Random thoughts

midwest weather

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Weather here is crazy. Warm, cold, ice, snow, warm, cold, etc. We had all the seasons from Wednesday to Friday of last week, according to one of my college students. I argued that we didn’t see summer (if we had there wouldn’t still be ice around). In any case, the weather keeps us on our toes, doesn’t it? Today is supposed to be warm by afternoon, but then snow is in the forecast again for later in the week.

We’ve had some fun activities this weekend–dinner at Louie’s mom’s on Friday night (a takeout beer dinner from the Whittemore House) and then we went to Jazz at the Bistro last night with our friends Ben and Roz. We had pizza with them beforehand, and then hung out again afterwards since the second Jazz show was sold out and we couldn’t stay. The show was great: Christian McBride on bass, Benny Green on piano, and Gregory Hutchinson on drums. I would have watched it again if it wasn’t sold out (if there are tickets available for the second show you can trade in for new seats, no additional charge.) Tonight we are going to see a play at the Rep called Stick Fly: they sent a code for discount tickets which were a really good deal and I didn’t want to pass it up. It’s nice getting out and about again.

I have tomorrow morning off from my school job due to President’s Day, but this week we have a big concert on Wednesday. The school is going “masks recommended” starting Tuesday rather than “masks required” so it’s a little stressful. No, there is no vaccine mandate for any employees or students or anyone. They do have protocols in place to put masks back in if the number of COVID cases gets above a certain percentage at any one school, but seeing as we teach students from 5 different schools at a 6th school, it doesn’t really make that much sense to me. The COVID cases are only known because of self-reporting, as well, so I suspect they are underreported. Oh well! We are told there are resources to help with our anxiety and that N95/KN95 masks protect the wearer…

You might ask, how do I feel comfortable going to shows and such but not being at work with unmasked people. The shows ask for vaccine proof or a negative test, and people are required to wear masks. The jazz shows do serve food and drink, but I can choose to keep my mask on, and they require masks and testing, which means that people have had to make extra effort to be there and aren’t likely to show up fully symptomatic, as they might be for school. Also, if I’m going to catch COVID, as I’ve said, I want it to be from something fun. We should be safe at our jobs, at our schools, etc.

I canned some pickled beets with beets from the CSA. I had to get a new canner to go with our induction stove, and the awesome thing is that it’s a steam canner, so it uses way less water.

The steam canner at work.

I’m doing a practice contest with my students starting on March 1. I’ve been working out the details all week, and I got it sent out (well, scheduled to send for tomorrow). I am hopeful it will encourage more practicing and be fun. In a nutshell, the students track their practicing until the end of the semester, and the top three practicers win automatic prizes. In addition, each student gets a “raffle ticket” for each 15 minutes they practice, and then I’ll do a drawing and pick three more winners. I don’t have the prizes yet but am planning on $10 gift certificates to a variety of places, some ice cream places, maybe target, that sort of thing. I think it will be really interesting to see how it goes and to see how much some students practice. It’s a good incentive as we head into contest/recital season. I’ve got several students doing Solo and Ensemble, and 12 students doing the NFMC Festival, and then probably a bunch playing on the recital at the end of April.

I’ve also been trying to get ahead on my summer planning, and setting up stuff for the summer/fall. This month doesn’t seem as busy as March/April look to be so I wanted to use my time to make plans for the future. I’m working out how I want the summer to look and how to streamline my teaching schedule so I’m teaching less time when I’m teaching less students. I think it’ll be the best summer yet as far as those things go.

How is your February going? Did you witness the ridiculous women’s figure skating final night of crying?

Random thoughts

Happy VDay

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It’s been a busy weekend!

I mean, not by pre-pandemic standards. But by my new “weekends” free standards: I had a gig last night AND this afternoon.

I played with a small group at a retirement community (The Gatesworth) last night. After that Louis heated up our Valentine’s Day Dinner: it was a meal from the faculty club at Wash U, the Whittemore House. We joined the club sometime in the past year, and they’ve been doing various takeout events, where you pick up food and drinks (sometimes) and then go home and you can heat it up to eat later. The previous owner of Stellina is the chef at the Whittemore house, so the food is tasty. We had agnolotti, short ribs and root veggies, and then chocolate cake for dessert.

