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Chapter 1 begins with Thérèse and her father leaving the court. Thérèse, who is coldly informed by her lawyer that her crimes have not been prosecuted, gets into a carriage with her father. From Chapter 2, her childhood recollections and reality intersect. Thérèse girlhood friend Anne is like her sister. She eventually marries Anne's older brother, Bernard. Bernard and Anne's parents are landowners but have no education. Thérèse is the daughter of a local lawmaker. Both families agree with the marriage, but there are competitive spirits between the families. Eventually, Thérèse realizes that her husband's family is honored only with land and property, that is different from her upbringing, and that she is under pressure to have an heir to a boy. Thérèse eventually gives birth to a child, but she can't take an interest in her daughter. She becomes lethargic to everything. Bernard's family and butlers are cold, and Thérèse often stays in her bedroom and smokes. After a while, Thérèse sins against her husband, but in a state of mind she does not know whether she was intentional or in her absentmindedness. The result of the trial is the scene of Chapter 1. After the trial, her final act goes to Paris with her husband, parting with mutual consent at the café, and her husband leaves. “The book was wonderful! As expected, there are only works by Nobel laureates, so I can't say impressions of the book in a word, but I think escape from the closed world is an eternal theme. It would be difficult to live in one family or community your whole life. Nowadays, life choices are not often lifelong, but they seem more like projects. Anyone could be a Thérèse, who gets stuck in a spiral that falls down thinking of excuses for herself and others why she stays where she is. Thérèse believes there are no drastic changes in her life before and after an attempted murder of her husband, but Bernard, her father, and Anne are different and their changes are beautifully depicted in the book. I suppose generally human beings believe they are consistent regardless of what other perceive you, and that sadness left a lasting impression on me.” “It was a book that was readable in many ways. First, the book could be very different depending on the translator. Shusaku Endo's translation was very familiar and easy to read. I felt Endo’s deep affection for the author, François Mauriac. I also watched the movie, which was faithful to the book. Although there was a difference between a carriage and a car, the way of drawing landscapes and figures in the movie seems to enrich what I had imagined by reading the book. In the 13th chapter (the last chapter of the book), however, the scene of Thérèse and Bernard together in Paris, was perhaps rather difficult to fully express in the movie the deep meaning and emotions described in the original book. There could be a limitation of my own imagination, but in any case, the book is definitely better for the final chapter. " "A story of a wife who tries to murder her husband and leaves her child to others may be a problematic subject and a publication in the French countryside, where Catholicism was strong at the time. The feeling of home blockage that women feel when they are wealthy and satisfied is often interpreted as a ‘luxury disease’. It seems that Thérèse feelings can be understood by overlapping with modern phenomena. However, the difference is that modern women are more short-circuited and optimistically ‘parting’ the relationship or escaping the situation. Thérèse who lived with her hatred for her husband and her view of religion in her time was an action and a way of life that left me a big ‘why’ although I could understand it literally. I believe part of what Mauriac tried to write in this book was the invisible ego of humans, which I suspect led to tragedy." "The change in the hearts of the protagonists was really interesting. In modern times, it feels like Netflix will make a movie as a thriller for a wealthy housewife postpartum depression." François Mauriac https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.185018/page/n7/mode/2up

Rated: PG-13 Writers: Andreas Dalsgaard, Christian Kirk Muff, Andreas Koefoed, Mark Monroe, Duska Zagorac Director: Andreas Koefoed Running Time: 1 hour, 36 minutes “Drugs, prostitution and art are the most, opaque businesses in the world.” This is a quote from one of the people interviewed for this fascinating documentary. The Lost Leonardo tries to unravel the mystery of who created the Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) painting. Known as the most expensive painting to ever sell at $450 million on November 15, 2017, at Christie’s in NYC. Why pay such an enormous amount of money? Because many people believe it is the lost work of Leonardo da Vinci. There are only 20 known paintings by da Vinci in the world so this would make the work incredibly valuable. But is it truly by Leonardo? This is the premise of the film, and I was left without a firm conclusion. Modern day testing has proven that the Salvator Mundi dates from 1499-1510 and it is oil on a walnut panel. All in keeping with the time da Vinci painted and the medium he chose for his works. However, there are many mysteries about this creation that the film discloses. The film begins with Alexander Parish, an art buyer, discussing a painting he bought a few years ago for under $2K from a New Orleans dealer. The painting was very old, and very damaged but he thought it looked promising. After consulting with his financial partner, they both felt the painting was worth restoring and took it to renowned art historian and restorer, Dianne Modestini (photo below) in New York City. Modestini started to clean the painting and the more she cleaned, the more she felt the painting was by Leonard da Vinci. Her telling of the process was interesting, and she did a masterful job of restoring the work. However, was it too good a job? Is the painting now da Vinci or Modestini? This is just one of many questions this documentary asks. The journey the Salvator Mundi took from New Orleans to the Christie’s auction house to the current owner reads like a James Bond movie and it certainly made me think twice about the business of art. Preview clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0lXLGgQjYY Interview with Andreas Koefoed • Director of The Lost Leonardo https://cineuropa.org/en/interview/406183/

