Ah, Sunday night. We want to just relax before the busy week ahead but instead it always gets a little depressing. I never know quite whether I’m looking forward to my work because yay I’m a musician and I’m doing what I love, or really just dreading it all and I should throw in the towel and total change careers…bird inspector, perhaps?

But after a fun weekend interspersed with a lot of work, I’m not quite ready to move on and make tomorrow Monday yet.

(Just to let you know, I decided I used to be funnier here on the blog because I wrote more from the heart and didn’t worry about sounding stupid. So I’m trying to be more detailed in this blog entry. Enjoy!)

Friday night was opening night of Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment with Winter Opera. I’m the concertmaster for the group (over ten years, can you believe how time flies by?) and after a long week with several long rehearsals, it was great to finally open the show. With Winter Opera though, we only do two shows (maybe someday it’ll be more?) so really, we open, and then we close the show. We closed this afternoon.

Saturday I had a day off, and I had big plans. Somehow I had gotten into my head that I wanted to learn to can jam. I think this started because I had leftover cranberries in my freezer, and I’d bought some cranberry jam to eat for Christmas, and loved it. Anyway, one thing led to another, and I started researching how to make jam, bought a few things (jars, lids, jar lifter, funnel) and boom! Saturday I made jam. I used this recipe for cranberry orange jam and it turned out great! I have four half pint jars on the shelves now, and I don’t know if we’ll just eat them or what. The other thing I did was use my bread maker to make an awesome loaf of white bread…which is great with jam. I’d been looking at the breadmaker for awhile, telling myself I should either use it or get rid of it, and on Tuesday I tried to use it. Well, I did use it, except I realized after I started putting the recipe together that I had the wrong kind of yeast. The bread turned out…okay…but not great. (I did some improvising to try to make it work.) In any case, yesterday I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out great, except maybe too big! It rose so high it got squished down on top!

So then I got carried ahead (I am prone to do this) and have plans to make another jam soon (it’s apple based) and then ended up finally biting the bullet on an idea I’d been kicking around for awhile: I joined a CSA. We will do every other week pick-ups (I’m trying Local Farmer Crop Boxes, and I know it’s winter and not the best time of year, but it will only get better, and I figure they wouldn’t offer the box if they didn’t have stuff to give you, and the website shows some foods I want to eat—potatoes and mushrooms and other stuff) and I think it’ll push me to try new veggies and such. I also want to do a few more canning things over the summer, some pickles, maybe salsa, maybe who knows, and we never seem to make it to farmer’s markets due to our schedules, so a CSA is like buying a ticket—I HAVE to pick up the box (and I picked a time that will work) or else I’ve wasted my money. 

In any case, canning doesn’t seem so hard after all! I have memories of being a kid and using this big metal thing with holes on the sides and a giant wooden stick to smoosh the tomatoes down, and we made homemade tomato sauce and pickles. Mom, do you remember those? Did we can using a water bath? (I guess I can ask you over the phone, but maybe you’re reading this first.) Suzanne, Louie’s partner before me, also canned, and I feel only a little bit weird doing it because of that (I’m not sure I’ve ever said this on the blog, but she died of cancer before I met Louie, but I’m sure she was a really cool person, especially since I’ve met her mom and sisters.) I also think I’ve probably given away a few mason jars over the years in my decluttering, but here we are…you can’t NOT give things away because you might use them 5 years later, unless you absolutely know you will! They aren’t so expensive in any case, but this is a thing, isn’t it, you think, oh why did I give that away 5 years ago, I wish I still had it. But then you would have had it taking up space, collecting dust, for 5 years, and who knows if you ever really even had the right thing. I guess the real solution is to never buy anything either?

In any case…I felt really accomplished with those little jars. Very instagram worthy, really, but the truth is also: the jam is delicious! Or at least the small amount I tried (I had to taste it, of course, plus a little didn’t fit into the jars) was. I know you’re seeing me do a lot of random stuff here: I am still cross-stitching, of course, but not so much this week because I’ve been busy with the opera (well, and making my jam) and also because my right pinky was hurting and I think maybe too much stitching was exacerbating the problem. I am working on finishing a project for Louie for Valentine’s Day and that’s why I haven’t shared any pictures: it’s a surprise for him. And besides, I have time for many hobbies

Okay, so after all the canning success (I wasn’t sure it was a success until today when I checked the seals and YES they definitely all sealed) Louie and I met some friends at Little Fox for a great dinner because going to Jazz at the Bistro for a show with Delvon Lamarr’s Organ Trio.  The food was great: grilled trout, chicory salad, wild mushrooms, Straccitella, and for dessert, a piece of Olive Oil Cake. The show was also great—the trio had organ, guitar, and drums, and we stayed for both sets. We have a “pick your own” subscription from Jazz at the Bistro, and together with the other couple, we have to choose at least 4 shows per season—you get a valet parking pass (for free!) and 10 percent off ticket prices with the subscription. This season we chose 6 shows, I believe. We go to the 7:30 on Saturday show, but then if tickets are available for the 9:30 show you can see it for no additional cost, so we usually do.

It was a late night, only because I had an early wake up this morning for a church service. I was playing at Ladue Chapel, and I love the music director there, so it was fun. It was a tiring morning though, with a short rehearsal and two church services, and then I had to play the opera, so as you can imagine, I’m pretty tired right now.

This week is a little stressful, only because I agreed to play a viola job on Thursday morning. I am not as comfortable (this is an obvious understatement) playing the viola, so I’ve been practicing the part a bit. I also had to reschedule a few students—I might not ordinarily have agreed to do a gig at this time, but a colleague needed help, plus this was one I really did want to play. I’m waiting to hear from a few students, which means I don’t exactly know what my week is like, and you know that makes me feel a little more stressed out. I will likely get it all sorted and scheduled by the end of the day tomorrow.

Anyway, after I finish this blog post and Louie stops working, we are going to continue watching The Man in the High Castle. Tomorrow is Monday, as I’ve mentioned, but this semester Monday’s aren’t as busy. I teach at Lindenwood University on Mondays, and in the fall I was there from 9:15 to 4:30 or so…and this semester it’s only noon to 4:30, which means I have the morning to exercise and practice. (I have more students at Washington University, so money wise it’s totally fine.). After that, I drive home and teach private students until 8:30. That’s my Monday…very glamorous! I am playing viola with my ensemble at LU this semester, I believe—I’d hoped to have a viola player but things didn’t work out, but I really want to have the string quarter anyway, so I will join them. It’ll be a lot of fun! (I enjoy viola playing, but don’t feel confident sight-reading, and worry about being in tune up in higher positions. I know you want to make a viola joke there, but I’m baring my soul here, people.)

Any canning hints/advice? How do you think I got the cat in the box on top of the fridge?