Quick catch up

It's been a while, sorry. Last Saturday we had a little soirée (soirette?) with AC singing some Russian and French repertoire; KP and I played some Dvořak. I'd forgotten how much fun it was - must do it again soon. Monday was Gloriana, Tuesday German class and Wednesday work - DT was supposed to come and prune the roses (especially Albertine on the back fence) but has put it off until Tuesday. Last night I left the St John's rehearsal early to join P&B at the MSO concert: Kohne's Nocturne 1: Twilight, the Rachmaninov Paganini variations, played by Dmitri Alexeev and culminating with a wonderful performance of Strauss' Alpensinfonie. It's such a massive, breathtaking work and the orchestra played wonderfully.


Phoebe

This morning we met Phoebe. Phoebe is a car belonging to Go Get, a company which rents out cars (small ones) by the hour. Currently it operates in the inner suburbs to offer an alternative to residents owning and running their own cars. It's a great idea and since B's car has lately proved a little fractious he thought to investigate alternatives. The closest pod to B&P (and me) is just by Collingwood station.

After a slightly shaky start (we couldn't find the box with the key, but a quick call to the office fixed that - I knew the mobile would come in handy!) we set off. We did the shopping as usual then, unusually, dropped off B&P's shopping before returning Phoebe and having lunch at my place.

This afternoon I took advantage of the reasonably pleasant weather to pull out some weeds and prune the roses round the side.

Let's talk about the weather...

It's still winter.

In other business:

Molly, who lives with Dr D and the Lotus Master in an inner-city apartment, has been given a lovely DVD of birds disporting themselves in a cage (yes, really):



Sometimes she really gets involved:

Small performers make great music

On Friday night P&B and I met at Southgate for a meal before walking up to Hamer Hall where we heard the MSO conducted by the exiguous Mark Wigglesworth (great name). The concert was bookended with two Mozart symphonies (no 1 and no 39) which were as different as chalk and cheese, as one would hope.

The main act was Midori (who is even smaller than Mr Squiggle... er Wiggle...) who played the Britten Violin concerto and she played it very well. After interval was more Britten, the Sinfonia da requiem; I knew neither of the Britten works but will certainly look out the Sinfonia.

Saturday morning was market day; I didn't have a lot of cash on me so I only bought a couple of quinces. Then on the way to Vic Gardens we dropped in on the vet's so I could buy some kidney-friendly food for Pushka. I didn't realise you could buy a slab of catfood. In the afternoon P and I bussed up to the Nova where we saw Tristram Shandy, which was very funny; the beginning and the end had quite a bit of reference to the book, but I felt it sagged a little in the middle when it was just about making the film. Still, a lovely cast obviously enjoying themselves, an amazing house and some well-chosen music added to the enjoyment.

Last night everything stopped for Planet Earth followed by Bleak House, both of which I enjoyed - I look forward to the next however-many weeks of Sunday viewing.

Just kid(ney)ing

I finally spoke to the vet this morning. The exhaustive barrage of tests has shown that Pushka has some kidney damage and a little liver damage. He recommends getting her onto a special diet which I can buy from them (of course).

B has kindly offered to whiz me up to the vet's on Saturday morning before we do our supermarketing so I can pick up some rations for puss. MG has also sent some encouraging words about the special food - her Dr Watson swears by it.

Today was a glorious sunny day - I dropped in at the City Library before walking up town to work.

I like Ms Fits' take on the Big Brother affair.

Pushka's progress

On Thursday night Tat and I sang in the patronal day service at St Peter's, Eastern Hill. I had got it into my mind that it was to be a short service, but it was a full-on mass going for nearly two hours.

Through the kind auspices of B, Pushka went to see the vet on Saturday morning. She's been peeing a bit much lately as well as drinking a lot; and she's been a bit grumpy with it. She behaved herself perfectly while the vet (ably assisted by Mrs vet) took samples of urine and blood. The results will be back tomorrow. Understandably, as she's very old (16 I think) there is a wide range of possibilities, so we'll just wait and see.

The weather remains cold (it is winter after all) and we've had bit of rain, but not nearly enough.