Days Eighteen & Nineteen

Eighteen

What a great evening! As usual on Wednesdays, I headed over to Bob's house to play old-time tunes with an assortment of friends and band-mates. Much to my delight, Curtis and Dennis Buckhannon were there. They're not only great musicians - in my opinion, Curtis may be the best old-time mandolin player around - but all 'round nice guys. I never laugh as much as I do when I'm in Curtis' and Dennis' company.

The bunch of us played a lot of great tunes, listened to Curtis and Lindell play more, recalling the hey days of Cousing Curtis and the Cash Rebates, reminisced and groaned at the torrent of awful puns. I wish it had never ended. But we're all old guys (except guitar-player Ellen who is neither old or guy) and the fun can't go on all night anymore.

Then, as I was driving home and just three blocks from there, who should pull up behind me flashing her lights, but my sweetie, Jane. She'd jsut gotten done with a late night pet visit in my neighborhood and saw my car as I drove past.

We headed over to my place where we sat on the deck, had a couple of glasses of wine, and I listened while Jane poured out the tale of her long and stressful day. From there, we talked about what's going on with some of our friends and the play that I'm getting ready to direct. Really a wonderful conversation. I only wish she didn't have to get up so early so she could have slept over. Even so, I can't think of a more pleasant or relaxing way to end a beautiful evening.

Nineteen

Wine I'm drinking: Cupcake Pinot Noir
Book I'm reading: This Wide Night by Chloe Moss
Dinner tonight: Green salad and a chicken sandwich

Wow! Is it ever hot around here! As I left work this afternoon, the radio said it was 109 degrees fahrenheit. Fortunately for everyone here in Missouri, the humidity was so much lower than normal that the extreme heat was bearable if you didn't have to be out in it too long.

All in all, though, it was a good evening. After work, I headed out to Maplewood, one of our inner-ring suburbs to meet with people from The Folk School of St. Louis to talk over some plans that they have for expanding the reach and community of the school. After talking with them, I have some concerns. But, I think that may be due to an inherent resistance to change. In all honesty, I can see that this set of changes has the potential to be very good for an organization that is dear to me.

After the meeting, since I was already near my mom and dad's house, I stopped by there and helped my sister with some computer problems she was having. Really simple stuff, but if you don't work with the computer every day, these kinds of things can be mystifying. Stopping in gave me a chance to visit with my brother, sister and mom. For some reason, I wasn't as frustrated by the family dynamic as I usually am and was able to laugh at some of their usually annoying idiosyncrasies. Maybe I'm maturing about it. Maybe I'm just generally happier these days. Maybe I was just worn out from the heat?

While at mom and dad's, I was surprised by a visit from my daughter, China! Always good to see her. She's just the best kid around. China is taking a water aerobics class at a nearby municipal pool with my sister and I think it's doing them both worlds of good. So, we got to visit briefly before she had to run off to her class. She relayed that her almost-10-month-old daughter, Callie, the best grand daughter in the world is now saying "fish" as well as her previous vocabulary and playing a "what's that" game. She apparently also thinks that her dad is Barack Obama. I mean, her dad is a tall black man, and a pretty good guy, but he's no President of the U.S.

Speaking of the President, how about that Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Health Care Act today? Pretty great if you ask me. And President Obama has a lot to be proud of there. Now he's got to get the message out that this law will be good for the country, good for the economy, and is just plain the right thing to do. His work is cut out for him! I've been following the news coverage on PBS (when I wasn't watching Doc Martin) since I got home and had some dinner. I've just been beaming about it the whole time.

Now, I'm darned tired and am going to read a little before going to sleep. 'Nite all.

Day Sixteen

Mondays are my night to teach at the Folk School. This session I'm teaching a class in mountain dulcimer and one called "Fiddle Repertoire". For the latter, I'm just teaching fiddle tunes that I know and a little bit about the sources for them. It's a good way for some intermediate students to add to the number of tunes they know and build some confidence in their playing with other people. They seem to be enjoying it and I feel good about that.

