for it. What relief when Kevin Faulk caught the ball for a first down (game more or less over)! But no, the officials have ruled that he didn't have control of the ball until the defenders had pushed him back over the ten yard line. The rest was inevitable. The most disappointing, nay, tragic loss since Super Bowl XLII.

I shouldn't be quite so hard on Belichik. I am a huge fan of his and am amazed how he always makes really good decisions. Maybe he had a headache, or his contact lenses had fallen out. Whatever the reason, this one is going to be discussed for weeks!

Go Pats!

Marylou

This week we and and a vast hinterland of music lovers around the world were deeply saddened by the loss of Marylou Speaker Churchill. We knew her primarily as Mark's wife, but the rest of the musical world knew Mark as Marylou's husband! Aside from her enormous talent as a violin performer and teacher, she had an incredible grace and a very warm personality. But don't take my word for it – there has been a huge outpouring of thoughts, anecdotes, love and affection on the Facebook page: Friends of Marylou Speaker Churchill. Another source of information about her life is of course the obituary in the Globe.

Our thoughts are very much with Mark, Emma and Julia, who I think are now 14 years old – a time when a mother will be very much missed!

I have many fond memories of Marylou playing with SPM either as soloist, "ripieno" violinist, or just plain audience member. One was the incident of the trousers. You'll have to ask me about that one. Another was her very genuine warmth when playing the Dvorak concerto and having to deal with me as bassoonist! Another (not directly SPM-related) is her being there at our wedding when we asked Mark if he would officiate. My recollection is that it was the "girls", by which I think he meant all three, that persuaded him to do it. Marylou could justifiably have stayed at home – it was so nice of her to come. That was typical of her.

Basking in Indian Summer

After a cold snap early in October, we've been enjoying unseasonably warm weather here in the city in the woods. On November 1st we drove up to Pisgah State Park in New Hampshire for a guided nature tour by a local professor, Tom Wessels. The walk was extremely interesting - we learned some things about trees that were completely new to me. For example, trees of different species (nay, families, even orders) can root-graft each other to stay alive. He also pointed out that the ratio of biomass between underground and above-ground can be something like 4:5 for a typical forest and considerably greater than 1 for an "old growth" forest.

However, today is probably the last of our warm days, at least for now.

Meanwhile, TiVo can be very frustrating. Can't live with it, can't live without it. When I first heard about it, around ten years ago, I thought what a great idea! When I first bought one, about 8 years ago I thought what a great idea, but what a terrible user interface. The user interface is still terrible, almost unchanged since then. Don't they have programmers?

Last weekend's SPM concerts were really wonderful: a Gabrieli Sonata
"Pian e forte", the Strauss Vier Letzte Lieder with the most marvellous soprano, Sara Jakubiak, and the Mendelssohn 3rd (Scottish) symphony, his last and probably best. The Strauss songs especially are just incredible. What a treat to be able to play this kind of music! Here's a very favorable review from John Zeugner.

Meanwhile, Marylou is receiving tons of messages in the Facebook group Friends of Marylou Speaker Churchill. She's very much in our thoughts.