6-Oct-99 Sidewalks
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People around here describe the classic Boston accent by asking, “Didja pahk yuh cah in Hahvahd Yahd?” My father, who comes from Brooklyn, demonstrates one New York area accent with the wildlife report: “Toity poiple boids sittin' on a coibstone in Joisey City.” At that rate we've recently acquired seating for 120 purple birds. The city is doing sidewalks and curbs in our neighborhood. Four curbstones were installed in front of our house several weeks ago. The public works department is working on our sidewalk and driveway apron (the part of the driveway from the sidewalk out) now. Our sidewalk had been cracked and lifted up by the roots of the small maple between it and the street. It wasn't too bad for walking, but the uneven part always caught the snow shovel. Worse, the end of our front walk was a couple of inches below the highest point of the uplifted block of the sidewalk, and it always looked as though someone would trip there. Today they poured the new concrete to replace the worst sidewalk section and that last block of our front walk. It's going to look great. I can't wait for the first snow so I can enjoy shoveling the smooth new sidewalk. Hmm, around here I may not have to wait long, either. There was snow in northern New England the night before last.
We had the first choir meeting since Yom Kippur this evening. It was alto city. There were only two basses, but about eight altos. We worked on some pieces by Salamone Rossi that are almost written in the old notation with measure bars between the words instead of across the staves.
I went to the dentist yesterday morning. He wanted to polish the filling at the bottom of the tooth that's been bothering me. It was sore for most of the rest of the day, but is better now than it's been in three weeks. I hope that's all the work that needs to be done with it. I'm still on penicillin, and he put me on a mouthwash called peridex that I dislike because it says not to eat or drink for 3/4 of an hour after using it because you'll have a metallic aftertaste. Also, and even worse, it stained my teeth terribly the first time I used it. I looked like a four pack a day smoker, or a werewolf. The next time I was on it I flossed really hard between my front teeth, with some toothpaste on the floss. Oh, right, I also wiped the mouthwash out from between my front teeth with a q-tip. That seemed to prevent the staining, but what a nuisance! Well, my tooth was bothering me enough the weekend before last that it'll be worthwhile if this fixes it.
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