...still a Renaissance woman

throughout my professional musical career...
I've been primarily an instrumentalist...

as my instrumentalist career has wound down...
I've found myself singing more often...
so I was especially pleased to be asked to sing with a Renaissance group...
[see post,"...a Renaissance woman",2/18/09]

my dislocation having severely limited my "recorder potential"...
I found myself wishing that I hadn't sent my natural trumpet...
to the music store in Oakland with all the others to sell...
after I retired from the Symphony a few years ago...
since now, I could use the natural trumpet again...

so after a recent conversation with Mr.Trumpet Man...
a trumpeter colleague from when the earth's crust was still cooling...
AND the founder/tenore of the Renaissance group with which I sing...
I decided to call the music store & see if I still owned a natural trumpet...
and I do... !





these are recreations of actual period instruments from the Renaissance...
into the Baroque era,[circa 1500-1750]...
the top ones are more Renaissance with the conical bell...
Baroque trumpets & sackbutts[trombones] had more flare...
like the bottom one...



without valves[which would first be added after 1813]...
these instruments are like large bugles...
and play only these notes in the "overtone series"...



Baroque composers especially, knew how to use them despite their limitations...
this is a piece written for 7 trumpets c.1750, in modern notation...

the composer wrote the first "method book" for trumpet...
that contains this piece along with pedagogical advice...
as well as many trumpet calls, fanfares & duets for the natural trumpet...
I have a "facsimile edition" to access for source material...
it is so cool to see the text as they would have...



trumpets in the Medieval/early Renaissance period were straight...
[you can see the more conical bell on this replica...]
but since the trumpet was often played on horseback...
it was soon folded for ease in playing & the player's safety...
[you try handling a 6-8 foot trumpet on horseback...]



this is an actual German Renaissance period trumpet...
[silver-plated, with some gold plating trim...
undoubtedly from a wealthy nobleman's household...]
it was an extravagant instrument for the time...
ironically, it's extravagance [the plating] is probably what preserved it so well...



and here, in action...



this Renaissance trumpeter is properly dressed for the Renaissance...
but probably not as a trumpeter....
because of their ceremonial nature [or use by watchmen/town criers]...
they were never "folk" instruments...
so even "small town" trumpeters probably were more "well turned out"...
and not so "commonly dressed"...

so how would a female Renaissance trumpeter dress ?



well, I've seen a few woodcuts of them playing trumpets...
but women would have never been employed as trumpeters...
so I suppose if the "Renaissance enactor" could wear his usual garb...
I can too...

I can't wait to get my hands on my natural trumpet again...!

I hope Mr.TM can find himself a natural trumpet...
[I gave him several suggestions, locally...]
because as cool as it would be to play fanfares myself...
duet fanfares would be way better...

...latest heirlooms

while still enjoying these...



[tomato salad, tomatoes IN salad, etc...]

I now have these...



more "pinks"...[Caspians & Brandywines]...
the tangy "lemon boys"...
and the huge, "Tangerine"...
which is both sweet & tangy...

since I took these pictures, I've harvested more...

Yum ! all the back-breaking work was worth it...

...2 years already

they are,"cats singing"...
and have been doing so for a couple of years in my backyard...

and today, is my 2nd Blogoversary...

these past two years have seen much happen in my life...
and in the lives of those I care about...

I've said the last earthly farewell to several feline friends...
Tippy, Rob, Frick, Gracie, Creamer and sweet Mattie...

we've been joined by Molly, whose presence has brought joy & love...
as well as a number of "learning" situations for me...

the LR & DR have been cleaned & painted...
the bathroom, rebuilt and the office is "under construction"...

I've made some friends, learned a lot about myself...
celebrated good days of personal victory...
and faced bad days of personal failure...
and, of course, am not at all "finished" yet...

so here's a word of thank you...
to all of you who've touched my life through this blog...
for the kindnesses, the prayers and the "putting-up with"...
the triumphs, failures and dreams shared...

may God richly bless us all...
and give us the grace to stay the course...
and finish the race...

God is good, all the time...

"...I think that I shall never see..."

Charlie, surveying his realm...



which includes the now empty pot on the left...
as well as the ficus on the right...
not exactly flourishing...
but at least not dying...

I find no evidence of catly depravity in the now empty pot...
[and believe me, if they're using a pot for a "catbox", you can smell it...
so for years now, I've put good sized rocks in all large pots...
because it "discourages" them...]
so the very large ficus that lived there for several years...
must have just died, "because"...[?]

when I moved in, over 20 years ago, I brought a large ficus with me...

purchased especially for my east-facing front window...[$50...]
it was in reality many ficus trees in one pot...
I eventually found a l-a-r-g-e stoneware pot, [made in China...]
on a visit to the Oregon coast and hauled it home...

