"The Glass Menagerie" Right Next Door to Me

I could count the number of plays that I've attended in my adult life on one hand. Plays, like novels, have provided source material for many operas (as well as movies), but am I alone among opera lovers in my scant attention to the drama stage? The last play that I attended was Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at the Kennedy Center a few years ago. It took me a while to get into the sensibilities of a stage performance without singing and continuous music -- the set looked like it would be a great opera set, and when the action began I found myself waiting for someone to start singing. Of course, once I got over this, I enjoyed the experience very much. (Not so the visiting group of high school students sitting behind me. I think they were from a conservative neck of the woods, and I could tell a fabulous turista story about an audible reaction when the dialog on stage suddenly became grittier and they eventually filed out of the theater.)

So Columbia's Rep Stage has brought another Tennessee Williams play, "The Glass Menagerie", to a theater very close to me. I made a mental note of it at the beginning of the season, and it almost slipped by me before I saw the news of extra performance dates thanks to the recent snowstorms. I could go to a performance easily on a "school night".

Here is Rep Stage's calendar for The Glass Menagerie.

Mischa Bakaleinikoff and Roy Webb Make Music for Hitchcock (and the accompanist's art)

Mischa Bakaleinikoff's name has flashed by in the credits in many a viewing of old movies on my TV. He appears as music director for such films as "It Came From Beneath the Sea" and "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" with no further credit for the source of the score. Last night as I watched Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious", there he was again, but this time with composer Roy Webb. Webb scored the 1942 Val Lewton horror movie, "The Cat People" (and other Lewton productions?), so it tied things together for me when he showed up as a composer for Hitchcock, who admired Lewton's work. There was another name in the credits for "Notorious" for the orchestrator of Webb's score -- I didn't catch it this time -- but music director Bakaleinikoff apparently conducted the orchestra and possibly further adapted Webb's music, if needed...

This article in the New York Times archives sheds light on Mischa Bakaleinikoff's role and hard work behind the scenes in Hollywood for many years.

Addendum, July 22, 2010: Thanks for the visit and comment from Annie Bakaleinikoff!

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I'm off to Baltimore's Mount Vernon district again today to learn about another kind of musical support, the art of the accompanying in Lieder or art song [or opera arias in recital]. I might not post about accompanist Mark Markham's masterclass at Opera Vivente, but I'll be a curious spectator for a class intended for the artists (both accompanists and singers). I remember watching a televised masterclass by Placido Domingo many years ago, and hearing his advice to young singers did teach me something about listening, too.

"Hideuse armee de vampires et de dragons!"

"A hideous army of vampires and dragons [fills the sky]!" -- a line from the Victor Hugo poem, "Les Djinns", which Louis Vierne set as an orchestral song. This song begins tenor Steve Davislim's "Turbulent Heart" disc with conductor Guillaume Tourniaire and the Queensland Orchestra. I could hum the album cover, for the whole package is a big, beautiful production from the Australian Melba Recordings. (I bought my copy through Amazon.com.) The Vierne selections on this disc are followed by Chausson's relatively more familiar "Poeme de l'amour et de la mer" -- Poem of love and the sea.

The arctic blasts that greeted me outside today felt like an army of vampires and dragons. If they're still blowing around later, they won't stop me from going to Opera Vivente's masterclass by accompanist Mark Markham on Saturday and the same company's production of Impressions of Pelleas, which opens tomorrow night, February 26. (My ticket is for next Saturday.) I had a glimpse of the minimal but elegant set last week at the Club OV cabaret.

After listening to some of the Turbulent Heart disc last night, I put on some of the vintage recording of "Pelleas et Melisande" conducted by Desormiere on EMI's Great Recordings of the [20th] Century. This was just to get me into Debussy's heady operatic sound world, which "Impressions of Pelleas" translates from orchestra to two pianos (and from French to English). Although Impressions is a distillation of Debussy's opera, it looks like Vivente has found a real boy treble to sing the role of Yniold, Golaud's son. As I learned in my reading last night, almost from the start, opera companies established a practice of casting an adult woman and dashing Debussy's original wishes for the role.

