Our string quartet diarist Anthea Kreston discovers secrets in Lisbon:. The belief is that, in every generation, there are 36 people who uphold humanity in the eyes of God. They do not know each other, or in fact if they are one of the They emerge to protect others from harm, and then melt back into their everyday lives.
If one of them goes missing — the world will come to an end. The beauty of this is that none of us knows if we are one — if our daughter is one — we must live and treat others as if we or anyone could be one of the We must be humble and protect one another.
Was Schubert one? Was Bobbie Mann? Was my first violin teacher? In music, the 36 live outside of time. Not all are alive, or maybe even people — they might be a particular piece — who are my 36? Who are yours? Sometimes, when I was a girl, and I had had a very hard day, I would go into a room, close the door, and play my violin.
I had and still have one particular piece which would help me — not necessarily feel better — but would center me, help me work through my thoughts and feelings. That piece was and is one of my 36, my own personal helper. This week I went to Lisbon — my second time since joining this Quartet. I made the most of it — trying to take in the smells and sights of the city and culture. In the evening I walked for an hour to a vegetarian restaurant in an ancient courtyard, which had an on-site masseuse.
My late-night walk home was floppy and surreal. Meandering through crooked, steep residential neighborhoods, hearing about, seeing and tasting the history — sometimes eating street foods, going to a market, eating grilled fish inside a huge, old Moorish chimney, and finally tasting the pastries. What a pleasure! What was left, the yokes, were made into these delicious custard pastries, with a shatteringly flaky shell. When the plate of Natas came to our table, we reached forward — but our guide quickly told us to wait — what makes the Natas so special is a sprinkling of powdered sugar and cinnamon- a taste of the explorers returning with cargoes of spices from the Indian Ocean.
