An Operatic Apocalypse: The Drumf and the Rhinegold at Turn Park Art Space

Yesterday we took a day trip to West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, lured by the chance to hear two of our favorite singers, Lucy Dhegrae and Ariadne Greif. Well, OK, also, we’d missed earlier performances of The Drumf and the Rhinegold, and it was way past time to make up for that cultural lack.

In a City Garden

In casting about for a poem to accompany the photographs on this post, I pulled Paroles, a slim book of poems by Jacques Prévert, from my book shelf. The photographs, by the way, are of the Central Park Conservatory garden in late March, with snow still on the ground, and late May.

Ramblin’ with History

On our last day in Derbyshire, we rambled both in the hills and along the River Derwent. I’ve long appreciated the wide public access to the English countryside, of which I’ve taken substantial advantage over the years on visits to the Yorkshire Dales and Moors, Devon, Cornwall, Sussex, Shropshire, the Brecon Beacons, the south Wales coast, the Lake District, and Norfolk—not to mention many rambles on Scotland’s mainland and the Isle of Skye, and along the west coast of Ireland.

Visiting Mr. Darcy’s Mansion

Chatsworth House

Well, not exactly, though it’s said that Jane Austen may have “based her idea of Pemberley on Chatsworth House”:

The eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of the valley into which the road into some abruptness wound.

On the Coffin Road

On our second day in Derbyshire, we walked from Edale to Hollins Cross. Turns out it’s also known as the “coffin road.