Nothing is finished. The weather has made my favorite things uncomfortable if not downright pain. But progress goes slow. One second spent on projects you feel passionate about is still progress! So here are some things still moving forward.
And prayers for the safety of my adult kids driving over the river and through the woods, or some such. Weather will be rain/snow, etc. I’m worried but can’t wait to see everyone!
I’ve tried to place journals everywhere I can sit. Just in case I want to keep track of thoughts or life. It’s interesting. I’ve never done this but we’ll see how the experiment works.
Two names have popped up as characters for NaNo. It seems the random guys are not so wholesome. Possibly cagey or shadowy. Not my favorite but when you go random that’s what you get to work with. I plan another couple random picks so I’ll be ready for the night of writing dangerously.
I’m thinking with the losses this year I may spend some reflective time for Dia de los Muertos. Maybe a nearby journal will be the place for those thoughts.
Know ye knot is the story of knitting and crocheting. Well, it should be but it’s too late in the day to do the research. I just needed a way to introduce my newest toy for Spidercat Sammy. I’m making stressball blobs, frogs, and fish. But it’s been a while since I made crocheted balls. So instead of inserting a stressball I just stuffed it. The little plastic ball might be dangerous for a kitten. But at least I have an idea of how it’s done. The yarn is Baby Bernat.
The yarn and hook make a bigger ball than the pattern calls for. But those baskets look like fun. I’ll have to look for a smaller gauge yarn and hook for the stressball patterns. Found here. Well, the Stress Fish. But all of them are on Etsy.
The day ended with a gorgeous sunset. And the stream took a side show.
Which brings me to plans. And possible roadblocks.
When the beach is finished I’m setting up an office. Diamond Painting will need to be put away for a while. I want to start recording my books, podcasting, and writing, and, well, preparing for NaNoWriMo.
Except for Stream of Consciousness Saturday, I have at least three book reviews to write. I feel I need to get at those and get ahead.
Ugh! What I’ve been putting off saying since I typed the title: today my husband tested positive for COVID. We don’t know how or where he caught it but, um, I’m worried. Our home is too small to do much distancing. My brother and son can keep their distance. But hubby and I share a bedroom. We sit about three feet apart in the living room. So…
Maybe I won’t catch it. I am enjoying my schedule of musical instruments, Duolingo, stationary bike, crafts, etc.
So hoping and praying for the best. And my husband’s health. We are 4 shots into the vaccination. So…
In the music realm, my violin is moving SO SLOW! I figured out I was over resining the bow. This is where a live teacher would have helped a lot. Getting my lessons via YouTube can be risky. But I can now squeakily play Twinkle, Twinkle (ABCD…), and Mary Had A Little Lamb, and started Jingle Bells. Nothing sounds like music. The positioning of violin and bow are still awkward. The instrument seems to hold tuning well, now that I’ve figured it out.
Ah, but, wrap me in plastic and kill me Dexter! This theme song that I picked up from MusicNotes has been tough!!! It looks easy. But not for me. I don’t usually have to listen to the song to get it. Thank goodness MusicNotes has a track to listen to. Even so, I couldn’t get the way it was written. I have finally memorized the beginning.
But midway, there is another section that sends me to a ‘nice cup of tea.’ Okay, let me explain. No. I can’t. Here:
Again. Short spurts. Still very slow. AND I do ‘air playing’ nearly 24/7 I find myself working on it in my sleep.
Thankfully, Succession Theme is recognizable. It’s fun to play the whole piano! Lots of ledger lines or octave lines to reach out for.
Speaking of
Piano time!
Besides finishing The End of Alzheimer’s (see previous post) these are things I’m working on this week.
Musically, I’m beginning to recognize The Dexter Theme. It has been hard as how it’s written is a little hard to interpret. After I get the basics I may rewrite it to the way I hear it on the show.
Succession, title song from the show. I didn’t much like the show, but I loved the music. I’ve finally played all the way to the end. It’s certainly not ready for anyone’s ears. Still it’s fun as I get to play the whole piano, less than an octave from either end. It’s cool!
Since the smoke causes my throat to hurt a bit I haven’t been playing the recorders, just in case it’s more than smoke irritation.
Enya, my ukulele, is getting easier. The B flat minor has been the toughie. But it sounded fine a couple times this week. I’m beginning to pay faster and smoother and having fun.
