Good day readers! I am sitting here on my back porch watching the local birdies enjoy the new food in my feeder. I have been nurturing my little garden through what has been a super hot summer here in the PNW. I am not very productive when it is hot. Enjoying the lazy days before the symphony season, school year start up. I work with three different orchestras and I have been planning from the start how to balance all of the dates and repertoire. I am lucky this year to know when I am playing and what I am playing well in advance. It helps. I am excited to be back in the stage and live with audiences. I do dearly hope that wthings are not yearned by a resurgence of COVID-19
concerns.
I have been doing a great deal of journaling and sorting of myself during this insular time. I have had time to enjoy getting to learn new skills and explore new interests. I have become quite interested in creating historical clothes and sewing my own clothes in general. I have a great many skills to master but the process brings me great joy and satisfaction. I just finished my first historical project, an 18th century style pocket.
It is all hand stitched out of stuff I had in my stash. None of The fabrics are historically accurate but I do not care. It is the inspiration point that excites me. I also love the little steampunk like gears that look like flowers that is printed on this fabric. Gives the whole pocket a time traveler vibe, which is what I was going for. I will use it to tote my cell phone when I need a pocket.
I have been spending more time with YouTube and have started a couple of series of videos that I think are fun and or informative. First is my This is the Harp series of technical exercises
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsiQJ3_ETdc2qKgGBNoebvFdiqh7pcYBa
Next is my Flat Rabbit series featuring my poetry and compositions from my collection Flat Rabbit Songs. I have done one of these so far. I am plotting the next one.
Other than these, I am also working on a Practice with me series as well as some performances for some sweet little pieces by Alphonse Hasselmans, who I believe needs more love as a composer. He uses pretty melodies and always manages to give the harp such a nice lush sound with his writing. He also wrote music that is not so insanely challenging that only a few can play it. I have been enjoying working on his music a great deal and plan on studying more after I get these on video.
I have been exploring the world of photography and I have been creating a series of photos of anything relating to the hazelnut in my backyard. The squirrels and birds leave artful arrangements and I photograph them. I am planning a book as a culmination of the series. You can find the photos on my Instagram. Here are a few as well.