All posts by hannahviolin

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

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I did it, you guys, I put up a tree!

IMG_0475

Look closely, if you think you only see one cat. There are two.

I put up my fake tree and pretty much right away Muriel started climbing up the middle of it. I left it undecorated for about a day, but nothing really bad happened, so I figured, what the heck, I’ll decorate the rest of it. I decided not to put out any breakable or exceptional ornaments so they couldn’t break anything that would upset me. It has been a hoot, I tell you, a hoot.

IMG_0483

IMG_0479

IMG_0485

I feel like everything is really festive right now! It’s actively snowing as I write, I have all sorts of decorations, I’m in the middle of writing/addressing Christmas Cards (if you want one, email me your address), and it’s just a good time. I’m brainstorming what kind of cookies to bake this year: I think I’ll make two kinds for Christmas, so I’m trying to settle on what those should be.  I’m thinking of doing jam-filled butter cookies and something chocolate-y. If you have alternate cookie suggestions let me know!

I am a little weird, as you know, and I realized that I’m not one of those musicians who hates Christmas music. I actually really enjoy it! I am not even playing as much of it this year as some years-last year I had a rehearsal for a gig that isn’t Christmas music, and one of my colleagues commented that she was relieved to play non-Christmas music for once, and it took me aback a little, because I love Christmas music. Now, I suppose maybe I’m forgetting things, or maybe I’m just hormonal, but that’s how I feel right now. I’ve only played one actual Christmas gig so far, so I’m certainly not overwhelmed by the music yet, and I always love this time of year!

I think another reason I’m feeling festive is that the end of the semester is so close, and this fall has been particularly hard. I finally got to have lunch with a friend I hadn’t been able to see for quite some time and it was really nice! I definitely haven’t been spending much time with friends and I miss it. I chat with my students and parents and colleagues, but it’s not the same when you’re on the clock, is it? I do value some of those relationships quite a lot too, and I know this time of our lives can be the busiest. All those people say that being busy for busy’s sake isn’t good, but what about just being busy because there is simply too much to do? This is why I’m happy to step back a little right now!

I’m looking forward to this weekend. Louie and I are going to see the Symphony play the Messiah (to a musician, this might sound insane, but Louie has never seen the Messiah that he can remember, and he thought it sounded like fun, and you know what, I probably haven’t seen it either!), and we are going to the Lafayette Square Tour of Homes on Sunday. I’ve also got a Viola Christmas event on Saturday organized by my friend Eliana, a student’s Senior Recital to attend, and a couple of gigs, one Christmas music, one not. It should be a good weekend!

Okay so in the comments, tell me your favorite holiday cookies/recipes! Email me if you want a holiday card Smile

Almost December

Another year is almost behind us all! I remember when I was a little kid it seemed like it took FOREVER to get through December, but I am certain the rest of this year will fly by for me. Since Thanksgiving fell early this year, it seems to me that this past week was a sort of “bonus week” in the holiday rush, and now we are getting down to brasstacks.

I was supposed to have three students today followed by a rehearsal, but I’ve had two cancel, so it’ll be one student, practice time, then a rehearsal. I find some of my college students get a bit overwhelmed at the end of the semester and can’t always make their lessons. I try to be strict, as it’s for credit, but also understanding, because I know how it is to be totally overwhelmed. It’s different if they are a music major or even a music minor—I feel like their lessons are more integral to their degree in those cases. I also try to be accommodating, and end up teaching some make up lessons during reading and finals week.

IMG_0426

I do plan to do some Christmas decorating this weekend. Last year I bought a few Nutcracker figurines in an after-Christmas sale, and I put them up on the mantel this week (I had stored them in a different place than my regular decorations). One of my students last night told me she thought they were creepy and felt like they were staring at her! I thought this one was particularly cute.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

I thought I’d get a post up earlier, but I just haven’t had the time. I rarely sit down with my computer these days. I do most of my emailing even at my phone, or I do a quick email if I want to use a keyboard. But here we are!

Thanksgiving went by quickly. I had one actual day off, and my parents came up for a quick visit and to see Aladdin. I had double performances on all the other days around Thanksgiving, and this was the third week of the show, so I’d been pretty busy! I love playing these shows, but it’s 8 shows a week on top of my regular 45 ish student teaching schedule…life gets very busy. This was my last one this season, so the spring will be much less busy, though I always have extra gigs and such.

IMG_0393

Anyway! It ended up being a gorgeous day on Thanksgiving, so first my Mom and I made pies (apple crisp, pecan pie, pumpkin pie), then we went to Laumeier Sculpture Park to walk around. Louie’s mom was hosting us for Thanksgiving and we were grateful not to have too much to do.

IMG_2826

We found a large eyeball. Any giants missing one?

IMG_0389

We went and walked around Washington University as well. We thought of getting four bikes to rent, but didn’t have enough phones with the app on it to rent them (you needed one phone for each bike rental). Dad is the more experienced biker so he did the riding.

IMG_0392

It was good to see my parents, even for a short visit, so I’m glad they made it up. If we’d have the snow storm from the week before they might not have come! I didn’t take any pictures of Thanksgiving dinner, but it was delicious. Then I was back to work the next day, and finished the show on Sunday.

It’s nice that college teaching is winding down. The semester is an odd thing: you work really hard for like 15 weeks and then you have a month off, or more in the summer. I have a few students doing various performances but mostly people are simply winding down and focusing on their other classes and projects. Lessons are only 1 credit mostly, so it isn’t a huge commitment unless they are a performance major.

I’m hoping to put up my (fake)Christmas tree this weekend. I thought I’d put it up and see how the cats react, and then if things seem okay add the ornaments a little later? It’s been suggested to put only soft ornaments down low that they can be “naughty” with and think they are getting away with something. I don’t know how much cats think like that, but it’s probably a good idea either way.

