• The tree is still up and will be until January 1st. Most likely, I will take it down on that day simply because I need to put it all away in the closet under the stairs. Currently, all the Christmas boxes are taking up residence in the office and I’m starting to sort through things there – getting rid of anything I don’t need. I need the space.
• I finished up in the bedroom yesterday – one more bag of books going to the library. That makes five.
• One of the little things in what Don calls my “stocking.”
A bumper sticker from our local used bookstore. Reminds me of when I had bangs.
• Do you remember me telling you that one of my presents from Don was going to be late? He ordered it stateside but it turns out it shipped from China. He showed me a picture of it on Christmas Day. It arrived yesterday.
It’s difficult to get a good photo of it, but here it is. He swears I mentioned ‘neon’ when we were discussing gifts and I have no recollection of that at all. None; which is slightly scary. Anyway, when he first showed it to me I was surprised, to say the least. But I actually really love it! It’s LED, by the way, not neon. Saint-German is the area of Paris we spent a lot of time in. It’s really lovely. We carried the sign around the house yesterday trying to determine where it would work the best, but we had always thought our office – which is full of memorabilia and whimsey – would be the best place for it, and it is. I like it here because I can see it clearly when I’m working on my projects.
I don’t think it would work anywhere else in the house (doesn’t fit with the rest of the decor) save the upstairs hallway, but we couldn’t find a good place for it there. This little area, tucked under the sloped ceiling, is perfect.
He’s such a sweetie! I’m a happy girl.
• The piano tuner messaged me this morning saying the piano was built in 1941. Mom would have been 14 then, which makes sense as I seem to remember her taking piano lessons when she was a teenager.
• I ordered a piece of sheet music yesterday on Amazon. Did you know that most sheet music today is only offered via a digital download? Ummm…no. I wanted the real deal, with a cover illustration and everything. So I found a used version that was in very good condition and I ordered that.
I remember growing up in an area where I could find sheet music at several local shops. My piano teacher ordered sheet music for us from Grinnell’s, a long ago store in downtown Detroit. Grinnell’s was a fantasy land for me. It had several floors filled with pianos; all sizes, all shapes, all prices. It had a great sheet music department. You could buy things like metronomes there. Once a year, we had a recital on one of the upper floors of Grinnell’s where we were judged by professional pianists. It was all very exciting and scary and wondrous.
There was also a shop in San Diego when I lived there – I don’t think it’s there any longer, but maybe it is – right by Balboa Park. It was a music store and when I could finally afford to have my piano shipped from Michigan to San Diego, I went there to buy all sorts of classical music. They had tons of sheet music. Does anyone know if it’s still there? I’d like to think it is.
Another thing from the past that I miss.
Our conversations here at the cottage have been full of this kind of thing lately. What have we lost to technology? Our list keeps getting longer.
Happy Saturday.
A lovely post Claudia. The Paris sign is wonderful; I’m certain you will enjoy wonderful memories whenever you see it.
I like your travels down memory lane. Life was so different just a generation ago! Of course, in many ways things have improved for many more people. But there was a satisfying simplicity in daily life that no longer seems to exist.
I agree. I love much of what technology offers us, but I don’t like what is lost because of it.
Ken Ard Music studio?? I googled and it’s still there… I can do a drive by sometime to be sure, if you like. Our local music store in the mall sells actual sheet music. Fake books and the like. I like picking it up at antique malls. I don’t play (my husband does) but I love the covers!
No, it isn’t Ken Ard Music Studio – I think that place is in North Park. No, this place was on the Laurel Street side of Balboa Park – on a street that paralleled Fifth Street. I don’t think it’s there anymore. I should look through my sheet music to see if there’s any indication where I got it.
I so enjoy your posts. They inspire always because you speak of what is going on in your inner and outer world. I love the sign. And, to think on can no longer just go in and buy sheet music is mind boggling. I am not a musician, but I love sheet music. So sad.
You can go and buy sheet music, but it’s much harder to find. There are big books of music for various instruments but finding individual pieces of sheet music is just plain more difficult nowadays.
Yesterday got away from me…glad to hear you are getting your piano repaired. Now…you had bangs? Got any pics?
I’m sad to hear that they no longer sell sheet music as sheet music. One of my goals for this coming year, is to relearn the piano. I haven’t touched it, except to dust in several years…I think it’s time. I have different memories of piano recitals than you do….they do not contain the word, wondrous…lol!
I’m sure your Paris memories will come flooding back each time you look at that sign…it’s cool! ;)
Not any pictures that I would share! (Except from when I was a cute little girl)
They do sell sheet music, but it’s not as readily available. And as it is with everything today, people seem to want to download it.
Let me be clear – the recitals were anxiety producing – the atmosphere in that store was wondrous.
Don’t start me on tech. I still read “real” books!
Love your new gift — now that’s fabulous! And it sounds like a super-productive week! I love this period between the holidays! Here’s to a great new year for you.
Same to you, Jeanie. I cleared out a cabinet today. Just a bit at a time and the process is very satisfying!
Claudia, the sign is so different from what is in your cottage, but what an appropriate gift as a reminder of your special trip with Don! Some tech is fine (e.g., I read your blog on an iPad, I order a Lyft ride for my elderly Mom on my iPhone) but I don’t like the intrusion of tech in many parts of my life. I don’t even like it intruding on the lives of others! We were out at lunch yesterday and there was a young family at the table kitty corner from ours. Baby brother was sleeping in his stroller. Mom was eating her lunch. little (3-4 years old) sister was playing on a tech pad (not an iPad, but one for toddlers) while Dad was spoon feeding her. She never looked up from her pad but opened her mouth when Dad nudged her lips with the spoon. I was a bit appalled. When I’m out with my adult children, no electronics on the table unless we expect a text from my Mom for her Lyft ride (she’s pretty consistent about the time she needs it). I like books, writing cards and letters, playing board and card games, and wearing an analog watch. Haha, granted, the analog watch is powered by a solar battery…
I agree. Seeing people buried in their iPads and phones during dinner is depressing!
