April 18, 2018

This is the Brazilian way: we land, go groggily through customs, and stand in line waiting to board our flight from Sao Paulo to Rio, chatting a bit to shake loose the portugues in our brains. Boarding time comes and goes, and 10 minutes before what purports to be our “on-time” departure, there is an unintelligible announcement, the man in line in front of us mutters “cancelado,” and everyone takes off running. We follow, trying to keep up with the crowd, without any idea of where we are headed. We end up in a line waiting (for what?) and P. holds our place while I try to find an English-speaker at the international check-in counter. From utter confusion, we suddenly have 3 helpful people who explain in English, re-book us on another airline with a flight leaving in 2 hours, take P. to gather our checked bags and re-check them, and we are off. Land, taxi to our Airbnb, where the driver gets out and figures out where we should go, we get our key and are soon looking at this sun-splotched vista of Christo on the mountain from our tiny balcony, 24 hours after leaving home. We rest a bit and then head to our first concert, at Casa do Choro, new music written and played by many of my friends, inspired by the art of one of their fathers. Pushing the “EZ” button we take a taxi downtown, encounter the band in the bar next door, and join them for a beer. Th music is amazing– more angular chamber music than choro. Afterwards everyone heads upstairs to the cafe to grab a drink and chat. Home, exhausted but happy– our musical Rio adventure has begun!

April 17, 2018

And we are off! First fly to Florida, then catch a plane for Sao Paulo. It’ll be nearly 24 hours door-to-door, so we settle in and try to sleep in this cacophonous metal flying box that is winging its way to our weeks of music.

April 16, 2018

Torrential downpours today, at times obscuring the road as I drive. Tomorrow is departure day, and the to-do list shrinks appropriately.

April 15, 2018

The trees are finally starting to bloom– hooray! Today is the last rehearsal with my group Enigmatica before P & I head to Rio. All the notes fly off the page and coalesce into beautiful music. Some errands to run, a walk, and let the packing begin!

week 494 ~ we who once made history

we who once made history
bow to the unyielding young
unraveling mystery
we who once made history
relinquish our dreams to be
the roots of their song unsung
we who once made history
bow to the unyielding young

March 28, 2018

Another guardian of the beautiful graveyard, where I have come today to search in vain for signs of spring.

March 27, 2018

The brave and foolish crocus continue to poke their heads up, only to be smited by the next approaching snowstorm.