Rescued the tennis court

Last Monday, the City of Cambridge issued a number of
restrictions, including this about parks:

The City of Cambridge’s playgrounds (areas with play
structures of any kind) are closed, effective March 16, until
further notice. Parks, fields, and courts, with the exception of
playground areas, will remain open for passive use. No
congregating, group activities or game playing is allowed. Please
maintain a distance of 6 feet from other people while enjoying
these spaces.

[locked tennis court]
I was surprised the next day when I went to the park across the
street and found that the tennis court was locked. I kept
muttering to myself about this — there is a playground in that
park. I had seen a family on Sunday where the mother was freaking
out because the 10-year-old son wanted to play on the swings
without putting his gloves on. I suspect that family will be
pretty crabby for a while whatever restrictions are or aren’t
imposed, but I could see a reason for the playground
restriction.

But the tennis court doesn’t have any equipment that users
would normally touch. There is a rule in tennis that if you touch
the net, you lose the point. There are tennis nets with a crank
for adjusting the height, but this one would need a wrench.

So on Wednessday I wrote an email to the Department of Public Works:

I’m writing to protest the closing of the tennis court at Green-Rose
Park. The policy
states: Parks, fields, and courts, with the exception of playground
areas, will remain open for passive use.

I’m not sure what “passive use” means in this context, but I don’t see
that tennis players are usually in violation of current social
distancing guidelines. The net on that court is not adjustable
without bringing equipment, so I don’t see that it’s more of a public
health concern than a basketball net would be.

I think whoever locked the gates misunderstood the stated policy of
your department, and the mistake should be corrected.

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

On Friday morning, I got a reply:

The tennis courts were mistakenly locked. We will get someone out to
unlock them as soon as we can. We have limited crews available right
now, but they have been instructed to unlock when they are able to get
there.

And on Friday afternoon, there were people playing tennis.

This may not seem like much, but I felt the world was a little
bit better of a place because of something I did.

News of the week of March 17, 2020

Meeting report

SalzburgerAltstadt02

We played:

Schedule

We continue to meet Tuesdays at 7:45pm, at 233 Broadway,
Cambridge.

Those who get information about this group by email already
know that the Walk for
Hunger has been cancelled this year. So we are not working on
that program. Please consider contributing to the cause of
alleviating hunger in some other way.

Covid-19 Statement

Some people have not only decided that it doesn’t make sense
for them personally to come, but that they are upset that the
invitation is still open. I would like to explain the reasoning
behind this.

It is not a public gathering of more than 10 people. It is
family and friends meeting to share music. Over the almost 20
years we have been meeting, we have been a major support system
for many of our members who do not currently have biological
family to fill this function for them. Currently, one person is
living here because she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and
another has been staying over on a weekly basis and using
my computer several times a week. Anyone who’s been coming
regularly has been eating and drinking here as well as playing
music on a weekly basis. I know we can count on everyone to not
come if they are having symptoms, and one member has not
come since someone in his work group has tested positive.

So I think having the meetings is less dangerous than going to
the pharmacy or the grocery store, and maybe not much more
dangerous than walking the dog. Other people will
make different decisions, and I expect the meetings to be
relatively small until this situation changes.

So if you feel like a member of this family, and share my
evaluation that coming is not increasing your danger or the danger
to anyone else, you are welcome to come.

There are also people who don’t feel they should come who have
offered to help set up some kind of system for participating
remotely. I don’t want to do this work during a regular meeting,
and I think most of us have other projects that we’re using this
enforced free time for, but I’m sure we’ll get to doing some
experiments soon. If you’d like to be part of the experiments,
let me know.

And our cleaning routine has been expanded to include
disinfecting doorknobs, etc. If you want to personally wipe
anything down before and/or after you use it, there are various fluids
available for that purpose.

Spring is Sprung

img_20200316_153026

Lots of indications. Pictured is the first dandelion. There
are other flowers that we planted on purpose, but the dandelion
decided to grow and bloom on its own.

My bedroom windows have a northeast exposure, so half the year
they don’t get direct sunlight. Yesterday was the first day I
woke up to sunlight streaming in my window. I intended to take a
picture, but didn’t think of it until later in the day. And this
morning it was too cloudy to tell whether there was direct
sun.

Maia’s new dog license arrived. In Cambridge they expire on
April 1, so the new license is a harbinger of Spring.

The birds are making, “Goody, Goody, here’s a nesting site!”
noises. This means I have to remember to renew the duct tape over
the vent for the bathroom fan, and play the bathroom vuvuzela very
loudly at frequent intervals. Otherwise they decide that’s a good
nesting site, and when the babies start moving around, they can go
in the wrong direction.

