An evening with the GSO and other saturday events

Saturdays are nice for relaxing or working. This past Saturday was a work Saturday. Graham and i worked in the yard to neaten up the bushes and also take out a shrub that had died. I never remember yard work being this satisfying growing up. Perhaps one has to own a house to really enjoy it. One of the downsides or yard work is all the mess it can create (clippings and such). Not having a truck, Graham improvises by placing a tarp in the trunk of the Concorde and loading the yard waste in there. We headed off to the dump with a nice full load only to discover that everyone else and their cousin also spends their Saturdays doing this exact thing. After waiting in line for a good 15 minutes we finally made it up to the dumpster. This wait gave me plenty of time to observe those around us and I discovered we had made a faux paux in coming to the dump - we did not bring our dog! The majority of the cars and trucks I saw had at least one dog in them. Oh well, don't tell our dogs or they will be clamoring to go. For them, the smell alone is worth the trip.

About 5 months ago Graham told me we would go on a date night in March. He wouldn't tell me what it was but when the tickets came in the mail I knew. He had bought two tickets to see the Greenville Symphony perform. He remembered me mentioning a while back that I would enjoy seeing a symphony concert that included a piano soloist. We went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants downtown, Sassafras. Their menu is "New Southern Cuisine" and we've eaten there several times and enjoyed it. My one disappointment was they have changed their menu so my previous favorite entree is no longer the same. We also decided they've cut down on the spicy-ness of their entrees (something we enjoyed) but this time it was probably for the best as spicy usually equals heartburn for me (at least for the next few months). We had a gift certificate that had to be completely used so we went all out. We ordered actual drinks (meaning tea and not just water), had an appetizer (Fried Green Tomato and Pimento Cheese Napoleons), both ordered an entree (Crab Cakes for me, Catfish for him), had dessert (Caramelized Peach Benets (sp?) and when they brought the check we had barely made it over the amount of our gift certificate. We were also incredibly stuffed. In fact, I had very little of the dessert (really sweet things are not my favorite right now) and Graham was unable to finish the rest. We also took home 1/2 of each of the entrees. After leaving the restaurant we poked into a nearby shop to look around and kill time and then headed to the Peace Center for the concert. We arrived a little early so we had to wait a bit which gave us a chance to people watch. It seems that Greenville's blue haired population (meaning the older generation) had come out in force for this concert leaving Graham and I feeling quite young. When they opened the doors we made our way to our seats only to discovered we were sitting VERY close to the stage. I knew Graham had bought tickets at the front - I just didn't realize they were a mere 3 feet (or less) from the stage. At first I was a little concerned about the nose level but once the concert started it was not bad. I also enjoyed being able to see the musicians music - not that I could read it - my eyes aren't that good - but it was neat to be able to observe. The conductor was very entertaining and the piano soloist was quite good. She also was entertaining (besides her playing abilities) because she had the strange inhalations and exhalations while performing and the way she "interacted" with the piano. Graham said it looked like she was making out with it. After intermission we settled down for a Brahm's symphony which was beautiful but parts of it about put me to sleep (it was around 9:30 by this time). All in all it was a very enjoyable evening and I wouldn't mind doing it again. We sat right in front of the violins and I must say it made me a bit homesick for those of you who play - I can remember attending many violin recitals and being at the concert definitely put you in my thoughts. Evidently sitting for such an extended period of time did not do me well as last night I had a hard time getting comfortable because my sciatica was bothering me. Thankfully this morning I've been able to find a comfortable position to sit in but I am having a hard time moving around. I can't wait until our pool opens as swimming is supposed to be great if it's bothering you.