Friday, August 2, 2013

August is here already?

Living next door to a singing coach with no star pupil really makes one appreciate the rarity of great singers better! One voice student in particular, a tenor who sings mostly Broadway tunes, has been taking lesson two to three times a week ever since I moved here last September and has not gotten even a little bit better. Is that some sort of an indictment against the teacher?

But then I shouldn't be too hard on the voice coach neighbor... after all, I can often flee from my pad and go ride my bike around the neighborhood (or to one of the libraries nearby) while he is stuck in close quarter with that out-of-tune drone singing for a full hour every visit. What torture we all must endure sometimes to make a living!

On a more cheery note, though, our weather has been unseasonably cool for the last week and a half, and that made for some really good bicycling trips around town.


Alas, summer is warming up again, though, so I'll be stuck riding close to the ocean for a while.



Just a few of my favorite views riding around Mt Soledad.
Luckily, there's Mt Soledad, this little hill a few miles to the north, that has lots of cool little roads to explore and is so close to the shore that the heat isn't a problem there much of the time.


Knitted ramps & trees in Kensington & South Park.
Side note: what's with all this knitting thingy that's being wrapped around structures and trees around town of late? It's rather cute... though a bit wasteful (but then wastefulness in art isn't such a crime, I imagine).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is that Mt Woodson at the end of the clip? Is it paved all the way up?

Garrett

yvette said...

I had a violinist student learner as a neighbour once.... Be prepare for a fantastic donna è mobile one day, who knows!

Smorg said...

Hello Garrett:
That is Mt Woodson indeed, the service road on its east side. It is paved all the way up, but not well maintained and is full of bumps and erosion (loose gravel on top of firm old tarmac). Best ride up on a mountain bike. I went up it on a road bike and then had to walk down most of the way because it's 14% grade for most of 1.3 miles, very narrow and with too many bumps and slippery top layer. :o)

Hiya Yvette:
You are an optimist! :oD If he ever pulls a half-way good La donna e mobile off life will be happier around here during his lessons indeed! ;o)