A Taste of Spring.

1-12-18 SHORT HILLS: It’s in the sixties and raining heavily. The snow is gone, almost completely. The ground has thawed, and it smells like spring. If it wasn’t pouring, I would be outside in shirt sleeves. Winter is due back in a couple days, with a vengeance.

The robins have been back. There is a small flock of four or five who were here for a hour or so yesterday. They were eating the berries of an Asian holly, which are small and black. They did not go to the feeders or eat sunflower seeds under the feeders. I’ve never seen them here in January before.

We saw ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ at the Met on Wednesday. We have seen this production before and the previous one as well. I love it. The music is great, the plot farcical, but strangely topical with all the recent sexual misconduct reveals. The abuse of power by the privileged made it controversial in its time, but is still applicable today.

The three women, Nadine Sierra, my new favorite soprano, Isabel Leonard and Ailyn Pérez were all in extraordinary voice. It was a delight to be there. Unfortunately there were a lot of empty seats.

I am reading the transcript of the testimony by Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS that was released by Di Fi. He sounds quite credible and Christopher Steele is described as a ‘boy scout’, which makes their reports very believable. I'll put the link on FB.

There are three of four or five robins eating berries on this Asian holly. These berries are small and black.

Robins again. I don't ever remember them here in January.

No snow, just a lot of rain. It's warm, and the air smells of earth, loam and spring.

The set for 'Le Nozze di Figaro'. The stage rotates to present four different venues. This is the Countess' bedroom.

The cast at the end of the opera. That's Figaro, Ildar Abdrazakov, taking a bow. Ailyn Pérez's head is visible behind him, and Nadine Sierra is in red, and Isabel Leonard, in black, is to her left.