And by that I mean it’s been really hot. Though, technically, yes, it is officially summer. And as usual, it’s flying by.

Every summer I have loads of ideas in my mind of things I want to do or accomplish. Every summer I get through many or some of them, but mostly time just flies by and honestly, I forget how HOT it gets (how quickly we forget).

One of the life goals Louie and I have is to make sure to take advantage of opportunities to experience new things. This ranges from taking hikes, taking trips, going to shows and concerts, and whatever else pops up. Sometimes it costs money (concerts, operas, mud runs), sometimes it’s free (hiking) and sometimes it is fairly inexpensive (camping, road trips). 

Friday was the final concert for the music camp I’d been helping out at. I wasn’t required to attend the concert, but I thought it would be fun to see the kids play, and also wanted to catch up with some colleagues. I had a couple of private students playing and thought I might run into their parents as well.

This was the youngest orchestra playing. All the groups did a wonderful job. For one of my students, this camp was his first orchestral experience, and I think he loved it. (I should have encouraged him earlier! I’m trying to do better with encouraging my private students to participate in outside orchestras-some have them at school, but others don’t.)

After I finished teaching, we loaded up a little picnic and went to meet April at Shakespeare in the Park. Each year, there are several weeks of a free outdoor performance of Shakespeare in Forest Park. This was the first time I’d managed to go, and I’m so glad I did. The play was Midsummer Night’s Dream, which I thought I’d seen, but realized, after it started, that I was thinking of Much Ado About Nothing. Anyway, the weather was really fantastic, breezy and not too humid (it had been really hot all week, so we got lucky) and we enjoyed some snacks and drinks while watching a great performance.

Saturday I had to work: two weddings. That somehow took up the whole day! In the evening I just realized and read—Louie was hanging out with a friend from out of town, but I felt I’d been running around all day and just wanted some downtime rather than trying to socialize.

Sunday morning we got up early and took two dogs (we were dogsitting Banjo for the weekend) and met April, who had her dog and another dog, and went for a little hike in Forest 44 Conservation Area. It’s near 44/141 and is a nice place to do a little hiking. We’ve been a few times, and this time we tried a hike we hadn’t done before. It was pretty neat, except for one place where a bridge was out! Luckily we were able to backtrack, as there were a few loops, and we ended up deciding to cross a creek to get to a part of the trail we hadn’t been on yet. The dogs loved it, we were sweating but not too bad, and everybody except me found ticks on themselves afterwards.

I had my selfie stick with me so we got a picture of the whole gang! It’s hard with the dogs because they don’t understand what we are trying to do.

Sunday evening Louie and I had tickets for Shalimar the Clown at Opera Theatre. This was our other show for the Young Friends Subscription. We had some friends who were attending as well, but first we went to get our buffet dinner.  We sat and chatted with people for a few minutes, and this time there was a really friendly “host” sitting with us. She was awesome and made me think, gosh, I should join the Young Friends board. And then I thought, yeah, they probably meet during the week after “normal” people work, like at 5 or 6 on a Tuesday, you know, when “everybody” can make it. But maybe not.

After dinner we hung out with friends (Opera Theatre sets up this whole area with chairs and tables and tents for people to picnic and hang out before and after the shows) until it was time to take our seats for the show. This time our seats were further away, but more center.

Another pre-show picture.

I have to say, I absolutely loved the opera. It was gorgeous: the music, the costumes, the set. It was deep and dramatic, and the story was so tragic, but so good. I love modern opera best, I think. I wish I could see it again, it was that good. I want to watch it again and see what I missed (for instance, that the main female lead played both herself and her daughter, something I didn’t notice until the bows), and to enjoy it again. I just loved it.  I am going to read the book (it’s based on a Salman Rushdie book, Shalimar the Clown) and I hope that other opera companies will perform it, and maybe we will travel to go see it somewhere else . In any case, I have my memories, and my thoughts.

Now we are back into the regular work week. This is a 19 student week, though it’s possible it’ll be a 17 student week. Or less, you just never know. Leslie and Athena are visiting on Thursday and I’m very excited about that, and worried about whether the house will be in proper shape. (probably not, but I’ll do what I can.) We don’t have many plans for the weekend, but I think the zoo is in order, and some restaurants, lots of chitchat and hanging out, and probably reading some books over and over and over, as one does with a toddler

Oh, and I finished “Eligible” by Curtis Sittenfeld. Not my favorite of her books, and I pretty much knew how it would end (it’s a modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice) but it was fun and I enjoyed it. I still think Prep is the best of all her books, though American Wife is a close second.

Woo hoo, there are some pictures from the Mud Run last Sunday!

