Category: Music



Dude! Crush is nearly finished just stray gems to be placed.
Nearly finished with my hubby’s slipper socks. Toes done, ribbed arch next.
Still just in the toes on the purple Knit Picks
About the same for my watermelon shorties.

The poor basket weave hat hasn’t progressed at all so, no pics. When it can show off on its own, it’ll share the limelight.

I want to start walking, but we woke up to this this morning. Still too cold.
Sammie finally discovered his fun-house.

While Sammie is happy, we got a phone call from my son with good news for us. And I hope for Sammie. I’d tell but I don’t want to jinx it

Today I went back to Phantom of the Opera. I used to play and sing these.  Thirty years ago. Not for an audience, just for fun. My friends and I gathered at the grand piano on stage after voice class and sang our hearts out with these. I was surprised at how much my fingers remember, though there was a lot of sight reading. I can’t sing at the same time, yet. Soon. I am doing daily vocal warmups now.

Anyone out there go through this? I find a saturation level on pieces and put them aside for other songs. Those seem to draw my passions and energy.


Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “open book, close eyes, point, write.” When you’re ready to sit down and write your SoCS post, open the closest printed matter, close your eyes, point to a word, and use it as your prompt. Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

So I have a couple books teaching Japanese on one side and my ‘How to Play Piano Despite Years of Lessons,’ on the other side. Thinking about the possibility between Hiragana or Kanji characters or some incredibly boring music theory term, what else could I use?

I immediately looked down at my cell and closed my eyes and pointed. But my fat finger seemed to straddle two lines of Linda’s prompt page. The top word was ‘incredibly’ and the word below was ‘else.’

But my thoughts took me to the incredible difficulties of learning the pentatonic scale in the penultimate measure of Going Home with the added timing complication of duplets versus triplets. What else can I do but grumble and practice some more.

And the YouTube lesson trying to teach me:

What else can you do? It seems simple but it is incredibly hard for me. Time for a nice cup of tea.


YAY! My brother likes his socks!

He likes the arch ribbing like I do.

Just for review: these were Turkish cast-on. Chiaogoo needles Two at a Time socks. Then arch ribbing. Fleegle Heel, my favorite.

I thought I was finished at a 2″ cuff, but my brother needed a longer one for his boots. Otherwise, I would have been finished on his birthday.

Towards the end I had to rely on Advil and Aspercreme. But now my hands can rest a bit.

I found a bunch of unfinished WIPs. Here are a couple calling me:

Maybe I make me watermelon socks?
Or, should I make another pair from these?
Now I can finish the larger size basket weave hat.

I’m nearly finished with Smiling Turtle!

Just got the top little bit. I like this so much it may go on my bathroom wall. I think the blues will blend or compliment the vague color palette. Besides, that smile will make me happy.

I think next week I’ll record my favorite songs. I’m loving Going Home, God Bless The Child, Just the Way You Are, and a few more. With my new enthusiasm for improv or composition I now have a keyboard within reach of my every perch. (Recliner, bed, Dabbling Den)

I didn’t get ‘Dar’s Dabbling Den’ rearranged yet. I want to make more room for my Yamaha keyboard near my piano. Maybe this weekend?

I’d like to make it easier to switch gears, bring in violin, ukulele, recorders, art challenges, podcast or book narrations.

Since COVID months ago, I’ve not been able to get faster than 5 miles in 35. But I’m still trying. And now that spring may have arrived I need to find walking time. Still a work in progress!

Oh, and I am three book reviews behind.

Duolingo still plugs along. I seem more focused on Italian. It’s easier.  I still visit the other languages when the spirit moves me.😉

Finishing Friday


Can I finish 5 more knitted rows and about 7 rows of ribbing before midnight tomorrow night? And not feel crippled for days after? I’m going to try. I rarely am able to present homemade presents on time. This wins closest time.😏
This is last week’s photo as I’ve spent yarning time on the socks. Oh, well, soon this hat will get it’s turn.

Smiling Turtle is nearly finished. This last bit, at the top, but worked upside down, bottom may take a week. I better find a new project, soon! Oops! Found a sunset DP in my project box to open. Yay!

In my musical world…

Big changes coming this weekend, I hope.

Main attraction
Protected diamond painting area.
Hobby shelves

My weekend project is to move that hobby shelving unit will go on the old dining table behind my DP table. It’ll work as a room divider, so folks in the kitchen don’t distract me as I play the piano or Diamond Paint. That empties the spot under the window to put up my keyboard. More help towards the improving/composition goal for the year.

Along those lines I pulled out my Miracle Keyboard to play chords and such while in the living room. Now, no matter where I land there are ivories to play (okay, no elephants were harmed for these–unless they are plastic pachyderms 😉). At least with the keyboards, I can don earphones.

