This thing called summer! I love it. The sun on my back, meals outside, the beach, no shoes..... We are lucky to live close to a major city and the many cultural events offered there. Outside! You may have read on a blog or four that I sat under the stars with friends and experienced the dialogue of As You Like It. It was great. So much fun that I am hoping to go back and sit a little closer.

Wednesday night Pete and I went to the Charles River Esplanade (sight of our best in the U.S. 4th of July celebration) to attend the free Wednesday night concerts performed by the Boston Landmark Orchestra in the famous Hatch Shell. As I watched the musicians assemble I realized they were pretty young, and they were coming out to give hugs to family members, have photographs taken, and something looked really familiar about them. It turns out the performing group Wednesday night was the Young Artists' Orchestra from the Boston University program at Tanglewood. Those white dresses were the giveaway and took me back to the summer that Meagan was accepted into the program and lived totally entrenched in music for six weeks in one of the most wonderfully musical places in the world. The concert of Wagner and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was wonderfully performed, we had a great time, took a cooler filled with yummy food and drinks and then knit through the whole thing. Meg even met us in for a little while after her class, made the night even better.

This knitting is way more colorful and much brighter in real life. It is on its way to becoming a Baby Kimono. Garter stitch! Not usually my style, but perfect for summer knitting at outdoor plays and concerts. And really, garter stitch just looks so good.
So, we covered the things I love about the arts outdoors, the food, the night air, the wonderful entertainment, the people........ Wait. I didn't just say people, did I? Because quite frankly, the other night reinforced just what I hate about people. Honestly, how rude is it to climb over people that are quite settled with their chairs and blankets and food set up, just to get that 2x2 foot spot SITTING PARTIALLY ON MY BLANKET!!!!???? And then another group sets up just next to them (and these people were old, I really can't imagine how they made it in so far) with regular, high lawn chairs, BLOCKING THE VIEW OF THE PEOPLE RIGHT BEHIND THEM!!!! People that were already SET.UP! If you want a close up seat, arrive early like I did. And what about the people who bring pillows and lie down, cuddling, pillow talking and MAKING OUT THROUGH THE WHOLE THING!? And they were sitting right in front of an elderly couple who must have been embarrassed. And that couple? (The making-outers) They were like, in their thirties, pregnant and whatever. Not kids. It seems to me they could have stayed home, put the music on the stereo for all the attention they paid to the orchestra. Sheesh. And then, one of my biggest pet peeves. People! For effingsake! Clean.Up.After.YOUR.DOGS!!!!!! Nothing like having to dodge land mines just to find a place to sit your ass down. Yep, maybe I should just stay home. Better for my blood pressure.
One hundred fifty-three to go. Yep, I love people. Love.Them. When they keep to a distance of fifty feet and behave themselves.
I hate people too. Except you. (And yes, this is exactly what I told Norma today, too)
Posted by: Carole | August 01, 2008 at 08:16 PM
Please....you want to REALLY hate people, go to a show in New York City. Yuck. They don't know how to behave in a theater/stadium and sure don't know how to walk on a sidewalk! I just don't go to movies anymore, and hesitate to spend the money on a show or even opera ticket. Chewing gum, rustling paper bags, cell phones, gabbing through the overture, arriving late and disrupting an entire section, etc, etc. I'm with you guys on the people hating issue. We ought to start a Ravelry group...although there are a few people there I'm not too fond of at the moment! And the making out thing: try explaining to your pre-teenaged son why the two WOMEN in front of him spent the whole concert pawing each other. GET A ROOM!
Posted by: Marcia | August 01, 2008 at 08:29 PM
Seriously, IS THERE a Ravelry group for us? That's one I'd JOIN!!!! I might even log in once in a while. Or maybe not. Because I'd hate everybody there. :D
Posted by: Norma | August 01, 2008 at 08:57 PM
I SO agree. And you should see what it is like to commute home through the parking that is allowed on the road next to the Hatch Shell. Blocks an entire lane during part of rush hour.
Posted by: Laurie | August 01, 2008 at 09:21 PM
People are, in general, so overrated.
Posted by: Nora | August 02, 2008 at 07:30 AM
I had a lovely night at home. :-)
Posted by: margene | August 02, 2008 at 08:33 AM
Try living in the Berkshires...its rudeness all summer long. We go to Tanglewood often and deal with those sort of people every single time. I even had people ask me to move in one direction or the other...amazing
Posted by: Sue | August 02, 2008 at 08:33 AM
Agree, agree, agree! I cannot STAND that kind of behavior. When we went to Shakespeare on the Common, I wanted to tell people "just because it's free doesn't mean that you get to talk through the whole performance."
Posted by: Danielle | August 02, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Yuck! HBO screens movies on the National Mall and my boyfriend and I used to go to them until we realized that they were more cruising places than picnic/movie places. So, so sad.
Posted by: Elspeth | August 02, 2008 at 10:22 AM
We really do hate people for a reason, ya know.
Posted by: Cookie | August 02, 2008 at 01:10 PM
We saw almost none of that behavior on the Common. Interesting.
Posted by: claudia | August 03, 2008 at 05:00 PM