Another weekend, a new Fall

This weekend started with a trip over to Cissie's home to sit under the trees and among the bushes and relax in the coolness of the beginning of Autumn. Everything is relatively dry, but the breezes are beginning to cool and it was rather delightful to sit on her porch among the evergreens and relax. Afterward, we drove down to Slice's pizza place and had a beer, salad and a couple of slices of pizza. The pizza slices are so huge there that we were forced to take some home for the next day. But, there again, it was pleasant to sit around a cast iron outdoor table and watch the cars drift by up and down Solomon Street and the young high school students walk over down to the stadium for the Friday night football game between Spalding And Peach County. After we left Cissie's house and it finally became dark, Cindy and I stopped by Brewsters and ordered pumpkin and apple-pie flavored ice cream. It was delightful and we finally got to bed.

The next day, Cindy and I were going to pick up Cissie and drive over to Concord for a photographic exhibit. Unfortunately, Cindy didn't feel up to it and so I drove over to Concord for a loan closing. The drive through the country was pleasant, the farmland rolling along as I drove to the Borrower's house. I met with the borrowers and their daughter gave me a card she had drawn for me. That was a first. I thanked her for the card and brought it home for Cindy's inspection.

That afternoon, Cindy and I travelled up to Cobb County to watch the Atlanta Opera perform Puccini's "Turandot." Turandot is an opera composed in the twenties by Puccini and was incomplete when he died. Another composer completed the opera after he died. The story of the opera is set in China. The daughter of the Emperor, Turandot, had decided that any man who would dare to attempt to court her should answer three riddles. If he failed, the man would be executed. The scene at the beginning of the opera is decorated with pikes with the heads of her potential suitors stuffed on top, these pikes interposed throughout the scenery. The first act shows the execution of one of these suitors and the singers in the crowd are about as bloodthirsty as the princess.

However, the hero, Calaf, ignores the bloodthirstiness of the Princess and wants to court her. For some unknown reason, the inscrutable oriental is able to look beyond the crazy bloodthirstiness of the princess and wants to marry her despite her character idiosyncrasies.

The second act shows the hero answering the riddles of the princess and, in turn, giving her a riddle to solve: to find out his name before dawn breaks. If she does, he dies. If she doesn't, she must marry him. The third act begins with Calaf lying in a forest or garden, listening to Peking awaken to try to find out the name of the suitor. He sings the only major aria from the opera: "nessun dorma." In this aria, he sings a plea to the awakened citizens of Peking, trying to get everyone to be quiet so that his beloved will have to marry him.

Nevertheless, despite the torture of his former beloved servant and her subsequent suicide, the hero is left with the princess, where he courts her and kisses her. This is the part of the opera which stretches the imagination. You are required to believe that with very little prompting and just one kiss, the princess can change all of her preconcieved notions about men and fall in love with him. When this kiss happened on stage and the princess suddenly fell for the suitor, the crowd at the opera tittered at the silliness of the story.

The opera ends with the princess and the suitor brought together in love. Love is the ultimate weapon which melts the heart of the ice princess and brings her into the relationship with the suitor. Overall, the music and the pageantry and show of the opera was very nice. Usually, I suppose, you are not supposed to look to an opera for a great plot and reasonable, believable story. It is the music and the color and the span of the presentation that grabs you.

It was also nice that the new hall in Cobb County was brand new and shining with its first performance sparkle. Unfortunately, Cindy couldn't walk to the car, so I had to drive around and around the area to get to her. When I finally picked her up, most of the crowd was gone and we were able to quickly drive down to Howell Mill Road to eat at Figo Pasta. That night, we ate a late supper of pasta and salad and Italian wine in the coolness and darkness of Figo Pasta.

We got home about 12:30 and had to go to bed as soon as possible. The next morning, I woke up late and groggy and missed Sunday School. When Cindy finally got out of bed, I made steel cut oatmeal for both of us and then quickly showered, shaved and dressed for church. Dr. Ben Mathes, a missionary from Decatur,was preaching in the pulpit and he was his usual arresting speaker. He spoke about his work and told us a story about when his son, a marine captain, asked him to come to Iraq. Of course he did, and he was imbedded as a "journalist" in his son's marine brigade. When he and the other Presbyterian minister from Dunwoody were looking for "ieds" in trash cans and boxes with the other marines, his son was amazed at his father's courage. Ben said it was his faith in God and the surrounding marines which allowed him to do this. He also told a story about a drug dealer in the Brazilian jungle who had left a life of drug dealing to become a Presbyterian minister, and how they planned to tear down the old drug selling house and use the same building materials to build a Presbyterian Church in the jungle. He challenged us (First Presbyterian) to come down to Brazil and sail down the Amazon on the boat for which we raised money and help this new minister build a new church in the jungle. I would love to do this. Cindy thought Kate would like to do this too.

That afternoon, Cindy and I drove down to Concord and looked over the photographic display. It was fun and we got to talk to Walker Chandler for awhile. He is a good guy, for a Wahoo.

Well, now I am in the office trying to get ready for the next morning. I will leave with this. This weekend was pretty good overall and the coming week has new challenges. I hope we can work this out. I am looking forward to next weekend up in Clinton.