Sacred Spaces Day 2

This morning all 5,000 people who packed the AMP were treated to the velvet voice and thoughtful perspective of Ken Burns. The 30 minute film he showed is not new, but rather the 2nd part of a 3 part film he shot awhile back about his friend, philosopher William Segal who died in recent years at the age of 95. On Wednesday night he will have an evening presentation about battle fields as sacred spaces. David McCullough, when he was here last year, said that more people learn history from Ken Burns than in any other way. He is so delightful to hear, and he has been spotted walking the grounds with his family. As an aside, this unbearably young-looking man who is over 50 has a daughter who is expecting Ken's first grandchild in December, not to be outdone by his wife who is due in October. As he said, "Yes, there is much in production in my family."

I finished The Lost City of Z last night in the nick of time to attend the book review given at noon followed by a book discussion. Here's how you know it's Chautauqua. . . you go to a book discussion with 40 people present, and well over a quarter of them have been to the Amazon!!!!! And a couple more are going in the next year. I pretty much kept my mouth shut ( I know, I know. . . but it wasn't that hard since I knew I would probably humiliate myself) and just listened. What a crowd we have up here.

Heard the afternoon lecture by a Muslim gentleman who is director of Islamic studies at Stanford University. The afternoon topic this week is the Sacred Space that is Jerusalem as seen from all perspectives. Very insightful.

I'd like to give a big shout out to my new 3 dollar lawn chair which I got at the flea market. It has been named "most valuable possession" since I got it. Now I sit comfortably at afternoon events. This can be a problem if I don't also have my iced coffee after lunch (made in my $1 coffee carafe from the same flea market) as I tend to succumb as one of the many who need to drift off after lunch. I had iced coffee today and still needed a nap after the lecture. But now I'm ready to go again. I'm such an old lady!!

My main objective for the rest of the day is to attend the piano recital given by the winner and runner-up of the annual piano competition. The winner pocketed $7500 so this is no small deal.

Also am communicating fast and furiously with realtor Ed who is in charge of the homefront. He's supervising the burning of brush, weeding of driveway, cleaning of house, negotiating the mold issue in the crawl space of the new house (YIKES!!), and pretty much anything else that needs doing. He will have earned his commission by the time this is all over. Off to the post office and looking forward to homemade stuffed peppers from the farmer's market for dinner. It's a tough life but someone's got to live it!