Cabaret ~~ Horror Opera ~~ Cloisonne'

I wasn't going to write a detailed post about Opera Vivente's "My Foolish Heart" cabaret on Friday night, because it was more like a party and a relaxed event (at least for us audience members). However, this show with a Valentine's Day theme provides such a neat contrast for the chamber opera seen the following evening. In it's new Club OV guise, Vivente arranged tables and chairs and a buffet table of sandwiches and desserts in its usual performance hall at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore, and four of the company's regular singers sang selections from mostly musical theater with piano accompaniment. For some of us opera lovers, I think we were recognizing many great tunes among the selections, but I for one wasn't able to pin down sources of all of them. Still, hearing renditions of "...fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly..." and "Ah! Sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you..." -- and then there was "Taylor, the Latte Boy"! -- proved to be a wonderful evening. (Definitely, Cole Porter, Kurt Weill and maybe Sondheim were some of the composers on the program.)

Alas, poetess Anne Sexton and composer Conrad Susa found some not-so-sweet mysteries of life in "Transformations", the chamber opera which I saw performed last night by Peabody Chamber Opera at Theatre Project. This also proved to be a wonderful evening in its own way, but it was definitely a look at our dark, mainly sexual or repressed sexual, side. I think Sexton and Susa succeeded in making some of the Grimm fairy tales seem as dark for us as they must have been for the first people who heard or read them. If I quoted some of the lines from the libretto here, I fear that Blogspot might close down my blog. The eight student singers who sang these words and enacted these deeds were admirably inside their roles, and it was a joy of sorts to see them at work. Rumpelstiltskin was a particularly horrible fairy tale dwarf, and the witch trapped in her own oven by Hansel and Gretel was made real effectively for us with only pantomime and red lighting and no props or physical set elements.

Before going to Saturday night's chamber opera, I spent some time looking at the Japanese cloisonne exhibit currently on view at the Walters Art Museum. Painting scenes on cave walls or canvas isn't good enough for some of us. Some of us have to weld intricate networks of gold wire onto metal or porcelain vessels and fill them in with glowing, colored enamel to create pictures. The Walters' main ground floor gallery is filled with a large number of these cloisonne pieces from the Stephen W. Fisher collection. They'll be there until June 13, and I'll be walking through for another look as often as I can when I'm in Baltimore. As I was getting close to the end of my first visit to this exhibit, I was thinking of what Arthur C. Clarke said about advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic -- surely, "Any sufficiently advanced art is indistinguishable from magic."

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I hoped to return to Baltimore's Mount Vernon area for a third visit this weekend to hear a recital, but I spent a lot of money yesterday, and there's that drive into the city and looking for parking again. Too late in the game this time, it occurred to me that when I see another weekend like this coming up, booking a hotel room in Mount Vernon would cut out the repeated driving and quest for parking, and it would be a nice way to explore the district more.

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Don't forget Mark Markham's accompanist's masterclass coming up at Opera Vivente next Saturday, February 27, 1:00-4:00pm. Markham is Jessye Norman's "pianist of choice". Vivente has announced this only through Facebook channels so far, but I understand that anyone interested can attend and listen to the proceedings. I think a small admission fee will be charged at the door (at Vivente's usual performance space attached to Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore).

Post-Snow Music Attack; Hvorostovsky and Radvanovsky in Concert

If I can keep up the energy, I'll be in Baltimore for three events this weekend. I have my tickets for this evening's Club OV cabaret (Opera Vivente), snowed out last Friday night, and Saturday night's Peabody Opera presentation of "Transformations" at Theatre Project. On Sunday, I hope to return to the Mount Vernon neighborhood for guitarist Ben Beirs' solo recital at An die Musik. And another snow-delayed event for me while I'm in Baltimore: dinner or brunch or both at City Cafe! {Calendar links are provided below.}

I caught the announcement of this concert while listening to WBJC 91.5 FM yesterday morning: Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Sondra Radvanovsky will sing Verdi arias in concert at the Kennedy Center, but it's on a Monday night, March 29. That's a "school night" for me, but I'm wondering if I can swing a mini-vacation to attend. (Of course, if this concert fell on a weekend night, there's a good chance it would conflict with a full opera performance on my calendar.)

