Eileen went with me to the tax people yesterday. She does our taxes, but I submit Mom’s taxes to Liberty Tax. I do this because that’s where she and Dad used to have their taxes done when they were taking care of it. The tax people were so impressed with Eileen care and accuracy in ensuing discussions, they asked her if she was interested in a job. I was pleased.

This took most of the morning. Eileen and I then stopped off and had lunch at Crust 54, a pizza place that recently changed hands. It’s not terrible salad friendly which is what Eileen was in the mood for.

She settled for a meatball sandwich and I had a small pizza.

After that we went and visited Mom, brought her her weekly packages of Hershey bars (she’s up to 12 a week now), picked up her old library books, went to the library, dropped them off, picked out new books for her, and then took them to her.

As I said to Eileen, yesterday was largely a “Mary Day,”  Mary being my mom’s name.

In the afternoon,  I used up the peppers, tortillas and other ingredients I purchased for a recipe and improvised another two casseroles with them, one with chorizo in it, one without.

Just before I went off to practice organ, the tax people called. They had made a significant error in the form. In order for Mom not to have to pay any taxes we had to come with more deductions to itemize. This is still in process right now. Eileen emailed them the sum total of Mom’s room and board at the nursing home. I need to clarify that number by subtracting fees that don’t apply to this deduction. Fun.

The casseroles turned out well. Eileen said it was just to the limit of her preferred spicy. Maybe next time I’ll leave the “tame” jalapeno peppers out of hers.

1. A Memorial Inscription’s Grim Origins – NYTimes.com

I agree with the idea that a quotation used as a public inscription should reflect its original context. Too late probably to change this. Idiotic to remove the attribution. Good grief.

2. Lashing Out in Verse – NYTimes.com

Young weird Denmark poet.

3. Postcolonial Resentments Loom Over Meeting of Europeans and Africans – NYTimes.

It does seem weird to me that “organizers” of the meeting would forbid some people to attend.

4. Irene Fernandez, Champion of the Oppressed in Malaysia, Dies at 67 – NYTimes.com

This woman sounds extraordinary to me.

5. Marc Platt, 100, Stage and Screen Dancer, Dies – NYTimes.com

I find obits of fascinating people interesting to read.

6. The Price of a Slur – NYTimes.com

I think I come down on the “PC” side of this argument. Some of the anti-“PC” comments seem ignorant and narrow to me.

7. How Not to Enforce Campaign Laws – NYTimes.com

FEC critique written by one of its members.

8. The Aliens Have Landed – NYTimes.com

The basic point of this article is that the damage we have inflicted on our planet is as dire as an alien invasion from outer space and that we should come together now as a planet even as we are experiencing the ill effects of what was thought of as future results.

Fatigue once again over took me on a day off  yesterday. I was so exhausted physically and mentally I just sat and rested and read all morning. It was good. I did manage an afternoon rehearsal with my violinist. We have been playing a wonderful Mozart Violin Sonata.

Here’s a nice recording if you want a taste. I’m listening to it as I write.

We didn’t play the first movement quite as fast as this recording, but it was still fun. This sonata has really grabbed me. It makes me think of the Mozart of the wonderful operas. It’s a privilege to play. Maybe someday we’ll perform it.

I’ve been thinking about the theme of the piece I am playing Sunday as a postlude. I think that it’s obviously based on the chorale that Mendelssohn quotes.

You can see the shape of the melody, Aus tiefer not. Down a fifth, then back up and then a step up. I think the beautiful opening of the sonata is drawn from this shape, but in major.

I have played and loved this piece for years. Surely I’ve noticed this before. That first measure unpacks the first few notes of the chorale. One can hear it in the soprano line (E down to A then jumping to F#). It’s also present in the pedal part in inversion. The fifth of the melody becomes a fourth and then also moves to the F#. Elegant beautiful stuff. I like that Mendelssohn quotes the melody under the fugue.

Again here is a video if you want a taste.

My copy of John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven arrived in the mail yesterday. I sat down and copied  my notes into my own copy this morning. I have been reading the library’s copy. It’s a beautifully made book.

Here’s a passage that I marked. Though the prose is bit purple and subjective, I like this description of Bach and his music.

“The music gives us shafts of insight into the harrowing experiences he [Bach] must have suffered as an orphan, as a lone teenager, and as a grieving husband and father.They show us his fierce dislike of hypocrisy and his impatience with falsification of any sort; but they also reveal the profound sympathy he felt toward those who grieve or suffer in one way or another, or who struggle with their conscience or their beliefs. His music exemplifies this, and it is in part what gives it its authenticity and colossal force. But most of all we hear his joy and sense of delight in celebrating the wonders of the universe and  the mysteries of existence– as well as in the thrill of his own creative athleticism. You have only to listen to a single Christmas cantata to experience the festive elation and jubilation in music on an unprecedented scale, one beyond the reach of any other composer.”

John Eliot Gardiner, Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven, xxx