Duma vs Squirrel

It was so windy today I put the bird food close to the house where the wind would be less likely to throw it away. Soon the squirrel got bold enough to eat right up close to the window where Duma was watching. Duma tried to get closer but finally settled for a close watch with no grabbing. I caught the scene from the other sliding door with my telephoto lens. 

This afternoon Arvin, Helena and I are going to the Whatcom Symphony concert. The soloist is Chicago Symphony principal oboe Alex Klein. What is especially interesting about him is that he has a rare neurological syndrome that effects his oboe playing but not his playing of any other instruments. He could no longer play and he lost his job as an oboe player. After a period of joblessness and homelessness he returned to his native Brazil and established the Santa Catarina Music Festival and then established a music education program called Prima for 1500 Brazilian kids. Meanwhile he also modified the position of the two keys he could no longer play on the oboe. This tricked his brain into thinking he was playing another instrument and he was able to resume his oboe playing career. Now he is principal oboe of the Chicago Symphony. What an amazing man. I am looking forward to hearing him play with our symphony. They are also playing Beethoven's Sixth Symphony.

After the concert we are going out to dinner with our friends Alan and Susan. Should be great fun. We met them last year when traveling to Croatia and we have become fast friends. They are really neat people.

After note: Alex Klein was wonderful. We ate at a local Thai restaurant. Half way through our meal he came in to eat with a family and a couple. We greeted him and gave him a hand of applause. Fun to be that close and to let him know we liked his performance. He said we were lucky to live here with such a fine orchestra and conductor and warned us that Chicago might steal him away from us. I said they had better not.