There was a red border around Jaqui yesterday as she was framed by a deck chair for a brief moment in the sun.
They make a big deal every August about the “Umbrellas of Harbert.” So I am making a big deal this June about THE “Umbrella of Harbert, Michigan.”
It was a “Green Flag” day at our beach in Harbert, Michigan today.
Table Service
Flash Fiction
by Charles McKelvy
Sometimes all it takes is a camera to suggest a short story.
The man took a seat in the breakfast/lunch café that was between breakfast and lunch and shamelessly eavesdropped on the sundry other diners, and this is what he heard:
“We thought our homes would be our retirement, but that’s not—“
“You ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?”
“Doesn’t look like you’re crowded. Think we could sit by the window?”
Clatter, clang, schwoosh!
“More coffee?”
“Now that the kids are grown, we—“
“Decided yet?”
“I was thinking—“
The man thought of that movie he had seen years ago about Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. “The one,” he thought aloud, “in which Glenn Gould is having breakfast in a café just like this one, and—“
“He starts composing this incredible symphony in his head. From the—“
“Voices and sounds of the café. Right,” the man said, looking up.
The speaker was the waitress with his coffee and her order pad. She was all smiles.
And so was the man as he asked if the woman had seen, “Well, you know, that movie about Glenn Gould?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, “I actually have it: Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould.”
“That’s it. That’s the one. What a great movie about—“
“A true genius. And a man obsessed with finding true north.”
“Right. I forgot about that. And you say you have a copy of the movie?”
“Yes, at home. In my collection.”
“Right. Well, what do you recommend? Everything looks good.”
“Are you hungry? Really hungry?”
“You bet.”
The waitress pointed and said: “Try this. You’ll love it.”
The man blushed and admitted he was really hungry.
And thus began the first movement of their symphonic relationship.
###
Who’s been sleeping in our bed? Why, it’s Jaqui Jackson, the night cat.
(Berrien County, Michigan) Some developer once upon a time had this brilliant idea to take a field out of production and dot it with architecturally insignificant barns for the One Percenters to play in on weekends. Well, the fates frowned on that ill-conceived notion, and so the field in question remains in full production, helping feed a hungry planet. But barns in Berrien County, they are a changin’, and so we sallied forth on the saddles of our Giant bicycles yesterday in quest of true barn country:
Looking west on Glendora Road from Holden Road to behold the first barn of the day.
Looking east on Glendora from Holden at a sight a dairy cow could really appreciate.
A hidden treasure on Browntown Road just before Hills Road.
The modern look of farming on Snow Road just east of Cleveland (Road that is).
A Gardner Road classic between Glendora and Browntown roads.
Natalie looks back at barn country.
(Chicago Symphony Orchestra) Mom and I finished out the 2012-13 season at THE SYMPHONY in style on Friday, June 14, 2013, by first feasting at Tesori Restaurant under the constant care of Alexandra Wilson, and then beholding from Row B the wonder that is Riccardo Muti as he conducted one of the world’s finest orchestras in performing works by Wagner, Beethoven, and Bruckner. Maestro Muti even gave Mom an appreciative nod as he exited stage right, and we are already looking forward to the beginning of the 2013-14 season when we will behold Maestro Muti conduct Mozart, Hindemith, and Prokofiev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet. Bravo!!!!
A plucky pair of Scots at Tesori: Alexandra Wilson (left) and Hannah Dick Macfarlan McKelvy.
Our view of Symphony Center on the way from a feast of the body to a feast of the mind.
Mom is already looking forward to the first concert of the 2013-14 season on Friday, October 11 when Muti conducts Romeo and Juliet.
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