By the way, did any of you have the Miracle Keyboard that attached to your computer. The lessons were games. My daughter learned to play using that system. I looked all over to show you the cute games it came with, but it took a deep dive for very little enjoyment.

Anyway, that’s what’s finishing me this Friday. How are you all doing?


The basket weave hat is coming along.
I’m nearly finished with increased on the heel. My guess is by the end of the weekend the heel will be completed the hope is to finish these before my brother’s birthday.

Finishing the top of the smiling turtle diamond painting. This part is hard to reach on the light pad easel so I have to turn it upside down down. I hope to finish this by next weekend.

My music is coming along. I just don’t know how to quantify or make pics. Some of the times it seemed my eyes and fingers were on different people! So maybe that I got through the week mostly playing with practice hidden in there, and I didn’t kill anyone, I am still in love with the pieces I’m working on, and I look forward to my next sit down should count as progress. Right? I’m working on another Warts and All recording soon.

Oh, and by the way…


Popular Piano Self TaughtPopular Piano Self Taught by Win Stormen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After returning to my piano, having neglected it for decades, life, you know, I went from playing five minutes to now nearly an hour most days. I only play as long as I enjoy it and stop when it feels like work.

I seemed to have gotten stuck in my decades of lessons and classes. I play what I see, mostly classical. But I have mostly wanted, all my life, to play easily without sheet music before me. Making it up like others I have known could do. That is my new goal. Obviously, this has been a goal since I was 12! I’m 75 now. I looked at how hard my teacher, Mrs. Skinner, had tried to introduce young me to pop music. She knew I wanted to sing with my playing. So she gave me pop music to play with. I have stickers from the many pop songs she taught me.

Even still, I played merely what I saw, not by ear. Recently, I tried one of the tricks she tried for me. I started playing the ukulele. It is the one instrument that lets me sing while I play. I could go rogue.

As I started going through my old books, I found this book, Popular Piano Self-Taught, with the collection still with me from long ago. What the heck? I decided to give it a try at last.

Much of the book was a review of what I’d learned in lessons or long years of college classes. But those I much I needed to remember. But the practical lessons with chords and rhythms were invaluable. I printed up much that I intend to keep practicing until it becomes natural. I have a couple of modern pieces I was playing with that became easier once I learned from this book. I can’t judge how well the book was based on my progress; I need a lot of work. But I think it will be a great book for others to try to gain more musical abilities at the piano.

View all my reviews


Your prompt for JusJoJan January 31st, 2025 is “fini.” Find a word that has “fini” in it and use that as your prompt word. Have fun!

Well, that’s easy! It is Finishing Friday! A great way to keep track of hobbies and passions. A way to see progress when, at times, it seems the end is as far as infinity. Row at a time, an inch at a time, a chord played right, or a rhythm that stays where it belongs is fun to keep track of. Many keep track of grievances or pain. I have. I probably will again and again. But I feel more fulfilled if I can see good and beautiful things done from the same place as the bird’s song. It feels right. It gives me pleasure. Not because I am looking for praise. I thank you for that, but it is more for me to feel like I am moving forward.

This felt good as it hit. Some days I do a lot of lessons. For others, I just do the one to get the points. I love languages, so it is fun for me.

The last two hats were for smaller heads. So I decided to make one a little bigger. I just finished the ribbing and started on the basket weave part. It is easier on my hands than crocheting or knitting, so while I am feeling the arthritis, I’m being gentle on the fingers.

My brother’s socks are coming along. Less than an inch to the end of the arch ribbing. Then, an inch to the beginning of the heel. I feel I am at the beginning of the end of this pair.

The middle section of the ‘smiling turtle’ diamond painting is almost done. It is a fun project. I love all the colors.

I have, in all essence, finished this book. Most of it was a review of things I’ve learned all my life, especially as a music major. But toward the end, it started meeting my needs. It has a lot of ways to improvise. I still find myself trying to play every single note rather than play, but I’m seeing ways to do it. I’ll be doing the review for this book soon. Mostly, at this point, I am in love with the last song presented. It’s called Coming Home.

So my favorite songs to play right now are Baby Elephant Walk, Just the Way You Are, God Bless the Child, and Coming Home. They drive me to the piano. I actually spent an hour there today. Remember in the summer or fall when I stated I could barely get five minutes in before pain or boredom pulled me away. Now, I have the joy of actually hearing and feeling the earworms that crawl through my head the rest of the day. My own music!

My ukulele, violin, and recorders sit sadly, waiting for my hands to feel better. I miss the learning process with them.

Well, that’s my Friday report. Fini!