Things I learned:

1. There’s a lot of waiting in line. For this race, it seemed particularly bad. There was nearly a 30-45 minute wait for one of the obstacles, and probably 10-15 for practically all the others.

2. Mud isn’t so bad. You just have to accept being muddy and dirty. And keep your mouth shut when crawling in the mud.

3. I have no upper body strength and cannot lift myself up. Some of the obstacles I wasn’t able to do because of this. And while maybe I could have gotten a boost from my teammates, maybe it wasn’t quite enough. I need to work on this!

4. I love swimming and I am not afraid of falling in the water. One of the obstacles was crossing a small river/large creek on a rope. There was a rope over and a rope under and people tried to hold out to the top one while walking. It was the scariest thing ever to get started on, as the start was muddy and over an embankment, but I kept telling myself, make it over the water and then it doesn’t matter. I fell in. It was lovely.

5. Running around in a cornfield isn’t that fun. Since the mud run was a 5k, we did a bunch of obstacles (stuff floating in the water, going under ropes over the mud, going through muddy tubes, etc.) but still had to get some running in. I am the worst at running. I can run for a long time, but I’m just so slow. Add to the things I need to work on.

6. It was fun! Mud is fun! We had a great time as a team. Wear old clothes, but they will likely be able to get clean again. Wear old shoes, but don’t assume you can’t wash those either. It’s just mud. After the race they had fire hoses to rinse off, which we thought would be cold but actually were really nice. Bring lots of towels and definitely bring a change of shoes!

My arms are very long.

I look like I’m having fun. I’m not sure if that was actually the case.

Writing your number on your arm was optional, but seemed hard-core. I’m always obsessed with trying to seem hard-core, aren’t I?

Tunnels are hard. I couldn’t crawl anymore so I was pulling myself.

Louie climbing over the wall like a boss. Do the kids still say that?

(April had enough upper body strength that Louie’s boost really helped! TEAMWORK!)

We got mugs at the end of the race. They had also had pint glasses but they only had mugs by the time we finished. At the time we were annoyed, but after drinking out of my mug a few times, I’m happy about it.

The team! Oh, another thing I learned, looking at these photos. I should wear lighter clothing next time so the mud shows up more in the pictures!

Have you ever done a mud run? Would you?

Sigh.

It’s already been a typical summer week. Lots of students missing, some that I knew about, some that I didn’t know about. It’s not that I even have much more time, because the lessons are spread out, it’s that I’m more bored waiting around and have less money coming in.

Summer is always stressful like that. Will I meet my budget projections…will all of my students quit and never return.

I had a new student yesterday though, who was really fun to teach. I’ve lost a few lately, including a few that I’m really sad about who are moving too far away to continue with me. But I’m trying to stay positive!

I found out that I can take a private lesson at the Retreat for Violin Teachers that I’m going to in July (at Indiana University). At first I thought, I don’t need lessons, then I thought, woo hoo, lesson! And there’s a masterclass, which gave me similar feelings of disgust, dread, and then possible elation. We’ll see how it all goes. In any case, I’m working on the Bach C Major Sonata (unaccompanied) for a recital in the fall and my goal is to have it all memorized and performance ready BEFORE our trip in August. The recital is in early October, which means that if I have it ready then, I’ll take 3 weeks off and then get it all back in time for the recital. Now the Retreat is giving me extra incentive to get at least the fugue fully memorized by then. It’s possible. I’m having a lot of fun practicing it. It’s one of the more difficult pieces I’ve playing recently but I feel like I’m getting a handle on it. (I also fear that if I don’t show a proper fear and respect the piece will attack me.)

Somehow I am running two races this weekend. One is a 5k on Saturday for Domestic Violence Prevention. The other is a mud run on Sunday. I must be crazy!

We’ve been trying to get rid of some things at the house. Mostly cat stuff, it feels like. It’s amazing how many cat supplies one accumulates over the years. We’re keeping the cat carriers and maybe a few litter boxes, but getting rid of everything else. (You never know when somebody will have an emergency kitty that needs a home…the fatness fell into my life that way and I assume my next cat will too, but not yet.) It’s sad.

Things are different without cats. In some ways, it’s nice. You can shut doors without worrying about whether a cat has snuck in. You can leave something on the floor without worrying whether a cat will pee on it. No cats are around to steal your ponytail holders or knock your glasses on the floor from the nightstand. No cats getting in the way while you are reading or trying to use the computer.

But they are missed. No snuggles from a tiny warm creature, who acts like she doesn’t care. Sigh.

