Coping Skills of the Gypsy Life

I'm not sure if it is "Carmen" in the air these days with Syracuse Opera, or that I've been basically away from home for a month ... I've had occasional visits back to Rochester - of course to see Zheng, Aying, and Lucia, but also to see friends, or to handle my church music director duties as I can. Zheng made a last-minute decision to drive here last night, which was wonderful, spontaneous, and a delight. 

But I have "gypsy" life on the brain lately. 

There are amazing things about getting to travel. You meet amazing people (I met the man I will marry in two weeks when I was halfway across the globe!). 

You learn a lot. About the world, about other people, and about yourself. 

But there is also nothing like being home.  Waking up in your own bed and moving at your own pace. The hotel lifestyle has perks (maid service and daily meals prepared for you sometimes) and drawbacks (sterile decorations, genericness, no personal touches, no Nespresso machine that I love). 

I heard a great interview yesterday while listening to the radio. The Broadway tour of "Warhorse" is in Syracuse these days, and the radio announcer on 91.3 Syracuse was pushing the public to come and see the show. She was explaining that these people have to be "so incredibly good" that they are paid and asked to leave home and take their art on the road. They have to put up with the daily grind of living in hotels, living in-and-out of suitcases, and having to deal with things like grocery store layouts that are not what they are used to. 

(Don't dismiss the grocery-store thing. My amazing maid-of-honor and kindred spirit friend, CL, came and rescued me with microwaveable-fridgeable-groceries only.).

My brilliant and think-on-her-feet colleague and friend here, CDE, has started cooking using a skillet, a convection burner from Costco, and an ironing board. I had a meal she made on this a few days ago. Another one of the cast members, WM , said that he was washing his dishes in the tub.

It's "make it work time" here. Travel is great. But it can also be a grind, no question about it.

(But if I changed the blog name to "Songs of Grind," I'd have a *very* different audience base.)

PHOTO: The champagne reception from last Sunday's "sold out" performance in Utica, of "Nine Operas in Ninety Minutes."