December 31 - Envoi

Begin the January 2013 issue of 21st-Century Music,

 
as Harriet is off via the Vallejo Ferry to San Francisco with Tony, Tisha, and Claire.

Follow

suit,

at

least

insofar

as

out

is

concerned,

by

heading

off

in

the

dramatic

late

afternoon of sun and clouds to the

Apple Store -- configuring the audio on the new MacBook Pro, authorizing the repair of the old computer and following up with questions re transferring data from one to another.

Return home for a peaceful

evening with H, early reports on the East Coast from Bette and George, even more Ken Burns, and musical sketches (Double Piano Concerto: III, 26). Happy New Year to all!  With a new blog tomorrow, inshallah, at markalburger2013.blogspot.com.

December 30 - Light Around the Edges

Still more computer and sketches (Double Piano Concerto: III, 25) and Ken Burns's The National Parks, Harriet out for a bit helping to deck out Tisha's new music studio, late seafoody lunch, then out -- surprise, surprise -- on the Alamo Creek Bike Trail, but reversing course from our initial journey, weeks ago, on Nut Tree Road,

now easterly past Rachel's

Garden

(now in its 12th year after a young teen's tragic and untimely death)

with views back to the Vaca Mountains,

 
and on past Dumbarton Oaks

 (Igor Stravinsky!)

in the fading light to a 

Valley junction.

Recapitulating

this,

we

go

on brief errands, and head back to complete an ABA (ternary!) for the day.

December 29 - Wide Open Spaces

More computer, continued sketching, taking in Ken Burns's The National Parks: America's Best Idea --

in the evening,

out to the

library,

then

again

 (but for the first time in awhile,

specifically since the trip there-and-back to Seattle),

with

Harriet,

on

the

Alamo

Creek

Bike

Trail,

now

from

its identity Road to the

northwestern end, near the inaccessible (or so one still assumes) Lagoon Mountain Pass (from this side, that is) and

back in the

gathering gloom.

Dinner, for the most part as a welcome gift from Bette and George, at Red Lobster (got to have that Admiral's Platter).  More Burns and composition late (Double Piano Concerto: III, 24).