Galitz JE’s

One moment we were completely empty of travel plans and the next we’re booked solid through September.

Marisa: 5/16 to 6/1 - Baltimore - Hiking with Nina.

Marisa & Earl 6/6 to 6/15 - North Carolina - chamber music workshop in Swannanoa. Visiting friends in Raleigh and Hendersonville.

Marisa & Earl 8/8 to 8/17 - Iroquois Springs, New York - Balkan workshop

Marisa 8/17 to 9/1 - Baltimore - why go home when I have to be in Baltimore two weeks later for Balpex Labor Day weekend.

Marisa & Earl 9/3 to 9/13 (?) - Bulgaria - yup, another trip to Earl’s adopted homeland.

Visited the Bonnet House last Sunday with a girlfriend. It was an interesting slice of Florida history circa 1920.

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We took a trip to Jurassic Park aka Crandon Gardens this morning. It was very pleasant — sunny and cool. Here’s some photos from today.



2007-03-09-Crandon Gardens

A majority of my friends have birthdays in February and March. Saturday was a surprize 70th bday party for a fellow cellist. It was an interesting because there were professional string players who played a movement from a Ravel and Brahms SQ. Also a guest appearance by Ida Haendel, a very powerful violinist who is now in her mid-eighties.

Earl’s #62 was today. It was low-key with a big breakfast at Denny’s and a trip to Fairchild Gardens to see the new Botero exhibit.

As a student of MDC, I received 4 free passes for two to the Miami International Film Festival. Friday we went to see Katyn which is as depressing as one would expect from a story about the Soviet massacre of Poles in WWII. Sunday we saw the restored 3 hour version of Once Upon a Time in the West. Tonight we went to see Mongol - the first chapter of the story of Genghis Khan. Wednesday will be a Hungarian comedy.

I’ve settled in a routine of subbing on Mondays and Fridays, Tutoring, running errands and chamber music class on Tuesdays, doing taxes on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and going up to Suzuki Music Academy on Saturdays.

Guess I’m destined to be always busy. I remember writing letters when I was a child that stated. Dear XX, How are you? I am very busy.

I was waylaid by the vampires during lunchtime today.
“Give blood?” they plead.
“Okay”, say I, “but you rejected me for lack of iron the last few times.”
“Let’s give it a try”…”You’re iron is fine today”
I think, “Well, the iron supplements I’ve been taking must have helped.”
“Wow, you’re Type AB. Would you mind donating plasma?”
“Sure, why not”
“Actually, you should never give whole blood, only plasma”
“So I’ve heard”
“AB is so rare, only 1 in 200 people have it”
………………..
New Vampire:
“Gee, your veins are small…I’m not comfortable about trying to get through to those veins”
Old Vampire:
“Those veins are fine, if you saw the veins I had to work with yesterday”
New Vampire:
“But they told me not to try if I’m not comfortable”
Old Vampire:
“Just do it”
New Vampire:
“Urg, I missed”
Old Vampire:
“Can we do your other arm?”
Me
“Nope, I’m outta here”

Some stuff from Earl in preparation for V-Day

My schedule is starting to fill up. Tuesdays I’m tutoring Music Theory I at MDC, then piano lesson and chamber music class in the evening. Wed/Thu is helping out the CPA in S. Miami. Friday is volunteering or subbing at MAST. Saturday is Suzuki Music Academy cello-ing.

Also, volunteered to help out with MIFF for a day in February and sponsor a hike the 3rd Sunday of Feb, March and April. No rest for the wicked.

Still have to work on losing 5 pounds and getting more exercise. Earl’s sister visited for a few days and that certainly didn’t help the diet.

Earl’s decided to scrap plans to attend the stampshow in Romania this year. Its being held in June, which is the height of tourist season. Although I found reasonable lodgings at a hostel, the airfares are sky high at $1400 each.

OK by me.

Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Hope this note finds you well. It’s always nice to take a moment to say hello. Life goes by so quickly.

Earl & I have been pretty lucky this year. Travel began in May with a trip to Boston for a family Bar Mitzvah. June found us in St. Petersburg, Russia where I found us a nice private room in a hostel to stay for the week. There we met an interesting America couple with a small child who had been in Riga for a fellowship. Earl showed his World War I at the stamp show there and got a Vermeil.

Short trip to Baltimore for the Ottoman Near East Philatelic Society over Labor Day weekend and then off to Turkey in November for the International Stamp Show Balkanfilia. I went a few days earlier to explore the center of Turkey — Cappadocia which has very interesting geology. The caves there have been occupied since prehistoric times. We refreshed our tourism of Istanbul and ate lots. Came back and a week later had to go to Chicagopex for the Czech Society meeting and its Pan Slavic Show. It didn’t snow but Earl won the reserve grand for his Classics.

On the pet side, we received a pair of lovebirds this year. One didn’t make it. However, the parakeets have adopted “Hamlet” as one of their own. We were also gifted a 90 gallon fishtank.

I’ve been busy learning the cello since the summer. Found one on Craigslist for $200 used — retail cost $1,200 and decided to take it up as my chamber music class is always short for cello players. Started a blog to post about cello and other stuff I’m studying.

This fall, I went back to college full-time to finish my Bachelor’s Degree. I had to take some social science classes as my CLEP scores were too old for credit toward the degree. Also took Musical History which wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

Earl’s mother starting to decline mentally the past few months but that’s to be expected at age 92. Also we think a high fever she had last month might have fried her brain a little.

This month I’ve gotten into Facebook and Drawspace. I like Facebook much much more than MySpace. It’s an interesting experiment in six points of separation and in viral systems. I never bothered posting anything to MySpace. Started drawing again after a hiatus of thirty years and have been posting it online at the Drawspace.com gallery. Click here to see my gallery. I’ll add a link on my blog as well.

Gadget wise: Upgraded my 1st generation I-pod shuffle to a 3rd generation nano. New 26 inch HDTV for the home and a new LG Rumor cell phone.

I guess that’s all the highlights. Love to all and may 2008 be good to you.

We don’t actually exchange gifts in our household. However, new things occasionally pop up. Our old TV was fading away, so we went to Best Buy and found a 26 inch HDTV flat screen to replace it on sale ($150 off) and we had a coupon for another 10% off. Set it up this evening with a little help from our friends. THANKS GUYS!

Upgraded my phone to a LG Rumor. It’s very nice for text messaging and email.

Got myself an I-pod nano 3G for my birthday and trip to Turkey. It replaces an old first generation shuffle. It’s fun for listening to podcasts. Used some Amazon coupons to get an FM transmitter for the car for it.

Found a barely used Thermarest (Sleeping bag inflatable pad) on eBay and got it for a song.

So we’ve done our part to help the economy these past two months and it really didn’t have anything to do with the holidays.

Hope Santa was good to y’all too.