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I am very lucky to have two granddaughters. We cherish them, and there is not one hour or so, I do not recall them. Their swing is in the yard and their scooters are in the winter garden. Sometimes I cannot put away their slippers when they have just left after a school holiday. Sometimes the news is so dreadful and arrogant that the only escape is to think about the luck we have to have them. Tonight I cannot decide to rest. The news is atrocious, it is real fate with no logical explanation. Yet a little girl died and a man will probably never find peace again. Probably, the primary school will be in deep mourning after this nonsensical accident. The driver was certainly an experienced one, on his way back from the Caen G8, he was an Army driver. The van was empty. The children were walking quietly back home, after school, on the pavement. I cannot take my mind away. I am back from several outings where I had so much happiness. I cannot get over this. And I cannot cry either. When I left Rouen on sunday afternoon I had spent some time in the Cathedral because I wanted to hear the sound of the organ, and during Mass which I joined I was granted this musical pleasure: the choir sang 'Le cantique de Jean Racine'. This is the only thought which reasures me, as without faith or any mystical type of belief such events have devastating effects. If only music could soothe these terrible thoughts and deep sorrows in the wounded hearts tonight in this small village near Tours?
(I did not realise the children were not going home, but walking to the sports grounds with their schoolteachers, for sports, so it was not the end of the schoolday, it occured in mid-afternoon.)

Song for Spring... "Io conosco un giardino."

'Io conesco un giardino 'Pietri: Maristella

Rolando Villazon "'Cielo e mar" takes you to the shores, the sea, and the intimate atmosphere of this "Giardino" full of scents and dreams. All gardens keep secrets, even my small yard overflowering this spring, has its special gifts. Because of the rain, quite heavy late March, it is really overflowering and the first roses are already at their peak. The rhododendrons are as faithful as in the previous years, only more generous ! As for the pomegranate tree, I will count the buds ... so many this spring, will it keep them until the autumn and give fruit?

Just a thought: Rolando-Werther is back at ROH!!

News from the ROH is good !
So Rolando went back safely in a role which seems to be his by now: Werther!
I have been convinced of this intimate relationship between this artist and this role since the first time I saw him in Nice, and of course Intermezzo 's report gave me a fantastic deep happiness. I rejoiced at his own production of this opera in Lyon and I imagine he acted in this rather empty setting thinking of the magical poetic drama he created in his vision of Werther. It is reassuring to read his voice was there and that he did not overdo it! As for 'being' this poet and doomed lover, there is no doubt about it!
Rupert Christiansen came to terms with Rolando in a good review which gives me so much happiness for Rolando!


Meanwhile, I still think a lot about my April days in Seoul and Andong, I doubt if I will be able to blog about them. Even if we shared the English language with them I come to the same conclusion I drew after my first visit to China: it is not easy to see through Korean life and Arts when my own knowlegde is so limited. I rejoice about the warm welcome we had either in town or country ! The Seoul National University team was so helpful and always happy to see us! They took great care of us, sharing outings in Seoul and taken us to glorious Korean food in various amazing restaurants ! We also shared folk events with happy audiences, events which were free most of the time with lots of children participating!




As for the landscapes we discovered, that is just like a dream. Rice-fields, peaceful temples in the mountains, venerable trees, rivers, and always the little round tumulli which give to the sceneries a sense of enternity and
continuity.




Still, I would like to catch up with my past calendar, but it is not likely to be done...Spring in Seoul and Andong was something I would have not been able to imagine. Now I know what it feels like to wake up in a traditional home in Hahoé with the air as brisk as in the Alps...and so quiet, that birds just stop next to the sliding window ... the drops of rain gently fill the stone basins ... A peaceful dream always on my mind...