Category Archives: Cat

Cat, Weather

Summer is here

I’d just like to say that I’m tired of the whole "hey, and it’s not even summer yet!" mentality.  Firstly, saying that June 21 is the start of summer is just as logical as December 21 being the start of winter after you’ve already been wearing your coat for several months (and in Cleveland perhaps already ruined a few pairs of pants and boots from the salt.)  Secondly, MEH it’s really hot outside.  It’s been hot all week.

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(I just did a Google image search for "hot".  Thank goodness for safe search!  And then I tried the more descriptive "hot weather" and found the sort of thing I was looking for.)

I heard on the radio the other day than in China the government defines the start of summer as the day after 3 consecutive days that exceed a certain temperature.  That makes so much more sense than an arbitrary date!  Now, I can’t find any corroborating evidence of this right now, but I remember hearing it.  If it wasn’t China, maybe it was Singapore.  I am failing at the internet this morning.

In any case, let me quote the current Wikipedia article on summer, which sounds like it was written by somebody as annoyed as I am by our seasonal definitions:

"From the astronomical perspective, days continue to lengthen from equinox to solstice and summer days progressively shorten after the solstice, so meteorological summer encompasses the build-up to the longest day and a diminishing thereafter, with summer having many more hours of daylight than spring. Solstices and equinoxes are taken to mark the mid-points, not the beginnings, of the seasons. Midsummer takes place over the shortest night of the year, which is the summer solstice.

The Western definition based on equinox to solstice is more frequently used where a temperature lag of up to half a season is common.[3] Summer is the period from the summer solstice to the autumn equinox.[4][5][6][7] Unofficially, the U.S. summer season is commonly regarded as beginning on Memorial Day weekend in May and ending on Labor Day weekend in September."

So there you have it.  June 21 is the MIDDLE of summer, not the beginning.  Yes, it’s Saturday, I’m using wikipedia as a definitive source.  It’s okay, my parents are RETIRED college teachers 🙂

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(that’s the forecast.)

random tangents:

Last night I went to see a friend’s husband’s band at the Focal Point in Maplewood, and then we met some folks at Urban Chestnut.  It was a great summer night!  Today I have a wedding and need to do preparations for tomorrow afternoon’s studio recital.

And last night  I had my SECOND getting married dream.  This one included a walk down the aisle in my dress.  It also involved me being really controlling with the ceremony musicians, i.e., at one point I was playing violin with them to demonstrate the correct tempo for Panis Angelicus.  And it definitely included the song I am 98 percent sure I want to walk down the aisle to (wow that is tricky grammatically, is that even remotely correct?).  I may cry to the song, but I think that’s okay…

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Somehow my cat would try to ruin everything!  Like she ruins my sleep every night.  Silly fat thing.

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Awww…who can stay mad at that??

Cat

Another Caturday!

I’ve decided to really embrace my love of cats.  Today I am featuring a guest cat on the post.  My sister Leslie has a cat named Albergo that you’ve seen before (if you are a regular blog reader.  If you aren’t, you should be because you are totally missing out on the awesome.)

Here are some recent pictures of Albergo:

This is Albergo sleeping.  He is exposing his belly to (possibly) be petted.  Or murder.  Who knows.  It is said that petting the tummy of a kitty is like frolicking in the back hair of an angel (source).

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Albergo also enjoys working out.  This is how you know he’s a Frey kitty.

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This next picture is sideways but still awesome.

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I can only assume Albergo is preparing to be shipped somewhere.  Cats don’t like travel, but they tolerate it if they are in a box.

Okay, enough Caturday for today.  I stole all these pictures from Leslie, thanks 🙂

Cat, Weddings

Caturday

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I think this sums it all up.  (And it’s Caturday, so stop complaining).

I can’t believe this weekend is finally here.  I had a few rough weeks of busy-ness and stress…and now it’s basically summer.  And this is going to be my skinniest summer since ’98.  (Okay, I’m sadly excited about that.)

I taught yesterday and then went to Lemongrass with Melissa.  I branched out from my usual meal there of "seafood hotpot".  I love the hotpot because the rice at the edges gets very crispy.  I also love fishcakes, something I first had at Siam Cafe in Cleveland.  But I wanted to get something different so I got something with noodles instead.  It still involved fishcakes and shrimp.  All foods should contain at least a couple of shrimp.

Fascinating.  I know.  This would be a better entry if we hadn’t THEN gone to Absolutli Goosed and met up with some other folks.  Good times were had.  But I woke up feeling somewhat…dehydrated…to say the least, and I still wanted to get in a run.  I did the front loop of Tower Grove Park and returned home completely drenched.  With the thermometer only reading 70 degrees. I weighed myself before and after, and my scale registered a 1/2 pound loss from the run.  I don’t know how people deal with this heat.

Now it’s a student recital followed by a wedding at the Jewel Box.

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That greenhouse looking thing is the Jewel Box, which is located in Forest Park.  I have played dozens of weddings there, and have a half dozen on the schedule for this summer.  It’s a nice place, I guess.

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That’s Albergo.  And that concludes today’s post.  If anything exciting happens I’ll let you know 🙂

Cat, Random thoughts

Odds and ends

Edited:  I wrote this post before the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death.  Though I am a pacifist and do not wish death on anybody, I am only human and I must say I am not unhappy for the news.  And that was a fantastic speech by Obama. 

Back to our originally scheduled programming!

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Chris and I went to Sage on Friday night for drinks.  I had had a key lime martini there before and was craving it.  (I love using “had had”).  Here I am pictured with a chocolate martini, but it’s basically the same.  The key lime was good though…still not as good as the place in Chicago.

