Out of the Oven

We have a peach tree in our front yard. While we can't take credit for planting it, it has grown beautifully this year, many thanks to my husband's hidden talent as a gardener and "lawn care specialist."

While I was gone, he sent me pictures of the peach tree. They were fully ripe while I was gone, and some had to be eaten while I was away.

However, we now have a drawer-full of them, and they make terrific pies. As I found out.

I also found out my husband had never had a peach pie in his life!

I'm certainly no Martha Stewart, but I will quote her here:

"Doing projects really gives people self-confidence. Nothing is better than taking a pie out of the oven. What it does for your personally, and for your family's idea of you, is something you can't buy."

Doing projects really gives people self-confidence. Nothing is better than taking the pie out of the oven. What it does for you personally, and for your family's idea of you, is something you can't buy.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marthastew587403.html?src=t_pie

Doing projects really gives people self-confidence. Nothing is better than taking the pie out of the oven. What it does for you personally, and for your family's idea of you, is something you can't buy.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marthastew587403.html?src=t_pie

Doing projects really gives people self-confidence. Nothing is better than taking the pie out of the oven. What it does for you personally, and for your family's idea of you, is something you can't buy.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marthastew587403.html?src=t_pie

The connecting c(h)ord

An on-again, off-again project has been seeping, brewing, marinating.

And by on-again, off-again, I really mean: 

ON (offer! concert offered! Learn more of these!) … practice, practice, practice - oh wait, these are HARD - maybe wait until my technique is better / the planets align / my cat can clean its own litterbox - or until I can play them perfectly. Practice, oh wait, here’s my opera season for the year, so better get on THAT because that is sure money, and that is how the world {somehow} sees me these days ::: keep going, keep going, keep GOING (thank you, Berio and Samuel Beckett!).

Literally, this project, now calling my name very strongly, is starting to boil over. Like a pot, or sauce, on very slow boil.

Try … seven or eight YEARS. All of my cells are different from the time I started. 

Today I experimented with the recorded sound - visual of pairing my new Zoom h5 with my Nikon DSLR 5100. I have never paired an audio mic of this quality to the DSLR, but I was in the middle of blissfully practicing solo music, and then thought - 

“I’m going to check out what I look - and sound - like, in this moment!”

So I figured out how to pair the two, and set up the machine. Lo and behold, I came up with something fun! I also played around with filters and captions. The video is about a minute long.

https://youtu.be/wdM0fLnYydI

The connecting c(h)ord. The one I used today to connect the two machines. The one that Shostakovich uses to get from one harmony, to the next. He links back the opening a minor with the bell-tone “E” - the dominant, the overtone. Each chord struck is a riff on the one before, a connection to what is to come.  

The good ol' days (?)

Dear everyone,

You can attribute my absence of about two months to competing my doctorate and getting engaged. I realize that for those of you who are following on occasion, that you feel you have missed a lot. Not to worry. I will fill you in.

I am home this week with only two duties. I am back with my beloved trio (www.lukenspianotrio.com) and I am also attending Westminster Choir College's Alumni Council weekend and meetings. It is so wonderful to have one immediate and one near (one month or so) project to practice only, no more papers, no lecture recital, and no homework!

That's right. No homework, ever again.

You could say that "everything's coming up roses ..."