Yes, hello, Monday, nice sunny Monday. How are you?

Saturday morning I had a cello lesson, which went well. The newly adjusted-and-rented 7/8 performed very nicely. My teacher feels the C string could be even better, but it’s not crucial at the moment. It feels good to be working on nuances in pieces instead of struggling with technical stuff. Except for that one shift in that one piece, which I know I can do but never happens in a lesson. My teacher made a good point: We both know I can play it, so why am I stressing in a lesson? If I played it perfectly every time we wouldn’t be working on it, would we? It’s hard to focus on the things you’re doing right when you do things wrong. I need to work on recognising the successes more than the okay-so-that-bit-wasn’t-perfect-this-time parts. And she also gave me this pearl of wisdom: The next note you’re about to play is always be the most important one. That means not dwelling on the one you just played and criticising yourself because it wasn’t as good as you wanted it to be, because it takes away for the energy you should be directing toward that next note. Food for thought. (I swear, I would be so lost in this new way of discussing music if I hadn’t done years of energy work and meditation in a spiritual context.)

Saturday afternoon HRH went out to pick up my cousin downtown, who had a weekend layover in Montreal. For dinner I tried to slow-roast two rolled rib roasts from the farmer, but it didn’t exactly succeed (see, I am not saying it failed!) for a couple of reasons. One, I doubted the slow-roast instructions and decided to roast it for two hours at 250 degrees instead of one hour at 200 then turning the oven off entirely. Two, the second roast was inedible due to the amount of gristle and sinew marbled through it. Which is a risk one runs when buying directly from a farmer who butchers his own stuff, I suppose, because it’s not regulated the same way supermarkets and pro butchers are. Anyway, the first roast was all right, just half of it was overdone to my taste. The kick-ass gravy I made made up for some of it, though, as did the nice creamy mashed potatoes and carrots half-steamed then sauteed in butter. And there was pecan pie for dessert, except the shell cracked and the filling seeped through to glue the crust to the glass pie pan, thereby ensuring that every single piece had to be pried out in several bits. It tasted good, though, and the home-made pastry was quite acceptable: very crisp and light. And we really, really enjoyed my cousin’s visit. The boy dragooned him into playing with trains and Lego and all sorts of things.

Sunday morning we met the Preston-LeBlancs for lunch at the hot dog and French fry restaurant we love for its artery-clogging deliciousness. I had an ensemble lesson later that afternoon, which was also a lot of fun because we were reviewing the early Suzuki pieces we’re playing at the Sun Youth fundraiser next Sunday.

Than last night we had the second session of the new steampunkian horror game Tal began in January, and I got another two inches of my lap blanket done (I suspect I will need an even longer circular needle to work the size I’m aiming for comfortably). I also started a knitted lightsaber yesterday during the boy’s nap. And I found the missing bamboo circular needle! It was at the very bottom of one of my works-in-progress bags under some books.

So overall a very enjoyable weekend. And I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning and ready to edit at least four more stories today, as well as read a first draft for a new contributor. Correspondence and news have all been handled, so away I go.