Summer

Ah yes, ain't it nice! We are having a nice summer; plenty of rain to keep the gardens happy, plenty of sunshine to urge the plants to grow. It felt like quite a rocky start this year, but we are well under way now.

It's hard to believe the 4th of July has come and gone! At this rate, it seems autumn will be around the corner in no time! I will have to find a better way of thinking about this... let's see... there are still a good 2 (probably 3) months of summer. OK, that works.

It has been a busy month, rushed off my feet really. I participated in a chamber music workshop at the Upper Valley Music Center in the middle of June. I was assigned to a Beethoven quartet: My first time ever performing in a quartet and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We will be playing the piece again in September for the grand opening celebration of the music school's new building.

On the heels of the workshop, I hosted the same two Fresh Air boys I hosted last year. They both wanted to come back this year, and again: I can't believe they've come and gone already! A week was spent in preparation--cleaning house top to bottom, and they were then here a week. We had a lovely time and I hope to see them again next year.

Our orchestra has spent the past 5 Wednesdays rehearsing for our concert next Sunday. We are playing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", Copland's "Billy The Kid Suite", and Steve Reich's "Duet for 2 Violins and Strings". It's a terrific, challenging program, made more so by the short time frame. I made a poster for the concert:


Beginning July 1, I've been spinning away as part of "Tour de Fleece". I hadn't participated in a few years and it's nice to be back at it this year. But before I show pics of my TdF progress, here's a picture of the 8 ~50 gram ea. samples I finally finished spinning up. I spun 2 of them the first 2 days of TdF:


The colors are really lovely, I think--all natural. I must find something special to make of them.

My TdF progress so far (we are today on day 8, it runs through the 23rd):