During the fall, winter, and spring months, Wednesdays and Thursdays are out straight for me. We had orchestra rehearsal last night (In Lebanon, NH ~35 miles one-way) so I worked during the day yesterday. Got home a little after 10 p.m. and was in bed around 11-ish. Up at 7:15 this morning to get to Lebanon, NH again for my 8:45 lesson. Lesson was followed by Cello Choir class after which I went to the local super market to pick up fixings to make pumpkin pies--our once-a-month quilter's guild meeting was this evening and I was on the food committee: in charge of dessert.
When I got home this afternoon around 1 pm, I was surprised to find the stove still going! I had not filled it when I got up this morning thinking I'd let it die down so I could empty some ashes. Like I mentioned in the prior post, I wanted to try moving the hot embers to the side and scooping out some of the ashes below. It worked well enough and the remaining embers were plenty hot enough to get the fire going again. The two pies got taken out of the oven this afternoon just in time for me to leave for our meeting. The meeting, which starts at 5pm is usually not very long but tonight was an exception: Meeting and dinner weren't over til 8pm so I decided I'd take a full personal day from work.
I'm exhausted this evening! It's a good exhaustion though: I got a lot done today. I look forward to some quiet time tomorrow perhaps to do some sewing.
My lesson was good. I'm revisiting "thumb positions": Those notes that are played by reaching around with the left hand up beyond the neck of the cello where the notes are high. It's tricky business and seeing how I'm not in my single-digit years any longer, it takes a major bit of work and effort to make it manageable. But! What's happening now is several times better than when I first attempted thumb position several years ago. Several magnitudes better, so I'm pleased about that. It feels within reach. Quite a journey, this cello learning, and I love it thoroughly.
The major piece our orchestra is playing in a few weeks is Vaughn Williams' "Sinfonia Antartica" (yes, the unusual spelling is correct for the title of this piece). It is based on music he wrote for a movie about the ill-fated expedition of Captain Scott. We have some fun and interesting instruments joining us for this performance: A wind machine, a harp, a celeste, an organ, a piano, a soprano and female choir, besides the full orchestra!
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