Documentary/Biography Six-Part Miniseries on Hulu Produced by: Jeff Pollack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAkqy5QntGQ There have been many articles, books, and movies about the Beatles, but this mini documentary was especially entertaining because it all came directly from the memories of Paul McCartney. In each of the 30-minute sessions, McCartney and famed music producer, Rick Rubin discuss the influences on McCartney and the Beatles to create some of the world’s most beloved modern music. It is skillfully edited to produce a natural conversation between the two men rather than a stiff question and answer interview. Both men have such a huge knowledge of music that they can speak together on all genres. It was very interesting to hear Paul talk about the things and people that influenced him and John Lennon to create the amazing body of work they did together. I learned many things about Paul and the Beatles I never knew before and I came away an even bigger fan after this experience. Quote by Paul McCartney from the series: “I say I look back, and at the time, I was just working with this bloke called John. Now I look back and I was working with John Lennon.”

It is August in midsummer from today. Tokyo Olympic Games are on, and Japan is in the gold-medal rush. There is only one week left for the festival, which excites me no matter what competition I watch. However, we are also very concerned about the expansion of the new fast and more infectious corona virus, the variant. Today, I played the saxophone with piano accompaniment. The accompanist is a piano teacher, who is giving lessons at Takarazuka Culture Creation Center in the former Takarazuka Music School building. Of the same 25 student performers of her class at the Christmas concert last year, I am the only one who played the saxophone. Playing at the rehearsal "Hi Ho" from the Disney movie "Snow White" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0jUiHXH39k With audience at the recital, playing "Summertime in Venice" from the movie "Summertime" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF7v69je3sc "I feel so good!", favorite words Kosuke Kitajima, a Japanese retired breaststroke swimmer, used to say, and I feel the same!

Received an invitation to the "35th Anniversary Japan-Western Exhibition (2021)" at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts. On July 21st, I went to the museum at Tennoji in Osaka with a feeling of excitement that I could not understand until I saw the painting by my favorite painter on the spot, titled "In Search of Ancient Light". When I slowly walked around the exhibition hall, which has about 150 works (all approx. 60 x 40 inches of size) and stood in front of the work I was looking for, I felt something strange and peaceful, or a fusion of the European landscape I had seen before and the figurative landscape I imagined from it. Drawn into and I spent a luxurious time enjoying the work quietly for a while. "In Search of Ancient Light" The first time I encountered this painter's work was three years ago at a solo exhibition of this painter's landscape painting held at a department store in Umeda, Osaka. Attracted to a unique world of "a gentle fantasy but that is not a fantasy painting,” I went to see exhibited works at subsequent exhibitions at Nishi Tenma in Osaka, an art gallery in Kobe, and again solo exhibitions at a department store in Umeda, Osaka last year. "Lakeside Morning" As a painting enthusiast, especially during my nine years at work in Germany and New York and while I was also in business trips, I visited museums and exhibitions in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Wien, Milan, Florence, Venice, Madrid, Chicago, Boston and so forth whenever I had an opportunity to do so. In 2018 I traveled to Russia that I had never had an opportunity and visited Hermitage in St. Petersburg. After this trip, I felt a sense of accomplishment of my going around museums of the world. "By the Time Autumn Deepens" decorates my room in Takarazuka After encountering this artist's work, I began to want to have my favorite painting in my possession, and finally I was able to realize that dream at a solo exhibition at a department store in Umeda, Osaka last year. The name of the painter is Mari Ariga. When we appreciate the painting, we normally like to hear the story behind the painting from the artist. Recently, I have come to realize that it is a luxury and most enjoyable time to be able to talk to artists at the exhibitions when possible.

Our garden is coming together. We installed new fences that keep out the deer. The weather is incredible. The flowers are really beautiful this year everywhere in Denver.

