Tuesday, January 29

Belshazzar

Madeleine and Sonnet

I sit next to Madeleine in the living room and blog while she does her homework, which is a review of Belshazzar's Feast.  Before, Madeleine and I have dinner together as Eitan at swimming and Sonnet in Italy scouting for La Moda.  Madeleine and I talk about the usual stuff - school, lunch, friends - and somehow it has snuck up on me that this kid is becoming a young woman. 

Balshazzar's feast BTW a painting by Rembrandt that I have seen on many occasions at the National Gallery: Its source taken from the story of Belshazzar and the writing on the wall of in the Old Testament Book of Daniel (mildly terrifying).  Madeleine meanwhile examines the choral work on the same subject composed by Englishman William Walton in 1931.  My 6th grade, at Longfellow in Berkeley, we were counting our fingers.

Madeleine: "I never get why these old fashioned pieces have a long name so they torture you when you have to write it in class."