This whole weekend’s been nice and relaxing. Yesterday I spent the afternoon napping, and in the evening Thom and I went to a concert, part of a series of classical and traditional music performances held at various embassies and official residences in Washington. Last night’s concert of operetta arias took place at the Austrian embassy, located near Connecticut and Van Ness. It was a delightful program–with some familiar and not so familiar tunes from Franz Lehár, Johann Strauss, and others–if a bit stuffy, literally: the air conditioning was no match for the evening heat. During the intermission, we took a stroll about the main hall, which held an impressive collection of photos by Inge Morath, depicting timeless scenes from Austria from the 1950s into the 21st century. The upcoming concert season looks rather extensive; we’ll have to check some of those out.
Today was nice and lazy. I caught up on some TiVo watching, and also watched Croupier on DVD. Eh, it was okay. It’s just that the energy level of the whole movie is slightly too cold, too calm for me–and believe me, I don’t usually begrudge a film for being too subtle or nuanced–and it’s a shame, since it stars the excellent Clive Owen.
Afterwards I went out to the balcony to soak up some rays, and Alex the cat joined me. I felt rather decadent, sitting there with my feet up and reading GQ while alternately sipping iced tea and taking drags off my cigarette. I like it out there; it makes me feel like I’m on vacation. Alex enjoys lying out in sunshine, perhaps even more than I do, and he also received some amusement (or alarm, I can’t tell), toying with the occasional cicada that would make it onto the balcony.
Ahh. Life is good, eh?