Here’s an excerpt from my old blog, a post about my trip to Chicago where I had the most awesome key lime martini:

“We met Karen for dinner and went to a really cool place called “Avec.” We shared a variety of different dishes, including a focaccia with goat cheese in it, and dates filled with sausage and wrapped in bacon. Then we went to a bar and enjoyed a large number of key lime martinis…we had been there on our last visit as well, and I have never had a key lime martini so delicious. I don’t recall the name of the place, but it’s in the meat packing district. (edited: I realized I used my credit card, so I got the name: “Fulton Lounge”)”

So I just googled the place and it evidently closed a year ago!  So I will NEVER have that most delicious key lime martini ever again.  Hmmm…does it exist now only in my memory?  Avec is still awesome though.  I hope to go back this summer.

Okay.  So that was Friday.  Saturday I played two weddings and hit up Frazer’s.  I went with my friend Melissa and then some other friends joined us later.  It was great.  I mentioned it in this post also.

Sunday—beautiful run around Forest Park with Jen.  5.5 miles.  I need to rebuild the callus that got removed during a pedicure, because my foot was killing me.  It’ll grow back, stronger than before 🙂  Then I went to Best Buy with Chris and got a new laptop.  It’s an HP, and it was on clearance!

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How adorable is this small creature?  Do I talk about my cat too much?

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Do I post too many pictures of my cat?  Certainly not!  (Please don’t answer that question)

How about a picture of me in the car after the run?

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I urge you NOT to enlarge that photo.  I don’t understand how it is possible for a 32 year old woman to have 400 zits on her chin.  I do love my orange tank top though.  Also a new hairband—polka dots!  I was wearing green shorts.  Body glide is a wonderful invention.

Okay, seriously, this whole robbery thing is causing such mood swings.  I’m angry at the financial loss, the sense of security in one’s own home, and the TIME spent dealing with this shit when I really have better things to do (like blog, or practice, or maybe just relax, or you know, WORK).  I’m sorry for the negativity on the blog recently, but it’s just been a rough time.  I know things will get better and easier, and things could be worse, and for all of that, I am thankful.  It’s just been a bad week which ended a bad month.  Grrrrr.

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Yes, that’s a bruise on my arm.  No idea what it’s from!  Probably a gym-related injury though.  Speaking of, my pinky is feeling MUCH better, luckily.

How was YOUR weekend?  What are your plans for the week?

Auditions, Cat, Random thoughts

Who knew people liked reading about auditions

3 Comments

Wow.  My blog traffic has tripled since I posted “orchestra auditions for non-musicians.”  (If you haven’t read it, check it out.  And SHARE with your non-musician friends and family who think you are either crazy or a failure.)

So what do I do next?  If you are still reading you might notice my topics are all over the place.  Violin, teaching, working out, eating, movies, etc.

But this is my life, this is the life of a musician!  The life of one musician, at least.  I spent many years practicing or working all the time.  And now I have the luxury of some free time, and I’ve dedicated it to MYSELF and my health.  And I discovered a passion for running…well, conceptually at least.  I think that working out and music have a lot in common as far as discipline, scheduling, and delayed results.

I don’t want to just write about music, or about orchestral life, or about “how to win an audition”.  (Honestly, that last one I don’t really know…I have only one a few auditions, and definitely lost more than I’ve won.  Perhaps I can write “how to lose an audition” instead?)  I used to think I would write a book about the life of a freelance musician…maybe I’ll do something like that on my blog in the near future.  Perhaps an improved “Mozart in the Jungle”….

Or maybe all of my {potential} new readers are frightened away by my randomness and great love of my cat?

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Can you believe that is a cat?  And yes, that is part of my purple music stand.  You know what, it’s cool.  I like my blog the way it is.  My parents read it, and Chris reads on occasion, and some of my friends read it occasionally too.  And you are all AWESOME!

But I will do some more posts related to day to day life of musicians so you can share them with your family Smile  I’ll also do posts about my cat, running in the park, my students, and post stalk-y pictures of my trainer.  I know you’ll be pleased.

Cat, Running

Caturday

I haven’t really celebrated Caturday in the past, so I thought I’d start small.

 

Why are you interrupting my nap?  Plus I am so disheveled!

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I’m going to ignore you while I groom myself in the sun.

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Or maybe I’ll try to attack you!  Mwah hah haaa!  My claws are sharp and will leave deep scars in your fleshy skin.

She likes to hide behind the curtain and sleep for much of the afternoon.  This is a warm weather activity, as the windowsill gets too cold in the winter.

 

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You can’t really tell, but I got a pedicure today!  I really needed one after my season of running…I guess the half marathon season IS over for a bit.  My feet were really calloused, but now I’m starting fresh.  I suppose the callouses will simply build back up, but either way it’s nice to start fresh.

I wanted to go for a run outside this morning, but it was rainy and cold, and I am tired of running in the cold.  I want to get used to running in the HEAT, which isn’t possible in this weather.  I can’t believe that last Sunday it was close to 90 degrees and now today it’s about 50!  I also think its hilarious that I am always confounded by the changes in the weather, no matter.  It’s as if I honestly expect the weather to stay consistent, even though it just doesn’t do that.

I don’t have any half marathons on the horizon…the next one is the Rock n Roll St Louis but that’s in late-October.  There’s a couple things of interest in Chicago in the late summer, but I’d need a friend to run with or else it would be silly.  Jen is having a tough time recovering from the race—evidently she DID need medical attention Sad smile  I’m sure she’ll be fine soon, but I feel bad.

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Chris looked me like I was crazy.  I’ll take that as a maybe?