I don't know how much it weighs...[at least 100 lbs...]
but after I wrestled it out of the car...
and onto the porch... I moved it inside, empty...
& have always "filled it" inside...
already set in its saucer, on a rolling plant dolly...



the sad remnants of ficus #2...
which was a single trunk tree, quite tall...
and cost twice as much as the 1st one did...

it went in probably 7 or 8 years ago...
and being close to both the fireplace and the furnace grate...
got a bit dry this last winter...
not helped by the pot becoming Molly's favorite step-up to see out the window...

jumping dogs break brittle branches...

it was showing a bit of new growth this spring...
but that was soon trampled & dried up...

considering my current financial straights...
I was considering leaving the Chinese pot empty...
then I found this at OSH, while buying herbs...



they had just set 5 of them out...

all braided trunks, which means a thicker crown...

this one had the nicest confirmation, seemed very healthy...
and came up to about my eyes...AND... it was $25.00 !!

ficus Benjamina in a 10 inch pot, 5 feet tall with a braided trunk...
cost at least $50... and I've seen some for more than that...

so I took out my "mad money"... and bought it...
[I still had some then...]

its been sitting on my porch for nearly a month now...
it's covered with new growth and very happy...

soon, it'll be ensconced in the Chinese pot in the LR...

that'll be a project to document...

..."dejá-vu", all over again

[this is eerily similar to an experience I had while living in Chicagoland,
almost 40 years ago... I told that story in "gifts of the Meow-guys", my 4th post from 9/21/07...so this is in memory of Max, hunter extraordinaire...]




Piglet LOVES to sleep the day away outside in the garden...
sometimes, however, the mighty huntress decides to enliven my life with her "prey"...

recently, I was gifted with a quite dead bean seedling...
& a dried trumpet vine flower...

the scene is always the same...
Pigs hops inside, singing her,"look what I caught" song...
and then dropping "it" on my bed as a gift...

while she presents herself to be petted and adored for her feats of gallantry...
all the while meowing her,"I am SO brave & clever" song....

today, the entrance was the same...the song, the strut...
the "see how great I am" monologue...
so I praised her for the dried blossom I thought she'd brought in...

but her inattention to the blossom...
and continuing unrest focused me in another direction...

then I saw it...



clutched under her paws, a b-i-g GREEN grasshopper...
that managed to keep eluding her, causing her to pounce...
this went on for a while, then it jumped off the bed...
and she went after it...

as she hopped back up on the bed, sans grasshopper...
I had a moment of wondering if I'd ever see it again...

then I felt something on my foot, climbing up my leg...

I tried to show it to Mz Huntress...
who misunderstood my intentions & fled...
leaving me to steel myself, capture the critter off my leg...
and release it out the window...

presently, Piglet returned, searching for her prey...
and finding it nowhere to be seen...
flopped down on the bed, muttering to herself...
and was soon asleep...

no doubt dreaming of grasshoppers...

I'm just glad she only found one...
[read the 9/21/07 post...]

cats...

...a productive Sunday

on Saturday, I slow cooked some pork [Boston butt]...
[on sale for $1.97 per lb!!]
at 250˚ F for 8 hours, encased in foil...
I had "forked" the cooled meat into strings...
mixed it with all it's juices & stored it in the 'fridge...



my last trip to the grocery had netted me a big bag o'green beans...
[since mine were a bust this year, I waited for a good price...]
I stemmed them, broke them & added them to olive oil, onion & garlic...
just covering them with chix broth, fresh ground s & p...
and bringing them to a simmer in my covered La Creuset 2.7 qt French oven...



meanwhile, I rinsed the pink beans I'd left soaking overnight...
added them to my 5 qt L.C.French oven...
added 2 chopped onions, chopped garlic, a smoked pork hock...
s & p &covered it with chix broth [2 qts total for both kinds of beans...]
I covered them & when they were simmering, turned down the heat...
leaving them to simmer, like the green beans...
at the lowest heat for a couple of hours...

at this point, I unburied my bread machine...
found my notes & instruction book...
dug out a mix and the other ingredients I'd need...
which was not easy, since I hadn't gotten around to labeling my storage tubs...



finally, the ingredients were placed in the "Zo" in the correct order...
the "add" light went on, so I could add in my seeds...
and the Zo was mixing away...



fortunately, I remembered the caveat to watch the mixing...
as I had to scrape down the sides of the pan...

after the ingredients were all properly mixed in...
the cycles of kneading & rising began...



at this point, I whipped up a pan of corn bread to go with my beans...



keeping an eye on my "sous chef"...



