红酒·绿茶 / Red Wine & Green Tea / Vin Rouge et Thé Vert

It was a tremendous pleasure for Hopkins Symphony Orchestra to have Jiebing Chen , a virtuoso erhu soloist to perform "The Butterfly Lovers" (梁祝) concerto, originally for violin, later arranged for erhu and gaohu, which are traditional Chinese two-string fiddles. Based on a "Romeo and Julie"-style story about two lovers who could only be united by death, the concerto was composed for violin to imitate the sound of erhu. So it seemed natural to wonder how this piece would sound on an erhu. Rearranged by one of the composers himself, the concerto was premiered exactly by Jiebing Chen, whose performance tonight was absolutely fabulous. The encore was "Gallop of War Houses"(战马奔腾), one of the most delightful pieces ever written for erhu, in which the instrument, together with a virtuoso player, splashes its capacity of expressiveness as well as entertainment.

Went to a wine tasting in Boordy Vineyards , one of the best wineries in Maryland. It was ok but the wines were sort of over-priced. I did get a Boordy glass, though. The best we tested was the "Syrah-Chambourcin 2003" from their Landmark series.

I Got It! Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Went to an 8-hour night-time ocean fishing in Cheaspeake Bay. I got two spot fish - one big, one small. It was fun! We left home a little bit late but thought we could make it up on the road. However, the traffic in downtown Baltimore was terrible that day. So when we finally got on the highway, we drove as fast as we could. The place we were boarding is a little island on the south end of the land: Solomons Island. And the boat we were going to go fishing with, "Elizabeth", was kind of, um...um...well...crappy.

Snake Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Finished it today. What a great game!