Ramblings of a rural(ish) geek

mostly.

Still in thumb splint; expect to be there for the next month or so. Appointment with specialist is next year - to be expected, with two midweek holidays between now and then. Still rather annoying. MRI got pushed back to next weekend because the insurance company is being stupid. Typing is annoying, as my right hand gets ahead of my left. :(

FCB Holiday concert on Sunday went well. Extra concentration in the bass line (or at least three of us -- dunno about LF) for Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring after Mr FCB Announcer Guy dedicated it to Murph. I suspect we were not the only ones.

Mum says she is snowbound but safe -- 14" of snow in the foothills will do that. She says the problem now is that it's freezing every night, so the roads are pretty much impassable until the black ice melts the next day. Expects a couple more days of that, and then the rain Friday will melt everything.

Bell Choir is playing with the kids for a 'sing along' this Sunday. There are a few books of music for bell choirs arranged so that the players don't have to read music to play - ring on the circled syllables, damp on the underlined ones, and that's what we're using. The words for these carols are not the ones I have memorised. This is irksome. Then we play something else, this one arranged for bell choir, on Xmas Eve. We're rehearsing them at the same time, so some people (who are not paying attention) are slightly confused.

- despite two days of near or above freezing temps, there's still ice in the pond, even though we added two inches of water on top of the ice (the water level had dropped due to evaporation when the rill was running in 20F weather). However, it's mostly a floating sheet, and should be completely gone by later in the week. It's not supposed to drop much below freezing until Thursday night, so we should be able to get the pump out. There were birds bathing in the rill even when it was cold -- they seem to prefer the running water to the still water in the birdbath (which has a heater & a thermostat so it doesn't freeze unless it gets really cold).

- yesterday's bonus "cello" performance at church was not horrible. It could have been far better (it could have been far worse, too). I needed some actual rehearsal time with just the pianist, so I could get her tempo changes. It helps that I'm used to singing with her, and am familiar with how she bends tempos, but still....

- I've been swapped down to alto for some of the Christmas music. The soprano part is just too high for me, and while DS would prefer to sing alto (less stress on her voice), she can sing the soprano parts.

- DB managed to hold off a cold for most of November (didn't have time, between the show and then finals), and so was sick over the holiday break. OTOH, Assassin's Creed IV was fresh out, so he and SR spent much of their weekend playing that. And Skyrim.

- Thanksgiving was quiet. Just the four of us for dinner, and I skipped most of the fancy sides. Salad, cranberry bread, roasted potatoes&apples, ham. With pumpkin pie squares for dessert. We forgot the crescent rolls, so we made them Friday and Saturday. By Sunday, we were pretty much out of leftovers -- there's a plate of ham shreds in the fridge, but many of them are too small for anything but putting into salad or soup.

- We got the tree up and decorated (we had to rearrange the living room to make a spot for it), and JO dropped by with the wreath we'd ordered, so it's beginning to look like Christmas is coming. Kid pix will be the weekend after next, so there's no need to start the letter yet. :)

- Sometime last week I strained my quadriceps. again. And a couple of days later, my knee started complaining. So back into the knee brace. mutter. Do Not Like. I like pain less, so there you are.