so what else is new?

As I have mentioned before, both of my blogs were started as the result of a certain unpleasant event and branched off from each other into a house-specific blog and this one, which has gradually developed into a rather lighthearted diversion from my somewhat grueling life over the past five years.

Once we moved, we basically stopped working on the house in spite of the fact that it is nowhere near being finished, which is annoying, but I suddenly started gigging a lot more and although I continued to have fun taking pictures all over the place, I somehow lost the urge to assemble them into blog posts. I kept thinking I should, but somehow it didn’t happen.

I think the reason for this might be because the types of things I would ordinarily write about, those bright little moments that have cheered me up and brought me joy, don’t seem to stand out as much as they had previously. Now that we are back in our house everything feels like it is back as it should be. Well not everything - there are still some things that need to be taken care before I can fully resume my previous life but it’s getting there. Obviously I have proven time and again over the years that I have the ability to be patient far above and beyond what would be in a normal person’s best interest. But we are not normal around here.

So this is all pretty boring stuff, and I should just get on with it if I’m going to spend time wiggling my fingers over the keyboard. Since I don’t have much to say maybe I’ll talk about what I’ve been up to lately. There hasn’t been a whole lot of construction work taking place here lately – it’s been practically next to nothing since April, which is frustrating because when productivity is happening I like to keep going until it’s done. I hate losing momentum. On the other hand, working on the house is not exactly my idea of a good time so the procrastination is not entirely unpleasant.

In April and May I did some unpacking and played a lot of gigs. It was a good mix of shows, various orchestra concerts, some church gigs, our weekly jazz octet thing and some small combo work. All the stuff I like to do. Except tour and travel.

In June Doug went on vacation, I mean on tour (which in his case is a vacation because he made less money and had more fun than he would have if he had stayed at home). Since his vacation, I mean tour, was already on the books, I regretfully was stuck turning down a gig on the QM2, which sucks because in addition to missing an opportunity to make more money than I do here at home, I missed a fairly decent itinerary that included Europe and fjords and trips to New York and New England.

But I was too busy to stay resentful for long – in addition to a decent amount of playing, I started and finished a pretty big painting job for my parents. It felt really great to actually finish a project like that in a relatively short time. Also I successfully convinced them to branch out a tiny little bit and add some touches of color to their all off-white interior. The convincing was a major accomplishment and it was therefore particularly rewarding to hear them acknowledge how good it looked after it was all done since they know what they like better than I do.

Also in June I pulled out my fancy new computerized sewing machine, which is still not as easy to deal with as my old workhorse machine was before it got all melted and destroyed, and I made a dress(!) and altered a blouse so I have two new things I can wear. I wore the dress to a gig at Glen Echo and instead of being boiling hot in pants I stayed nice and cool and comfortable in the sweltering heat.
Two more things done.



This past week I played with a couple of singers for Bastille Day at the French Embassy on Wednesday, played for a pool party in Potomac on Friday, and did a guitar-bass duo in the lobby of the Atlas Theatre on Saturday. On Sunday I drank way too much coffee after sort of being off of it for a while. I met my friend at Starbucks to carpool up to a rehearsal in Baltimore and our receipts contained an offer for a $2.00 drink after 2pm, which is exactly when we got back there so of course we had to spend the $2.00 to get the deal.

It was so hot on Sunday that I decided I needed to spend the afternoon sitting somewhere cold and dark instead of mowing the grass, so Doug decided that we should see Metropolis at the Avalon. It was a very long, very strange, and very excellent movie. The soundtrack was gorgeous. And then I somehow stayed up until 6:30 this morning. I didn’t even try to go to sleep. Apparently the effects of coffee are cumulative and they build up. So it’s time to go without it again for a while.

Today I played at a retirement home in DC. It feels so good to play music that obviously means so much to the people who live there. It’s a really special feeling. One time at the Hebrew home in Rockville a man came up to talk to me afterwards and he said he was soon going to be celebrating his 103rd birthday. He’s the oldest person I’ve ever met. He’s on a walker but takes no medication. Isn’t that amazing? That’s probably why he’s still alive. Imagine all of the history he has lived through.

Okay that wasn’t so hard. I obviously haven’t lost the ability to blather on and on and on, once I get started. Maybe next time I’ll post sooner rather than later because the longer you put something off the easier it is to not get around to it again. Hmmm.….that rings a not too distant bell. I wonder why?

some things never change