Even in her last days, in hospital, Gloria saw the humour in the fact that my niece, in the southern hemisphere, knew as much or more about Gloria's situation than my baby brother did, since she (the niece) had access to her father's email.
But it wasn't just comedy movies that Gloria enjoyed. She enjoyed all forms of entertainment. She enjoyed opera, a taste which I have tried, in vain, to appreciate. Of our list of "Jesus" movies, her favorite was "Jesus Christ Superstar," which, as you will know, is a rock opera. She enjoyed the ballet, a taste which I also have tried, but failed, to fully appreciate. But we went to the ballet a couple of times to productions of "The Nutcracker," at Christmas time (which was double enjoyment for Gloria), and on at least one other occasion, in a more traditional form. Oh, and I should also mention "The Overcoat," which was produced as a ballet, and which I did, somewhat, enjoy, as I had read the story before we went to see it, and was interested in how they were going to produce it on stage. But I probably didn't enjoy it as much as Gloria did.
On one occasion, a company that I was doing some work for, treated those of us who were providing it with content, to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. This was not a sushi restaurant, but rather one of those restaurants with a grill, and Japanese chefs, who put on a bit of a performance in terms of their cooking. (I should mention that in this particular restaurant, the guests were seated around the outside of two grills, with a group of about eight on each side of the complete section, with one chef serving each group of eight.) Gloria was, of course, delighted by the artistry and skill of the chef. Gloria laughed, and clapped, at each demonstration of skill by our chef. He, of course, started hamming it up, in reaction to her response. And as his artistry and demonstrations of skill reached new heights, Gloria laughed, and clapped, and commented, all the more. Gloria egged on the chef, and he responded. People on the other side of the table got dinner. We got a full production. Completely due to the fact that Gloria was always willing to show, and demonstrate, when she was enjoying something. She enjoyed babies, she enjoyed singing, she enjoyed all kinds of things.
We went to an art gallery one time, and Gloria enjoyed it thoroughly. It's one thing to see pictures of art. It's another thing to see the painting, on the wall, with the dabs and swirls of paint, and the peaks where the artist took the brush, or the palette knife, away after a particular stroke. It's also, rather interestingly, more apparent, with a real painting, rather than simply an illustration, where are the painter intended light to actually shine off the image. And Gloria delighted in finding that.
And, as I say, Gloria was the best copy editor I ever knew. She found an error in the labeling of the paintings that were hanging on the wall. This art exhibition was, in fact, at an auction house, in preparation for an auction, and so there were catalogues of the auction. We had thought about buying one, but decided that we couldn't afford the $50 for that catalogue. However, when we went to a representative of the gallery, and pointed out the error on the wall, and the gallery people had rectified the error, the representative allowed as how that would have been a potentially embarrassing error, and how could they thank us? So, rather unusually bold for once, Gloria asked if their thanks would extend to a copy of the catalogue. It would, and did, and they gave us one. And, in the drastic downsizing of my library, where $120,000 worth of books went elsewhere, that catalog survived the downsizing. And I still have it.
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Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html
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