peterography

Wellfleet was beastly hot, and Aunt Sukie’s B&B had only a box fan in the window. At night I turned it up full blast and lay on top of the covers, naked, sweating myself to sleep. My wife curled up under a sheet next to me. Usually it would cool off a bit around 3 or 4 AM and I covered myself with some bedding in time to protect the sensibilities of the guests who would gather on the deck outside our open windows for breakfast in the morning.

We’ve been coming to Wellfleet for so many years now, staying at Aunt Sukies or renting a house on the beach, that we feel no pressure to have goals or an agenda. The B&B faces the water across a salt marsh which is crossed by a narrow boardwalk. We spent lots of time on the beach reading - my wife was under the spell of the last Harry Potter novel and I was reading Don’t Stop the Carnival by Herman Woulk. I also passed the time transcribing comments on my poems from the workshop. Once in awhile we ventured into town to go to galleries or to eat - on Friday we had dinner at Winslow’s Tavern and on Saturday we ate at the Bookstore Cafe. Both times we dropped over $100 - I can’t believe what it cost us to eat on this trip.

On Friday we attended a concert in Wellfleet by the Borromeo String Quartet, joined by Jon Manasse, clarinet, and Jon Nakamatsu on piano. We heard Tennebrae by Golijov, the Piano Quintet in G by Shostakovich, and Mozart’s Quintet in A Major (K581). The Shostakovich is one of my favorite chamber works and they played it very well. The Golijov was interesting - it was perfectly accessible and pleasant, unlike much of the academic and clanging work of many contemporary composers, and it certainly had its moments, but it seemed to meander a bit and would have made good background music for something. I made a note to check out more works by this new composer. The Mozart was competently played but I’m not a big fan - I find Mozart a bit dainty and courtly and can’t help thinking about powdered wigs and ruffled sleeves whenever I hear it.