Thursday, May 7, 2009

I cover the waterfront


Isn't that the most wonderful picture? So moody!

It definitely belongs in the category of Scoot Over, Ansel Adams.

I do have an eye for composition if I may say so myself.

That is a picture I took yesterday in the middle of the afternoon when I took my lunch break to walk to the beach. That feels great to say that! Note to out-of-towners: We have a beach now in downtown Buffalo. It came about through the intervention of my Facebook friend Newell Nussbaumer.

Nussbaumer is German for the keeper of the nut tree. And Newell has been good about taking care of the nut tree that is Buffalo.

The name Howard is old Anglo-Saxon for the keeper of the house. I always kid Howard about that because he lives up to his name. He is always checking to make sure lights are on and windows are locked and appliances are unplugged. And when I violate his ordinances I am rebuked.

Where was I?

That's right, I was on Newell Beach, as we colloquially call our downtown Buffalo beach. I think we should call it Nussbaumer Beach. That would go well with the Auspurger Ramp and UB's Diefendorf and Hochstetter Halls and other things in Buffalo that bear cumbersome German names.

I took off my sandals and walked barefoot most of the way to Nussbaumer Beach and when I was there I sat down on a log and looked at the water. I had my Shuffle and I listened to Jorge Bolet playing Liszt's arrangement of Wagner's overture to "Tannhauser." Leonard Pennario makes Jorge Bolet sound like a little girl but still, the music went well with my dramatic surroundings.

That Pennario link, the first Chopin Prelude sounds like waves. It would be great to listen to on the beach.

Here is a song I love about being on the water. Eventually on this Web log we will work our way through all the wonderful songs of Franz Schubert. We do not have to go out of our way. We will just take them as they come.

Here is another picture I took at Nussbaumer Beach. This one shows our rocky coast. It is like Cornwall!


There is this too.


Another beautiful day in Buffalo.

And we have so many coming up!

2 comments:

Larry said...

Mary, your beach is amazing!

Now, I realize that you are into pianos, and that Tannhauser is nice but the way Rene Leibowitz / RPO did it is awesome as well. Rene and Pennario were buddies on the Liszt Piano Concertos 1&2.

Rene's Tannhauser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwhP-wY1ROY

Mary Kunz Goldman said...

Larry, thanks for sending me Rene's "Tannhauser"! (I love how we are on a first-name basis with him.)