'Tis the Season!

 

 

 

 It's something like a miracle that we've made it to Christmas!  Yet, here we are, Christmas Eve, still kickin'.  

Ron and I usually do a few Christmassy activities.  This year we drove out to where we could see the horizon and viewed the Christmas Star/Great Conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn.  They appear close to each other every 20 years, but this year they were closer to each other than they have been since the time of Galileo!  Ron took some pictures.

The Great Conjunction

Last night we did our Kachina Village Christmas Lights Drive.  This was a favorite.  We're grateful to all the people who take the time and effort to give the rest of us this Christmas pleasure!

Christmas Day is a lot about eating at our house:

Christmas Breakfast Menu

Sourdough Waffles

Egg & Sausage Scramble

Fresh Fruit

Coffee & Tea

Christmas Dinner Menu

BBQ Ribs

Cornbread

Coleslaw

Baked Beans

Cherry & Pumpkin Pies

Vanilla Ice Cream 

 

Activities will include:  opening gifts, watching NBA on Christmas Day, a dog walk, and phone calls.  

Wishing you the Best of Christmas! I'll leave you with this stunning version of the Wexford Carol with Alison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma

Now We Can Move Forward: The Rest

 

 

 

We know it's not possible to have too much fun, right?  Here's the rest of what I have in mind for the Winter Season:

 

MUSIC

 

Violin

 

I have two areas of practice for violin:  technique and repertoire.  I've decided technique practice will be based on what I observe about my own playing, combined with the thousands of things Emily told me over the years.  I've decided repertoire practice will based on pieces I've played before, all of which have plenty of room to grow and to which I can apply technique practice.  I'm using the last two pieces I started with Emily as schooling pieces.  They're difficult and yes, still give me plenty to work on after 8 months!  

 

Piano

 

Piano is focused on repertoire.  I 'll continue to play the repertoire I've been building so it stays ~fresh.  I'll add new pieces as I designate a piece finished and put it in the repertoire category.  

 Flute

 

Oh my, flute.  As mentioned previously, before Covid-19 I hadn't played flute for many years; decades wouldn't be an exaggeration.  When I picked it up again, I was pleased enough with my tone, and eager to just play music.  Over time, I became less pleased with my tone, and the flute became more difficult to play.  When I looked on-line about possible causes, without exception it was recommended that the flute have a professional tune-up.  Yes, flutes deteriorate in certain ways just sitting in the closet.  Several weeks ago I took mine in to the local music store.  Their in-store winds repair man wasn't qualified to work on it, but fortunately a super-qualified flute repairer and maker, Terry Boehn, lives in Parks, and he worked on the flute.  When he called me to talk about the tune up, he told me that 9 of the 17 pads had leaks!  The keys of the flute cover the holes, and the pads of the keys seal the holes.  Yes, blowing through leaks would be difficult and the tone would be less than optimal.  Now in my mind, when my flute came home with those leaks fixed, I'd play and the sound would rise up like a spun silver prayer, an invocation to Pan.  Wow, was I disappointed!  In fact, I couldn't tell the difference!  In either the tone or the difficulty in playing. WTH(eck)???  Always, there's the instrument and the musician.  The best musician can make the worst instrument sound wonderful; not-so-good musicians can't get a good tone out of the best of instruments.  Since my flute is a good one, and I don't have any reason to think Terry missed anything when he tuned it up.......yep, the tone belongs to me.  Teachers will often say the more you play the worse you sound, the theory being your ear gets more discriminating.  I might stretch to that, but why isn't it easier to play????  I don't know!!! Unless my embouchure got used to playing with the leaks and now has to relearn how to play without leaks?  That's a stretch I don't think I can make.  Well, whatever the reason, I'm starting over.  I have plenty of technique books, and there's more suggestions than I can ever wade through on-line, so I just have to knuckle down and do the work.   Update:  after three weeks of work with no difference in the tone, the flute is going back to the repair man.  He was completely reasonable when I called him, and said he wants to know if things aren't right.  Also that it's not unusual if some follow up needs to be done.  Whew!  My fingers are crossed! 

TAI CHI

 

My indoor Tai Chi practice area.

 

Tai Chi needs to find a new home, both in place and time. It's been too cold for awhile to practice outside comfortably.   It's wandering around the schedule and at risk of being pushed aside by other activities. It worked so beautifully in the Summer Schedule as a running cool down on the deck, but summer running is early in the day.  With the dark and cold of the Winter Schedule, morning fitness activities start later and if I'm not careful, they creep into afternoon activities, and the afternoon is already full!  Place is resolved.  I've practiced the set a few times in the loft, and it's definitely do-able, with the minor inconveniences of dog pillows (with or without dogs), large plants and an aquarium.  I can also still do it outside during a warmer part of day, dressed appropriately.   I've mentally tried out several options, and I'm kind of leaning toward a big change, swapping yoga practice to the very early morning (maybe even getting up a little earlier) and putting Tai Chi at the end of the day as a different kind of full body stretch before bed.  Hmmmm.  