Hvorostovsky's new album of Tchaikovsky songs with pianist Ivari Ilja showed up in the bins at the Columbia Borders, so I didn't hesitate to purchase. It's on my home playlist now -- a two-disc collection starting with probably Tchaikovsky's most famous art song or romance ("None but the Lonely Heart") and going on from there. I'll try to listen to the great baritone's renditions without thinking about legendary bass Boris Christoff's own turn in this repertoire in a remastered EMI collection.

When I ordered it on Amazon.com, Joyce DiDonato's new Rossini recital album arrived in the mail soon enough. A second item I ordered along with it proved to be a dodgier affair -- tenor Steve Davislim's disc of Vierne and Chausson orchestral songs, "Turbulent Heart", on the Australian Melba label. Amazon kept sending e-mail updates about difficulties obtaining this CD and gave me a chance to cancel, but I opted to keep it on order for a last-ditch effort by Amazon by a certain date in March. I just got the notice that it's on the way! (Shameless commercial plug: Even if it had not come through with this disc, Amazon.com's system of e-mail updates has been most efficient and reassuring.)

Davislim is the Tristan next to Sandrine Piau's Iseut in a Harmonia Mundi set of a very rare operatic work, Frank Martin's "Le vin herbe", Martin's take on the Tristan and Isolde story. I missed it, but I heard that Davislim sang in a Messiah performance at the Kennedy a couple of seasons ago.

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Other calendars of events are in my links, but here are a few favorites in the music category that I watch:

An die Musik ... Baltimore Symphony Orchestra ... Candlelight Concerts ... Peabody Institute ... BaltimoreOpera.com ... Maryland Weather

links: Bernard Hermann out of the movie house and not quite in the opera house

Joseph Horowitz has posted about the neglected concert music of Bernard Hermann (and of Gershwin). (A comment from myself is pending as I type this.)

Here is a 2007 post and comment thread on Wellsung about Hermann's opera, Wuthering Heights with remarks about what might be the only recording in existence conducted by Hermann himself.

links: for upcoming "Transformations" by Peabody Opera

Charles Downey reviewed an April 2007 production of Conrad Susa's "Transformations" by the Maryland Opera Studio. Downey's description of Susa's music (and hints about his other operas) draws me even more to attending the Peabody production.

The Peabody's overview of its current opera season includes a description of "Transformations". Thanks to AOT Director Timothy Nelson for the encouraging comment on an earlier post about this opera.

I've seen an announcement on Facebook that the opening night performance this Thursday has been canceled thanks to the recent storms cutting into rehearsal time, but this is not on the Peabody's web calendar yet.

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So I won't venture up I-95 to "Carmen" in Baltimore today after all. I'm also missing dining at our beloved City Cafe, noted as OPEN according to another announcement on Facebook.

movie suggestion: "Look Back in Anger"

Found at Daedalus yesterday, enjoyed last night: the 1959 "Look Back in Anger" with Richard Burton, Mary Ure and Claire Bloom (who played Lady Marchmain in the BBC's "Brideshead Revisited" many years later). Based on a play by John Osborne, but you get to hear additional dialogue specially written by Osborne for the film. Also fun to see Donald Pleasance in a supporting role as a smarmy policeman [or some sort of market inspector from the government]. I haven't connected with the actress's name, but Ma Tanner is a most sympathetic role [the actress was Edith Evans].

Compare to the 1960 "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" with Albert Finney as another angry young man in another English factory town.

(Disclosure: I have not seen the end of the Burton movie yet as I make this initial post. As angry as Burton's Jimmy was, he wasn't angry enough to keep me awake after a late dinner last night.)

Snow Diary ~~ "Carmen" and "U-Carmen" ~~ Trafficbound?

Cancellations of events that I had marked on my calendar have been noted, but apparently Opera New Jersey's "Carmen" at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore scheduled for tomorrow at 3:00pm will go on. I'm watching the weather and roads and might attend yet. (Some names familiar from Baltimore Opera Company programs are associated with this production.) Meanwhile, I was browsing in Daedalus Books here in Columbia and came across DVD's of "U-Carmen". Ring a bell with anyone? The cover explains that it's a South African production based on Bizet's opera but set in a South African township -- complete with cigarette factory -- and with an all or mostly black cast and sung in Xhosa. I have not done any further research into this yet and did not purchase a copy. (I had a handful of vintage movies already.)