Roadrunner: A film about Anthony Bourdain Documentary Rated: R Running Time: 1 h 59 min Director: Morgan Neville If you have never seen an Anthony Bourdain travel film then this documentary of his life probably will not mean much to you. But if you are a fan of this unique man, I hardily recommend this thoughtful look into parts of him only his closest friends and associates knew. Anthony Bourdain was a chef, traveler, and gifted writer. For years I watched his travel documentaries: The Layover and No Reservations. Each episode showcased Bourdain’s perspective on the people, places, and food he experienced. His curiosity was infectious and as a viewer I felt enriched every time I watched one of his episodes. He never just gave you pretty pictures for the sake of pretty pictures. He told the truth about all his experiences. At times, the stories were raw and showed the dangerous places of the world filled with political unrest and poverty. Yet, other times you were shown exquisite locations filled with interesting people eating sumptuous food. Bourdain could speak with anyone about any subject. He was as comfortable interviewing heads of state as he was a villager in the Congo. This film shows how everyone who met him felt like they knew him. When Bourdain died in 2018 by suicide, I was shocked and saddened. He was a person who seemed to have it all. He was able to travel anywhere in the world he wanted to, meet anyone he wanted to and do anything he wanted to. I knew in his youth he had been addicted to cocaine, heroin, and LSD but he had kicked the habit for many years and was clean when he died. So why? Why did he do this? What this sensitive documentary shows is the struggle with depression Bourdain suffered from his entire life. Many of his closest friends and family are interviewed and they share their insights into the person he was that most people did not know. But the greatest of all the interviews came from Anthony Bourdain himself. Morgan Neville does a masterful job editing hundreds of hours of film to document the sad, brilliant, funny, difficult, warm human that was Bourdain. The film does not candy coat anything. It takes on his death as much as it takes on his life and I think Anthony Bourdain would approve this honest depiction of his time here on Earth with all of us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFh9GSu6_5w

Documentary Rated: PG Directed by: Thomas Riedelsheimer With: Andy Goldsworthy, Holly Goldsworthy Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes Made in 2017, this lovely piece of film is as much a meditation on life and art as it is a documentary about a remarkable artist. Much of the film has no dialogue, instead you watch Goldsworthy explore the natural world for inspiration and then create pieces of art that are often temporary, only for his pleasure, and others that are made from stone or wood and are made for prosperity. Goldsworthy is a British sculptor, photographer, and nature artist. Before I watched the film, I did not know anything about him but soon I realized I had seen his work at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, but I was unaware of who created it. Before you walk into the museum there is a fine crack that meanders along the walkway...rather like a crack from an earthquake. I remember seeing it and thinking that it was a clever way of recalling the City’s history. Now I know it was done by Goldsworthy. Here are a few examples of his beautiful work. Who is Andy Goldsworthy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQKZghtyiY Andy Goldsworthy - Earth Artist and his Process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sngXz55b4bc

Rated: PG-13 Starring: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cillian Murphy, Djimon Hounsou Directed by: John Krasinski Written by: John Krasinski, Scott Beck, Bryan Woods I am normally not a fan of horror movies, but I am a fan of Emily Blunt and her husband, John Krasinski. When I read the fantastic reviews for the original 2018 movie “A Quiet Place” I was intrigued. For anyone who has not seen the first of this series, it is important that you do before seeing the sequel: “A Quiet Place 2” because it will not make a lot of sense unless you have seen the original. Both 1 and 2 have some traditional elements of a science fiction horror movie: creatures from another planet and some mild terror. What makes this different is the high level of acting and a unique story. I have never been to a movie theater where the audience was so quiet that you could hear people munch on their popcorn. The first movie is almost dialogue free. The actors use sign language to communicate. The silence really heightened the fear factor of the movie. For the second movie, it is similar, but the action takes center stage. "A Quiet Place 2" begins with the origin of the story of what the first movie never explained. I appreciated that because it was something that was lacking in the first movie. All the actors are wonderful and believable. The two kids are as skilled as the adults, and they are the people who give the movie heart. Happily, the ending of the movie makes way for perhaps a third movie in this franchise. I am ready!!! A QUIET PLACE 2 All Clips & Trailer (2021) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxtVG4W8lpk A QUIET PLACE - First 10 Minutes From The Movie (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6MwssY8_oE

