On Wednesday, Beff had to fly to DC for a conclave of State University music school chairs. She had must to bring all of her clarinets (including bass) with her, for later use.
I, meanwhile, had to drive to New York to speak at a memorial service for George Edwards, who was my colleague at Columbia during the Davy Teaches At Columbia years (1989-95). The weather decided to be wild for that drive, prompting thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for the places into which I was driving. Indeed, soon after passing the hookup of Route 95 with the Merritt Parkway, NYC news radio 880 informed that the Hutch (where I was soon to be driving) was closed due to flooding, and I should use 95. Thus did I exit and figure out a way to get to 95. It was about 30 minutes of extra driving, and obviously it was raining in sheets (said the rain, I've got the sheets).
Beff was to make it to the memorial service easy, with a 1:15 flight from Reagan to JFK. The weather had other ideas.
The 5:00 memorial service was great, and every speaker, myself included, killed. At the reception, I saw plenty of people I haven't seen in years, some of them for good reason. And finally at a bit before 7, Beff made it to the reception, and a good time was had by all. Wine was consumed, but not at all passively.
Hayes, who was one of the memorial killers, put us up and drove us to Bronxville, where we did pan-Asian delivery.
Yesterday, we had to drive to Geoffy's place in Floral Park for Beff to rehearse with him — hence trucking all her clarinets on this trip. Five minutes into our ride, the Garmin GPS I got five months ago, and which is pictured here, froze. So we had to go to the redundant system for directions: iOS 6 iPhone maps. Which definitely sucked a lot less than the Garmin.
They rehearsed. iOS 6 maps got us back onto the Hutch. All was well, if rather a boring drive.
Since Beff's car is in the lot at the Bangor airport, she must needs rent a car to get back, or take the bus. From our remote location, getting to the bus is about as time consuming as taking the bus, so she chose the rental option. Thus is a Ford Focus parked in our garage for the first and only time ever. Note new driveway. Also note old leaves.
Meanwhile, I am, at the moment, availing myself of my free Lifetime Garmin maps updates for the unit that froze. Noting, of course, that lifetime may be exactly five months.
