1) The P’town Housemate tipped me off last week that Boston Opera Collaborative was performing in my Happy Place, Forest Hills Cemetery. This resulted in the equation Opera + Happy Place = Attendance. The resulting program, The Lives They Lived, featured seven singers at the graves of seven (more, actually) prominent women and men, singing relevant songs from a wide range of material. Some of the permanent residents I knew about already: sculptor Martin Milmore, e.e. cummings, Elma Lewis, etc. Others I did not: actress Fanny Davenport, composer Amy Beach, and a very distant cousin, Dr. Susan Dimock, who founded what became Dimock Community Health Center.
Vissi d’arte.
1a) Again, the repertoire went everywhere, from “Vissi d’arte” to “Defying Gravity” to “Someone to Watch Over Me” to — oh damn, some piece sung in German by I think Gounod. The singers all performed with pre-recorded piano accompaniment — tech difficulties only snagged the show once — but it was so powerful to hear these works outside when one can only accept the additional sounds of wind, of traffic, of the cemetery bell tower chiming every 15 minutes. And indeed, a couple times the distant sound of soloists in other parts of the cemetery! I was charmed by the entire exercise, and I hope they’ll do it again.
1b) And I noted that they specified in more than one place that there was no seating and if you wanted to bring a folding lawn chair (and carry it yourself), you could. The number of times, back in the day, that I had to say “It is actually a walking tour so there will not be any place to sit down . . . “
With Catherine and Michael on the Greenway, Custom House Tower in the background.
2) The appearance of blood relations in the city is always a cause for rejoicing — nobody in the family ever makes it this far Northeast — so for a couple months I had been eagerly anticipating the arrival of cousin Catherine and her son Michael from Out West to look at colleges. I hadn’t seen Catherine in roughly 20 years, and I’d never met Michael. Essentially we spent about eight hours walking on Tuesday, including a private tour of MIT, both Mass. Ave. and Longfellow bridges, Beacon Hill, and Back Bay. Today is Friday, and I think my body is still recovering. #agingactressyesterdaysglamourqueen
2a) We met again the next afternoon, after their scheduled activities, to look over Faneuil Hall, the waterfront, the Greenway, eat lobster at Legal’s, and then stroll the North End, which was as picturesque as all getout and crowded with people.
2b) For the genealogically minded, Catherine is my second cousin once removed. Her mother, Alice, is my second cousin, our common ancestor being our great-grandmother Alice Vivian, who ran the boardinghouse in New Orleans. This makes Michael my second cousin twice removed.
2c) Talk of family of course permeated the entire visit, and it did underscore for me how most of the family I know are No Longer With Us, and how few of the Younger Generations I actually know personally. I could always rely on Mother to maintain those relationships and that information . . . and of course she is No Longer With Us.
3) Now I have returned to the Cape for the final week of my summer/fall share. We have come to the part of the year when you definitely cannot assume that a particular business will be open. Including the ferry, so I took the bus down yesterday afternoon. Half the price of the ferry, but just over twice as long. The benefit was the sunset view over the bay (see above) — for me totally worth the price of admission.
3a) At the moment the weather is beautiful, but rain is forecast later in the week. Close friends will be down for the weekend, a rare chance for us all to be together. Anxiety about global and national situations seems to fill me as much as the sunshine; my insides must be like the yin/yang symbol. All I can do at this point is to celebrate this day for itself.