Well over 80 years old, for more than a decade after retiring from my corporate life, I have been listening to classical music mainly on TV broadcast, recorded video playback and occasional live concerts in my daily life. I rarely have listened to the records and CDs I bought when I was younger. I wanted to listen to the records and CDs that I bought and stored, so I came up with the idea of ​​re-listening to each composer and putting together my personal thoughts and comments. Those are notes for myself, thus not intended for musicians, composers, critics, journalists, teachers, etc., and those who are not interested in classical music, should not bother reading them. It has already been a year and a half since the COVID-19 virus has shaken mankind. It has spread and the world has fallen into a pandemic state. I took up "Schumann" in Chapter 1 first, thinking that it would be somewhat meaningful to me to start this blog at this time when “a year postponed Olympic 2020” is, unfortunately, likely to be held in July, only a month-and-a-half later from now. Why is Chapter 1 Schumann? In my opinion, Schumann is a composer who cannot easily be commented unlike Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert, Chopin, etc. on anything other than he was a composer for the Romantic era of classical music. I just wanted to pick it up and clarify it. For your reference the following is a list of the composer's works that I listened this time. June 2021 Takeaki Iida (82 years old) ※Media # notation (R = record, C = CD, V = video) Chapter 1: Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856, died at 46 years old) Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony, Germany. His father is said to be a well-educated book seller and his mother was good at singing. While he studied organ and piano early on, he was indulging in reading books at his home. At the age of 16, his father died and at the request of his mother he went on the legal path from Leipzig University to Heidelberg University. However, his ambition for music is undeniable, and from the age of 26 he refocused on the musical path. He loved Clara Wieck, the beloved daughter of piano teacher Friedrich Wieck, but Wieck strongly opposed the relationship due to Schumann's life instability. As a result of his excessive practicing piano, he injured the ring finger of his right hand and abandoned his career as a pianist. Schumann married Clara Wieck, after a long and acrimonious legal battle with her father, Friedrich, who opposed the marriage. He expanded his musical career from Dresden to Düsseldorf while he was in a lull in the fight against mental illness. He died about two years after he suddenly jumped out of the room and threw himself into the Rhine. When he was young, he was impressed by Schubert's REIT, and after becoming a composer, he was a person who quickly recognized the talents of Brahms, Chopin, and others, and took them up in his writings. The first music that comes to mind when I hear Schumann is the piano music "Kinderszenen" (Op.15※⑥ to "Troy Melai", Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major "Line" (Op.97) ※①. For those who are familiar, I think the songbook "Woman's Love and Life" (Op.47) ※⑦, and "Dichterliebe" (Op.48) ※⑧ come to our mind. If you think about it, it is easy to remember because these have subtitles. However, despite being more prominent than other famous composers, I wonder why there are surprisingly few music that I immediately remember as an amateur. As a Romantic-era composer, one of Schumann’s is most successful areas is small piano music, with impressive, fantastic, and lyrical melodies, but like his life, he always seems to have been lost. It is also an impression that can be felt in his music. When I listen to what I have again, in addition to the above, Symphony No. 4 in D minor (Op.120) ※②, Piano Concerto in A minor (Op.54) ※③, Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor (Op.105) ※④, No. 2 in D minor (Op.121) ※⑤, etc. were particularly wonderful. ※① Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major "Line" (Op.97): Composed when Schumann was moving from Dresden to Düsseldorf. This piece has heroic optimism and romantic scent. ※② Symphony No. 4 in D minor (Op.120): The premiere was unpopular and has a history of being rewritten, but it is a masterpiece with fantasy-like tune. ※③ Piano Concerto in A minor (Op.54): The characteristics of this piece is typical of Schumann's music with fantasy and poems, different from Chopin and Liszt of the same era. ※④⑤ Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor (Op.105), No. 2 in D minor (Op.121): Great piece. ※⑥ "Kinderszenen" (Op.15): In a few weeks, Schumann wrote 30 small pieces and selected 13 of them as "Kinderszenen". This is piano music for adults who understand the hearts of children. ※⑦ Songbook "Woman's Love and Life" (Op.47): Schumann’s strong love for Clara is the driving force of his creation. The story is woman’s life composed in 8 pieces of music from her daughterhood love, marriage, childbirth, and the death of her husband. ※⑧ Songbook "Dichterliebe" (Op.48): Composed in 1840. The year 1840 is known as Schumann's “Year of Song” because he wrote over 120 love songs in preparation for his marriage to Clara Wieck. The poetry was taken from the poetry collection "Song Book" by the Romantic poet Heine of the same period. This is a songbook, but the importance of the piano is dominant. June 3, 2021

We are still waiting for our roses to bloom in full but the weather has been lovely and the flowers have arrived!

Colorado has opened in the mountains this week. It has been over a year that things may finally be heading in the right direction as far as the new normal. The western slope areas such as Vail and Beaver Creek are expecting a busy summer. The snow melt-off has occurred around the lower elevations. The rivers are running remarkably high. The elks are now giving birth to their calves on the mountains, so some areas do not allow people to access parts of the mountains. The bears are coming out of hibernation, it is a highly active time. The birds are coming back from their migration. It is a great time to visit.