I got my label maker...



and labeled all my baking storage containers...
so it's possible to find the dry milk or seed topping...
without opening & digging through each container...



I had set my timer so that I could add seeds to the top of the loaf...
just before it would start to bake...



then I set the lid ajar & turned up the heat on the green beans...
eventually, the liquid would cook down and be a deep tasting sauce...



the pinks also got the same treatment, allowing the liquid to cook down...
and the now completely dismembered hock was removed...
[the skin & bones, anyway...]leaving only the bits of meat...
and ALL the flavor...yum...

the skin & bones are Molly's favorite treat...
and are added to her dry food...
[after the kitties lick off the gravy...]
truly a shared windfall...



here's my finished loaf...
[a bit misshapen... I'm not sure what happened, but it is tasty...]
and the corn bread... ready to be stored...

the pinks & corn bread were great...
and the green beans, very sweet & tender...

...upon further review

in a recent post, I mentioned that I had enough money in my account...
to pay my bills through October...

then, the voice began to "encourage" me to investigate further...

so I ended up staying up all Friday night, reading Dave Ramsey...
and going through my finances, in a strange state of calm...
and came to some more comforting conclusions...

if I did only the minimum credit card payments...
re-scheduled my mortgage payment to the once a month amount...
raised the deductible on my homeowners insurance...
bought no clothes, music, entertainment items or "meals out"...
spent less on cat food and almost nothing on my food...

my monthly deficit was suddenly much lower...
and what I have would last twice as long...

now, I know that some of you are wondering...
just why it took me this long to arrive at this point...

I have no answer other than I wasn't there yet...

thinking this way, always terrified me before...
the thought of being alone, old & poor was too depressing to accept...

so what's changed ? I'm not sure...

I seem to have a real peace about all this...
instead of being depressed & falling into despair...
I feel "light" & hopeful...

along with reading the Ramsey book, I've been watching some videos...

the videos are the History Channel's, "7 Deadly Sins"...
and the ones I've recently viewed are "Lust", "Gluttony"...
"Envy", "Greed" & "Sloth"...

they have all provided me with some interesting insight...
especially the view as they reflect my current state...

"Sloth", however, is the surprising one, combining apathy & sadness...

I always thought of Sloth as laziness and was quite astounded to discover...
that all the elements of depression, [melancholia, a mental illness]
were what the early monks referred to as sloth...

as they went on to discuss how depression was so destructive to the soul...
and totally counter to the Christian lifestyle, due to the lack of hope...
I realized that I could NOT allow myself to sink into the depths of fear & self-pity any more...
if I was to be the person God wanted me to be...

at that moment, I realized that my point of view was like one of those puzzle pictures...
you know, the one where you see an old hag or young girl...
depending how you look at it...
that I could chose to be positive, praise God for His grace...
look for things to be thankful for in every situation...
and in choosing that path, I would see the pleasant side of the puzzle...

if I chose to "wallow" in self-pity, fear and pain...
I would only see the un-pleasant side of the puzzle...
and all that He has planned for me would be stopped...
until I learned my lesson & stopped complaining about everything...

like a kaleidoscope with a picture that changed momentarily...
depending on how I "twisted" it...
it was so simple...
it was my choice to be thankful, no matter what was going on around me...
and in choosing to thank God for all the pain, aggravation & fear...
they all dissolved and I was left in simple peace...
no longer earthbound, light as a feather...

free... to embrace all His gifts...

as I worked through the number crunching, I felt peace...
as I saw what had to be done, I felt calm...
as the rosy, fingers of the dawn crept into my bedroom...
I slipped off into a peaceful sleep...

I rested & meditated most of Saturday, feeling quite calm...
on Sunday, at church, a friend I hadn't seen in a while...
asked me how I was doing, so I told her I was looking for work...
she suggested several possibilities where she works...

ironically, she works at the same place I did before the school district...
I did not leave in their good graces and have been "at odds" with them ever since...

several of the situations [library or archival work] are "right up my alley"...
in the next day or so, I'll be following-up leads...
[still waiting for the go-ahead sign at this point...]
but I learned my previous lesson & have already "forgiven" the people involved...
and all the problems from before [they're all gone now, anyway...]

