Odds and Ends #2

 Marcus Alden Meredith
Monday, October 13, 2025

Odds and Ends #2

Thoughts on the Change of Seasons

The Library in The Jacquelyn is becoming almost my de facto workspace when I step out of my house and feel the need to just “get the hell outta Dodge!” I didn’t plan on writing a blog today but the seasons are changing, the skies are getting cold and cloudy, and rain ( the good, soaking kind of rain) is due in by evening. And no seems like a good time to reflect since my last blog and the last edition of “Odds and Ends.” Since my last edition, I’m becoming more and more convinced that I am not by any means a “normal” personality or possess a common P.O.V. Perhaps my sudden onslaught of ideas and musings will prove my point.

Le premier…. I’m dog sitting tomorrow through Thursday for a good friend of mine. He has a little German Schnauzer named “Bentley” who has become good friends with me when I have him over. I used to have a dog but after he passed away, the double whammy of him and my mother dying within a month of each other just sank my heart into the abyss and I never felt the want or need to get another dog (he was a white faced Border Collie and the best present my sister ever gave me). So, when Bentley comes over, I get some nice canine oxytocin and good additional exercise when I take him for walks around the neighborhood. It will also have the added effect of me not wanting to go out to some “other” place to write and read. Instead I’ll be at home in the office and working on projects in there that I have sorely neglected. As a result, I’ll be given an excuse/reason to focus on those projects and maybe even play a little catch up with my own vastly broader interests and ambitions. So, you take the situation that life presents you, and you use it to your advantage:  watch the dog, get neglected shit done!

Deuxièment… my sister surprised me many years ago by expressing her love for classical music (especially the Baroque style) and has in recent years been purchasing season tickets to the local symphony orchestra/opera. So Saturday last, we met at my place and took a Lyft ride into downtown to eat at The Jacquelyn before heading out to the performance. The playbill included some Verdi, Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto, and Brahms 1st symphony. To give my sister kudos, sometimes she just doesn’t realize that she’s really good at snagging places in events like she does… Box seats from the Upper Mezzanine at the Community Center. Damn.. You go girl! The piano performance was fantastic (we got an encore performance from the soloist) and we rocked the house, Sis in her fantastic dress, me in my 3-piece black suit. It’s events like this that I like on weekends especially so that I can be seen “looking good.” I used to wear suits everyday in my last career but much more rarely now. I can hardly wait for The Jacquelyn t have its New Years celebration; last year’s was a BLAST!

[Pause for 3 days]

The weekend was a time for recovery and getting used to the new season… I mean we’re actually having a REAL fall in NorCal, and THAT just does not happen often. NorCal residents use all kinds of euphemisms to talk about really having a Winter and a Summer and then some variations on a theme of those two seasons. We are fortunate that this year is not quite so dichotomous a set of seasons. The pleasant days, somewhat Goldilocks like, and the cool nights have been a relief and a nice change of pace. Soon the days will grow short enough for the leaves to start to turn and then driving or biking in downtown will be like riding through a shower of golden leaves… ah, delightful.

Music has been an important part of my life since I was very young. I started learning to play piano at 8 years old but didn’t pickup the violin until in my 40’s. But one of my favorite things to do is to search the Net for new musical artists. I made a delightful discovery lately - Alma Deutscher. When you hear her music, you’d swear it was Mozart you were listening to! Now here’s the kicker… She’s only 20! She wrote her first operetta then she was 7!! Last year she conducted her first full opera in San Jose (titled Cinderella) and she was only 19… (*full on head slap*). You gotta look her up and watch the 60 Minutes interview with here when se was only 12 because I guarantee you you will be blown away. Her album From My Book of Melodies is available on-line and she is playing them when she’s only 14 and yet they are so sophisticated and mature. To be able to enjoy the fruits of a prodigy like she is is indeed a gift from the Universe to the rest of us.

Staying in the realm of music, I am so pleased with my “new” violin teacher and the progress I’ve made in the last half year (though I’ve been with her now going on 3 years now). I’ve finally progressed to the point that I can start to learn some concertos and the one I’m practicing now I really enjoy. I never thought I’d ever get to this point and her patience with me has been refreshing. It turns out it takes years to get over the bad habits of a poor instructor when that was your basis with the instrument. It was even more frustrating when I knew that I knew music (having played so long on the piano… even toyed with turning professional until I broke my right hand… long story). Now the techniques and songs are coming to me faster and I feel like I have a future of enjoying the instrument I’ve been struggling with. This is a great feeling. 

Let’s round this set of Odds and Ends with some future looks. The Stoic Forum at The Jacquelyn started off well and will keep meeting each month on Tuesdays at 7 pm in the Library of The Jacquelyn. I hope that the group grows into Sacramento’s version of the Scipionic Circle as we have some really quite bright and talented people who either made the first meeting or have expressed an interest. I am glad I was suggested to run such a group even though I haven’t spoken publicly like that since I retired from teaching 6 years ago. One of the imperatives of Stoicism is that you pass it on if people ask you for your help or advice. A need to be constantly learning and improving one’s self is a foundational principle of the philosophy and I hope this is my way of being able to give back.

So! Go Google Alma Deutscher and listen to her music (see her interview too!), go out and enjoy the beautiful weather and abandon the computer screens for a time, and take walks to be creative. I’ll still be here… Adieu.