I had a wedding this afternoon, which was perfectly nice. I feel tired…I’ve been pretty tired this whole spring semester so far, and I suppose it’s from getting up early, working too hard, all of that. I am not quite sure what to do about it, other than trying to get to bed early. I think I am more burnt out than anything…I’m not sure if I should resign from my early morning job at the end of the school year because it’s been so exhausting doing that and teaching, or if the exhaustion is unrelated and it’s simply…exhaustion from the pandemic, the worries, the stress, all of that. I find myself unable to simply live and forget what is going out around us.

I’ve been enjoying watching the figure skating, of course, though I’m pretty upset about the fact that one of the Russian skaters was caught doping and yet is continuing to be allowed to compete, and in fact, why was competing in the first place when she had failed the drug test over a month ago? I get so angry how there are people who just keep breaking the rules and other people who never get to break even one rule without getting extremely severe consequences (thinking of the track and field athlete in the summer who got disqualified for smoking weed).

I feel like my life is just one week after another, counting down the days until? I think the winter weather is getting to me, and spending too many weekends at home without social interaction. Too much of my social life was tied up with working on the weekends, I guess. But I’m also not super comfortable with groups of people, and I’m not convinced the pandemic is quite over yet, and I still don’t want to get COVID, so I don’t know quite what to do.

This is just me with a bit of the Sunday blues, I suppose. I guess I’ll fold some laundry and read for a bit more, or something. There’s no shortage of books to read, that’s for sure!

Books, Hiking

Snowstorm

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We had a nice ice/snowstorm last week. It started Tuesday night late with ice, then a bit of snow, then a break, and then it starting snowing early Thursday and snowed practically all day. I had off school for my early morning job, and then taught online Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I did go into the college to teach, though I borrowed Louie’s Subaru rather than drive a Corolla.

It was beautiful to watch, and I’m glad we got the snow, but I’ll be glad to see it gone. Today the high is in the 40’s so I’m hoping it makes things easier to get around in and that I can start driving my own car again without concerns.

This weekend has been mostly at home relaxing, but we’ve done some interesting things over the past few weeks. One day we hiked the Lewis and Clark trail–it was after a snow, and there were some icy bits but mostly it was a wonderful day of hiking, and the weather was perfect: sunny and in the 40’s. It’s nice hiking in St Louis in the winter when it’s warm enough, because there are no bugs, and if it’s a scenic hike you get more views.

Quite a lot of the hike was along the Missouri River. It had a lot of ice floes traveling along it.
The hike was about 8.5 miles. This was the map from Louie’s watch. You can make it a 5 miles hike, or shorter if you just do the out and back to the first river overlook (which is very nice) but I have to say, the whole hike is really nice! It isn’t terribly steep overall, and so much of it is along the river that it might be the most scenic hike in the St Louis area.

We also walked around Forest Park a few times and enjoyed the scenery there.

We often park near the World’s Fair Pavilion to start any walks in Forest Park. This was on a cold day after a bit of snow.

We haven’t been out much otherwise, lately. It’s cold and you know, omicron. We’ve eaten out a few times though, at Lily’s Mexican and a place near our house. And last night we got takeout from Himalayan Yeti, which we had almost forgotten about! There are some leftovers for lunch as well.

Cooking wise I’ve made a few delicious soups lately. I might have already told you about the Broccoli Cheddar soup, but I’m not sure. That one we ate with leftover rolls from Union Loafers: I had bought some things from them for Christmas, but froze the dinner rolls as we couldn’t eat it all at the time. I wish they sold them year round.

I also made the potato mushroom soup linked here. I made a few substitutions based on what I had, but I chose it because I had mushrooms and potatoes to use up and we wanted a soup. Highly recommend.

TV wise we’ve been watching 1883 and Euphoria as they come out, we just finished the latest season (or half season?) of Ozark. Last night we watched figure skating and other things on the Olympics.

Books: Non fiction I’m reading a book on the Marquis de Lafayette, Hero of Two Worlds by Mike Duncan and They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie Jones-Rogers. I am slowly working through my nonfiction book stacks.

I also read Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang which was a memoir showing a family of Chinese immigrants and their great difficulties living in NYC. Very thought provoking and well written.

