Carnegie Deli, Carnegie Hall.

9-30-10 SHORT HILLS: Yesterday I continued transplanting. I dug up several small, one or two year-old, volunteer viburnum, rose-of-sharon, and a japanese maple and a dawn redwood from the northern side of the yard and moved them to the southern side to plug holes in the shrub and tree border. I think I did sixteen in all. Yesterday was sunny and pleasant.

Yesterday evening we went to Carnegie Hall for the opening night gala. We, of course, sat in the balcony, first row, and ogled all the black ties and gowns in the orchestra and first tier. We didn’t go the the banquet with the robber barons, but went to the Carnegie Deli where I had a massive pastrami sandwich. Their ‘sandwiches’ are each big enough for four people, I actually ate most of it. Judy had an equally large hot turkey sandwich and struggled. A french-speaking party near us, unfamiliar with the NYC deli style, were overwhelmed with the servings, but dealt valiantly.

The program was wonderful. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Nicholaus Harnoncourt performed with the star pianist, Lang Lang. They played Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15, and Symphony No. 7, Op. 92. There were prolonged standing O’s for both and Lang Lang did an encore from Prokofiev. Here’s a link to the NYT review: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/arts/music/01carnegie.html?ref=arts
The balcony offers great views of the orchestra and the keyboard and the pianist hands. The acoustics are amazing. You can hear a single softly played note and each individual instrument. The five flights of stairs are a bit daunting. After the concert, 57th Street was crawling with limos and all the beautiful people.


Lang Lang bows to the audience.

From the bottom: the orchestra, first tier, second tier all with black ties and gowns, the family circle and balcony. Our seats were at the opposite end of the balcony first row. This was before the concert, just about every seat was filled at the start.

How about a ceiling like this for your dining room?

The rain from the remains of TS Nicole started in the early hours, ushered in by a couple lightening strikes. So far, we have 1.6 inches with a second half of the storm to go. Just what all those transplants need.