What My Life Sounds Like Lately

I have been spending a lot of my free time practicing my fiddle lately and having so much fun! If you were a fly on the wall of my apartment tonight here is a sampling of the songs you would hear in varying degrees of proficiency.

Started out with some classical music- good for practicing technique and challenging. I had a song running through my head and spent about 1/2 and hour trying to figure out what it was. Turns out it was Henry Purcell's Rondeau from Abdelazer. Fortunately I was able to find some sheet music for the song online (written for flute but hurray for playing a C+ instrument again!!) The song sounds beautiful as a violin solo. The notes are surprisingly easy to get but I need to work on my tone a lot to sound this good.

 Non-classical music fans might remember it from the dance scene in Pride and Prejudice.

And then some other dancing tunes. I have been enjoying learning some traditional fiddle standards. Maybe someday I will be providing music at a square dance near you!

Most of the recordings I got off Youtube were by Don Messer- a truly fantastic fiddle player! The last one (Red Wing) is actually close to the speed I play it at- lots of fun!!! Enjoy!

Team Lift

Recently I bought a kitchen cart for my kitchen. I had seen one in a local store for a reasonable price and  had been considering the purchase for awhile. A lack of counter space and cupboard space finally sent me back to the store. I purchased the item and the nice people at the store helped me put the large heavy package into my vehicle. I then drove home eager to assemble my new purchase. It wasn't until I was sitting in the parking lot of my apartment that I realized something. I live on the second floor. There is no elevator in my building. And that package is heavy!

No problem I thought. I am a strong independent woman. I can get this package up and into my apartment. No problem.

After a little grunting, ingenuity, and a precarious balancing of said package on a railing while I attempted for a third time to open the door to my floor, I finally got the package into my apartment.

I then opened it and began to separate the pieces to assemble.
Being a wise person I looked to the instructions. I am not a complete fool, to avoid frustration always read the instructions.
The first instruction: "Two people are required to assemble this item"

Okay.... So maybe not all the instructions are important right??

I proceeded to assemble the cart. Several hours later I was successful! The cart was assembled. The shelves held together. I had counter space. Hurray!!

I began to pick up the garbage and packaging. It was then that I noticed a sign on the cardboard box:

 

"Pfft!" I thought. I am a strong independent woman. Look I got it here and up 2 flights of stairs all by myself. I assembled the cart without any hollering or yelling (just some music: Bastille, and a pumpkin spice latte.) My confidence soared. "Who needs a team?!?" I thought, "I am woman, hear me roar!" I joked as I put away my screwdriver a.k.a. butter-knife .

The next morning I woke up to bruises on my arms and sore shoulders. Later that afternoon I found that the shelf of my new cart kept collapsing. Who needs a team? I DO!

Perhaps I was able to complete things on my own, but I ended up sore and bruised in the process. I sense of independence is good, but I am not an island. 

Last week I was preparing my Sunday School lesson for my class. We were talking about the importance of Christian community. Their memory verse was 

Ecclesiastes 4:12

New International Version (NIV)

¹² Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Hmmm.... looks like this is a lesson I haven't quite learned yet. 

P.S. The collapsing shelf was later fixed with sticky tack. It works excellent now. 

What else do you expect from a girl who uses a butter knife as a screwdriver?!? 

For all you music lovers here is some Bastille for your listening enjoyment:

 

What have I been doing lately??

It seems like I just woke up and summer had come and gone.
Fall has too, apparently:
I just nicely returned home from Thanksgiving and was greeted with some of the first snow of the season. Nothing has stayed more than a day but I am glad I got my winter tires and snow scraper when I was down south.

So what was my summer like? Here is a quick recap:

In JUNE I moved twice. (Got to be a new record for me- UGH!) That took up most of my month, and my energy. Short notice between contracts didn't give me time to arrange accommodations- fortunately a friend from church gave me a place to stay until I found an apartment.

My new place is decent.
Perks being that I have the place to myself and can shower, play violin, play music, cook, etc. whenever I want without worrying about bothering others. The building is relatively new and well maintained in comparison to other places in this city. There is a laundromat downstairs with washers and driers that actually work. The floors are laminate and tile and I have light! (A welcome change from the previous dark basement)
Downsides to the apartment being- farther away from work and the grocery store so I have to drive. I miss living with people- it is nice to talk to someone when I come home from a long day of saying nothing in the lab. And this apartment seriously lacks adequate ventilation. Most of the months of June-September are a blurr due to the heat frying my brain. Many days I came home to a sweltering apartment well over 35 C! Even now with evening temps dipping below freezing I haven't had to turn my heater on and I still have my window open most days. During the worst of the summer heat it got to the point that I looked up what temperature sprinkler systems turn on worried that one day I would find my apartment flooded. Purchasing and installing blinds and curtains, along with 3 circulating fans provided modest relief. Still, I didn't cook much all summer. The other problem with the lack of ventilation stems from the habits of my neighbours. Whatever smells are in their apartments are also in mine. I don't mind when the smell is their food but they also enjoy smoking (not always tobacco.) I have a "special" song for my fiddle that I play extra loud on such occasions.

I had 2 weeks vacation in JULY. This allowed me time to go home and visit with my dear friend and roommate from university. We were beach bums for a few days enjoying the coolness of Lake Huron and soaking up the sun while catching up. We don't get much time to talk because the time difference from here to Hong Kong makes things difficult so the opportunity to hang out was priceless!

After that it was off to Alberta to celebrate the wedding of my dear younger sister. What a beautiful day and fun wedding! Slacker bridesmaid (aka me) even managed to pull off putting together a slideshow of the bride and groom in just the nick of time (night before the wedding.) Then it was off to Jasper with the family for some whitewater rafting, hiking, glacier walking,elk, sheep and goat spotting, gondola riding, hot-tubbing, etc. adventures. I even managed to cross off a lifetime goal from my list: I made a snowman on my birthday!!!! Two actually!!! One on the Athabasca glacier and another on top of Whistlers Mt. in Jasper.