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After a week of staying close to home in the snow, I headed out the door at my usual work time this morning, much to the dismay of Ollie, my cat. He must have thought I was going to stay home forever to provide him with brushings, food and play. Really -- when he heard me heading for the front door he ran down from a lounging spot upstairs to raise a protest and give me one of those "you're abandoning me" stares. (Cats are so good at that, aren't they?)

The highways are clear enough [well, 29 and 32 near Columbia at least], but smaller roads are missing whole lanes still. Getting back home, I found myself stuck in glacial traffic around the mall. No worries: First I pulled off to have a late lunch at Lakeside Roastery and was glad to see familiar faces of the staff again. (Also nice to see the Lake in winter splendor.) Back on Little Patuxent Parkway again, I next pulled off at the Exxon station which re-opened a few weeks ago and restored a major convenience in the neighborhood.

I might have extricated my holly tree from its snowy prison prematurely, according to something I read in the Post while dining at Lakeside. Letting it thaw out by itself might have been better for the plant, but the birds certainly appreciated having access to the berries yesterday. A quintessential American winter scene unfolded outside my window as a blue jay and a bright red cardinal showed up to feast on the holly's fruit.

I've been exchanging e-mail with relatives in eastern North Carolina who wanted to know how I was faring in the snowstorms (much better than some people I've read about). With the turn of weather events in the South, this exchange has started to turn around with some stories of their own. Two inches of snow has caused some cancellations in a small city in North Carolina today. [I should add: The ice-slicked ground and pavement which they often get when we get snow is a nasty affair.]

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So, back out of the traffic, I might just continue to shelter at home for a while and be glad of things. Maybe I'll see you in Baltimore tomorrow.

Snow Diary ~~ Don't forget those fire hydrants!

If you spot any bright orange hydrant tops poking through the snow and have the means, please dig the hydrants out. It will be a big help to firefighters if they have to answer a call in the neighborhood.

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Oakland Manor in Columbia Town Center looks very pretty right now, sitting on its hill in the middle of snowy splendor.

Snow Diary ~~ Columbia Town Center e-mail list

Rambling again: a Columbia community e-mail list ~~ saving a holly tree to feed the birds ~~ listening to Czech operas

If there really is more on the way, as I've seen in weather reports, I might continue to maintain a Snow Cadet's snow diary here just to stay sane (provided I still have the luxury of Internet access during any storms). Reading blogs by other Snow Cadets has been helpful, too.

Another thing that has helped to counter effects of being snowbound is the Columbia Town Center's e-mail list. I think Patricia Laidig, Town Center Village Manager, has been the main agent behind sending e-mails during the winter weather event and relaying important warnings and advice. This was important stuff like making sure neighborhood fire hydrants were cleared of snow and how to tell when your roof is about to cave in under the weight of snow. Here's the link to Town Center's web site, and there's an e-mail contact if you're in this neighborhood of Columbia and want to get on the list. That beautiful Oakland Manor is a short stroll from me, and I should try to see it in its current winter splendor.

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During snow shovel festivities this morning, I decided to make a priority of clearing off the holly tree next to my back patio. Mentioned in an earlier post, this tree is about ten or twelve feet high and has four or five main stems. It's not an American holly, a tree that is particularly awesome when it reaches an age of 100 years or more, but some ornamental type whose berries still feed the birds during the winter. No matter how much the birds (and squirrels) forage on this tree, it seems to have plenty of berries throughout the season. Well, this snow weighed it down so much, it all but disappeared, bent over to the ground under white mounds. (Tried to clear it off in the first snowstorm, but it was gone again soon after.) Yesterday, I noticed a bird or two hanging around during lulls in the storm, and I realized they were looking for that tree. This morning, I waded through deep snow around the house and spent some time freeing the tree and its berry-laden branches from under the snow. I took care not to pull the tips of the branches out of the snow prematurely so as not to break the trunks. The tree is nowhere near close to standing upright now, but the snow is off it and the bright red berries are there for the taking. (No visitors seen yet. Hope I'm not too late.)

