All posts by hannahviolin

I am a violinist. I also enjoy running, working out, reading, and hanging with my friends and cat.
Hiking

The confluence

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Last weekend my parents came to visit. After they got vaccinated, they went on a road trip, first to Phoenix to visit my sister Leslie and her kids, then to some National Parks (Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands), and then took their time driving through Kansas and Missouri to get to me on a weekend when I had days off. Me, days off on weekends, I still can’t quite get used to it!

Anyway, they arrived last Friday just in time for us to watch my sister Carrie play a recital for her doctoral degree at CUNY.  We set up the livestream on the big TV.

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Carrie played a great recital with a wide variety of pieces and we clapped after each piece even though she couldn’t hear us. We were all very proud.

After that, I had one lesson to teach before being done for the weekend, so I did that and then we just hung out, took a walk around the neighborhood, baked a dessert, and eventually got takeout from an Indian/Nepali restaurant, Himalayan Yeti. I hadn’t been impressed with them a few years ago, but Louie randomly got dinner there a month earlier and I loved it, so we did it again. After dinner we watched a movie, Nomadland. I like streaming, but in a way I miss the days of just going to a movie store and picking out the movies: we had to do a lot of research and then sign up for a Hulu account in order to watch the movie. Rental prices are crazy, like $20 for a rental, are you serious?

So, a few years ago when my parents were visiting we had considered visiting Columbia Bottom Conservation Area, where you can visit the Confluence of the Missouri and MIssissippi Rivers. We decided against it at that time and did something else, so we thought this would be a good time to do it: easy social distancing due to not being very popular. It was lightly raining, but nothing you couldn’t walk around in. Right before we were going to leave, I thought of checking the website, and I’m glad I did…the website said that due to the floods in 2019 that:

All the area trails have been damaged and are closed. Conditions are rugged and uneven in many places. Users may hike these trails at their own discretion

AND

The road from parking lot L to the confluence is closed. Area users may park at lot L and hike to the confluence (approx. 1 mile)

This information seemed a bit conflicting to us, and we focused on the bit that said “area users may…hike to the confluence”.

So, off we went! We got to the park and found that yes, some of the roads were closed, but we drove through on in the Subaru on the gravel roads and did pass one or two other cars. The birds were out in full force and that was great to see. We found Parking Lot L and parked, and then realized, that yes, the trail was overgrown with weeds and mud. I don’t think we really realized how much damage there still was from the flooding of 2019, and had assumed the website was being dramatic, after all, it had been nearly two years. Nevermind that those years were during a globalwide pandemic and likely there was little funding given to the cleanup.

We decided we would try to get there and worst case, would just turn around and not see the confluence.

It’s important to note that in the past, one could drive up right to a parking lot and just hop out. We had hiked there in the past as well.

Well, we mostly walked along that road, which was mostly overgrown with weeds. It was pretty amazing to see how quickly a road can turn into nothing…I think it was a two lane road and at times it was less than one lane. We walked through some large puddles and a few muddy places, and we kept thinking we might have to turn around, but kept forging ahead.

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Can you see the sign that says “Bus Parking”? That’s how overgrown things were.

We finally got to a place when the road completely ended, but found a route through a bush where obviously people had gone, and then I went ahead to see if there was a way through, and found that it was easy enough, just a bit of wandering in the woods.

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It may not look like much, but that is the confluence of the Missouri (left) and Mississippi (right) rivers. It was overcast, but you could see a little ripple where they come together, after all those miles and miles. So much of our land and history (and those who came before us, the native Americans as well) are based on these rivers running throughout the country, and it is fascinating to see one turning into the other.

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You can see the little point of land before the rivers converge behind us.

