Don — Page 59

Happy New Year

January 2, 2019 at 9:17 am by Claudia

Happy 2019!

Tomorrow, the Democrats take over the House. I can’t wait!

We had a quiet New Year’s Eve, no surprise there. We went out for a late breakfast, walked to a vintage record shop, bought some cheese from our local cheese shop, shopped a bit at the antiques barn, had a veggie hot dog, and headed home. Late in the afternoon, we poured a glass of sparkling cider, had some cheese and crackers, and had an early toast to the New Year.

Those are my grandmother’s wine glasses. I was fond of them as a child because they had flowers etched into the glass.

Then we organized our records and watched four episodes of the Twilight Zone Marathon. We were in bed by 11:00.

From the antique barn:

A sheep and an egg cup. Is the egg cup Pyrex, Westmoreland, something else? I’m not sure. Glass egg cups have not been a part of the collection until now. But I loved the white and orange combination. Cheery. It’s tall and it won’t fit in the cubby cabinet, so it’s on the little shelves in the den.

I spent an hour or so yesterday making a backdrop for my mantel sheep. During a trip to Michael’s a couple of weeks ago, I found some interesting scrapbook paper that I thought might work. So I measured the width of the shelf and cut pieces of cardboard (which I found easily because I had just reorganized my pink cabinet!), taped them together, then I cut corresponding pieces of scrapbook paper and taped them on the cardboard with painter’s tape. That way I can change them out when I want to.

The paper has clouds and little airplanes. Keep in mind that the background is only 3½ inches high because the wall begins its slant at that point.

The ornament that is hanging on the right is made from a real egg and has two doves inside. Don gave it to me for Christmas because they’re turtle doves and because I love doves. It’s really beautiful. I’ll share a closeup sometime soon.

A closeup of the paper.

I finished the Louise Penny book this morning. I really liked it – Penny can’t write a bad book. The storylines were compelling. But, it’s not my favorite. Normally – and I’m not kidding about this – I am in tears at the end of one of her novels because she has woven everything together in a way that is life-affirming and transcendent. I didn’t cry this time and I knew I wouldn’t cry when I was reading in bed last night. Now, I realize that is no way to judge a novel. It’s just an indicator that, though I was engaged in the writing, it didn’t take me where it has taken me in the past. Something was missing for me.

All that being said, she is a wonderful writer and I love the characters and the setting of Three Pines and everything about that community and the people who live in it. And I can’t wait for next year’s book to come out.

Today? Christmas comes down. I’m ready for a change. I asked Don if he wanted me to keep the tree up for New Year’s Day and he said yes. So today it is. I’m also going to drop my book donations off at the library.

Happy Wednesday.

The Piano

December 28, 2018 at 11:10 am by Claudia

A busy morning so far!

Don has been gently pushing me to get the piano tuned and to have whatever needs to be repaired attended to. I’ve known since the last time it was tuned that some repair was needed and it was just not a top priority. He took over and called a local guy who tunes and repairs pianos for a lot of professional pianists and this morning, he came to check it out.

All of what you see here has been removed and taken back to his shop. He found the same things in need of repair, as the previous tuner. The hammers need filing, the dampers need adjusting, screws need tightening – the keys had what was called a ‘shallow key dip’ because of that and the action will be much better when all is repaired. He’ll bring it back in about a week and put it all back together. Then he’ll tune it.

That serial number tells me that it was made by Chickering (an American company based in Boston) somewhere between 1940 – 1943. Chickering was one of the finest piano makers in the country for decades and the pianos were incredibly well made. Abraham Lincoln had a Chickering. Adam (the piano tuner) told us that pianos of that era were so much better than any of the Asian import pianos made nowadays. The import pianos are cheaper, but the quality is lacking. I remember that the man who tuned our piano when I was young made an offer to buy the piano every time he tuned it.

So. I’m lucky. My grandmother bought this piano. Both she and my mother played it. Every time I went to my grandparents’ house, I played it (banged on it when I as little). Eventually, my grandmother had it moved to my parents’ house so I could take lessons. My brother and sisters played it. My uncle and aunt – who played beautifully, by ear – played it during family Christmas Eve celebrations. It’s priceless. So, even though it’s somewhat costly, it’s worth it. It needs some love. And I need to play it more. I’ve sat down to play once or twice lately but it was so badly out of tune that I couldn’t handle it.

Thanks for prodding me, Don.

Also this morning, some house moving:

I moved Don’s Studio (with his permission) out to the upstairs hallway where it sits on top of the linen cabinet. This real estate was previously occupied by the modern dollhouse, which has been moved to the bedroom.

Now I can actually see it and work on it!

I’m going to start sorting through things in the office today, a bit at a time. I have 4 big Trader Joe’s bags full of books that will be donated to the library. Right now, they’re in the car and they’ll stay there until we have a non-rainy day. Right now, it’s pouring out there and I don’t want them to get wet.

I’ve started the Louise Penny. I’m about 80 pages in. I’m going slowly so I can savor every word.

Happy Friday.

Full Circle

December 22, 2018 at 10:12 am by Claudia

Just a short one today as I have to head into the city to coach for a few hours. Then I’ll be done until after Christmas.

I got a bunch of these trees for next-to-nothing at Michael’s the other day. So I added them to the McCoy mix on top of my music cabinet. That’s the only bit of Christmas (besides the decorations in the dollhouse) in the den.

A crazy weather day yesterday: heavy rain for 24 hours, flooding (not here, thank goodness), fog and mist, and a high of 60 degrees. On Winter Solstice. Today it’s windy and colder, as it usually is when a front leaves the area.

Back story: This is a gorgeous all-mahogany Martin guitar that Don had for many years. During a tough time for us financially, Don sold it to an old friend who is a musician out in Los Angeles. He never felt right about it. He missed it. Unbeknownst to me, at one point a few years back, Don wrote to his friend asking her to contact him first if she ever wanted to sell it. Fellow musicians had told him many times what a great guitar it was, what a great sound it had. He was playing that guitar when he recorded his CD with fellow musician, Dan Bonis.

A little over a week ago, she contacted him. She wanted to buy a Gibson and offered to sell the Martin to Don. We talked it over – it’s not an inexpensive guitar – but it was clear to me that Don felt passionately about the guitar, felt regret about selling it in the first place, and now he had the opportunity to get it back. He’d sold it to help us out during a tough time. He deserved to have it back.

And so it arrived yesterday. Full circle.

And I got to hear him play again, for the first time in a long time, last night.

It’s all good.

Happy Saturday.

Happy New Year

The Piano

Full Circle

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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