Please visit June’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 24th, 2025 is “hobbies.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
One of my hobbies is diamond painting. My ‘smiling turtle’ is coming along. I’d say about halfway.
Because crochet has been hurting my thumb, elbow, and shoulder, I went back to loom knitting. The ribbing is two-by-two knit/purl. I am not a fan of e-wrapping. It seems too bulky. But it’ll be warm for someone out there. I’ll make a top-knot puff to finish it.
My second loom knit hat is a basket weave. I only e-wrapped the cast-on. I’m using the green, 36-peg loom. The weave look is three knits, three purls, and alternating the order every three rows. This one needs a top-knot, too.
My brother’s socks are coming along. I hope he likes the ribbed arch like I do. Once the arch is done, the rest of the sock seems to come along quickly. Hopefully, they will be done soon.

My other hobbies are musical in nature. Having gotten back to piano this past summer, starting at one song or five minutes, only as long as it was fun. Now I can go as long as an hour but seem to average half an hour to 5 minutes.

After summer and fall, working on classical, suddenly winter brought some fun carols. I loved some of the more modern rhythms. So when I had to put them away, I made a bit of a resolution or goal to learn more modern beats. I want to be able to improvise and even compose my own music. So I started working through a few books like

Much of it is elementary. I assume I am of intermediate level. But my rhythm is horrid. Especially modern beats, blues, or jazz.

I pulled out another book and started at the beginning with the song, Just the Way You Are, from this book:

Version 1.0.0

It seems easy enough, but it sounded nothing like the beloved Billy Joel’s golden hit when I started. But gradually, the beat is growing in my soul.

I was trying other instruments to get back into music. Recorder, soprano, alto, and tenor. Ukulele. And finally, a violin. When my thumb, elbow, and shoulder started hurting, these also had to go by the wayside. I miss them, but the piano doesn’t hurt my arms or hands. My back, yes. But I am working on posture and yoga to help with that. Hence the shorter sessions.

I love being 75. Retired. Older than my piano teacher was when I was 12, older than my mother, who never got to play for fun. I’m trying to play for them now. And my inner sprites and muses.

I take it seriously!

Just Jot It January, Emphasis


Your prompt for JusJoJan January 23rd, 2025 is “emphasis.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Thank you all for participating. When I did the random word generator, I rejected many, like ‘fork’ and ‘then,’ but finally, a word that could move my muse. Or so I thought back then.

When you are a reader, and your parents only made it to eighth and tenth grade, you soon learn their answer is to go to the dictionary. And rather than break up the story with the tome of words, you pronounce it out yourself. So, I learned words wrong. Often, I put emphasis on the wrong syl-LA-bol. One of the reasons I adore audiobooks is that someone reads words correctly, even foreign words. Even Kindle Text-to-Speech gets things wrong. Like the soft G in ‘finger.’ What?

Yeah, that blog part jumped out at seeing the word. Then, the crazy streaming thoughts drifted away.

Rhythm has always been the hardest part of music. Nope, not a dancer here. Since I went back to the piano, I think it was this last summer that my sight-reading has improved, and many of the songs I revived are reasonable. As of this New Year’s, I made up my mind to make the goal of being able to improvise and compose music this year. I have always admired the people who could just sit down and riff out music. But I tend toward reading and playing every single notated note.

Today, one of the books I’m learning from was about teaching how to do blues and jazzy bass lines. See, most of the classical stuff I play is 4/4 time, emphasizing the first and third beats. I’m learning the second and fourth beats and stagger out beats for syncopation. I remember my piano teacher, Mrs. Skinner, teaching me Alley Cat and Baby Elephant Walk. To my young, early teen self, she looked ancient. And she told me to do this little wiggle to get the beat right. As I tried these beats today, I saw and felt her emphasizing that wiggle. I’m smiling right now at the memory. I can’t wait to make her proud.


Yes, I have made progress. The heel is nearly halfway done. Not long now if my joints will cooperate.
Smiling Turtle is coming along. Slowly. But what do you expect from a turtle? It’s fun.

I’ve had so much fun with my piano, learning and relearning Christmas songs. In this book

My fav is

Yes, I got star stickers which means I was a lot older than my all time easy fav
See how easy, and note the immature stickers. Still it’s the one I play best.
I’m just learning many of these. They are harder. Cut time! I wonder if the Doctor understands. Oh, of course, Peter Capaldi does!
I don’t know if you can read my note to me for next year. Chord changes are gorgeous!
A piece of Christmas sheet music that’s fun. Still needs work.
A much harder and cooler version of White Christmas.

I’m going to work on these songs just one more week. Then I’ll do a ‘warts and all’ recording before retiring them to wait at least 250 days.

I’m going to miss these.

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