Pikake & Pearls: Helen & Randy’s Website

Today Helen and I went to the YMCA for a day of exercising. I jogged almost 6 miles! Now I just have to keep it up on a most-of-the-week basis. Sure was a great way to end a weekend of tasty delights (BBQ and Helen’s cupcake-baking birthday party)…

School ended two weeks ago, and since then, Helen and I have been “livin’ large.” Relatively speaking, of course. During the year, we’re usually so busy with our individual projects (work at NEC, teaching lessons, various orchestra gigs, practicing, and the like) that we didn’t really get time to do so much together. Thankfully, summer has arrived, and so has more time for us to spend as chums and with our friends! Last weekend, Helen taught me how to play some badminton. I guess I thought it would be easier than it was; the birdy was hard for me to control. But I had fun anyway! After that we took a summer stroll along the waterfront and crossed the Charles River dams into Charlestown across the river. We’ve also been celebrating the summer by marinating and grilling fresh fish, chicken, and steak in the cozy Charter Tea Room Restaurant.

Last but not least, Helen and I started rehearsing a Beethoven duo. It’s called the “Duet for Two Eyeglasses Obbligatto,” and was originally written for viola and cello. It seems to work pretty prettily for violin and bass though. Perhaps we’ll be able to record a snippet of it and play it for you via this blog someday?

We’ve seen two movies so far this summer: Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull and Sex & The City: The Movie. I know what you’re thinking, we saw Indy for me (the guy) and SATC for Helen. Well, the theatre for SATC was definitely more packed than the one for Indy, but I have to tell the truth: I actually enjoyed the Sex & The City movie a lot more than Indiana Jones! Yeah, ok, I’m going to take some heat for this. But truthfully, I do think the SATC film was better written, better paced, and had better logic. More on this later!