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I spent some of the snowbound time listening to an opera set that had been waiting on the shelf to be opened: The classic Mackerras-conducted Decca recording of Janacek's "Kata Kabanova" with Elisabeth Soderstrom in the title role. When I read that the opera was based on Ostrovsky's play, "The Storm," I almost turned it off, but this was a rainstorm, not a snowstorm. The Czech libretto and Janacek's special sound world brought memories of Washington National Opera's own excellent production of the composer's "Jenufa" in a recent season. Do you recall? That same spring, by coincidence or design, the lamented Baltimore Opera Company put on another Czech opera, Smetana's "The Bartered Bride".

Drifting Performance Dates (Nono, Berio, Dallapiccola Concert [CANCELED])

I have limited access to Facebook here, but I just caught the announcement from Opera Vivente that this Friday's "My Foolish Heart" cabaret has been moved to next Friday, February 19 (8:00pm at OV's regular performance space at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore).

The ongoing "Wintersturme" are causing cancellations and changed dates everywhere in the local performing arts. Even after the current storm has passed, repercussions could cause changes this weekend, but I'm keeping my hopes up for some things I've seen in the calendars. One event that has caught my eye is another free Peabody Camerata concert in the Peabody Conservatory's Griswold Hall this Saturday evening. The Camerata focuses on recent and contemporary music (late music), and this Saturday's program includes Luigi Dallapiccola, Luigi Nono and Luciano Berio.

(If you're not going to "Carmen" at the Lyric Opera House on Sunday, you might consider another free concert in Griswold Hall that day, one by Peabody oboists.)

Other calendars of events are in my links, but here are a few favorites in the music category that I watch:

An die Musik ... Baltimore Symphony Orchestra ... Candlelight Concerts ... Peabody Institute ... BaltimoreOpera.com ... Maryland Weather

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Snow notes: Another snowstorm tip making the rounds is a suggestion to clear off your neighborhood fire hydrants if you're outside clearing snow. Now can I remember where our fire hydrant was before the snow hit? .... I drove the short distance to the Columbia Mall yesterday around noon during the calm between the storms and joined the throng taking a break from being snowbound. There I achieved a grocery shopping trip of sorts. Fortunately, I stocked up a couple of days before the rush on the supermarkets, but at the mall I replenished my cookie supply and bought another bag of coffee, just in case.

A Royal Visit to Wolf Trap Opera: Oberon, King of the Fairies

Ready to think about summer opera?

As promised, the Wolf Trap Opera Company has announced its 2010 summer season and is celebrating with interviews or guest posts on other blogs. (Director Kim Witman will provide links in the Wolf Trap Opera blog.) In addition to other events, WTOC's full stage productions this summer will include Mozart's "Zaide", Rossini's "The Turk in Italy" and -- the one that excites me the most -- Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

I've been hoping that a local company would perform this Britten work. I've never heard it, but I understand that this is a "classic" of 20th century opera. It also offers the chance to hear the countertenor voice in a key modern role, Oberon, outside of the usual baroque repertoire. (I believe that Midsummer had some productions in Baltimore, but this was before I discovered the pleasures of opera outside the big houses.)

Wolf Trap's agenda could make me scrap plans to attend another summer opera event in upstate New York.

Addendum: Of course, the cast roll for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" includes both Oberon, the King of the Fairies, and Tytania, the Queen of the Fairies (coloratura soprano according to the Grove Book of Operas). I didn't mean to treat the Queen of the Fairies like chopped liver.

"Wintersturme"

There's more on the way. Taking advantage of the calm between the storms, I ventured out in my car, a front-wheel drive medium-sized coupe, this morning, wondering if I would find Lakeside Roastery open, and it was. HOWEVER, there are snow-clearing vehicles working in part of the parking lot, and I found 175/Little Patuxent Parkway to be, shall we say, more or less clear and passable. The cafe wasn't busy at all, and I chatted with one of the owners -- they have to come from outside Columbia to get to their business. I had a couple of errands close to home that I would have liked to run, but when I was back on 175 I decided to return home. There are enough slippery spots and pools of crunchy snow on the road to make me wonder how much trouble I'd find on a longer trip. (US 29, though, had some fairly fast-moving traffic as I viewed it from across the Lake and through the trees.)

