Yesterday Corinne drove us to Oregon City, about 2.5 hours east of here, so I could take my douçaine to Gayle and Phil Neuman. I’d never met them but had heard about them for years. They are both fascinating and delightful people. It was such a pleasure to talk with them, see the many instruments they have made, and get some tips on reeds and douçaine playing. Gayle made a new reed for me which makes playing my instrument much easier. I look forward to spending more time with them in the future.
It’s been raining almost all day here today. We took Tracy, the poet-in-residence, out to breakfast for her birthday today, to the famous Otis Cafe. We forgot how big their servings are, so we ended up bringing a lot of food home.
I’ve been working on Bach’s cello suite #5 pretty intensively today. The acoustics in my studio are so resonant – it’s really a pleasure to play in there.
Last night we walked down to Knight Park at about 8 pm. The gulls were nowhere to be seen, but there was a raccoon in the river, eating something it had caught.