IMG_0371

Louie and I have a few festive activities planned for December, including a few concerts, a house tour, and we are hoping to finally hit up the Garden Glow at the Botanical Gardens (we’ve never been) this season. I was thinking to myself that I didn’t have many gigs in December, but I added things up and I do have 12 different gigs in December, so that probably is enough!

How was your Thanksgiving? What holiday activities are you planning to do this December?

Clara. Grandma. Mom.

I always loved my grandmother’s name. I think it’s such a beautiful name, and you don’t hear it THAT often these days. (I’m thinking Dr. Who, Schumann…but do I know any other Claras in real life?)

My Grandma passed away October 30. I hadn’t seen her in over a year, at my uncle Sam’s funeral the summer before. I could say it’s because it is hard to get away and visit people, but I could have made more of an effort, I suppose. When I lived in Cleveland it was only about a 2 1/2 hour drive so I visited my relatives in the area more often, but since moving to St Louis, and then getting divorced, not having children, and feeling like I didn’t quite fit into my extended family…I guess I just didn’t visit quite as often.

My parents were there with her, and my aunts and uncles, and I know that she knew she was loved, and we knew that we were loved as well. One of my aunts shared that one of the last things Grandma said to her was “I love you all.” My heart especially goes out to all my aunts and uncles, and my parents, for their loss. They had her in their lives for so long and she will leave a large hole, but hopefully that hole is filled with love and all the memories.

I wrote this post on facebook, so I’ll share it here, along with a picture of my grandparents with me and the quilt that Grandma made me. I don’t use it, because of the pets…it’s too beautiful and they would destroy it!

IMG_0343

IMG_0257

I think this was in 2006 or 2007?

Here’s her obituary.

I feel like some connection to the past has been broken, and that now I am suddenly older and my childhood is so much more in the past. Isn’t that weird? I am so lucky in that both my parents are still alive and healthy, and so of course I still have that connection, but I guess now that they are the oldest generation I feel like I am that much closer to being so…it has made me do some soul-searching and thinking about life, and what I want out of it.

I had a thought recently that I had been seeing my life as a linear path, and realized that all along I’d been making choices, just not quite as consciously as I realize I am now. I keep getting distracted by what other people want, what I think other people want, and what society wants, and not listening so much to what I want. Often I’m not even entirely sure what that is…do I want to lie around in bed and read, or do I want to go out and explore a state park, or see a concert or museum? I don’t want to work all the time, but I do enjoy the feeling of a job well done, and I enjoy earning and having the respect of my colleagues and my students. I guess soul-searching is always a good thing, isn’t it?

I will miss you, Grandma. Thanks for being so warm and loving to your grandchildren, and thanks for all the cookies. I will always carry a part of your legacy in my heart.

Busy and Tired

I’m overly busy, and I’ve had so much going on, not all good. But I’m here, and I’m getting through it, and Thanksgiving will be lovely!

I’ll write more later, but I just wanted to pop in in case you are a loyal reader and wondered what happened to me. Louie and I went on a lovely hike one day at Buford Mountain, that I’ll share with you more later, but then I found out less than two days later that my grandmother passed away and that just threw everything into a whirlwind mess of figuring out how to get to Ohio and how to cancel or reschedule things. Then I came back and now I’m playing three weeks of a show at the Fox Theater here and things are just crazy. Oddly (for a musician especially) December looks way better, and I’m planning some fun holiday activities for us to relax and enjoy ourselves more. It’s been a bit too much, honestly.

But I’m still here. Things are okay!

Pere Marquette State Park

Louie and I had Sunday off, so we decided to drive up to Grafton, Illinois to hike at Pere Marquette State Park. I’d been there before to play a couple of weddings, but never to hike. I knew the drive would be beautiful as well-after you go through Alton you drive along the Mississippi River on the Great River Road.

The weather was sunny and a little bit cool, so perfect weather for hiking. We parked by the visitor’s center (which was closed even though the parking lot was practically full—make a note of that if you expect to pick up a trail map at the visitor’s center) and headed out.

If you look at the trail map, we went up the Dogwood to the Ridge Trail, (to the highest point,McAdams Peak) to Hickory, to Hickory North, and then back around on Hickory South. We debated the Fern Trail, but decided to go head for lunch instead. We’d hoped to hike the Goat Cliff trail, but it was REALLY muddy/looked flooded at the beginning so we decided against it.

IMG_0159

The fall colors are here, though not super strong, and it was just really pretty.

IMG_0160

IMG_0167

It’s worth pointing out that the river was pretty high all along the road, and on the river side of the park we saw a picnic shelter which was partially under water. After our hike we walked over to check out the Lodge, which was built by the CCC in the 1930’s. It’s worth checking out if you are in the area.

Next, we headed back towards Alton to visit the Old Bakery Beer Company. I’d heard good things about the brewery, and when I saw they had an Impossible Burger and a vegetarian Reuben on the menu I knew we had to try it. It was good! We split a flight of beers and had sandwiches.

IMG_0174

All in all, it was a really nice day. Nothing too strenuous, but just fresh air, good food, and good company.

When we got home I of course had a headache from (probably) the beer. Afternoon drinking is never good for me, even though I enjoyed tasting the beers. I had thought to go to a concert at Wash U that evening, but I just didn’t have the energy and thought it would make my headache worse, so I just relaxed and lay down while Louie did some work.

We both have this Sunday off again too so we are planning another Sunday Funday! It’ll be the last one before Christmas, so hopefully the weather is good enough to get some outside activities in. My backup plan had been to go to IKEA, so that’s always an option Winking smile