Haven’t posted for a while for several reasons. I made a fast trip to the UK in mid-March to spend a week staying with my niece, Margaret, and her family and from their spending days at the bedside of my dying brother. Diagnosed with brain cancer just before Xmas, ’08, I visited him in Australia last spring. He returned to the UK just before Xmas, ’09, so as to spend his last weeks closer to “home.”
Also, a fall on some icy steps in mid-February left a colleague with a nasty concussion from which she is making a very slow recuperation. I picked up some work related projects while she has been out. And pray for her full recovery. Be thankful for each day – you never know when it might be your last, or at least the last of being the “you” that you now are.
And, piano has become a borderline obsession. In fact the whole subject of music has grabbed my interest in a way that I would never have dreamed. The morning routine has now settled in to accommodate this passion and secure its hold on my day, whether or not a work day (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and half of Thursdays.) Upon rising, there’s the immediate sit in the hot tub communing with my mountain (Mt. Juneau) and spruce trees (not to mention the heron roosting in its branches above the tub) followed by a sit in the living room with Bill, coffee, a few poems, and the newspaper. Then a bit of stretching, make the bed, get dressed, and head for the piano. Daily practice is expanding its grip – and introducing to my life a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure at the (sometimes noticeable) progress.
Nice to know someone else with a piano obsession! A few days ago I traded in my old Kimball upright for a beautiful black baby grand Kawai… I’m in love!