Body Worlds II

At the ortho just now the talk was all about Body Worlds! The nurse at the ortho, Kim, has this gleeful fascination with bodies and medical science.

She was complaining she had not been able to see an autopsy for years.

"I can't remember my last autopsy," she brooded.

That is an interesting thing to overhear!

As I may or may not have explained before, I do admire the science behind Body Worlds. But it bothers me that they are actual bodies and it is bad enough that they are living on in these museum exhibits. I do not want them living on inside my head!

Plus it just occurred to me that if I went I would faint.

It is that simple. Remember when I confessed I fainted when the dentist was explaining to me what was going to happen when they pulled my wisdom teeth out? Imagine if I were standing there looking at someone's intestines.

I would be out cold!

And next thing you know I would be preserved and in the Body Worlds exhibit! Bouncing a basketball or something. That is the way they have these people posed.

So that settles it. The nurse, Morticia -- I mean Kim -- is going to go to the show and she will report to me and we will leave it at that. The ortho is not going. He is like me! He said he had to take Gross Anatomy, which he adds is aptly named, and he does not want to go through that again.

I almost forgot all about my ortho appointment. It was very early and I was deep into the part of the book where Leonard Pennario is 19 and making his debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic. That was the chapter I was working on.

And I was fitting in part of that interview I did with the cousin of his in Rhode Island. Remember her? The cousin who appeared out of the blue. What a beautiful interview that was. About how she was 16 and he was 15 and he used to jump all over her. And then she went a couple years later to see him at Carnegie Hall.

That Pennario link is to such a nostalgic Chopin waltz! Perfect for this story.

La la la la la la la.

And so I was sitting there with my chin in my hand forever, turning all this over in my mind.

Woolgathering.


That is me, thinking about Leonard Pennario when he was 19 and forgetting all about my ortho appointment.

The good news is, my braces are now orange and yellow! Something to cheer me for the month of August.

Daydream believer

I am in another intensive book week which has put me into a complete daze. You would not believe how big a daze I am in.

Two weeks ago I forgot my ortho appointment. Completely forgot it. Just went on with my life, la la la la la la la.

Ortho, schmortho!

Yesterday my cell phone rings and there it is on the screen: "ORTHO." I did my usual apologizing and we scheduled my appointment for today at 10:15 a.m.

Even though it was less than 24 hours away, I know myself. So I put a stick-um on my computer so the whole time I was working on my book I would read "10:15 Ortho Wed."

And still!

Lastnight I dreamed I forgot my appointment. And this morning my dream kept coming true!

I was up at 6 a.m. No problem with getting up anyway. No thought of the ortho until around 8. At that point I decided I should put a rubber band on my wrist, the old reminder trick. But I never got around to doing that.

Instead I went back to the book. I was in this chapter that opened with my going to this one strange movie with Leonard Pennario and I wound up sitting there with my chin in my hand, lost in thought, for about half an hour. Like this.


Do not click on that Pennario link above, whatever you do! It is this dreamy Chopin waltz with this unbelievably romantic middle section that Pennario plays better than anybody. Beautiful! It will derail your whole day!

Speaking of days being derailed, while I was reflecting, Howard needed to use the computer. So I took a shower. In the middle of the shower I remembered: Ortho!! I jumped out of the shower and checked the clock. Whew! It was only a little after 9.

So I go downstairs and eat strawberries and read the Wall Street Journal. There is this big story about Andre Previn. I cannot believe Previn is 80. Now I start planning how to talk to Previn for my book. He is performing tonight at Carnegie Hall with the great cellist Lynn Harrell and I have already talked to Lynn Harrell, who had great thoughts on Pennario.

Remember when I thought it was Lynn Harrell calling me and it was HSBC?

Here is a picture of Lynn Harrell who told me wonderful things about Leonard.


Zounds! What about the ortho??? I had completely forgotten!

I checked the clock. Thank goodness, I still had 45 minutes.

Howard was still on the computer. So I drifted over to the Steinway and began to play Brahms. At the top of this post is a picture of me in my nightgown at my 1905 Steinway playing Brahms. There are these four pieces in Opus 119 that I love and I am memorizing them, here and there, bit by bit. I began playing the second one. There is this beautiful waltz in the middle and I went back and played that again just for the pleasure of it. Then I played the left hand by itself several times. The left hand part is beautiful by itself!

Then I decided to listen to one of Pennario's records because I have this yen to hear him play Liszt's arrangement of Schubert's "Serenade." Click on that link to hear it. You will recognize it! Anyway, I got up from the piano. Pennario had two copies of this particular record but only one of them was opened so I went looking for that. I found it and as I took the record out, I got a little emotional. These were his own records, and --

Oh, no!! The ortho!!!

It was five minutes until my appointment!!

And I was still in my nightgown!

I flew upstairs and downstairs and out the door. And I made it. I think I was five minutes late.

Reward: blue braces. They are blue for the month of May which is next month. May is next month, right?

Sometimes I do not know where I am!