Violin! Whoa, what a challenge! I’ve barely gotten beyond tuning and putting resin on the bow. But I can finally say I’ve played Twinkle, Twinkle a few times now. My eyes get tired looking up the strings to my fingers. But I think that is good for my lazy eye and tracking issues. So I’ll take my time and learn.
I rarely report on my Duolingo, but it is such habit for me to pick up my phone and do a Duolingo 5 minutes here or there. In fact, it has joined me as I ride the stationary bike. It works when I’m just riding slowly but I have to put my phone down to get cardio.
Our weather is getting chilly. Though we get smoke from other places we’ve had huge rains lately that seem to help clear the air a bit. As of next Monday we will have a low in the upper 30s. I think we will welcome an early Fall.
I’m so far from finishing anything. And I am proud to say I’m starting something new.
Way back in my 40s I was gifted a violin that a friend found on a wall. It was a planter. She took it to a violin maker and he was able to make it perfect for a first violin.
My daughter and son wanted to join and soon we had a 1/2 for my daughter and a 3/4 violin for my son.
At the time I was teaching keyboard at a couple elementary schools. I was introduced to the violin teacher in the same schools. She kindly allowed my trio to come to her classes to learn.
I got to learn Twinkle, Twinkle before the program ended. My son didn’t seem to like violin at all (though he grew up to be in a band as a guitarist, so maybe he did like strings?). My daughter was probably too young. She would lay the violin on the floor and saw with the bow. Sadly, hers was the best of the three instruments.
Somehow the violins left our lives. I’ve been wanting to try again but never could find one at a price I could afford.
Then I saw this during Amazon’s last sale. Even $46 seemed too much but my husband said I should go ahead.
The set up per the free YouTube tutorials went okay. Then, tuning. I was sad I couldn’t tune a couple strings. More tutorials. I finally found one about loose pegs. The fix was easy.
The book that came with my Mendini by Cecilio violin instructed new students to spend time holding the fiddle, tuning, and rosening the bow every day. So I know this will be a slower learning experience than the Ukulele. But I am excited to learn my first song!
Well, that is, after I learn the holding, tuning and putting rosen on the bow properly. So I’ll just enjoy how pretty it is and the four notes I can play from the properly tuned new baby.
Meanwhile, I’m trying to memorize Imagine, Amazing Grace, Auld Lang Syne, and Edelweiss on my Enya. It might take a while.
See the wrap-around yarn? All tinked and ready to try again.
Piano scheduling had difficulties this week but I started attacking Succession and Dexter measure by measure.
Oh and the sunset beach
Okay. Despite the Olympics, time to do strings!
This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt for today, Craft, comes from Astrid. Check out her blog here!
I love being retired. After a lifetime of crafts that I never had the time to dive in whole, even though I had a lot more money, there was no energy at the end of the day, nor the time. Being able to deep dive until the muse is used up on a topic or drive.
Diamond Painting is calling me back, and now that the bigger knitting project is finished, the Dragon from last year needs the sealant so I can send it off.
Oh, that’s the thing about these crafts; it is delightful to indulge deeply, but it is so much better to have someone to gift the finished products to. I know some actually sell their works. But I just can’t get to that point. I don’t like a timeline, and I get too perfectionistic the minute I think someone else will see it or pay for it. The minute ‘time is money,’ it is called a job. I can’t. I just can’t.
But yummy yarn, loom knitting, crocheting, Tunisian crochet, diamond painting, drawing, Zentangles, playing with my wig or my own hair (a throwback to my first career of being a cosmetologist), all my musical instruments recorders, ukelele, piano, singing, coloring, rainbow looming, writing, reading. There are many I’m afraid I’m leaving out, and I feel like a bad parent for neglecting them to the point of forgetting their names! And are they all considered crafts? Then there’s macaroni. Oh, yeah, that’s spelled with a ‘K’!
No picture because 6 feet of one panel and nearly 6 feet of one side panel is too wobbly to hold up. So stay tuned. I hope to have the Afghan finished by Monday. Wish me luck! Taking Advil and getting back to work.
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 100 books for the 2013 Reading Challenge! 115 of 100 (115%)
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 225 books for the 2012 Reading Challenge! 225 of 225 (100%)
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 200 books for the 2011 Reading Challenge! 204 of 200 (102%)
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