Lakeside normally would be in easy walking distance for me, but a winter wonderland walk yesterday turned into an exhausting slog through knee-deep snow as I tried the walking route through the woods. This was in spite of taking advantage of tracks left by an earlier snow-wader. I waded far enough just to see the lake and turned back. Between that and another snow shovel party with the neighbors, I've lost some weight over the weekend and noticed some benefit from the physical activity. (Wow. Don't you wish it would snow year-round?)

I'm hoping the power stays on here, as I don't have any means for back-up heating, but this neighborhood's underground cables apparently make a big difference when power outages are blacking out other neighborhoods. Mom called at least three times over the weekend to check on me as she reacted to reports of outages and other news about our snowed-under conditions.

If you haven't seen enough yet, Tales of Two Cities continues to post lovely photos from contributors that make the area look like the December and January pages of a scenic wall calendar. And the ultimate beer cooler.

Planned for my playlist: Julius Fucik's "Wintersturme" Waltzes; Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic in a 1973 Teldec recording. I've had it for years, and usually I've played it by now in winter weather events. It's a wintry blast.

[In case I'm posting too heavily, see the preceding post for material more directly concerned with local operatic affairs.]

Musto's "Volpone" and Wolf Trap Opera Company's Grammy Nomination

Congratulations to the Wolf Trap Opera Company for the Grammy nomination for the recording of John Musto's opera, "Volpone". WTOC's Kim Witman writes on the WTOC blog about the significance of just being nominated, short of getting the award, and the experience of being at the ceremonies.

I tried to find a pre-Grammy review of the "Volpone" recording which I thought I read in one of my magazines. Instead, I found the review by Arlo McKinnon of Musto's "Later the Same Evening" in the December 2009 issue of Opera News. Perhaps that's what I was thinking about. Musto collaborated with librettist Mark Campbell on both operas. Although recorded by the Manhattan School of Music, "Later the Same Evening" was originally written for and premiered by opera students at the University of Maryland, College Park (would that be the Maryland Opera Studio?).

Wolf Trap is preparing to announce its 2010 summer season tomorrow, February 9.

Be Careful Running Your Car Engine in Deep Snow!

Sadly, this message isn't getting around to enough people in time. I just found this post on the Maryland Weather blog. With more snow coming (and plenty still on the ground), we need to keep this in mind, circulate the warning, watch other people and their cars. Certainly, there are plenty of other ways to get into trouble in the snow, but this one seems one of the most insidious. Furthermore, just clearing the snow away from the exhaust pipe apparently is not enough to stop fumes from filling up the car interior.

(So, dear opera people trying to get to and from auditions and whatever, beware!)

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On a separate note, Ollie the Wonder Cat and favorite online feline seems to be out of his bout of sickness. I'm still feeding him small portions and watching and waiting.

snowbound playlist

~~ Concerti Grossi, Op. 3, by the very Vivaldian Francesco Onofrio Manfredini; Jaroslav Krcek and the Capella Istropolitana; on Naxos
~~ "Aotearoa" and other orchestral works by New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn; James Judd and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; on Naxos
~~ "Vltava", that mercurial river from Smetana's "Ma Vlast" (My Country) tone poem cycle; Antoni Wit and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; on Naxos (Very nice. I forgot I had this while browsing the collection last night.)
~~ Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra in Enesco/Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1; on Mercury (A warhorse which I could keep hearing till the warhorses come home.)
~~ Michelangeli in Debussy's Preludes, 1st Book, for piano; on DG.

Earlier in the week, something moved me to listen to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1, "Winter Dreams" (Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic; on Chandos)

After the Storm; a Sick Cat

Well, the snow-laden scene under a brilliant blue sky outside certainly looks pretty. I had some snow shovel fun before the storm ended yesterday. The front storm door was jammed shut by two feet of snow, and I decided to make sure the way was clear for easy access and egress. Afterwards, wading around the community in snow over my knees was a novel experience.