I’ll be posting every day while the plague restrictions are in
force. I do this from time to time when I’m feeling depressed or
unproductive. See 59th-year and
circa63 for
previous examples.

News of the week of March 10, 2020

Meeting report

Merrimac River, Concord, N.H, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views

We played:

Schedule

We meet every
Tuesday at 7:45pm at 233 Broadway, Cambridge. Please let me know
by the previous Monday night if you are planning to come on
Tuesday.

We have eight people signed up to play the Walk for
Hunger, which means we’ll be able to do
some of our old repertoire from back when we’d
get that many people. We’ll be playing from
11-4 on May 3 on Greenough Boulevard, across
from the Cambridge Cemetary.

Someone suggested that we suspend meetings for a few weeks in
response to COVAD-19. Obviously, nobody
should come if they feel that their health is
endangered. But even if we weren’t having
official meetings, I’d still want some of my
friends to come over and play music with me.
So we will continue meeting, and if the Walk
for Hunger isn’t cancelled, at least some of
us will have learned some music we can play at
it. Even if it is cancelled, I think it will
be good to pick a playlist and work on it for
a few weeks. We can probably find somewhere
to play the program if we can’t do it there.

News of the week of March 3, 2020

Walk for Hunger

The deadline for signing up to play at the Walk for Hunger is
today, Monday, March 10.

I know some of you have said verbally that you have put it on
your calendars, but I’d like to see it in writing.

The reason for this is that we are going to start working on a
set list on Tuesday, March 11, and we can’t do that without
knowing who will be playing. So please email me if you want to
play.

Meeting Report

Mozambique - traditional sailboat

We played:

Schedule

We meet every
Tuesday at 7:45pm at 233 Broadway, Cambridge. Please let me know
by the previous Monday night if you are planning to come on
Tuesday.

News of the week of February 25, 2020

Meeting report

Vincent van Gogh - Old vineyard with peasant woman

We played:

Schedule

We meet every
Tuesday at 7:45pm at 233 Broadway, Cambridge. Please let me know
by the previous Monday night if you are planning to come on
Tuesday. This week Monday night comes pretty early,
since on Tuesday I’ll have to get up well
before dawn to get the the polls at the crack
of dawn. If you forget and don’t let me know
before Tuesday morning, you should copy
Ishmael on your mail about your plans.

We will be playing the Walk
for Hunger on May 3 from 11 to 4. Please
let me know by March 10 if you would like
to participate. This is less than two weeks from
today, so if you have questions about the gig,
now is the time to ask.

Tuesday, March 3 is a relatively unstructured meeting. We have
finished reading the first half of the Rore
First book of madrigals for 5 voices, and we
aren’t going to start working on the Walk for
Hunger program until Tuesday, March 10. So
think about whether there’s something you
would especially like to do for that meeting.
Since Ishmael will be running at least the
first part of the meeting, you might let him
know if there’s something you plan to request.

News of the week of February 18, 2020

Meeting Report

Johan Christian Dahl - Sailing-boat under Storm-clouds - Sjekte med seil - KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes - BB.M.00455

We played:

Schedule

We meet every
Tuesday at 7:45pm at 233 Broadway, Cambridge. Please let me know
by the previous Monday night if you are planning to come on
Tuesday.

We will be playing the Walk
for Hunger on May 3 from 11 to 4. Please
let me know by March 10 if you would like
to participate.

News of the week of February 11, 2020

Meeting Report

Starr-110330-3829-Chrysalidocarpus lutescens-frond and flowers-Garden of Eden Keanae-Maui (24453931363)

We played:

Schedule

We meet every
Tuesday at 7:45pm at 233 Broadway, Cambridge. Please let me know
by the previous Monday night if you are planning to come on
Tuesday.

We will be playing the Walk
for Hunger on May 3 from 11 to 4. Please
let me know by March 10 if you would like
to participate.

News of the week of February 4, 2020

Meeting report

Cretaceous sedimentary rocks intruded by a Miocene granite laccolith

We played:

Schedule

We meet every
Tuesday at 7:45pm at 233 Broadway, Cambridge. Please let me know
by the previous Monday night if you are planning to come on
Tuesday.

We will be playing the Walk
for Hunger on May 3 from 11 to 4. Please
let me know by early March if you would like
to participate.

News of the week of January 28, 2020

Meeting Report

Schedule

We meet every
Tuesday at 7:45pm at 233 Broadway, Cambridge. Please let me know
by the previous Monday night if you are planning to come on
Tuesday.

We will be playing the Walk
for Hunger on May 3 from 11 to 4. Please
let me know by early March if you would like
to participate.