Fiction wise: I recently read Mrs. Dalloway for my book club.

Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis, a cute romance

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang. I would have liked this book better if the main character hadn’t been a violinist as I found most of the violin parts to be pretty bad (poorly researched), but the rest of the book to be wonderful.

It’s another week ahead of me, and it looks to be a “normal” week, weather reports look fine, it should be back to work, teaching, getting the spring festival application done, and a few other things. I slept poorly last night worrying about stupid things, and had some weird dreams of trying to get to various gigs in Ohio, but otherwise, no complaints! We are preparing for a performance in late February at the school, which gives us a good direction for the next few weeks of classes.

What have you been up to? Read any good books lately? Goodness knows I don’t actually need any more on my lists, but I’m always up for me.

Random thoughts

January is a cold month

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I leave my house for my morning job around 6:35 am/6:40 am and I tell you what, 7 degrees sure is cold at that hour. That’s what I was dealing with yesterday. I came home after that, and towards mid afternoon I was feeling really cold so I turned up the heat at my house and also got into bed for a bit to try to warm up. Those were great ideas, and then I felt good enough to finish my teaching week.

I taught my morning improvisation class this morning (it’s online, though maybe someday it won’t be) and now we are planning to head out for a hike soon, after it gets just a bit warmer outside. I don’t have anything scheduled until Monday, which is fantastic.

It was a good week. Short because of MLK day, which helped, even though only two hours of work was canceled, isn’t that crazy? But I had a nice time with the students all week: holidays are fun, but it’s also nice to be in the groove of, see you next week, and the week after, and so on, and knowing that you can keep teaching them regularly and they’ll make progress (hopefully) if they are practicing.

I got asked to play a few pieces on a New Music Festival in March, and I decided to agree. It gives me a new challenge and an incentive to practice more regularly. I have already gotten into the groove now of practicing 15 to 20 minutes a day, which is way more than I’ve been doing. I have a few other things I need to learn as well, so I might end up practicing more as the next few months progress. It’s nice to have a few things on the calendar to work towards, though it’s also nice not to have too many, as teaching is pretty much all-encompassing.

I think I’ve got my college teaching schedule set and it worked out pretty well. The semester is looking good and promising. We are still up in the air on our summer plans due to factors, but I have a few things simmering, and at least one of them will work out. Next summer Louie will be done with his doctorate so we are thinking about planning a 3 to 4 week road trip then. The only thing to consider is the cats: that’s a long time for them to be on their own…we’ve done two weeks and that was long for them. But we’ll figure it out.

I still have to take down my Christmas Tree. That will get done this weekend. Or else it has to stay up all year then.

Random thoughts

Known Unknowns and Unknown Knowns

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One thing that COVID has really given us/taken from us (depending on your mindset) is that you can’t make real plans, be that travel, concerts, social plans, meal plans, etc. We had plans to see the St Louis Symphony last weekend but they canceled it due to COVID. I go to the grocery story and have a meal plan, but sometimes I have to switch it up. (Though that hasn’t happened much lately, unless I’m looking for bucatini pasta, which is rare.) Social plans are up in the air, and you feel like it’s a lose-lose–after so long it feels so necessary to see friends, yet seeing friends is a risk…I personally still don’t want to get COVID but at this point at least 25 percent of my students have had it (this is a quick estimate, not official) and therefore I feel like it’s inevitable, even though I continue to take reasonable precautions. I am not special, and I do my own grocery shopping, and we have continued to do a few in person things, because, and let me be honest, I am tired of having work be the biggest risk in my life, and if I get COVID I want it to be because somebody else did my dishes that night or because I visited with a friend.

COVID besides, I had a lovely weekend. It snowed Friday night into Saturday morning and so Saturday was a “stay in” day and I spent it reading the latest Outlander Novel. I’ve been rereading the earlier Outlander books in the series since mid December or so, and I finally finished the new book yesterday midday. Sunday was a cold day but sunny so we went for a nice walk around Forest Park. There were muddy places, but nothing too bad. Sunday night we had dinner with Louie’s parents, who we hadn’t seen since before Christmas. I’m teaching as normal this week, and have another free weekend coming up…

We went by the skating rink and got to see the Zamboni at work!