And then Ollie started getting sick. (Warning: the icky side of cat care follows.) As of yesterday evening, he can't keep food down at all. He's had vomiting spells before, but this is more persistent. After consulting the books, I'm going with hairballs, but I'll take him to the vet tomorrow if there's no improvement. A conundrum: He's passing normally in the litter pan, which is a good sign but makes me wonder what's really making him back up the other way. The books and the Internet suggest making him lick up some unmedicated petroleum jelly to move hairballs, so I'm trying that any way. Later, a regimen of more frequent brushing is indicated to cut down on hairballs, and I know Ollie won't object to that.

(Ollie's regular food and by necessity almost his only food is Science Diet Sensitive Stomach formula.)

The Snow in Columbia Town Center

First: If you take one tip from the list of snowstorm tips from the National Weather Service being posted in various places, take this one: If for any reason you have to warm up a vehicle during this snow or whenever it stops falling, make sure the exhaust pipe is clear. In the Big Snow of 2003 we had several fatalities in the area caused by people sitting in cars with the engines running and not knowing that the exhaust pipe was under snow.

I can't post or comment to other sites, but maybe my little report here can serve a purpose. I'm in a neigborhood near the Columbia Mall. Last night around 11:30, I decided to venture outside and shake the snow off an ornamental holly tree that overlooks my back patio. When it snows a lot, this tree's stems lean over under the weight, and last night I was afraid it was close to breaking. This morning, it's bent over again under even more snow, and I can't see any of the tracks I left while walking around outside.

Around the same time, a small plow or front loader was working on the traffic circle near me and in the neighboring community. It doesn't look like he got much done there this morning. Around 2:00am last night, probably the same vehicle was working in my condominium's parking lot. It looks like he gave up and went home, and I don't blame him. We've had some thorough, precision snow removal by a contractor in recent snowfalls that minimized the shovelling we would have to do ourselves around our cars. This storm, however, is causing problems for everybody.

This morning the snow appears to be standing a foot or more along the tops of fences and other objects as I look out my windows, and it's still falling. This snowfall has been classified as historic, so enjoy it!

Hat's off to Mr. Wordbones of the Tales of Two Cities blog and other volunteers. He was ready to ferry medical personnel in his four-wheel-drive vehicle today, but now the snow is frustrating the most snow-worthy vehicles.

Here's the latest post on the Maryland Weather blog of the Baltimore Sun at this time. I think that blizzard warning could have applied to Howard County last night, too. Some of my upper windows are plastered with last night's snow, and I practically can't see through one of them. The snowfall doesn't look as intense right now, but it's coming down rather heavily in finer particles.

One note from the local concert circuit: An die Musik has announced that pianist Till Fellner's Beethoven recital scheduled for tonight at the Baltimore Museum of Art has been moved to Monday evening.

"Hey. I'm at the library...."

"Well, other people are using their cell phones here, so I'm using my cell blog...I'm going to check out all the faces on Friendbook in a minute, but right now I just added the new "As I hear it..." blog to my blog roll. Can't have too many blogs in your blog roll, you know...Yes, I found this one through the Opera Vivente blog, which has been in my blog roll since day 1. (Thanks, OV!)...Did you know it's going to snow this weekend? Yep, just take a look at the Maryland Weather blog in my blog roll, too. Never mind bread, milk and toilet paper. I'm all stocked up with beer, hot chocolate, those bags of cookies from Trader Joe's, oh, and a fresh bag of cat food, too. Ollie's ready for the storm, too...If I get real bored, I might post about some movie watchings or some opera listenings. We'll see. Or I'll just read some of those long posts on the other blogs...Yes, I'm going to miss some amazing things in Baltimore this weekend, if they still have them. (Till Fellner at the Baltimore Art Museum for An die Musik?)...Better go now. The other bloggers here are looking at me funny."

Addendum: Just met one of my condominium neighbors in person while sitting here, so that's a nice surprise. Opera Vivente is forging ahead with intense auditions this weekend, snow or no snow. I think it's going to be snow, so I hope that goes well for all concerned.