Vote Early—Vote Often

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The Electorate Has Spoken – Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Yesterday, Anne and I voted early. It used to be that a valid excuse was required to vote early. Anne always had one, since she is a poll judge. I was usually forced to lie that I would be out-of-town. Then in the year of covid, a new excuse was added, fear of getting sick. After that the need for an excuse was dropped. There was a good turnout at the closest poll, in downtown Clayton. So good that we couldn’t park in the library’s garage. The line wasn’t long, but the ballot was.

We have no big elections. The only statewide office is for auditor. Our Democratic congressman is running unopposed. But there were quite a few ballot issues to vote on. Most of these were put up by the Republicans, so I voted against those. After voting, I saw a sign that said that the library lends out telescopes. I put my name in to check out one. Something to look forward to.

After performing our civic duties, we went to Ivy Cafe for lunch. Ivy is known for their tartines and we each ordered one. Anne had the Meramec, sushi-grade pan-seared Norwegian salmon, tomatoes, cucumber, feta, capers, and mediterranean sauce. While I had the Delmar, strip steak, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella, horseradish drizzle, and herbs.

2 Pianos 4 Hands

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Bösendorter Piano

Last night, we caught the Reps latest offering, 2 Pianos 4 Hands. This semi-biographical work by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt tells the story of these two piano protegees as they grow into their craft. This two-actor play follows the two protagonists from age eleven, where they are first learning how to play the piano, to age seventeen, where they apply to enter higher education conservatories. In addition to playing the leads, the actors do double duty by also playing their parents, teachers and the other adults in their lives. Like a tag team the actors alternate from playing their protagonist to the other lead’s support group. Both Dykstra and Greenblatt led parallel lives. Lives that crossed through the years at recitals and competitions.

This comedy has a melancholy ending, with both young men being brutally turned down from their respective applications for higher learning. Sure, they are both gifted and accomplished pianists, just not accomplished enough. The play concludes with the two men drunkenly accepting that while they are not two of the greatest piano players in the world, the country, or even the city (Toronto), they can claim to be two of the greatest pianists in the neighborhood.

Mr. Fixit

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DeWalt Drills

How many septuagenarians does it take to change a lightbulb? One, but it will take all day (or none, if they decide to wait for someone else to avoid the risk of a fall). Yesterday, I began a new project, repairing the back porch. Partly, based upon the success this summer of fixing the cabin’s sleeping porch steps, I decided to work on our porch here. Last month, when the measurement crew was here to measure the back doors, they discovered a bad step on it. It will need replacement. I might just go ahead and replace all the steps. While I am at it there is a buck of decking that could use replacement too. But first, I want to fix the latticework around the porch’s base. Last month, in preparation for this work, I had purchased the furring strips that I am going to apply along the lattice’s edges to keep the individual strips in place. I started work with the tools that I had on hand—Harry’s old, corded drill that he gifted Anne almost fifty years ago and a cordless drill that no longer charges. Time for a trip to the hardware store. I bought the above pictured pair of drills. They are powerful. I also bought brighter LED lightbulbs. I chose option 1 but should have picked 2 from the above lightbulb joke.