I've been really busy.

Last night I went to a concert with MP and my dad, which was part of the Duke Artists Series. It was the pianist, Piotr Anderzewski. I enjoyed it, although the selections were unusual in that he didn't play any "crowd pleasers". People generally prefer music with which they are familiar. While I enjoy hearing new pieces, the musicians shouldn't be surprised when they don't get a standing ovation. Anderzewski's program consisted primarily of Bach pieces, one Chopin selection and one by Szymanowski. It was interesting to me because, the Chopin piece was remarkably similar in some sort of quality to the Bach pieces. It's odd for a Romantic piece to be so similar to something from the Baroque period. Again, I enjoyed the concert, but I've enjoyed others a lot more and that's saying something, since I usually really enjoy hearing pianists. I think Vladimir Feltsman is my favorite pianist, of all the ones I've heard so far. He literally had a very powerful performance. Anderzewski's technique, of course, was exquisite and I am always more impressed with musicians who have the entire performance memorized, as he did, rather than relying on sheet music.

Tonight, I spent one final evening with RR. We went to Parizade, in Durham. We both had the Parizade salad, which has mixed greens, strawberries, apples, raspberry vinaigrette, bleu cheese, nuts and possibly something else. I also had a crab cake with what the menu said was a passion fruit remoulade. I'm not sure if that's actually what it was, but it was very good. For dessert, I had lemon sorbet, which also had two excellent strawberries, very nice red grapes and a thin sugar cookie. The sorbet was on the hard side, but it was pleasant, once it melted a bit.

I've definitely enjoyed the past week, while RR has been in town. I do hope she decides to move back to this area, because she's so much fun. I hope all my friends, who have left for graduate or medical school, will return. Central North Carolina, particularly the Triangle, is a very nice place to live. I really feel lucky to have been raised here and don't see any reason to move away. A few hundred feet is far enough.