College classes start virtually: I’m writing this currently as Louie is teaching a class from home, and I’m starting my students next week. We are back in person then after that, so that will be nice. I am working on setting up my schedule, and I think I’ve got it for now…it’s always a struggle and every semester is different. I love teaching the college students, but scheduling is my least favorite part of the job.

As far as my mask dilemma a few posts back, I decided to order some KN94 masks in black to wear, but I’m still waiting for them to arrive. So we will see how those work out, when they get here.

The World’s Fair Pavilion with some snow. It wasn’t as much as they predicted but was pretty.

That’s it for now! How is your January ticking by?

Deep Thoughts, Hope

2021: Looking Back

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I promised a recap of sorts of the year. I sometimes forget about 2021, and think we just finished 2020…I’m not sure what that means.

Highlights: getting a new President in January, getting vaccinated in March, getting to see my parents in person again, taking a trip to Arkansas, weekly zoom visits with my family, actually visiting family in New York over the summer and having them visit us too, teaching in person again, having an outdoor in person recital in May, seeing students graduate and perform in person, attending concerts again, having meals with friends at restaurants, enjoying food from my garden over the summer, eating foods I’ve prepared (fresh, frozen, and canned!), getting outside for walks and hikes, summer “happy hour” outside on our new patio furniture, watching the cats on the catio, taking a few short trips, getting a new back porch built, getting stuck in a bison jam at Lone Elk Park, visiting family over Thanksgiving and Christmas, seeing so many different lights in December, hosting two small holiday gatherings at my house…

It’s funny, I didn’t realize what a wonderful year I’d actually had until I just scrolled back through my posts and my calendar. I thought of 2021 as being a pretty blah year, but really, we did a lot of really fun stuff and I need to be better about counting my blessings, as they say! It had some downs, but it had a lot of ups as well.

Books: I’ve listed books throughout the year, but I thought I’d mention a few that have stuck in my head the whole year. The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult, How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones, The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, American Royals by Katharine McGee. There are more I enjoyed, but those I particularly enjoyed.

Concerts/Shows: We saw Opera, symphony, jazz shows, so wonderful! I particularly enjoyed watching my student Catherine play her Senior Recital live at Wash U, seeing my sister Carrie play a Doctoral Recital streaming, seeing the Clark Terry Centennial Concert at Jazz at the Bistro in December, seeing Opera Theatre St Louis’s production of Highway 1 by William Grant Still, and seeing a few SLSO concerts in the fall, though at the moment none in particular are sticking in my head. I also loved seeing A Christmas Carol at the Repertory Theatre.

Food: homemade fruitcake, homemade eggnog, orange chocolate chip ricotta cookies, dilly green beans for canning, dinner at Louie, dinner at the Crossing, corn casserole, cinnamon rolls, frozen peaches at my Mom’s, fish tacos and shrimp fajitas at Lily’s Mexican Restaurant, goodies from Nathaniel Reid Bakery for Louie’s birthday, dinner at Brave New Restaurant in Little Rock, swiss chard pesto with bucatini pasta, tofu enchiladas at Mezcalitos’ in Atlanta, and more!

Downs: there are many I won’t list, but the attempted coup/insurrection on 1/6, people taking the side of the virus for political gain, having to keep worrying about COVID and losing work again, getting things canceled due to COVID, people getting sick, worrying about family, being busy and stressed out (especially in the spring), not being able to travel freely, having to worry about the reaction of other people in rural areas when we wear masks in public, having to wear masks in public still because not enough people got vaccinated to avoid more mutations, etc, etc, lots of downs due to COVID concerns and worries. (And it’s a new year, I know, but I have students who are currently sick with COVID and missing their lessons.) Ugh, and feeling like my go to cloth masks aren’t good enough but not likely any of the other mask options I currently have…

So, here we are on January 10: what’s next? I don’t have any real New Year’s resolutions, other than, get through it! Hoping to travel this summer, planning not to take on too many commitments, see more concerts, cook more, do a garden again, read a lot of books, exercise, hike and walk, keep decluttering the house, maybe get a new roof, do activities with friends, and who knows what the year will bring!

Did you make resolutions? Did you have a good or a bad year, or somewhere in between? Read any good books lately?

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.