We were pretty proud to have made it out there to the edge, without having a real path to follow! We noticed we weren’t at the official viewing area though, just a little bit of land you could see through. We started heading back and then we did find the original parking area:

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There is a kiosk there with historical information and a blue pole showing the level of various floods over the years. I suspect 2019 will be the highest yet, if they are able to rebuild. I suppose I don’t actually know if 2019 is the highest yet, but I hope they can rebuild and update it. My dad and Louie are standing in what looks like a yard, but it was a parking area with pavement before, and Louie is holding a “Bus Parking” sign.

Then we realized we might as well try to get back out to the original viewing area, so we found our way there.IMG_8095

You can see the concrete was damaged in the flood and there are several downed trees just sitting around.

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It really seems like quite a bit of damage, all caused by water. Seeing this really gave us a greater understanding of the power of water, somehow even more than the Grand Canyon, because this just happened!

Finally we headed back, and knowing what we were hiking through made it easier than the way out.

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If you look carefully into the green, you’ll see a faint blue square. It is a disabled parking sign. Not a great place to park at the moment, though I joked that those weeds could have grown up in a week, knowing how weeds in my own yard work!

Afterwards, we came back and took turns riding my dad’s electric
“trike.”

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I was a little nervous to take it out, but I went around a few blocks and it was actually super fun and exhilarating to ride!

Later we cooked dinner and watched the movie Knives Out.

The next day we went to Louie’s mom’s for brunch. Everybody except Louie’s brother Julian was fully vaccinated, and Julian had gotten his second shot just that morning. We had a lovely meal and then took a long walk around Forest Park. It was a hot day, actually, and we enjoyed seeing all the flowers and such. After that it was time for our weekly “roll call” online zoom meeting with the rest of the family and then dinner. We watched the Oscars after dinner for a bit, but went to bed earlier.

I woke up earlier to teach my class but then my parents didn’t leave until a few hours later. It was great to see them, especially after so long, and I hope I didn’t make them walk too much.

They took two days to drive home but did get home safely.

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My mom taught me what some of the flowers were called: I guess this is the first year I’ve really paid attention to what is coming up. Anyway, the second two above are irises Smile

Have you visited the Confluence?


Random thoughts, Teaching

Patio Furniture

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We ordered some patio furniture a few weeks ago from Overstock.com. It didn’t seem to really be overstocked though, because it said it would be shipped in 6 to 10 weeks! I looked around and found the same furniture at Home Depot, but it cost about $80 more for the set (two chairs, small table) so we decided to just wait it out. Well, we got “lucky” and it only took about a month to get here. I am pleased with it, and think it makes the house look sharper. It’ll also be a nice place for people to hang out outside, whether that is me and Louie, my students, friends, family, whatever.

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We did a lot of organizing and some cleaning yesterday, and between this weeks organizing and last week’s garden extravaganza, I feel like we are starting to get a real hold on the house and its surroundings. The garage is still a bit of a mess, and a few closets here as well, but mostly I know what we have and where it is, and that now includes the garden and landscaping areas. My peas are growing well and grabbing onto their little poles.

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The pictures are from Tuesday, so they’ve grown more since then. We are predicted to possibly get snow on Tuesday, but my understanding is that this should be okay for the peas and the chard also (I have a few tiny chard seedlings popping up), though my flower pots, I’m not sure. I have a few pots with things in them, some of which have some tiny tiny leaves popping up, do I bring them inside where the cat will definitely eat them? That’s a no, but maybe I could put them in the garage. I’ll keep my eyes on the forecast.

Other stuff going on: my parents are visiting next weekend, so I’ve taken Friday afternoon and Saturday morning off from teaching. I basically have a full week ahead though, but getting to the end of April means getting to the end of college classes….there’s only 3 more weeks and then I’ll gain about 9 hours a week back. That will be huge as far as having my days more free. I’ll have my early morning classes until the end of school, and I still regularly teach from 3 to 8 or 8:30 most days with a few morning or earlier students, but having more time during the day means I can relax a bit more and get things done during the week.

