02.29.08
Oh (serendipitous) snap!
Earlier this week, I was tuning my cello and snapped the A string. Since I didn’t have any extra strings, and I didn’t know how to restring, anyway, I took it in to Steve at Peninsula Violin. He put a set of D’Addario Helicore strings on, and they sound way better than the ones my rental cello came with. Much less metallic, much more mellow.
That change, in addition to the bridge work and lowering the strings, has made my cello feel and sound like a different instrument! I can’t say enough good about Steve; he showed me how to restring and correct the tension on the bridge (which was a revelation to novice me; I thought the bridge was fixed rather than floating), and he answered each and every one of A.’s questions about the infinitely interesting tools in his shop. He’s got a 4-year-old apprentice anytime he wants!
I was trying to focus on the rosin dust near the bridge; even this ephemera delights me. Probably because, unlike with violins, it falls on the floor instead of on me.
What’s what in the garden
Here’s the first bloom of a really healthy mystery plant. I’m pretty sure it’s a camellia of some kind.
My friend T.M. went to the Northwest Garden Show last week and came back with lots of ideas, particularly cement sculpture ideas. I thought I’d try making pressed cement plant labels (I got the letters from Michael’s) to try and keep track of all the Rhodys and other stuff I’m figuring out or planting myself.
That would be a kind of rhododendron; I’d otherwise never be able to rattle off the name. Just how do you pronounce that, I wonder?
02.26.08
Around Battle Point Park
First of all, here’s the transmitter building in its current, spiffed-up and useful state! S. had gymnastics there today.
Meanwhile, A. and K. and I strolled around the park, noting the cherry blossoms:
and saying hi to the ducks:
Once we broke out the bread, we realized we’d rung the dinner bell.
02.24.08
Chilly Hill
Today was the 34th annual Chilly Hilly bike race/tour here on B.I. Since we haven’t been out on our bikes much in recent months, B. and I didn’t even think about joining in this year, but some year we’ll gear up and do it! It was fun just to walk down to Wyatt Way and watch the cyclists come up the hill (kudos to the cyclists who stayed on their bikes! And big kudos to the cyclist who was towing a child trailer behind).
St. Barnabas Episcopal Church had a water station set up. Lots of smiles and sunshine on this Sunday.
02.23.08
Maiden Voyage
Yesterday we put our new kayak in the water for the first time! No one fell in, and the kids want to do it again, so I’d call our little Eagle Harbor excursion successful.
Gorgeous sunshine, cold wind. I was bundled up so much I could hardly move 
It’s great that A. fits right down in there with me, probably will for another year. Good sport, he only complained when I dripped water on his head. Accidentally, of course!
Then we switched off and B. and K. took a turn:
We got the boat and all the gear from U. at Back of Beyond. He’s knowledgeable, helpful, inspiring, calm, resourceful, and we were happy to see him on the dock as we put in yesterday.
02.20.08
Spring is sprung
The Tasha Tudor in me is burgeoning once again. The past few days, I’ve been happily prepping the garden, pulling winter weeds, and putting in the first planting of spinach and peas. Today in the bright sunshine it was warm enough for a T-shirt!
My best helper: digs great holes, picks up, examines and smells caterpillars, carries rocks for me.
A half-cleared garden bed, complete with holy glowing weed bucket.
And the crocuses in dainty full bloom.
02.16.08
The Way to Winslow
…Is very beautiful on foot, if you can find the path. Coming from mid-island, it’s a little tricky to find the different legs of the path, which winds back behind a couple of neighborhoods along the waterfront of Eagle Harbor. Today we finally figured out how to get from our house to Winslow completely on this back pathway (after crossing Wyatt Way)!
M.S. and I stopped in at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts, where we met artist Jeannie Grisham deeply engrossed in a painting in progress. She was lovely and paused to chat with us and explained a little about her latest works (inspired by a trip to South Africa). I like this idea of having artists working in situ, where they can interact with and inspire art lovers. I picked up a schedule so I can bring the girls to chat with the other artists when they’re in.
Here’s some of the loveliness along the way home again:
02.15.08
Cello lesson #11
Yesterday I had a good lesson with C.F. I like how much of his teaching is simply duetting, encouraging me to match tones or play off his tones. I started the Minuet in G by Beethoven. I just have to take it a phrase at a time, because I’m still new at changing positions so frequently.
Carson had me play his cello for a bit in order to feel the difference in the strings. My cello bridge is too high; the strings are nearly double the height of his, and it makes a big difference in how hard I have to push to hold them down. So later this week I’ll take them to Peninsula Strings and have them fix that.
02.13.08
Three books in a February fortnight
Good Fun:
Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do with Pigs is a delightful little book that we enjoyed reading at the dinner table. The author, Katherine Barber, is clever and the content is illuminating and lots of fun for language-lovers.
Good Gracious:
I finished Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I very much enjoyed and was good food for thought. I read it slowly, in bits and pieces, which gave me time to digest. At various points in the book, I was seized with a desire to move to Tonasket, join the neo-hippies and organically farm my way to bliss; become a devout vegetarian; adopt some chickens this spring and convince B. that this time they wouldn’t be that much work, really! and have happy chickens and fresh eggs; search out farms in Silverdale, Poulsbo, and Bainbridge that already perform the hard work and become their loyal customers; increase the garden space on the side yard and install deer fencing; forget vegetarianism but only eat meat that’s been humanely raised and slaughtered.
Whew! It’s a good book, even if it does make me feel even more like every alimentary choice I make is fraught.
Good Diversion:
Anna Quindlen’s Rise and Shine was a quick read and a fairly engrossing story. I like Quindlen’s prose, and even if this novel disappointed compared to her others, it was a good cuddle up next to the fire on a rainy day book.