Both of the classes are fun and I'm really enjoying myself with them. A couple of the students really understand what we're trying to do and that makes it even more fun. This session will be over in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping that the classes will make again in the next session. Teaching gives me a real sense of accomplishment and lets me feel like I'm repaying all of the hours people have spent with me giving me tunes and letting me steal licks from them. Now I'm doing the same for these students.

After I got home, I cut open a watermelon I'd picked up a couple of days ago at our local farmers' market. It was wonderful. I ate a quarter of it this evening and am going to work on a quarter a day until it's gone.

Also got good news from daughter China. She and Tom have an opportunity to rent a house and get out of the cramped little apartment they are in. Callie, my granddaughter, gabbled and sang the whole time I was on the phone with China. I'm glad that she'll now have a little more room to crawl around in! I must say that grandkids are the best thing in the world.

So, it's been a good day. I have a lot to be thankful for. I think I'll finish this off and go to bed.

Day Ten (or Eight Through...)

Continuing my effort to catch up....

Day Eight: Sunday was Father's Day and a thoroughly enjoyable one. I had brunch with my daughter, son-in-law, grand daughter, and Jane. I'd picked a restaurant a few blocks from the house, but hadn't realized that everybody for miles around had the same idea. No reservations. So, we had to stand on the sidewalk and wait for about half an hour to get a table. Fortunately, the day hadn't gotten too hot yet. And Jane and the kids were just fine with the wait. No one lectured me about not planning ahead, or pouted because they couldn't sit right down, or complained because they had plans that they were now running late for. They just took the wait in stride and understood that I have a tendency to fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to things like restaurant reservations. I think they love me the way I am and accept that sometimes an outing with me will be other than what they had expected. Realizing that did a lot to get me out of the funk I've been in the last few days!

After brunch, we all went our separate ways. I headed home to water my flowers and tomatoes, play music and take a nap. It was great to not have any demands on me and to be able to spend some quiet time by myself. I need to do more of that.

Late afternoon I went to a board meeting for West End Players Guild. Quick and to the point, we got all of the necessary business done in about fifteen minutes. Afterwards, I went to a local pub, Dooley's, in what passes for our theatre district. With me were Chuck, Tina, and Robert, all fellow board members. We had a good discussion of the local theatre scene and especially the Fringe Festival in which we're taking part. Then off to home and to bed.

Day Nine: Monday evening was my night to teach at the Folk School. This session, I'm teaching mountain dulcimer and a fiddle repertoire class. I've got good students and am having a good time teaching them. They're all adults. It's rewarding to be able to pass along the tunes I've learned from others and to see how receptive the students are. And I get paid a little bit, which makes it even more agreeable!

After teaching, I got home about 8:30 and had dinner. A simple salad and a sandwich of pepper loaf lunch meat on wheat bread washed down with a couple of glasses of red wine. It had been a good day and I felt like some healing was going on with me as I got undressed and went to bed.

Day Ten: Even though it's only Tuesday, I kept thinking it was Thursday while sitting at my desk at the day job. That must mean something. After work, I should have gone to the gym, but ran errands and picked up ingredients for dinner instead. Another salad (it's just too hot for much else) and sauteed a couple of chicken thighs.

So, for a while now, I've been anxious about the state of my relationship with Jane. I worry that she's growing tired of me or that I've done something to make her less interested. But, I think I'm coming out of it. I have begun to understand that it's been my issues that are getting in the way of my just being in the moment and enjoying her company. I realize, on a conscious level, that Jane loves me and there is nothing to worry about. So, I'm working at keeping that in the front of my mind and trusting it and it seems to be doing the job. Jane's pet sitting business has been picking up and she's working two part-time jobs, so she's busy and understandably feeling pressured. I need to just let her be and not bring my anxiety and neediness for her to deal with, too. Since I made the decision to respect that, things have felt better. Which is great. I really don't want to screw this up.

So, now it's time for meditation and then to bed. Here's hoping that tomorrow is at least as good as today.