Another fun thing we did yesterday was put up a few tiles I wanted to hang in the bathroom. Louie is always hesitant to put things on the walls when it’s a “new” wall (aka dry wall rather that the old plaster with wood paneling on top) so I have to really convince him and let him come around. He agreed that the tiles looked really nice.

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This was one I bought from Etsy awhile back because I thought it reminded me of Muriel and Miles and also matched the color scheme well.

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The walls are light blue, though the photo doesn’t reflect that as well. They are definitely a little bluer in person.

And this little tile: I think it was a gift from Leslie years and years ago and I just never hung it up. I had it sitting on my dresser instead, but this is better.

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You can see it is very small.

I am happy with the little touches I’ve made on the house over the years. I was thinking how Louie’s mom, who lives in a beautifully decorated house, full of art, plants, and other personal touches, once said she wished they had bought a vacation home just so she would have another house to decorate, that once she got hers full of things she loved she kind of wished she could keep going. Of course she moves things around and it’s not always the same (and I also think she was speaking a bit tongue-in-cheek), but I think that idea is what keeps so many people keep redecorating and remodeling: it’s fun to live around new places, and look for new little things to buy and display, isn’t it?

I also feel like we here in my house move a bit slower, and that’s okay too. Maybe it takes a year or move to finally decide where to put a tile, but that just means we are more deliberate people. Smile

I can’t believe two things: 1) my parents are visiting next weekend, after this whole pandemic thing kept them from traveling for a long time and 2) my students are coming back to my house next week. Not all, but some. (It is absolutely their choice.) It will mean real pants, but I think it’ll be really great to see everybody after so long.

Oh, and 3) that snow is predicted for Tuesday. Nothing really big, but still. It’s late April!

Random thoughts

April Showers

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We have been having a lot of rain, though I noticed my flowers in the front of the house still looked like they needed more. Maybe they actually needed more sun, I don’t know, they got all droopy and sad looking, so I watered them and moved them to the back where there is full sun. In the front the roof might have been keeping them from getting enough water from the rain, and also from the sun. IMG_7987

In any case, it’s been a busy two weeks, but things are settling down. I had some extra stuff for Holy Week (as the Catholics call it), a rehearsal one evening, and then some services on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. I also got/had to attend one of my student’s senior recitals, which was wonderful, but was another thing to do. This week has been better but I was still exhausted from the previous week, so I’m really looking forward to relaxing and working around the house/garden today and tomorrow. I’ve gotten a bit obsessed with the garden. I got a few new tools, some great gloves, and all kinds of flower pots. I’ve already planted various flowers, trying to get some rhubarb going in one place for the future, and made a super crude pole area for some peas to climb up. Those I planted about a month ago and they are doing well (last I checked.) Today or tomorrow I need to do some weeding and keep working on the rest of the garden soil to get it ready for planting in early May. I also want to fill some new tiny pots I got and plant some flower seeds in them and see how that all goes.

I’ve been really excited about flowers this spring. It is likely because this spring feels so much more hopeful, what with vaccinations and perhaps returning to life, and also because I am getting older, and growing things is more appealing because time goes by faster, and also because I think I feel more settled into this house and have a better sense of ownership over it and the outside. And frankly, Louie doesn’t care if I plant things or weed, and he is happy if I make things better because he barely has the time for anything what with teaching all of his hybrid courses and working on his doctorate.

I’ve been working on some policy changes for my private studio going forward and trying to figure out what I want things to look like for the next few years, at least. It’s been fun, but it is phenomenal how much time I can spend revising a document to send to my students, and working with other stuff like that. I hope to add a few more students in the next month, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to make it all work. I also have been trying to streamline the “onboarding” process and have some ready to go materials to send people. It doesn’t really matter, because only about half of them read it anyway, and I know that I can be wordy, so another thing I’m doing with my new policy document is to make a quick “here’s the important stuff” list, followed with the real details.