Then it was back to Ontario where I spent some time kayaking and then headed back to work.

I don't know where AUGUST went. It must have been a blurr of work, heat exhaustion, lack of sleep, repeat. I got a bunch of practising done on my fiddle and am progressing admirably. I have started to develop a love of old-style country music complete with banjos and twang. Despite the heat this summer many of the weekends were rainy and cool. So I didn't get as much beach time in as I would have liked. Also I would have liked to have gone camping along the Coastal Trail of Lake Superior Provincial Park, but weather and time and lack of a camping buddy meant that never happened. On two occasions I did get the chance to explore a small portion of the trail. Doing this barefoot and combining it with swimming, picnicking, picking Labrador tea, brewing tea on the beach with lake water, and drinking it as the sun set over Superior  made for one of my favourite memories this summer.

SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER flew by and I hardly know where they went. Most of my time was dedicated to work. My free time towards practising my fiddle and cooking. I have been helping out with getting a campus church started at the local university. We have dinner together after the service and I provide the food: soup and bread. I have been enjoying a chance to cook for others as well as a chance to try out new soup and bread recipes. On the downside I have been letting my fitness fall by the wayside. In the hot summer heat I stopped my running and soon found it all to easy to skip my other workouts. I found it all too easy to come up with excuses: heat, illness, laziness, business, new neighbourhood etc. until it had been way too long since my last workout. This week I have been making an effort to change this and it is kicking my butt!!!!! A simple 45 min lap swim had my arms and legs feeling sore and shaky, and an evening run was harder than I remember. But with some effort I hope to be ready for X-country ski season when it starts again.

If I am still here.
Who knows.
My current contract only goes to the end of this month so we shall see what happens. I guess I am back to that uncertain phase in my life again.... will the end of this year bring a record 4 moves in a year? or will I be able to stay in one place for more than 6 months?? Sometimes I find myself feeling that I am done with this place and it is time to move on... but I still don't want to pull out my boxes.

Summer is here and so am I

So it's been a while.... In case you were worried, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. (But seriously next time if you are worried about that drop me a message or something just in case.)

I have been busy working, worrying, living, baking, creating, skiing, running, moving, listening to music, making music,and an assortment of other activities. Circumstances as they are my original 2 month contract (Jan-Feb) has been extended repeatedly. Often with only a couple days notice before its expected end date. The month-by-month tension wasn't awesome, and the way I dealt with it (blissful ignorance and denial) wasn't the healthiest either. Finally I have the relative security of a 4 month contract but had the urgent need to find a place to stay yet again. I can't express how grateful I am to my church family here. When I express a need they repeatedly do whatever they can to fill it including inviting me into their homes, directing me towards available housing, and providing me with a bed.

Work has settled into a comfortable, if a little tedious, routine. I never expected to be working full-time in a chemistry lab. Initially it was exciting and challenging as I learned new lab protocols, but eventually this settled down into a regular rhythm to the point that I occasionally feel like just another piece of lab equipment. I have found setting goals and keeping track of my "personal bests" in regards to lab production to be effective in keeping me engaged in my work and constantly striving to do my best.

As an added challenge I have been focusing my energies and talents on some of my hobbies. I really enjoyed baking this winter especially fresh bread. I decided to stop buying store bought bread and make all of my bread myself. Which I found relaxing and enjoyable. I even developed my own recipe for a braided apple cream cheese streusel which is delicious and looks impressive to boot. I also started work on a painting for some dear friends and continued working on a painting I started earlier this fall. In addition I received a coupon for a discount on some music lessons; so I decided to get some more instruction on the violin (or fiddle.) Progress is slow but I would say I now am closer to using the violin as a musical instrument as opposed to an instrument of torture.

My music addiction is in full swing and I have enjoyed discovering some new bands as well as enjoying some old favourites. It is possible that I have been purchasing new music at too fast of a rate- you need to live with a CD for awhile to fully absorb and enjoy it. I think I need to go back and savour some CD's I had purchased awhile ago but haven't listened to that much lately. But there is so much good and interesting music out there and so little time! That and the website Noisetrade keeps me fuelled with constant new suggestions and the opportunity to legally download the music cheaply or for free. Their suggestions are consistently top notch! Recent finds include Jenny and Tyler, Josh Garrels, and Ivan & Alyosha. I have included some Youtube clips for your listening pleasure.

Until next time Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbeZwvB8BiE   - some reason can't link the actual video but this will take you to the page on YouTube for a song called Be Your Man by Ivan & Alyosha. Definitely check it out the video is a delight to the eyes and to the ears. It is a ton of fun and an excellent summery sounding song! Kick up your heels and dance!!!

Jenny and Tyler were the soundtrack to my winter Jan-Mar. They are an awesome husband and wife duo. I chose to link a few videos of theirs. I listened to their album Open Your Doors a lot this winter- it had a good mix of music both worship and music that ministered to my melancholy. Their music makes me want to make music too. Their song See the Conqueror was my song for lent- I recently found it is also in my church's hymnal but with a different tune. I like their version better and might try it out with the praise team at my church if I get the chance.

  

Finally the soft sweet and incredible sounds of Josh Garrels. I had downloaded his album Love War and the Sea In between last year sometime but didn't get around to really living with the music until recently. I am consistently astounded by what he does with his voice!! Pilot Me sings to me of the Pacific Northwest and why I want to go back to British Columbia and the Gulf islands. Sailor's Waltz and I'll Fly Away are just fantastic and make me want to go practice my fiddle. Which I think I will just go and do right now.