Author: paulattinello
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Focused
Fragments of busyness, many of them – as I move through the overlapping needs of our exam period, various scattered administrative tasks, applying for a promotion, applying for a job elsewhere – and move towards research leave. Reading unusually alert books (though still not books about AIDS, which I probably need to be reading right…
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Vexed
Satie’s Vexations is a famous piano piece, posthumously discovered and frequently mentioned, but rarely actually performed. It’s a small piece, less than two minutes long if played slowly – except that, as everyone knows, it has instructions to be played 840 times, thus making it the first example of minimalism. I’ve seen the score, even…
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End of the holidays
And the holidays are now officially, by almost any count, over: 4 am GMT on New Year’s Day. (I suppose we could hold out for January 6, and Twelfth Night/Epiphany, but that’s probably pushing it these days.) Rain, on what has been a surprisingly warm evening here – and a lovely dinner at Beate’s house…
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In the lists
The past couple of weeks, through the holidays but around/after Sandy’s death, have been different than they usually are for me – no travel, not much activity, no real holidays; only a bit of peripheral participation in other people’s holidays (Bennett & Merrie dropping by, Chris Wood’s concert, dinner at blahfeme’s – and tonight New…
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Concerns
A disturbing dream of my sister in pain, suffering with the chemo, sleeping, getting worse – at some strangely chaotic, crowded conference; emphasizing the insensitivity of not knowing what she’s going through, of not helping. *** The family seemed calm and even cheerful at yesterday’s Christmas phone call; probably the ones to worry about are…
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This endris night
The candles are burning, and some old carols are playing; dinner is cooking – rice with saffron, cranberries and almonds, topped with a breast of chicken rubbed with paprika and nutmeg. Tomorrow I will go to blahfeme’s for Christmas dinner, but tonight is quiet and at home. *** I love Christmas stories, poems, plays, vignettes.…
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Wassail
After a sleepy day, recovering from yesterday’s late visit from Bennett and Merrie, I put myself together to walk down through the northeastern suburbs, between the universities, down through the center of a practically deserted Sunday-night town, and over the river to the Sage Gateshead (our dazzling new-ish local concert hall) for a work by…
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Family pictures
By which, this time at least, I don’t mean: pictures of my family. We have hundreds – thousands – of those, from the decades of my father’s passionate taking of photographs; I have several made into plates – including one of all of us some time around 1968 or 1969, where Sandy notably has a…
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Solstice
The winter solstice at 6 am today, on the 22nd; a full moon coming (early afternoon on the 24th); a light snow. Though it will be a quiet Christmas, it won’t be I think I bleak one. The house is clean and warm, with plenty of food, even a small panettone; and although my Christmas…
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Message
A calm day, after several nights of erratic sleep (insomnia is strange for me – usually even under stress I sleep more): went in for a meeting and office holiday luncheon, got a haircut, did errands. The house is quiet and clean, and smells good: candles in the living room, panettone in the kitchen. ***…
Paul Attinello 