I've come out of this "week-end seminar" very calm...
very sure that that elusive job will come...

when I think back on all the miracles in my life the last couple of years...
the resolutions of problems, the huge miracles of God...
they were all, as they happened, very ordinary...
simple moments blessed by grace...

there were no trumpets, or angels...
no "Hallelujah Chorus"...

just simple, willing obedience...and a positive, hopeful outlook...
and that's the way this will play out too...

T.S Elliot wrote,"...this is the way the world will end, not with a bang, but a whimper" ["Hollow Men"]

I like God's take better, "this is the way your new life begins, not with a bang, but a song of praise & a whisper of hope"...

when I am "right"... the "right job" will come...

and everything else will be "right" as well...

God is good, all the time...

...back to the park

It had been quite a while since I was in the neighborhood park, with my camera.
Not since the day of the accident, Dec. 27, 2008...
So the other day, after a brisk walk around the block with Molly in the heat of the midday, I returned a bit later with my digital SLR to see how some of my favorite "targets" were faring in late summer...

I was disappointed to find the that the tree trunk that had been so gloriously
decked with fungi in fall & early winter, was now bare of any signs of fungal growth.
As I moved further along the chain link fence that keeps visitors away from the lake's edge, I took a few shots from some of my favorite vantage points.



Now quite different in appearance due to the green of summer...



and the lack of mist & fog...[I do love the colder months...]
As I walked west along the fence, I saw a duck making its way to the fence, about 100 feet in front of me.



By the time I got there, it was in the water, swimming towards the other shore of the lake.



I looked down and spotted its entrance point into the lake.
A "ducky sized opening" under the fence, probably created by a critter with paws, but useful for duckly egress just the same.

As I watched the duck paddle away, I noticed something next to the far shore...



a crane, I believe... You often see them in the wetlands around I5 going north to Ahnoldtown. Sometimes even on the freeway median, but I'd never seen one here before.
Of course, I haven't spent much time in this park, in the summer, when it was quiet enough for waterfowl to be "around".

Walking further west, I spotted a "planting project". These 4 are doing very well.
The 3 further to the west are not.



A total of 7 red oak trees planted by the Mudville Parks folks. They seem a bit close together for something that will grow so large, but they do grow slow & not all may survive.



It's just nice to see planning for the future in action as the green leaves reach out to embrace the warm summer sun.

"...we are not offering you a contract position at this time"

the letter came on Tuesday and by that time, was no surprise...



since school had been going before my interview, I had figured that not getting a phone call early the previous week couldn't be good...



I had been quite calm and positive while I spent those 10 days waiting...
even towards the end when all that was left was the "thunk" of the other shoe falling to seal my fate.

They did say that they would "keep my name on the sub list", but I need full-time work... I'd need to "sub" every day to make enough to pay my bills & living expenses.




at this point, I'm barely holding on. My bank account will get me through September.



If I can get the little that's left in the Putnam Fund before it evaporates...
perhaps I can keep my nose above water for October, but without a job, and soon...I will be unable to pay my bills/living expenses after that.



So I'm here...still being told to wait...
to trust...all the way to the end...
[which I now know will come in October...]



I know that there are those of you who think that I am crazy...
to not be out, finding any sort of thing to scrape together some money...
but He says,"...wait..."

"Doing it myself", out of panic or impatience would be to disavow His control in my life... been there, done that and look where it got me...

[I found some very helpful material on the idea of "waiting"...
click here for a link, "click" to be redirected, wait for the icon "Godly Man to appear on the right, click it and then click on "Waiting for God" on the lower right of the menu...
it is worth the trouble...]



He does talk to me and He's telling me that none of the jobs I've looked at so far, were the right one He has for me...and since my track record with job-related stress is counter to everything I need to become, I want to be in that "right" job... I have to listen, not just,"uh-huh" Him & do as I please...
Letting Him put me in the "right" job is essential.

I also know that my attitudes about money & my handling of it, need to be changed to conform with who He is leading me to become. He has every step, every encounter, all my comings & goings scripted and I must learn to discipline myself onto this path before I will be ready for that job. I must be patient, as calm, peaceful & positive in my heart & mind as His grace can make me. I can not give into the fear & panic that the pit of my stomach wants me to embrace. I either trust Him to the end or I am lost.



and so, I wait upon His pleasure and pray confidently for the grace to make it through...

God is good, all the time...

...a cat's life [Mz Fluff, "at home"]

"feed me, NOW..."



this is my summer bed...



and this is my newly-washed, so I'm using it now,
winter bed...



"get that @#$% camera out of my face..."



"such a day..I need a nap..."
[notice the single fang...
it's all she has & she can really use it to her advantage...]