July 8 - Burning Bright

No Tygers or William Blake, although we do play excerpts from near-contemporary W.A. Mozart (re Amadeus), before rewinding to music from Samuel Voelckel to Henry Purcell in Music History class; then general review in Piano from Amazing Grace to Igor Stravinsky Five Fingers: I. and some new pieces. Zooming past the Richmond refineries and over the Bridge -- paper-grading at Celia's, postbox, etc., serve as prelude to the San Francisco jaunt for another


SF Composers Chamber Orchestra Salon at Lisa Scola Prosek's, with music of Loren Jones, Lisa, Eduard Prosek and a friend (above), plus the first four selections of



Elijah Rock, Op. 71

OUVERTURE (Rehoboam and Jeroboam)



I. QUARTETTO - Turn (The Man of God from Judah and the Old Prophet of Bethel)



II. DUETTO - Disguise (Jeroboam's Wife and Ahijah)



III. ARIA - Rehoboam (Chronology and Call)



the last performed twice by request. Very impressive compatriot music all around, and record Ed/friend and Lisa, with their permissions, to use in a rendition of



A Walk Through California, Op. 151

XXXVIII. San Francisco (SFCCO Room and Board)





(created later at home) which also includes excerpts of Composers Chamber Orchestra meeting that follows at Erling Wold's, with aforementioned plus Michael Cooke.


A good time is had by all, and we go into that good night, returning also to orchestrate another page of The Opera of Daniel, Op. 73: VII. The Lions' Den.

July 7 - Taking It All In

Music History class from Josquin des Pres to Thomas Morley, Piano though the first selection of Igor Stravinsky's Five Fingers, then down to Rheem, grading papers at Mandarin Flower until battery power runs out, recharging briefly and heading out with deer raiding the plantation to



Rancho Laguna Park for a



viewful loop on the Old Moraga Ranch Trail



(by now, neither old nor ranch-like, apparently seriously re-routed to avoid



suburban and rural private property in a roller-coaster of irrational, non-hikerly ups-and-downs) to the


grassy Rimer (according to all the maps but Rhimer on the signs) Creek Saddle's



views of Valle Vista,



picking up the honest Rocky Ridge route,



past a very tired snake (a la Saturday Night Live's dog Skippy and the mailman) over



King Canyon highlands



returning towards point of origin and the



path's namesake via



Brown Ranch Valley



with incoming fog in the



shadows of the



setting sun, and



distant (dots nice)



cows



in cacaphonous clangor, which must be recorded briefly on the laptop (can only tease out about 2 minutes of power, in two takes) and edited overnight as




A Walk Through California: Contra Costa (Cows and Crickets).




Retreating from the sinister



stratus,



a connector trail



veers away from



forbidden zones back to the



post-commute crowd at the park, after which it's time to join the late throngs on Route 24 towards



Mt. Diablo, orchestrating another page of The Opera of Daniel: VII. The Lions' Den upon return.

June 29 - Dreaming of Babylon

Finish orchestration and record The Opera of Daniel: IV. Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream; with music from St. Benedict to Charlemagne for the Music Historians; and F Lydian / Major, Snake Charmer Song, and ostinati and power chords for the Pianists.



Past Fairfield Vineyard Hill (first shot on present camera of which is the cover of A Walk Through California) and



the usual scenic suspects on the way home,



then pump up Harriet's bike and meet her at the pool with the



newspaper.

June 28 - Drenched, Quenched

Another blazing day, Harriet off visiting Flora for several hours, so there's time to do three more mixes of A Walk Through California: Placer (Cows and Cars 2-4) and another orchestrated page of The Opera of Daniel: IV. Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream. We rendezvous at the pool late in the day,



biking back as the heat radiates off the pavement.

June 27 - To Those Thrilling Days

Off in the comforting/approaching-hundred-degree heat to the Sierra today,



up I-80 towards the



gold country of



Auburn, to continue the string of hikes from



the California coast to Nevada (from Sacramento to the Sierra crest, within the watershed of the American River and its Middle Fork -- heading now roughly toward the "u" in Placer County in the above map) -- first drive and walk in these regions in the blog-and-camera era.



Piano Quiz 1 grading preceeds this at Tio Pepe's,



with views of the old fire- and



court-



houses,



then into Auburn Ravine below



Foresthill Bridge (highest in California and third in country, after spans in Colorado and West Virgina),



along the Middle Fork of



the American River,



ascending Old Foresthill Road past digger pines and



the former limestone quarry,



Beyond Foresthill, the scene opens up even more toward



distant still-snowy ridges and



the yaw



of the canyon.



Mosquito Ridge Road descends towards the national forest,



around Volcano and



Ladys [side-]Canyons to



Circle Bridge over



the North Fork of the Middle Fork,



then ascends Mosquito Ridge proper



past cliffs, and



Deadwood and



Balloon Ridges (I am not making up these names, at least not most of them...),



with views straight back down North Fork Middle Fork at Peavine Promontory (OK, I sort of made up that last one -- it's a prominent switchback at the top of the initial Mosquito Ridge Rade, just south of Peavine Canyon...).



Beyond Mosquito Narrows, the Ridge plateaux out into a long green tunnel, where cowbells justle in the towers of high pines, such that it its time to stop and record



A Walk Through California: Placer (Cows and Cars 1).





A few miles beyond California's (and the world's) northernmost giant sequoias,



at the quixotic Greek Store site,



by the crossing of Spruce Creek is the walk



in the castelated conifer corridor to the



pine-coney corner of



Robinson Flat



Road (perhaps four miles round trip -- walking uphill and coasting down with the mini bike -- high elevation... a gentle rise to c. 5900 ft, heading downslope again), and the solution is (as in Samuel Beckett) to go on (in this case, next time continuing on MRR east towards French Meadows, rather than north on RFR, an option also pondered).



For now, it's operation reverse in the dying light of the



Second and



First Mosquito Grade Cliffs (several years ago these were passed in smoldering revenge smoke, post fiery cataclysm);


the Middle Fork and

Rubicon Rivers upstream, and their confluence down (taken from Mosquito Saddle),



as well as further bailing past more Digger pines and



the North Fork Middle Fork Trail,



to Circle Bridge,



Volcano Canyon,



zipping down Foresthill Road past Everybody's Inn,



and all way over the Bridge.