Aluminum Foil … really?

This post is sort of off the topic of my blog,  but then again it relates because it’s about an evening that I went to a concert.  Jon, of course, was home with Bo and by the time I got home at 11:30,  Jon looked completely worn out and Bo was resting on the living room sofa.

But about the concert first.  It was an outdoor Philadelphia Orchestra concert at the Mann Music Center.  “West Side Story” was shown while the orchestra played the musical score — a wonderful evening,  part of NancyCamp* here at the house.  I took the two children for their first picnic and concert under the stars.

The amphitheater lawn was crowded with picnickers, and the concert — well, there’s nothing like the famous “Philadelphia sound” – the sensuous  string section that simply has to be heard to feel its beauty.  The appreciative audience was obviously loving the performance.

But here’s what I’m leading up to:  Seated on the lawn sort of diagonally behind us was a couple whom I was aware of because during picnic time she waxed loudly about her love of the perfect olive oil (“can’t tolerate the mundane”),  her choice of the perfect chocolate for her wine pairing …. you get my drift. So after intermission when the orchestra was playing,  I became aware of some rustling behind me.  Then I heard bags and bottles being shoved around and I was thinking to myself that this woman was looking for something in one of her FOUR picnic containers.  Then,  to my absolute horror,  she got out a roll of aluminum foil and tore off a big piece,  then scrunched it around something; then she tore off a second piece (now I’m  irritated) and did the same thing;  and unbelievably, she did it a THIRD TIME!  You can imagine the scene:  beautiful music,  SCRUNCH, beautiful music, SCRUNCH, …..rattle, rattle … picnic hamper zippers being pulled.

I could hardly contain myself.  I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my lifetime and never once did someone ever have the nerve to rip up aluminum foil during a performance (who carries a roll of aluminum foil to a picnic, anyway?)  It took all of my self-control not to snarl at her.

Meanwhile,  at home Jon was having a tough time.  We left at five o’clock and by the time we returned,  he had given Bo dinner twice,  taken him for two rides and served him two desserts  just to distract him from getting into everything constantly.  He said Bo went from cupboard to cupboard, drawer to drawer, would start something like going to the bathroom, forget and start back at something else.  If left alone in a room, he would move everything, touch everything and when asked, said he had to check things.  It can be very nerve wracking.

*NancyCamp continues with last night’s concert. Last week we went to the Museum of Natural Sciences to see the dinosaurs and the Bird-of-Paradise exhibit.  Victoria and I went to a children’s concert (RisingYoung Stars) last Thursday while Justin attended an enrichment class.  We’ll be spending much of August at the pool, but still have plans to return to the Museum of Art; design and photo our own still-life arrangements  now that we visited the  Cezanne exhibit at the Barnes Institute; and we’ll learn flower arranging here at home. Don’t know what other brainstorms I’ll get.