Anyway, there’s plenty of blogging to look for: still have to tell you about the Grand Canyon trip and I will, I promise, there are just so many pictures to deal with…and we took an epic hike up and around Bell Mountain.

But for now, I must go for a run, do laundry, practice, and teach. How is your summer going so far?

Am I a bad person if I prefer the cashews? I like to pick out the other nuts first so that all that is left is the cashews. I’m a firm believer in saving the best for last.

I feel like I’ve spent hours trying to organize my teaching schedule for this month. It’s probably only been around an hour (which is actually still a lot, in my opinion). I’m missing some lessons and other people are missing and I’m trying to fit in as many lessons as possible on those days I can teach. I’m starting to get ridiculously excited about our upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon, but before that I have a lot to do…as always!

I am a planner, as I’ve said. And I have students that already know exactly which days this summer they want lessons and they are on the calendar. I have other students who don’t even know what they are doing yet, and think I’m crazy (this is me extrapolating) for trying to get them to pin something down that is over a month away. This is one of the challenges of being an independent music teacher: you spend a lot of time scheduling and collecting money and herding cats. (Not literally). I couldn’t do this job as well as I do if I weren’t a planner, but I also have to be able to work well with people who don’t or aren’t able to plan as far ahead. It’s a challenge!

Sometimes I blog while doing other things—I almost forgot I was blogging right now because I got distracted by my email. I tried the whole “check email less often” for about three hours one day and realized it just didn’t work for me. I like people knowing I am quickly reachable by email because it’s a better record of conversations than texting (longer, more searchable, can archive but find again later) and I definitely don’t want people feeling like they have to call in order to do something that can be done via email. Texting is fine too, for last minute things and for quick questions, but for longer conversations and for groups, I think email is easier and clearer. Plus I can type (on the computer) far faster than I can type on my phone. Call me old-fashioned.

Anyway, I’m just rambling. Random thoughts. Does this still count as creating content? (Inside blogger joke). I went for a run this morning. The weather is amazing this week—60’s and low 70’s with sun. May is shaping up to be all right!

Can you believe it’s May already? What does May mean to you? For me May is the last month of school (this matters when you teach school children, even though I’m self employed and aren’t tied to a school schedule exactly) so that means recitals, missed lessons, lots of rescheduling…and USUALLY hot weather.

Not today though. I went for a run this morning wearing shorts and a long sleeve shirt! It was around 60 degrees, which is honestly beautiful weather for running—but strange for May. At least in my recollection. Then again, maybe it’s perfectly normal. In any case, it was a nice day for a run, and I’m glad I got it in before any rain.

So, the weekend was a busy one—I actually had some rehearsals and a performance, plus a cocktail hour. It was a lot of driving to Illinois and around, but I suppose there’ s a good sense of accomplishment Honestly, it’s nice to play with people rather than simply being at home practicing and teaching, so I’m always really glad to have work!

The storms on Saturday were pretty amazing—there was a complete double rainbow. My view from the car wasn’t as nice…but it was still pretty gorgeous. Unfortunately this view meant we were driving directly into the storm!

Let’s see: just a bunch of random stuff. Saturday night Louie and I ate dinner at Sapporo 2  and then went to the second show at Jazz at the Bistro to see a saxophone player named Melissa Aldana. Dinner was really good—we split a few things including Bibimbap with Sashimi, which was unique and delicious. The show was good—the crowd was pretty chill and quiet (I was exhausted so maybe everybody else was too) but Melissa played well. She looked a bit like April from Parks and Rec and had a unique weirdness about her, but it only added to the charm and the fun of the show. I’d definitely see her play again!

Other happenings mostly include hanging out with and taking care of these ridiculous pets.

The next two weeks are pretty busy, and then it’s a week of family and hiking in Phoenix, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon. I can’t believe I’m really looking forward to camping, but I am. We are staying with my sister for a few days, camping for a few days (reread this blog post to see what I daydream about some days), another few days with Leslie (and my NIECE) and then home. This coming weekend Louie and I are planning a big hike in order to “train”.

I’m one of those people who loves planning. I love grand, elaborate plans, excitement, and breaks from routine. It’s part of why the freelance life appeals to me—every day can be different! But teaching can be much the same: every Monday might be the same. So it can get me down a little bit, and I think the past few months have been a bit of slog for me. Nothing against ANY of my students, but it’s more when you put it all together. I think I’ve been doing a bit more complaining here than I should, and I need to embrace things as they are, and I do indeed realize how lucky I am . 

(Lucky that is, if you like the smell of cat urine and enjoy giving twice-daily insulin shots to a cat )

And with that, I’m off. Things to do before I start teaching, as always! Looking forward to a good week.