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I’m planning to start teaching again in person in about two weeks, and I realized I wanted another music stand. I used to give my students the music stand and not use one myself and I decided not to do that anymore, that I want a stand for my music and things. So of course I didn’t want to buy a black stand, because I am a colorful person, and it didn’t cost much more to buy a green stand! It matched my carpet more on the computer screen but I still love it. I can’t believe I’ll be having kids back in the house soon!

For anybody wondered: by then my household will be totally vaccinated, as well as quite a few of the parents of my students, as well as most of my adult students. I will ask everybody to wear masks nonetheless and we will run an air filter and have the windows open as long as possible. I will only be teaching about 1/2 of my students in person at this time, and I’ll limit each lesson to the student plus one parent or sibling in the house at once. They will be asked to have an online lesson if they have been exposed to anybody with COVID or have any potential symptoms/illness. Lastly, I will have each student wait outside if I am teaching an in-person student before their lesson so there is only one extra party in the house at any time. I think these precautions are MORE than the schools are doing yet also similar than what the schools are doing. We’ll also wash hands frequently and such, but I think if we are wearing masks it really covers most of the issues, especially with me being vaccinated.

Things I’m not doing: taking extra time between lessons. Some guidelines say to do that, but I don’t have the time. There will be many times I have online lessons in between in person lessons, but I’m not setting it up in any specific way. Everybody coming back has signed an agreement that they know COVID is contagious, that there is an inherent risk of some kind, and that they will follow all protocols and stay home if exposed or sick, and I think it’ll work out. Our vaccinated numbers here are only getting higher and higher.

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I was thinking about how as a household with two adults, we can really say our household is protected against COVID after we are vaccinated, and those with kids have to wait longer. I was also thinking about the sort of fights between those with and those without kids, and how both sides always feel they are getting the brunt of the pain. As a childfree person, it is only in the past few years that people have stopped asked me when am I having kids, or why don’t I have kids, or telling me that I will understand (fill in the blank, ranging from true unconditional love to how to teach the violin properly) once I have kids. I have been insulted for not having children or told I’ll regret it, experienced overly personal questions about why I wouldn’t be having kids, and so on. At this point in my life, it doesn’t really bother me. There were times earlier in my life where I know I said similar things to people, said that not having kids was selfish, or asked overly personal questions about why people didn’t have kids, because I didn’t know any better either. We grow up surrounded by people with kids and you don’t realize there are people without kids, really, until you get older. At least I think for most people!

I think the pandemic was hard (IS hard) on everybody, and those with kids may think it is harder on them, and it may well be, but I know that the past year and months has been incredibly difficult for this household, and we are ready to be done with it. I know many have suffered more, and that many have had much more loss. I think we will have a collective grieving period, trying to recover, and I imagine it will be more difficult trying to grieve and recover from something that many never saw as a big deal, even as people died around them.

So those are my Saturday morning thoughts…mortality, grief, not having kids and disappointing my mother, and rain. The rain is lovely, and I hope it means my pea plants will grow tall.

Hope, Quarantine

Feeling Good

I got my second shot yesterday morning, and so far, other than a sore arm (which happens to me with flu shots too) I am feeling good.

I was tired all day yesterday, but that started before the shot. I attribute it to starting back at my early morning job and having a really long day on Tuesday. I probably teach too much, and I especially taught too much on Tuesday (I had 11 hours of teaching!) but it’s not like I do that every day. I told Louie, well, nurses work 12 hour shifts and nobody tells them, oh my god how do you do that? He pointed out they work 3 of those a week, and I countered that they usually do 4 because they love the overtime, and then we decided that probably working slightly more than 3 hours a day (what many people seem to think is an appropriate amount of teaching, what, how would I make a living) and less than 11 is a more ideal amount of hours.

