It ALWAYS makes me smile to hear from you! I do miss reading your blogs. Maybe you should write something? Huh? :-)

@La Fan! You've been missed. Are you at UVA? If you are desperate for roasted green chile, contact the DC area UNM alumni group. Their annual chile roasting picnic is always in mid-Sept. It is a bit of a drive, but they roast the chile on site! (They are also selling some green chile in Alexandria, if you want a shorter drive).

Susan! GREAT to hear from ya! We miss you here on DCF. Hope all is well in your new part of the world. As for here, it's the same old sleepy Southwest. This is my favorite time of the year, green chile, the brilliant changing of the cottonwoods, that nip in the air, State Fair, then the balloons. And a new (and wonderful) reason to love autumn, my son is a freshman in HS and is in the marching band! He had his first performance this past Saturday in the season-opener football game. If you still have my email, send me a note from time to time. Don't be a stranger!

Hi Susan,
Just a quick hello here! It was good to hear from you the other day. I hope to hear from you from time to time regarding your new adventures in the east. Your friend, Ron

Hola, richard esquivel opera guy from Sanfran, looking forward to Santa Fe's season. You did invite me to your tailgate party - when? I'm unsure when I will be in ABQ but will definitely be going this summer, also must check on my 88yr old mother. Saw "Traviata" Tuesday night with Anna Netrebko,FAB, next day rode my bicycle to the baseball game, day game Giants vs Angels,that night saw "Tosca" at the opera with Adrianne Pieczonka, sounds Polish but she is from Canada. Ah yes, life in Sanfran. Looking forward to hearing from you again.

hiya, i stumbled onto your page here, and enjoyed the first few tunes on your music player. however, i must strongly recommend searching out Girl from Ipanema on the Getz/Gilberto album. it is the definitive version which i am sure you will appreciate.

also 'she called up' from the recent crowded house album has a wonderful video.

Cheers!
ge

a week ago you responded to my correspondence as "wonderful comments" I thank you so much for those kind words. I would have responded earlier but I don't have a computer her in ABQ and use the ones at the library. MY 87 yr old mother was bedridden for 4 days with some virus, then I think I caught it so I was confined to her house for almost a week.

One day and a half sicker than I have been in over 20 yrs, that is, throwing up every half an hour it seemed. The last time that happend was on a all day, all night train from Hohhot, the capital of the autonomous province of Inner Mongolia in the Peoples Republic of China, to Beijing. I was in a 3rd (4th, 5th?) class comparment sqeeezed in like a sardine. Every half hour or so climbing over people, children in the aisles peeing, men smoking and spitting to go the the toilet, actually no toilet a hole in the floor to vomit which every time was witnessed by at least 5 or 6 people. Gave them quite a show. At one point crawled under the seat, took out my dirty underwear in my backpack to cushion myself in order to stretch out. Put on my Walkman and listened to Yo Yo Ma playing the Bach Suites for Unaccompiened Cello. The train gets back to Beijing and stays in the station for 45 minutes BLASTING military music in praise of Chaiman Mao. I thought my head was going to explode. The rest of my 2 month travels in China went quite nicely.

PS Before that another vomitting story involving sleeping out on the deck of a falucca (kind of sailboat) going down the Nile from Cairo to Luxor.

About Polish singers, saw the Met's Lucia di Lamamoor last night at the Century 14 downtown, the Enrico was Mariusz Kweicien who was the Santa Fe Don Giovanni, the Edgardo was another Polish singer, Piotr Beczala who I heard as Lenski in the Opera Eugene Onegin" in San Francisco in 2004. Both were fantastic. There is a Polish Metzo - Stefania Toczyska - who sang many times in SanFran in the 80's, also heard her sing Carmen in Munich. Her most memeroble performance was Amneris in "Aida" in SanFran with Pavorotti and Leontine Price (yes.can you believe it), Must admit tho it was the worst acting I have seen from anyone portraying an Egyptian princess since Ann Baxter in the "Ten Commandments."
However my all time favorite Polish singer is the Contralto Ewa Podles, actually saw her in recital in Santa Fe a few yrs back. Check her out on Youtube.com singing from Rossin"s "Semiramide" "Ah quel giorno rammento" 2nd page scroll down to the bottom, I love to play it when I'm riding my bicycle over the Golden Gate Bridge. Also listen to a lovely duet she sings with Sumi Jo from Rossini's "Tancredi," "Fiero incontro." There is no voice like Ewa Podles. Love to hear from you