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The city wouldn’t let me sleep
I’ve been listening to Peter Gabriel’s song “Mirrorball”. I love the instrumentation in the entire album, “Scratch My Back”. It leaves me inspired to rosin my bow. Nudges me to overcome the challenge of installing Sibelius on Ubuntu OS for a fleeting moment at least.
The fork in the road continues to divide without a rare opportunity to look back. I find life is a new distraction with every head turn and the need for an outlet for impermanent muddling is weighing on me. It is abundantly clear this website needs a scrub down. It down right stinks. In the next idonno months plus posts will either be privatized, password protected or axed from the reachable universe and future post may be deemed for your eyes only. no. not your eyes! Your eyes.
I do value feedback from the blogger continuum, however I want to take this puppy to some shadowy, organic, yoda-esque level. What that means is I really don’t know what the hell I’m blabbering about so let’s not spread this brilliant illness any further.
For those posts that will be hidden behind the gatekeeper field, contact me if you’d like to hold the key. Makes it easier and I don’t have to deal with your registration. But if you are inclined, go register as a subscriber.
Indeed everything has changed. Starting with blog posts under the tab Blog.
all I need is a Gartenzwerk
Sorry to have vented about my garden woes in my last post. Really though, it’s been a joy having a garden. I never realized all the wonderful sensations one experiences with gardens. Like the smell of spearmint, lavender or tomato leaves on my hands. Like the prickly feel of a pumpkin vine against my skin. Or like seeing a cute little ladybug pigging out on aphids. I never knew cilantro produces such delicate mini-flowers. Here are a few highlights:
in my city balcony garden
I’m not sure how other Müncheners are doing with their balcony gardens but mine has been a bit stressed with the crazy weather we’ve been having. The biggest snafu happened when a big gust of wind blew the petunias out of my petunias.
One of the plastic pots that hung over the railing shattered to the ground. The other bombed the corner of a flower box the floor below. The disadvantage of working/studying from home is witnessing your 20-year widowed neighborlein blow a blue hair fuse at your front door. I knew this day would come. It feels like being jettisoned to the front line against the German Hausfrau force with your pants down.
Now that several weeks have passed, I was recently invited to inspect the condition of her balcony, perhaps to revive our neighborly jive. If she had asked me to eat cookies with her from the balcony tile floor I wouldn’t have blinked an eye. That’s when she hit me with the latest laundry list of offensives: I’m now being blamed for every speck of dirty that dries on her immaculate balcony, especially the water stains on the metal frame above. Apparently where she lives it does not rain bus loads of water making the balcony a temporary water park.
I’m also blamed for spiders. (yes, spiders. I almost laughed. Instead I opted for ‘what’s wrong with god’s creatures?’ bit.) What she didn’t seem to mind was the remnants of my long dark hair caught on a high corner near the rain gutter. Even I thought, ew.
I’m told I must bake a cake to appease Mrs. F. This is doable but knowing me I’ll probably botch this gesture with a heza-ism. Best to quickly register with the Mieteverein in case things get too out of hand.
All the while my roma tomatoes are not fairing well this season. I don’t have too much time to research the cause of what I call tomato scurvy and tomato buggy rot. But maybe some green thumb out there could give me a hint how to prevent this for next years crop.
Why is viola called “Bratsche” in Germany?
Because that’s the sound it makes when you sit down on it.
It’s been 12 years since I’ve played my viola in public. I had forgotten how much fun it was to make music with a group of people. Even though my performance Thursday night may have lived up to every viola joke there was ever invented, I’ll take it. All in all my super critical side would say, ‘not bad for starting back up late February of this year.’ One listener later told me I was too timid. If only he knew. I’m just really glad I didn’t let Mark, the magic man behind this shindig, too down with the solo part that Frances was supposed to play.
The TT Orchestra and Singers gave their first full public debut on by far the hottest evening of this summer. The 60 some people who came to hear us must have conjured their Tibetan monk mojo to sit so relaxed in that heat and still had the energy to applaud as long as they did.
Ever since I moved to Germany I really wanted to start playing again. A little part of me unraveled the summer I decided to let my instrument lie dormant through my last years in college and remained that way the years that followed. I don’t regret that I put music aside while life’s bs took over. I got to work in a really good job doing semi-good deeds and life brought me to Germany to a wonderful man. Now I have a new language to my bag of trick and a slippery degree to tame and to eventually add to it. I’m thinking it was worth the wait.
Our orchestra is still missing quite a few instruments (i.e., cellos, basses, trombones, percussion). If you play or have played and you live or are coming to Munich do join us! Everyone is also encouraged to not only play but also conduct, arrange or just help out. You can get details here www.tt-orchestra.de or at Toytown Munich.
We are a fun and enthusiastic group and I promise it’s pretty spiffy to get kudos from your friends and loved ones even at around my age.