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I also like to look at the overall week of work. Tuesdays this semester ended up being really busy because I have 3 1/2 hours of college students normally on Tuesdays. Last semester I had zero hours of college students on Tuesdays. I can’t move all my private students around every semester, so I just fit college teaching into the regular day. It’s a bit unpredictable, because I would prefer to put the college students on Fridays, and often manage to put a lot of them there, but it doesn’t always work out for them. Overall I’m averaging 38-40 hours a week of teaching, plus a few hours of commuting time, so it seems like a lot, but is reasonable. I don’t have a ton of admin as I’ve streamlined it quite a lot, so probably only 1 to 3 hours outside of that, depending on the week (maybe more at the end of the quarter or preparing for festival). I do have weekly grading to do for my school job, but it usually only takes 15 to 20 minutes.

I should say that I haven’t been finding a lot of time for practicing though, and would like to get into a better routine for that. I don’t see myself dropping back my teaching commitments any time soon though, so maybe I should just figure it out!

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Another important thing to note is that my work is seasonal, and that college semesters are really only 8 months of the year, and school is out June through August, so I like to work a little more so in the summer it’s okay to work a little less. Last summer I didn’t really work less, but I’m sure this summer people will be back to normal camps and such so they won’t be taking weekly lessons throughout the summer and I’ll miss some of the income/have more time off.

Just some random thoughts this morning! Keep wearing masks!

*it is worth noting that today ended up being a 3 hour teaching day though it was supposed to be four, and now I’m in a short break before a rehearsal for a Good Friday service. I started this post in the morning and then got distracted by various tasks. It is also worth noting I feel great and my arm isn’t too sore anymore either, I recommend exercise with lots of arm swinging!

Hope, Random thoughts, Teaching

March Goes Out like a Lamb

This has been my “spring break” from one of my jobs, which has been nice. I’ve gotten to sleep in a bit, and a few students have missed so I’ve caught up on some admin tasks and other things I needed to do.

Over the weekend, we planned to do a nice long hike because there was excellent weather, but I ended up hurting my lower back and had to scratch that idea. I’ve been getting better, doing yoga videos and taking ibuprofen and such, and I think I’ll just keep doing some of the yoga going forward because it has been a lot of fun and feels good.

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We did go over to some friends for dinner Sunday night and enjoyed outdoor time with people not from our household, which…was missed. I miss seeing people, and really can’t wait. I’ll get my second shot in less than one week though, so it is only a little bit longer until I’m fully vaccinated.

I’ve been working on some things for my studio, some policies changes for fall that I am working on and will announce to them probably at the beginning of May, and figuring out a “return to in-person lessons” plan. After Louie and I are both fully vaccinated, in late April, it seems like it might be time to start trying to get back to it, if we wear masks and take reasonable precautions. If the kids can be in school, I think they can come to their lessons, if they and their parents want…after my household is fully vaccinated. I hope also that the kids’ parents will be vaccinated, but it shouldn’t matter too much if we are wearing masks, if I run a good air filter, and maybe even leave the windows open (at least a bit), and limit the number of students at one time.

So that’s all exciting, but strange. I assume I’ll have a mix of in-person and online students for a bit, so I’ll have to work on the logistics, but I think it’ll be wonderful to start returning to normalcy. That might mean that within a month I’ll have to start wearing real pants to teach with!

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I thought the sky yesterday looked really cool in my neighborhood.

I got a few more plants and things yesterday at Home Depot. I am trying to grow a few things in pots as well and spruce up the front of our house. It’s a little tricky, I realized, because we don’t get much sun in the front of the house, but lots in the back. There’s a lot to growing things and gardening, but I have been enjoying just trying my hand at it. I have some brainstorming ideas as well, such as making a wildflower area in our yard to attract bees and tearing down the horrible back porch we have (it is just awful, needs to be redone, but we don’t know if we want to redo it in the same way, so my latest idea is to demo it FIRST and then see what we miss about it, which I suspect will be, a way to get out the back door upstairs and nothing else.)

