Last week we had the first proper rain we’ve had since I moved to San Francisco in July. The lack of rain was notable – the closest we had got was fog so heavy that it was verging on drizzle. Then last Tuesday the skies opened and we had several months all in one go – record-breaking rain, apparently.
Fortunately, the Indian summer has returned and the past few days have been filled with blue skies and glorious sunshine. Since most of July and August were cold and foggy, I’m quite keen that the sunshine sticks around for at least the rest of the month.
My in-laws are back from their trip to the East Coast and last night we went to the San Francisco Symphony at the Davies Symphony Hall. The theme was music from Disney, to celebrate the opening of the Walt Disney Family Museum, which I mentioned last post. It was a lot of fun to dress up and the music was wonderful. There were quite a few squirming children in the audience – I can see the temptation because it’s Disney but how many kids like symphonies, really? Fortunately only the well-behaved ones remained behind after the intermission.
The instrumental music included the William Tell overture, classical music from Fantasia and Sleeping Beauty and Grieg’s “March of the Dwarfs” from Snow White. We also had a soprano sing “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella, “Some Day my Prince will Come” from Snow White, “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins and “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio. I enjoyed the orchestral music more than the singing, especially the “March of the Dwarfs” and the “Sorceror’s Apprentice” from Fantasia. I did really love “Feed the Birds” though – it made me feel like I was back in London. (Although if you tried feeding pigeons at St Paul’s these days, you would be moved on by the City of London police pretty quickly).
October is here already. We are having gloriously sunny days but there is a definite chill in the evenings. Pumpkins of all shapes and colours have appeared in the shops and sweet pumpkin flavours are on the menu at my local ice creamery. I’m sad to bid farewell to summer, though we should have nice weather in San Francisco for most of this month.
With just three months left in the year I’m also giving thought to goals and plans to finish 2009 strongly. It’s been a big year with the wedding and the move to San Francisco but I’d like to get back on track professionally now that I have my US work rights and I’d also like to make better progress with my novel. Plus, it’s time to think about travelling outside San Francisco and that involves finally getting a driving licence.
My in-laws are currently in New York and before returning to San Francisco, they are travelling south to visit old friends in Charleston. They’ll back with us on Tuesday week.
This weekend we paid a visit to the new Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio district. It’s about the life of Walt Disney and was set up by his daughter. It was a state-of-the-art museum with multimedia storytelling and covered both his animation and his theme parks and also some of the more controversial aspects of his life, such as his anti-Communist testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. I’m saving the details as I’m trying to write something more substantive for publication.
A bit of Friday fluff… Do any of you watch Mad Men, set in a New York advertising in the 1950s and 1960s? I’m still on season one (via DVD) but I think it’s quite brilliant, probably one of the smartest things on television right now.
Fans of Mad Men and Muppets will appreciate this parody. Thanks to Molly Block for the link.
I do most of my TV watching either on DVD or online through Hulu.com. Currently I’m watching season five of the West Wing, the complete works of David Attenborough (we’re up to 1983′s The Living Planet) and comedy Glee. Is there anything else I should be checking out?
