Falltimore

     After a brace of dismal, rainy days over the weekend fall has broken out all over Baltimore (which could just as appropriately be call Tree City as Charm City).  It's a bit early in the cycle but lots of leaves have begun to turn  and many more have fallen, making walking a bit hazardous in many areas.  Nevertheless Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. set forth bravely this balmy afternoon for a stroll to Sherwood Gardens, as can be deduced from the pictures below.
     The fall cultural season is also getting underway, too, and they have been doing their best to keep up.  Last Thursday's free noontime concert at the Peabody Conservatory was delightful, featuring some very talented voice students singing a wide variety of music from Italian opera to Schubert lieder to songs by Richard Strauss.  The highlight of the concert for Uncle Jack was the amusing Largo al Factotum from Rossini's Barber of Seville sung with great enthusiasm by a barrel-chested baritone named Kangho Lee accompanied at the piano by Younggun Kim. Judging from the names of some of the other performers (Mika Sasaki,  Kanyoung Yoo, Emily Sanchez, Solon Mainguene, Margarita Loukachkina) Peabody has a substantial contingent of students from other countries in its roster---as does the rest of Johns Hopkins University.
     The Belcea Quartet opened the 44th season for the Shriver Hall Concert Series and Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. were happy to join the capacity crowd in this beautiful hall on the JHU campus only a ten-minute walk from their condo.  Future concerts in this series will feature illustrious performers like Midori, Emanuel Ax, the Juilliard Quartet, and Yefim Bronfman at prices that make their great music accessible even to impecunious retirees like you-know-who.
     Tonight it's a lecture by Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the great oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, who will no doubt take listeners' minds off the current troubles in Iraq and Afghanistan by describing the many ways mankind is screwing up the oceans of the world.  Sigh.

                                                           Tree on Greenway in Guilford.

                                       Fall blooms in Sherwood Gardens in Guilford.

                                                                           Ditto

                                                    Another tree on Greenway.