We need much more
Conversation! We saw a Doctor Who (daughter is a big fan) yesterday. In one scene, the Doctor disabled everyone’s devices and they complained about nothing to do; he said, “How about talking to each other?” The next scene showed everyone laughing as they shared life stories.
xo
I learned to play on a piano from Grinnell. It was an oak upright grand, and I loved it.
Oh, Grinnell’s! I miss it so much! I’m going to have to google when they went out of business.
Good picture of your tree. Did your tree have different lights on it last year? The lights had a green cord not a white one? I like the balls on the tree. I have my parents from the late fifties. They look very much like yours.
No. Same lights. Same white cord. I don’t use a green cord on the white tree, it would stand out too much.
Beautiful stationary and Ink pens
I still do snail mail plis text and email
Send cards but miss he gorgeous stationary-always lovely gifts
Scented too
I am woefully bad at snail mail and I have to say I was that way long before texting and email! Good for you, Brenda!
hello!
kind of gloomy saturday, perfect for blogging, but then i thought — who still has an active blog? claudia! so nice to visit and see what’s new.
technology… 2 steps forward, 3 steps back, am i right?
happy new year wishes to you and don!
xo
elyse
I love IG, but I’ll always prefer blogging. One is quick. One has the potential for depth.
I think blogging is making a bit of a comeback. I keep reading IG posts where someone says they’re ‘starting their blog back up again.’
Happy New Year!
That Paris sign is lovely. Enjoy.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
The Paris sign is wonderful. I think it fits right into the office. I too miss so many things that are now only ‘online’. So much of technology is good but at what cost I wonder. I’m still looking at my Christmas tree and enjoying it but I think it will come down in the next few days. Ready to pack all the Christmas up and get on to some creative things in my craft room!
Yes, I feel the same, though I felt a twinge of sadness this morning when I realized it would only be up for a few more days!
Totally off subject, but have been binge watching Mr. Robot this week , and saw your wonderful hubby in it! I’m loving the show, and sorry Don ‘s character wasn’t in it more.
Wishing you both a happy New Years!
Sherry
They wanted him to do an episode last year – the season-ender – but they didn’t contact him until the last minute and he would have had to fly back to NYC while we were traveling across the country. Since we had planned that trip for a long time and they weren’t willing to wait 2 days until we arrived back home, he turned it down. That’s the way of the business. The season before, they had promised him 3 episodes and then, without telling him until the last minute, changed it to only one. Sometimes you just have to say no.
But he enjoyed working on the show and really liked working with the actress who played his daughter.
Love that sign and there are not many modern things that I really do like…Also I do not answer my phone if I am out to eat!!
Me either!
Reading about your organizing, I started noticing my note-filled computer credenza. It’s time for some organizing here, too! Like you, I hate to take down the Christmas tree. The season just seemed to fly by this year. I have a mostly unalloyed appreciation of what technology can do for us. Before my first brain surgery, I had a two-year introduction into how isolating increasing age and ability might be, albeit a temporary one. I love books: seeing their covers, feeling them in my hands, stacks of them decorating my house! My hands can’t hold books now for any length of time. My e-reader with a case that props it up saved my ability to read. TomNod and the daily action calls of my local Indivisible group allowed me to volunteer my time and participate in our political process. On Tomnod, I helped identify damaged roads and bridges and isolated villages after floods, earthquakes or forest fires. As much as I hate the lack of privacy protections on FB, that platform allowed me to “visit” with friends and family and at a time when speaking or even smiling for any length of time was impossible. My blind cousin in Louisiana and I keep up with each other via FB. When I traveled to my daughter’s home for an infusion with a doctor near her, I entered my granddaughter’s bedroom to be greeted by “Hello, Grammie!” The speaker wasn’t the granddaughter whose house I was visiting. It was a granddaughter who lives about 150 miles away. The two of them “get together” almost every day. Two weeks ago, I helped a granddaughter who lives two hours away and her friend with their pre-calc homework via Facetime. I order all the groceries and Christmas and birthday gifts. I’m doing so much better now, able to attend events including exercise classes, and I’m certainly not harping or saying we can’t wistfully reminisce. I do that, too. However, I’m living in gratitude for modern technology. Several decades ago, I would have been reduced to watching television in my own home, of no use to anyone. We all want to be as productive as possible. Since my family is still insisting that I not drive again since my second brain surgery a few months ago, I’m looking forward to buying a self-driving car as soon as they roll off the lots!
Technology brings many blessings – it’s certainly helped you, Linda, and I’m so glad it makes navigating your world easier. I can feel gratitude for technology and still acknowledge the loss of many things that enriched my life. It’s a double-edged sword.
So glad you’re doing better and hoping for a wonderful 2019 for you!
Interesting hearing about sheet music today. I had no idea. When mom passed away last spring, I inherited all hers. She had a lot that belonged to my grandfather as well. Old issues of “Etude” magazine she used to get in the early forties as well. Grandpa had sheet music from the early turn of the last century and it has been fun going through that. I want to have some of it framed and hung up.
That Paris sign is very unique and beautiful.
How wonderful that you have your mom’s sheet music, Kay!