May 27, 2013

Memorial Day

Photo from flickr commons.

To those who have fought,
To those who have died,
To those who have protected us,
Thank you.

To those with a blue star,
To those with a gold star,
Thank you.

We will remember.

May 25, 2013

Belated retrospect on a musical weekend


It really began before the weekend, but late in the week, when a package arrived by mail from the lovely Madame Stephanie of millefeuilles. The contents were a giveaway prize of a lovely classical harp cd in equally lovely wrapping. (See the ribbon? It's still in my hair.) Now, the point of this is to be thankful, not to brag, just so you all know. But I can't help being excited, as I've only won a prize once before. It was a very large adult sized bicycle that I won at age six and had to give away.

Thursday evening I played background music on the piano for a home school group end-of-year banquet; Friday I went to a friend's house where she made me play the violin in front of people, which was not as bad as it could have been; Sunday was the orchestra recital. I do not have any photographs because I was in the recital and could not take them myself, and also because I couldn't ask anyone to take some for me since I'd forgotten my camera.

I think it was the most enjoyable recital I have ever done. I loved playing with the orchestra, and as a pianist sometimes I get lonely.

So, since I have no pictures of that, how about a few of the rose bush looking gorgeous? As you can see, it turned out to be red.






May 11, 2013

Don't go tripping over a stool that's not in your way.












 Last Sunday I went early to the First Communion party of two little girls I know.  My job?  Decorating the cakes.  'Twas a lot of fun, though it took at least two hours from start to finish.  Mix the icing, pick the colours, cake number one, cake number two.  Did you see the little dots in the middle of that sunflower?  My wrist still remembers those.  Anyhow, I felt quite accomplished when I was done, despite the wobbling hands. 

Speaking of hands, guess who is playing the piano part of the medley from the Hobbit film with a student orchestra?  The advanced student orchestra at the music school where I take violin lessons is performing a Hobbit medley piece in their spring concert in eight days precisely.  And I, dear reader, am very excited to be playing it with them.  My part is simple (the teacher joked that I could play it upside down, probably to distract me from having only three weeks of rehearsal), and echoes the cello part some of the time.  Sadly, the piano in the larger practice room is electric.  I look forward to performing it with everyone on a real piano.


By the way, if you have been trying to figure out what the title, the cakes, and the music have in common, you can relax now.  The answer is nothing in particular, just things that have happened to me recently.  As far as tripping over the stool is concerned... no comment, except that I'm really not clumsy at all.  Honest.

May 4, 2013

Excuse me, sky, but it's only May




The first day of June marks the official beginning of what we call "the rainy season" or "hurricane season" here in Florida. This period, characterized by precipitation ranging from light showers to thunderstorms to hurricanes, lasts all the way through November. I mention it because the sky seems to have forgotten this, and has gotten ahead of schedule.

Now, this definitely does not mean that summers down here aren't hot. They are. It's almost paradoxical, explaining how Florida can be both the "Sunshine State" and the lightning capital of the world.


You can tell that it has been an uneventful week when I have nothing to discuss but the weather. Oh well.