Music fills the air, to the delight of residents at Merrill Gardens

Let’s hear it for Mozart and Dvorak. These two revered composers wrote music that begs to be played by string quartets like the one that performed on Oct. 14 at the Merrill Gardens senior living community on Suey Road in north Santa Maria.

The appearance of four members of the Santa Maria Philharmonic was not a slam dunk. It was touch and go with the weather.

There was concern early in the fog-shrouded morning about whether quartet members would be able to travel from the north on the slick freeways, but concern dwindled mid-morning when the sun came out.

The performance took place in Merrill Gardens’ large, sunny dining room which doubles as a game room. During set-up, some ladies were playing a game with tiles that looked like Mahjong but wasn’t.

There were some diners dawdling over