Back to the Piano

I don't think that I've played the piano in nearly two years.  Someone asked me if I wanted to sell it a few months ago and I declined so I guess I had planned to get back at it "sometime in the future."  This has been the perfect opportunity!  I notice how crippled my fingers have become over the years and being able to move the fingers quickly enough is not a task I will be able to accomplish in my lifetime.  I try to spend about 15 minutes per day at the piano.  I play some finger exercise for a few minutes, then some short skill pieces from the Hanon book.  Some of you will be familiar with it. I try to do a scale each day and remember how to do it with the chords, etc.  I'm really going back to basics and I am trying to play pieces from Volume 2 of the Suzuki Piano School.  I like those pieces and it's about what I am capable of playing at the present time. 

Schooling!

Our local CBC station had someone on radio today talking about by next week they really hope to have something out to the students.  I can't believe how slack the province has been about the school program.  It was announced on March 17th that the schools would not be returning "indefinitely" and the teachers began a two week break on March 13th.  I realize that this was "vacation time" for the teachers and I'm sure that many of them had to cancel travels.  I did.  On March 30th I would have expected that something would be ready to send to the students over email.  I know that all of the parents have the ability to communicate with the teachers via email and vice versa.   It is now April 2nd and we are still waiting for something to be sent to them. 

I've been pretty impressed with how technology can meet so many needs during this pandemic and schooling is an obvious possibility.  I gotta stop writing:  I have an online visit with my optometrist, followed by online schooling with my grandsons, then I register for online bridge and two hours later I get to play a bridge game and enjoy every minute of it with very few distractions!

Deer Dung!

We can occasionally get manure from friends who have horses in exchange for "computer consultations".  It's a valuable resource!  Now that we can't be welcome at their estate I resorted to collecting deer dung in the forest north of us.  We've had dozens of deer and elk wandering through our neighbourhood throughout the winter so now we can take advantage of their leavings.  It will be interesting to see how this manure will compare to that of the horse!  Happy planting, everyone!

Distance Education

The BC kids are back "in school" today so Dave and I are started our distance education program with the grandsons in Rossland from our home in Kaslo.   He's doing a unit on bird watching and what to look for in the natural world (and they LOVE the natural world) and I did a lesson on time (digital only at this point) for their Math class.  It's been a while since we've done any formal teaching and it was great fun.  I didn't have to deal with discipline problems, although both of them were "late" for class today.  Technology or parents???  Hmmm.   We plan to continue with a "program" for as long as needed and I can only hope that they concentrate as well when things begin to get "boring".  Novelty is all!  I'm getting my "plans" from the JUMP Math series out of ON.  We already have one student who has math anxiety - my goal is to get him over that. 

The NJ girls are getting a regular program at home via their own emails at the school.  They have work to do every school day.  And they have two teachers, who are also working remotely, to supervise them at home.    I know they are in good hands.  I'm excited to be able to share poetry with Callie on a daily basis now.

A Time to Garden

Yes, gardening season is nearly upon us.

 When I took this amaryllis out of the cold  room  a few weeks ago, my plan was to have it bloom before we left for our 3 day hike in the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  Well, it turned out that we didn't get to go to the Canyon and now I'm enjoying its beauty.   I laughed to see that the last time I posted it was in 2019 when I promised that I would "renew" the blog.  I haven't done it yet and there's no time like today!  The snow is slowly disappearing, a wee bit of the garden are planted, and I'm playing bridge online.  Tomorrow "school" will begin with the grandsons for about an hour over the internet.  We'll see how that all shakes down!

It's Been Awhile

I've pretty much quit going on FB so I figure if people want to figure out what is going on with me I will give them the link to my blog posts.  It's time to revive it - it's been 5 years.  I don't really know why I quit blogging because I do like to spend a few minutes writing every day and it's time to get back into that practice.  And I have lots of opinions on things.  I remember that it seemed important to have some photos in each post.  Don't know how I'm going to accomplish that since most of my photos are now in my phone.  One bit of inspiration for renewing the blog is that Scott wrote a really good one recording his family's trip to France this July.  It was entertaining and had great photos.  Guess it's time for me to go on a learning curve!

My First Half Marathon

I'm writing this a few hours after completing a half-marathon in Creston, B.C.  The run actually felt great and the weather was perfect for it.  I chose this particular run because of the time of year (cooler), and the fact that it is flat.  In the Kootenays, flat places are rare.  I have some arthritis things going on in my left knee and it complains a lot during steep downhills, so I thought a flat run would be best for my first "big" run.  For the first time I carried and ran with an ipod playing music.  I knew that I'd be running alone and thought it would be good to have some amusement.  Usually, I like to listen to the birds, the rushing rivers, and the forest sounds, but this run is partly through a large agricultural area.  By km 3, I had to take the ipod out of my small pack because the shuffle kept getting pushed by something in my pack and it was very distracting.  I then carried the ipod in my zip up pocket in my shorts.  At about km 14 Annie Lennox was singing about "being 17 again" and I laughed because there is no way I could have run this far at 17.  I would have refused!  Training took place on a slightly more difficult course so it really paid off in the run today.  I felt tired at km 19, but not exhausted,  and the hard work paid off. My ankles felt a little wonky.  They recovered.   A big thank you to Rick, my running partner this summer.  I was able to relax enough to simply enjoy the scenery and the sunshine.  Miro, I managed to avoid stepping on a snake while running along the gravel shoulder, although I did see one that a car had driven over.  It was so good to have my coach Janis out there running as well. She is such an amazing cheerleader for ALL runners!  Thanks to Janis for getting me started.  Look what she has created!  Thank you to Dave as my driving support and bike rider who came by to cheer me on.  Even though I was one of the last finishers, I felt good that I more than met my goal (goal was 2 hours 30 minutes) and I was the second oldest participant in the run.  Not sure what my future plans are, but I do notice that I titled this my "first" half marathon!