My neighbor, the cellist

One of the things I'm grateful for is living next door to a concert cellist. He practices for half an hour or so almost every morning, which means I'm treated to my own private classical music performance. He's very good, and I never hear any mistakes, but have to admit, I probably wouldn't notice them even if he did make them. The cello is one of my absolutely favorite instruments and I was thrilled to know there was a cellist living next door. Although I don't really know him well at all, he did tell me that he and Yo-Yo Ma were classmates at Julliard back quite a few years ago.

Now, if only I could get one of my other neighbors to put away his keyboards and djembe drum. He lives right above me, and plays the same insipid songs--and makes the same mistakes--over and over. One of his favorites is the Carpteners, "Close to You." A few days ago he played the djembe all day and evening until I finally put on some headphones and watched a movie.