And that, friends, is the Winter Schedule. I think it will keep me interested and as busy as I care to be.  

 

WELCOME

WINTER!

 

 

Now We Can Move Forward

                                

 

November 3, THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!

 

 

 And the following days of anxiety until the results were officially declared.  As has happened every four years since the Constitution was written, including the 12 presidential elections in which I've voted, someone has won and someone has lost. Now we move forward.

I'm including the link below from Maria Shriver's on-line Sunday Paper.  It's a short article written by Maria's brother Timothy Shriver.  It's a very insightful take on some impacts that this election had that are worth thinking about.  You'll like the twist. 

 https://mariashriver.com/be-careful-what-you-wish-for/

Here's how I'm moving forward with my Winter Season with some not-so-fun and plenty-of-fun stuff: 

NOT-SO-FUN:  COVID-19

With the election off the top of my worry list, I now have plenty of room for Covid-19 worry.  At the moment, I'm comparing Thanksgiving Day with Election Day.  In a couple of weeks we'll see the start of  the results of Thanksgiving Day on Covid-19. It's predicted we won't know the full results, including deaths, until after the first of the year.  BUT: what we as individuals can do hasn't changed and won't change until vaccines are well in place:  mask, wash hands, social distance, choose to stay away from indoor environments with strangers when choice is possible. That means what I can do.....won't change! The upside is the brilliant news about not one, not two, but THREE vaccines that are ready for FDA investigation and probable emergency approval.  We've found a couple of different keys to unlock Covid-19.  This is what science is about!  My two personal predictions are:  1) It will take at least all of 2021 to get vaccinations rolled out and any meaningful portion of the population vaccinated.                 2) vaccinations will be in place before we can effect society-wide acceptance of our personal responsibility in helping slow the spread of this virus.

That said, here's how I plan to integrate Covid-19 into my Winter Schedule.  

1.  Continue the recommended behaviors.

2.  Manage intake of Covid-19 news.  What I already know:  It's really bad, and will be really bad for a long time.  The daily newspaper regularly reports local Covid-19 conditions and statistics.  It will also keep me up to date on vaccination information. Ron is a newshound, and usually mentions national conditions in the mornings.  I might check the Coconino County Dashboard once a week, though it's often quite out of date.  I'll continue to read Time and other magazines we get for a larger Covid-19 picture nationally and internationally.  Enough?  I think so.  It will take some discipline, though.

3.  Continue regular monetary donations to local organizations coordinating assistance with food/shelter/rent/etc.for people and animals in need.

 

 

PLENTY-OF-FUN:  FITNESS

 

 

Bike riding:  Bike riding is a second-tier activity for me.  I enjoy it, but I enjoy other activities more.  After my One-Woman Biathlon on April 30, I decided a weekly bike ride would be good for the summer, and put it on my schedule for Sunday.  One ride per week through October would have given me 26 rides.  Well...this and that, whining, I don't wanna, I'm too tired, it'll make me too tired, etc. etc, resulted in just 14 rides. Usually bike riding is over November 1 at my seasonal schedule change.  With swimming out of the picture and the weather so mild,  I decided to keep riding until weather forced a stop.  Then on a recent ride, I decided another little challenge was necessary.  Does this sound familiar???  The challenge:  starting with my November rides, I'll "make up" those 14 rides I missed over the summer.  I've upped my riding to two days a week, and will stay with that schedule until 1) I accomplish the challenge, which would be on December 20 or 2) I'm shut down by cold or snow or both.  I'm taking it ride by ride; the next two are looking good!  

Running:  I have a couple of winter goals for running.  First is to get my base mileage back up to 3 miles per run; mentioned in an earlier post.  I'll focus on that after the bike challenge is completed.  Second is to MAYBE work on my speed.  I mentioned "pickups" in an earlier post; those are going well.  But I'm a REALLY slow runner.  I'm not sure I care.  This is as far as the plan has gone:  Time one of my runs now to see how slow I am (and tell NO ONE!).  After that, sometimes, I'll run faster.  Pickups on more than one run is what it will probably boil down to.  I'll see how that goes.  I'll time myself at my next seasonal change.  That will be plenty enough of that.  

Strength workouts:  3x a week.  As a longer-term project, I want to put together some different workouts, as it's said that the body accustoms to the same workout. Probably next year.  My priority is just to do three workouts a week. 

 Here's my current Fitness Schedule, with biking.  Last time I shared a fitness schedule, it was good for one, maybe two days!  I'll call it a flexible guideline instead.

Sunday:  Bike 10 miles

Monday:  Run 2.5 miles; strength workout

Tuesday:  Online Yoga School

Wednesday:  Run 2.5 miles; strength workout

Thursday:  Bike 10 miles

Friday:  Online Yoga School

Saturday:  Run 2.5 miles; strength workout. 

 

 PLENTY-OF-FUN TBC!