Mesmerized by Mystery

With all of the channels one can see on television these days, you'd think that I'd be overwhelmed by the choices, hardly knowing which to choose next.  Unfortunately, I tend to feel the opposite.  I can flip through channel after channel and still not find anything suitable to settle upon.  Consequently, I turn off the television and resort to a good book while Larry works at his computer.  We sit in companionable silence, each focusing on our own entertainment.  Last Saturday evening, however, I settled upon something scrumptious, a mystery program on public television called "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries."  From childhood on, I've been mesmerized by a good mystery.  It began with Nancy Drew.  From there, I ventured into a couple of mystery books that featured teen star Annette Funicello.  Then, I graduated to Agatha Christie.  From there, one could say that I was truly hooked on murder (of the fiction, hardcover variety).  When I head to the public library, I often have to check out the mystery section first.  "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" take place in Australia in the 1920s flapper era. The protagonist Miss Fisher is smart, witty, independent and wealthy.  She's also curious and confident in her skills as a private detective.  The program I saw last Saturday was compact, completed in just one hour.  When it was done, I could have watched another episode, had one been on the schedule.  Instead, I'll wait until next Saturday night, knowing that for at least one hour, I'll have something indeed to watch.

Elegance

It couldn't possibly be January 1 without tuning in to the Vienna Philharmonic's new year's celebration on PBS.  This musical tradition ushers in the new year with a grace and elegance that make all things seem possible and all efforts beautiful.  This year's presentation, hosted by Julie Andrews, did not disappoint. Over the years, I've come to know the lavishly decorated music hall with its gold leaf-covered surfaces, celestial ceiling murals, bountiful arrangements of roses, and chandeliers each featuring a thousand crystal pieces.  Josef Strauss was the featured composer this time, with a dazzling array of polkas and waltzes on the program. Dancers from the Vienna Ballet brought the elegance of movement to the music, swirling, twirling and pirouetting to the strains of several of the pieces.  The women were particularly beautifully attired in dresses of subtle gold, ice gray-blue and white. One quick polka was illustrated by a couple of dancers in a sketch of black and white.  Another piece was whimsically brought to life by four dancers who livened up the stage with their humorous antics and their costumes that made them resemble kilted jesters, complete with plumed hats, grotesque makeup and argyle socks that went up to the tops of their thighs.  Several of the musical selections were accompanied by video of the Austrian countryside that made me feel as if, any second, I'd be twirling in the Alps alongside Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music."  The hall may have been glittering and grand, the dancers lithe and graceful, the costuming the stuff of fairy tales and the Austrian scenery majestic, but it was the music that took one's breath away.  From Johann Strauss II's lyrical "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" waltz to Johann Strauss, Sr.'s rousing "Radetzky March," this traditional concert was once again a wonderful way to ring in the new year.