Happy Holidays 2017

Oh boy, the holidays sure crept up on me (again). It's hard to believe 2017 is almost over already!

It's been almost a full year since I moved to Vista/Oceanside area last January. I didn't expect much, to be honest, but it has been some kind of wonderful after the horrible year up in Riverside. I've been enjoying stable works, an extremely easy-to-live with roommate (and her endlessly cute mini-poodle), and living close to a few really wonderful friends who are always looking after me.

My roommie's endlessly cute mini-poodle couldn't quite decide whether to come in to visit.

Vista and San Marcos also proved to be full of nice surprised. There are so many cool nature preserved close by, along with loads of trails that are very road-bike-able, and a couple of hideously steep hills to keep my pudginess in check.

The gorgeous auditorium (with wonderful acoustics) at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Alas, I'm still quite far away from classical concert & performance arts venues (far, is of course, in the context of being able to get to those venue by bicycle or public transportation), as it's quite a travel to get to either downtown Los Angeles or downtown San Diego. A wonderful friend and I did manage to make it to Disney Hall last month to catch Emmanuelle Haim in concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonics, though. She was conducting a very pious program of Purcell, Bach, and Pergolesi (starring Laura Claycomb and Christophe Dumaux). As it was an LA Phil ensemble rather than her usual Le Concert d'Astree, we didn't hear period instruments. It was still a stellarly Baroque night, nonetheless, and even ending cheekily with the very unpious final duet from Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea as the encore number.

Lilac Fire smoke plume from Vista Village the day it broke out.

We had a bit of a scare when Lilac Fire broke out a few weeks ago. Luckily, though, it never got closer than 6 miles from my pad, even though the smoke plume at times looked as though it was just on the other side of the hill that I live on. I'm afraid wild fires are 'expected' thing in this neck of the woods.... but the season used to be over by mid-November rather than two weeks before Christmas! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we do get some winter-ish weather in before summer is here again.

Anyhow!! Here is wishing everyone a very happy end of 2017, and hope you are looking forward to a brighter 2018!