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Question for the week
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Piano Revelation Posted: 06/25/09 I’ve taken piano lessons for six or seven years now, and I’ve noticed that my improvement isn’t a steady upward line on a bar graph. Rather it’s similar to the stock market: up one day, down the next, but over the long haul it remains up. When I started I didn’t realize piano was such a challenging instrument. I thought it would be like typing, at which I am a whiz. But, no, it’s more complicated. In typing, you press one, two at the most, keys at once. In piano, you can press ten keys at once and add your feet to the pedals. Then there’s the issue of rhythm, that ability to assign a length of time to a particular note and then parse the other notes around it so they are more than, equal to, or less than the note involved. Typing doesn’t really consider this. A good typist strikes all keys with the same rhythm of time, which never really has to change. I plod on with my piano lessons. And what I’m experiencing right now is that much of the work of the previous few months has come together in an “Ahaa!” moment. I love it when this happens, because I make great strides. I begin to read music after struggling with identifying notes. I get the sense of rhythm. I look forward to sitting down at the piano. I know that I’ll tackle more difficult pieces and the struggle will continue. The “Ahaa” moment will be replaced with more work. But for now, I’m reveling in the current plateau I’ve reached.
R.I.P. Posted: 06/20/09 Over the years, I've blogged about life in Michigan, especially life around our home. I’ve featured squirrels and birdhouses and willows. I’ve shown flowers and the river and the change of seasons. And I so wanted to have a keepsake photograph of the ironwood tree that came down last night in the middle of a frightening rainstorm. But my new computer and my old photo program won’t talk to each other, so I’m left with words to describe how we feel. The ironwood tree outside our bedroom window was the first thing of beauty we saw on wakening and the last thing we saw before closing our eyes at night, thanks to some beautiful lighting we installed three sweet summers ago. The tree held court for birds of all hues, especially since Earl kept a feeder filled on a daily basis. It also was home to a special kind of bell that would ring in the wind. We’ll never hear it ring again. We’ve spent the day being melancholy about this. There are fifty trees on our property; and, of all of them, the two ironwoods we had were our greatest pride. Now there’s only one. And we’re as bereft as we would be if a human member of our family had perished. So I urge you: if you appreciate some special thing of beauty, do so wholeheartedly. Revel in it. Take photographs, even if your computer doesn’t like it. Because you never know what can happen. We are in mourning tonight.
New Computer Posted: 06/17/09 I am the owner of a new computer, which means I’m frustrated. The new computer has a lot going for it; namely, it’s fast, sleek, and light. At the same time, it has a mind of its own and thinks it knows me better than I know me. I resent this, since I’m not one to take orders from others lightly. Especially electronic orders. My old computer went by the name “Kim,” but I’m refusing to name my new computer. I’ve decided I don’t want to anthropomorphize inanimate objects, even if I have to read error messages from them. I doubt naming this computer would fix that problem. Tomorrow my tech guy returns for the third time to see if he and my un-named computer can become more compatible. I want the scroll function on the keypad disabled; I want the font size in my emails reduced; I want automatic restarts also disabled. I want to be in charge. So be aware Microsoft, NOD, Mozy, and all you other programs out there. I may have a computer that works at the speed of light, but I choose to work at a speed I’m more comfortable with. Probably the speed of turtle. Or maybe a speeding turtle.
What I Did on Holiday Posted: 05/24/09 Tomorrow is Memorial Day, and Earl and I are in Denver, CO. We drove here for a sixtieth wedding anniversary; and, while the highlight of the trip certainly was the party last night, we have seen some interesting things along the way. On the top of Earl’s list is the I-80 Truckstop at Exit 284 in Iowa. Earl has never been a trucker, but he is fixated on this truckstop. It has room for 800 trucks at the same time. There is a 70 foot buffet, and salad is not particularly well represented. There is a dentist and a chiropractor on staff. The auto parts department is large enough to hold one sixteen wheeler and two other cabs and still have room for product. In fact, these vehicles really ARE in the showroom. Then there are the gift shops and the food courts. It’s about as far away from fredflare.com (the company I work for) as one can get, but it’s also about as close to a slice of Americana on this holiday weekend too. Happy Memorial Day to all.
Previous entries Due to the volume of entries, Anne's Ten Minutes A Day are now categorized by date and by topics. Some essays are found under more than one topic. Otherwise, select from the categories below.
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