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The front of our house is in need of some TLC, some paint mostly, but a bit of concrete work, but I thought flowers would cover it up and make people think we care a little bit. That white splotching is where the red paint has worn off, and there’s some white paint peeling in the front, maybe these are things to look at this summer? Home ownership can be a constant time suck, I’ve realized, if you let yourself get bogged down by all the small things that are wrong. I really don’t want to spend all of my free time doing things around the house and would prefer to read, but I suppose a few things are okay.

Books!

Recently read:

Super Host by Kate Russo: I enjoyed this book quite a lot, though there was a gratuitous (in my opinion) sexual assault scene that happened to one of the characters (spoiler alert, simply for that, it isn’t graphic, but it just seemed unnecessary). Otherwise I thought it was well done, a unique novel set up, and felt modern.

Wandering in Strange Lands by Morgan Jerkins: nonfiction, a Black woman tracks down her family history and roots, a great read, very interesting and thought provoking, highly recommend.

(forgive me if I already told you the following, but I couldn’t find where I did)

Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad: I cried a lot during this book, so just a warning, but it’s good. It’s a book about the author, the story of her getting sick, dealing with it and the aftermath. I felt a personal connection to the story of difficulties Suleika was going through because I met Louie shortly after his wife died of cancer, and it made me see a bit more how that might have felt, from a different point of view. I think that’s partly why I cried so much, but it was a good cry.

Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah: good! This was a bit longer ago so I forget exactly, but I liked it quite a lot.

Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende: good in a different way. I need to read more Isabel Allende.

How about you? Any books to recommend? Thoughts on protocols for returning to in-person lessons?

Random thoughts

Getting things done

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The other day I needed to go to the DMV because I need a real ID and my license is expiring soon. Errands are tough these days, right? I gathered all my documents and more (piece of advice for the DMV, always bring 2 to 3 more documents than you think because they won’t like a few of them and then you can try again). This errand took about 45 minutes, and then I realized I had some time and could check off some more errands. I haven’t done a good errand running morning since BEFORE, because of things being closed, or too crowded, or worries about getting sick, or all of those things.  So I went to get passport photos at a place, but it wasn’t open yet (too early in the morning) and then I drove around the block and saw that I could quickly get an oil change…it was a very productive morning and the only thing I have left to do with all of that now is mail in my passport, which means I should go to the Post Office to send it priority.

It’s funny how NORMAL I felt driving around doing things. It made me feel alive and hopeful that someday soon we can truly be back to normal, where if you need something at a shop you just head out and get it, or you make a list of 3-5 errands to run in a morning and get started, without worrying, do they have proper distancing procedures, will they even be open, will millions of people already be there?

There is hope! And light at the end of the tunnel, and all of the analogies one can make.

I had been putting off some other plans as well, waiting to decide what to do for my studio’s May Recital. And then it hit me: rent a pavilion at Tower Grove Park. I thought, oh they might already all be booked, what a great place to hang out in these times. But I was able to get one for the day I wanted (hopefully a day that will work for students) and I think it’ll be really fun. We’ll do an outdoor recital, we’ll hope for good enough weather, and the students will get to have interaction with the other students. I’ll figure out the mask rules later, and whether we can do a reception, and other details, but it’s long enough away that for now I just sent out a “Save the date” and I hope that most families will feel comfortable attending. I think many of the parents will be vaccinated by then so it should be a relatively safe, and in my opinion, very “worth it” activity.

So it’s been a productive week for me, and it feels good. It might be the typical spring feeling, of the weather warming up and wanting to come out of hibernation, but it might also be the feeling of hope and feeling like yes, we are going to make it, we just have to stick it out for another month or two and then we can live our lives again.

I’ve figured out my plans for how to do this whole career thing too, to keep teaching a bunch but not take every gig. I will take some though, but just more thoughtfully. It’s tempting to want to fill every blank space on the calendar, but I’ve definitely learned that blank space is good.

There you have it. Happy Friday to you all, can you believe it is another Friday already?