It’s been entirely too long since I sat down to write something here. Last weekend I was house-sitting for friends and just didn’t plan ahead regarding the logistics of writing and publishing a blog post. I’ll try to tuck some extra content into this week’s post to make up for it.
Over the last two weeks I have been, somewhat simultaneously, investigating the slew of minor health annoyances that come with being Of a Certain Age, and gathering my resources in order to take up playing the saxophone again. These activities manage to cross over in the area of occupational therapy, which I will start on January 20 to address some arthritis in my hands. (It does not help that it has been very cold, which makes me cold and which causes some pain.) In addition to whatever the therapist has me do, I have also found some saxophone-related hand exercises and breathing exercises to do so I can get myself back in shape to practice and play.
Which saxophone do I plan to play? I still have my alto from high school, and I claimed my father’s tenor after he passed. He would be absolutely thrilled that I’m planning to relearn to play both of them. I have spent most of the last week watching YouTube videos, collecting CDs of sax masters, and buying (and borrowing) sheet music of different works for the saxophone. I also sorted through my existing sheet music and sold some items that I didn’t need.
I have cut off my Big Plan at the pass in several ways so it doesn’t just turn into another rabbit hole. I’m going to spend a lot of time preparing before I even try to play again. This is partly so I don’t just use the interest as a way to distract myself from the other things that I need to do (would I ever do that?). It’s also to give myself time to find someone who can help me develop my embouchure properly and fix the bad habits I learned when I was eleven years old and self-taught. I can be better now!
I have also decided not to take a music class, buy a new saxophone, get a music degree, learn music theory, write my own music, record an album, or audition for the London Philharmonic. I just want to play for my own enjoyment. I want to play as well as I can for my own enjoyment, but I don’t want to overdo it. (I have plenty of other things I want to overdo.)
Part of the fun of the research has been listening more carefully to the artists on the Jazz and Smooth Jazz cable channels, picking out CDs I can listen to in the car, and trying to remember which jazz artists my dad had albums from in our family record collection. My brother’s helping me with that particular project informal investigation.
There won’t be any sax playing until at least February, but there will be plenty of sax listening. To Dave Brubeck (featuring Paul Desmond), Coleman Hawkins, Dave Koz, Diana Krall, Charlie Parker, Boots Randolph, Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster…. I’m willing to hear your recommendations as long as they are not for Kenny G (he plays a soprano sax, which I don’t have).
This very morning I welcomed a new typewriter to my collection: meet The Lady Remington, manufactured in 1967 — a very good year.
I’m calling her The Lady Remington partially because it reminds me of the electric razors and I think it’s amusing. But she’s a formidable machine and if she wants to go by a different name I will heed her wishes.
Since the seller had originally purchased her for decorative purposes only, she wasn’t sure if The Lady even worked. Before I could see if she was functioning properly, I had to untangle the little mess shown below. (Actually, I started it and Eldest took over and insisted upon finishing without my interference. For which I am grateful.)
I’m pleased to say that she works perfectly with the exception of a few keys that jammed slightly during the typing test. She’ll receive a thorough cleaning and a fresh ribbon for her original spools, and The Lady will be back in use again.
In addition to purchasing saxophone music and searching for vintage typewriters to rescue, I have been making good progress on acquiring the works of the subject of my big writing project. The books of his that I don’t have yet are uncommon enough that it may be a while before I find affordable copies of my own. I’m glad that I may be able to find them in university libraries so that I can read and study them. (For research on this writer’s unpublished works, I’ll probably need to travel to visit an archive in another state. But we’ll get there when we get there, and that part doesn’t need to happen right away.)
I have also spent a little time organizing the articles, reviews, and other works that I have acquired electronically and saved to at least three different computers. I can apply this process to the other work for which I’m doing research, but I want to focus on my nonfiction project right now and take up the fiction work a little later.
Knitwise, I finished my long pink and grey scarf, wove in the ends, and started wearing it immediately. (Did I mention that it has been COLD and that I have been COLD?) The final length is 80 inches, and it’s cozy and warm.
Then I picked up the more-than-fifty-percent-finished mitten project, knitted a few rows, and realized that I needed to look at the instructions in an earlier part of the pattern than the one page that Past Beth had photocopied and tucked into the project bag. The pattern was in a binder I had loaned to a craft group on campus, so I made arrangements to temporarily borrow it back. And then Present Beth left it in her office instead of bringing it home and, well, maybe when I go to work I will just make a photocopy of it and send the binder back to the other crafters. When I’m making progress on the mittens (knitting the thumb gusset and the hand for Mitten Two, and thumbs for both mittens) I can start thinking about a new item to make. Because it is COLD and I am COLD.
Chocolate Sheep 