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Is today and it seems that lots of people I spoke to today knew that. Maybe they remember the Bicentenial in 1970, as do I. Today I listened to the First Piano Concerto, the Third Cello Sonata and Fidelio followed by the Piano Sonatas Opp 101, 106, by Richard Goode, getting as far as the end of the Adagio of the Hammerklavier, no String Quartets today but I did listen to the Late Quartets a couple of weeks ago. The Cello Sonata Op 69 has this fun Scherzo with Interchange of Mode between its Dance and Trio, a real favorite of mine, but to anyone who says that Beethoven isn't lyrical I offer its first movement, whose main theme is soring lyrical. I also listened to the Fuge of the Cello Sonata Op 102 #2, another favorite as it forshadows the Hammerklaveir and Grosse Fugue.
Today was a sunny day, and probably the last nice day for almost a week to come, but it was nice to sit in the Sun and listen to Beethoven.
TopThis is supposed to be on the night of December 20-21 and will be as high in the sky as it can possibly be, with the moon at zenith at mid eclise at about our longitude by at about 23 Deg. N latitude. That is in the East Pacific off the cost of Mexico. But the weather report for here is calling for rain through the weekend and into Tuesday, December 21st, the date of the Winter Solstice which happens at about 2:30 in the afternoon here. Of course I will have a look so that even a hole in the clouds will make the eclipse visible. It is a total lunar eclipse, but not exactly central through the umbra. According to Celestia the moon passes just inside the northern limit of the umbra at totality. This means that it could be a bright eclipse.
TopI will be 64 on Sunday. My Sister will be 65 on Saturday and I know a couple of people with birthdays on Tuesday, one who was born on a Tuesday of the same date.
TopEven though I have been going to Starbucks for my morning coffee and not over to Cafe Barrone, I did go there today and will go there particularly this time of year if the sun is out. I went there today and bought a meal. It is an oddity of the setting that once on Standard Time the morning sun gets into the outdoor seating earlier than it does almost anytime of year, even sunner, so summer mornings even with no fog can be too cool to sit out there whereas in the fall and winter the direct sun compensates for the cooler air and shorter days.
This is a good example of how conventional wisdom in archecultural design and lack of forsight in planning for a business represents missed opportunity all around. Go look in Google Maps at 1010 El Camino. Menlo Park Ca. and you will see what I mean if you take into account the way the sun moves across the sky at various times of the year. It arrives later in the day to light the plaza with its fountian in the summer, as I said above, but it makes summer afternoons there hot enough so that the place empities out. The mornings are cold or cool and the afternoons are too hot. If Kepler's Books and the Cafe were reversed venus, the Cafe would get the outside sun at the best times, in the morning, both summer and winter, and it would especially get the shade in the afternoon, and the business would be more than it is now.
If the architect had checked the plan against solar altitude and azimuth when they planned it in 1985, they too would have seen these characteristics and perhaps had the foresight not to build with the structure paralllel to El Camino, but at an angle. When the decision was made to put the bookstore and cafe where they are, I know that the bookstore got the prime retail area as the anchor and the cafe had to settle for second best, as I recall the original cafe was half as big as it is today, besides having a very odd shaped space today, perhaps another design flaw, the sun at time of day and year actually hurts their business. In fact the space where it makes more sense to have outside seating for a restaurant is underutalized being out the backdoor of the bookstore. The cafe missed its chance to use this space by not forcing Kepler's to trade spaces with it in 2005 when the bookstore had a fiancial crisis and closed for a month. This is just another example of stupidity in people who think conventionally and uncreatively. Then again, I don't think much of Josh and Marina who are running the Cafe right now.
So, the place is a nice setting for a sunny day, particularly this time of year, and that makes a good trade off to go there and spend, but otherwise I will go elsewhere just to drink coffee,
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