Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas.

Early morning ritual

My early morning ritual has included building a fire in the wood-stove.  One good fire in the morning warms up the house for the day.

A warm fire, some Christmas lights, some Christmas tunes, and it's all nice and cozy inside. 

(Kathy, the green candle next to my woodland Santa is battery operated.  As another side note,  I have both real candles and battery operated candles (on a timer) that I thoroughly enjoy.)

I ordered something special for the top of the stove from Plow and Hearth.  It's a cast-iron pot for water, but the top is really cool.  If the water gets steaming, the steam is supposed to escape through the holes of the fire pit.  I haven't found that it works all that well...yet.  As long as moisture gets back into the air in someway, it's all good.

Got it back...

I got my baritone ukulele back!  So far, no popping strings.  I asked Sonny to take out the pick-up mic, and he thought that was a good idea too.  So, we're hoping that whatever was putting the strain on the strings is at least somewhat addressed. 

This uke was a Christmas present last year, and I have really enjoyed playing it; I should spend more time with it, truthfully.  But I could say that about all my instruments! 

One of my ukulele students, a 10 year old boy, is quickly learning to pick/play  melodies in his lesson book, and he's getting pretty good.  He picks the melody, and I accompany him with chords.  We're working on preparing 3 or 4 pieces we can perform at Open Mic in January.  He's really excited about this prospect. 

Open Mic Night

One of my students, Hailey, performed at Open Mic Night, Saturday evening, at Mammoth Music.  The store hosts an Open Mic Night once a month, usually the last Saturday.  She sang "Christmas in the Sand" and "Santa Baby," and yes, that's me accompanying her on the electric piano.  She did a beautiful job.  She's in 7th grade this year, but has always been mature for her age, works hard, practices, and it all pays off.  Working with her is one of the joys of life!!

The sights and scents of Christmas

What a treat to get out some of my favorite Christmas decorations and to begin enjoying them anew this season.  I've been enjoying a few lights, some burning candles, some Christmas CD's, and some fine decorations sitting about.  I think I could enjoy them year round!

I just watched the movie,  "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (I think I got the title right); it was a sweet movie, and I enjoyed it.  My family says I'd like the movie "Brooklyn."  Have you seen it?  And what about the new "Star Wars" movie...anybody already have plans for going?

Guitar strings

I have had the most unusual thing happening to the last two guitar strings on my baritone ukulele.  First one breaks, and then another.  Well, the guy that's been restringing them has tried everything: he's checked for sharp edges, smoothed out all surfaces, made an adjustment on the pickup-mic.  After about 6 strings were replaced, we thought we had the problem solved.  And yet another string broke, just a couple days ago.  I took it in, and the guy tried tying a different knot on the bottom to see if that might work.  So, at the end of the week, when I was giving a lesson on my home piano, the student and I heard a pop!  We checked to see that where the noise came from...and the other string on the uke broke.
Really????

I know my guy at the music store is going to be scratching his head again...after what will now be an eighth string replacement.  The solution may be to take out the pick-up mic, even though that doesn't' seem to be the problem.  However, we will have to try something, so I guess I'll suggest it. 

A few sunny days

I have enjoyed these past sunny days, as they have helped melt my snow-packed/icy driveway and have made getting out of the yard a lot easier.  It's been unusually warm, actually, for a few days, and it is about to come to an end with a new cold front and snow storm moving in today. 

Yesterday, I attended (with a couple other gals) the "Art in the Afternoon" event in Lander; I really think it's the finest art/craft show of the season.  After shopping and visiting with folks we ran into for a couple of hours, we had lunch and drove back to Riverton.  We arrived in plenty of time to also attend the "Festival of Carols" at the college.  Beautiful music.  If I could have chosen the music, however, I would have preferred hearing the choral performers sing at least a few familiar carols.  Truthfully, that's why I attended; I wanted to hear beautiful renditions (in a live performance) of familiar and well loved Christmas carols.  I hate to say it, but I was disappointed. 

Nevertheless, it was a fine day, and I even got home in time to see the last half of the Bronco game.  Hmmm.  I thought that another win for the Broncos was in the cards....not so much! I don't know what was going on with the receivers, but they couldn't catch passes! All those fumbles kept us scoreless for the last half of the game. I guess we'll see what happens next week!

Cowl #2

I finished the first Blue Water Cowl, although I haven't blocked it as yet.  I got right to casting on a second Blue Water Cowl, but this time I used the smallest size 6 needles (4.0mm), and I've noticed a difference...but it's not huge.  At first I thought the difference was going to be significant, but now that I've knit a few inches, I'm predicting that the difference is going to be minimal. 

It seems like the progress is slow...even though I'm working on it steadily.  I've been working with size 2 needles on socks...so I think I might have thought that working on 6's would actually be more like working with size 10!  Oh well, slow and steady...

Pine on the Prairie

I planted this tree a few years ago and have been babying it ever since.  It is finally taller than I am, and it seems to be doing fine, despite the fact that it would probably like to be in an area that gets a lot more moisture.

I love the way the snow and wind creates white sculptures on the branches.  It's a wintry image that makes me smile.

Tracks in the snow

Oh man, do I have tracks in the snow: bunny tracks!!  Lots of them!  The buns have been busy playing in it and burrowing down to find a little grass to nibble.  They are adorable to watch.