Enjoying Lumina String Quartet's Chamber Music Concert

Last Sunday, we were invited to attend our niece's concert, part of the eighteenth annual Lumina String Quartet's Chamber Music Institute for Young Musicians in The Palace Theatre, Stamford, CT from August 5 to August 18, 2015. Each of these Sunday afternoon concerts will feature youthful string quartets playing works by the greatest classical composers. 

It is really an inspiring experience to see young musicians aged 9 to 18 playing classics so eloquently and professionally, including Haydn, Schubert, Weber, Mendelssohn and Borodin. On that particular afternoon, there were 8 performances playing quartets, quintets and sextets, Our 15-year-old Emily played her cello with four other players (three violinists, and one more cellist). Their complete unabridged quintet performance of Schubert's work is simply divine and energetic! Three of us, Sue, Paul and I, are bursting with pride!

Enough Said but Seldom Remembered: a Life Lesson

Yesterday, Paul and I watched two movies before and after visiting Mother. They are none other than Agatha Christie Biography by PBS and Enough Said with James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

At a first glance, the two films have little to do with each other. One is about a famous mystery writer and the other, about two single parents with empty-nest syndrome. Passing over the superficial difference, we will discover a profound similarity: do not take love for granted. It needs to be cultivated.

The young Agatha was married for love to her aviator Archie Christie, but neglected to maintain it by leaving him to golf, which led him to finding love somewhere else. With the double disaster of her mother's death and her divorce, Agatha disappeared and emerged as a new woman who not only found her new love in archaeologist Max Mallowan, but more importantly, never left her second husband alone anymore.

The same is true with  Enough Said. After a couple of dates, the single mother Eva assumed that she had Albert for sure, and lashed out with all the poisonous remarks she had heard from his ex-wife, thus causing a spectacular breakup.

Another remarkable similarity about the two movies is that both Agatha and Eva/Albert are not shy in admitting their mistakes and taking action to go on with their new life. It takes both courage and foresight.