Variations in Life's Blogability

I've discovered something about winter: it's a lot less bloggable than other seasons.  That's not because the great outdoors in winter aren't interesting.  They most certainly are.  It's just that the daylight is so short the only times I can get out in it are during the day... when I'm generally at work.  No evening frolics in the garden with the camera for me.  Heaven forbid a weekend is so busy that I don't get time to do something outdoors because then I'm really at a loss as to what to blog about.  Like right now.

This past weekend was brutally packed and involved no outdoor adventures.  I'm buried at work, and we had other commitments scheduled back to back both days, too.

They weren't all un-fun - don't get me wrong.  I stuck in one blissfully frivolous event, life's responsibilities be damned:

We went to see the Metropolitan Opera's production of Der Rosenkavalier projected live in high definition on the big screen at our local mall on Saturday afternoon.  Very cool.  If you can even tolerate listening to opera I highly recommend seeing a live in HD projection - it's a totally different experience, and available in a lot more theaters than you might think.

If there's one person I'm a sucker for, it's lyric soprano Renée Fleming.  I love good opera, which the Met most certainly is, and love to see what productions we can on the big screen generally.  But I cannot miss a Met production if Renée Fleming is singing the lead.

Saturday's performance of Der Rosenkavalier was spectacular.  Richard Strauss operas have been the backbone of Renée Fleming's career because they bring out the absolute best in her vocally and dramatically.  She stars as the Marschallin, one of my favorite soprano roles in opera because the Marschallin, when performed well, is complex, strong, sympathetic, generous, likable, not entirely dependent on men, and doesn't die some kind of tragic death at the end.  That's a mighty rare combination in opera.  Susan Graham is a delectable mezzo-soprano and she sang the "trouser" role of Octavian, the Marshallin's lover.  She was excellent.  The sets for the Met's Der Rosenkavalier are magnificently opulent.

I'm guessing I don't necessarily have a lot of opera fans as readers, so I won't go on and on about it, but dang, what a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon!  We have tickets to see Renée Fleming at the Met in Rossini's Armida later this spring, and I can hardly wait.  It will be my first time at the Met, and my husband's first time in New York City.  Something to look forward to.

The point of all that was to say, while inconvenient timing, I spent the only weekend hours I could have had free for bloggably outdoorsy anything in a movie theater instead.  Worth it.  Definitely worth it.

However, after this past weekend, I'm behind in everything.  My Christmas lights are still up, along with the tree.  They really, really need to come down.  (What's the exact moment when I cross from appearing indolent to appearing weird?)  The house is a disaster.  It's amazing how fast 5 animals and 2 humans can wreck it, especially when the dogs' wintertime hobby is chewing all the kindling wood to bits all over the library, which is the central room in our house.  And, as I write this, I have a sink full of dishes and about 30 lbs of laundry to wash.

*Sigh*  Back to work.  I'm already counting down to next weekend...