Monday, June 29, 2020

Resuming Piano Lessons on Monday

Big Foot Was Here!

This is what has been sitting on the parkway in front of my house since Sunday morning!  I guess Big Foot lost her slipper on her way home from the ball on Saturday night!  I have no idea who put it there, but, I suspect it was someone who lives in the house next door to me.  I am hoping that they put it there because tomorrow is trash pick up day.  But, unless they scheduled a bulky item pick up, the regular trash collectors won't pick it up!  I have no idea why they put it on the parkway in front of my house, rather than in front of their house!  The parkway is city property, but, each homeowner is responsible for maintaining it.   I know it is a bit of an eyesore, right now as I haven't been able to grow any grass on it, for the past several years, and someone uprooted all the succulents I tried to grow there, a couple of years ago.  But, I don't think an old shoe shaped chair sitting out on it does much to improve it, either!  Sigh.

Last night was one of those nights when I didn't get to bed until after 4:00 a.m. and then, couldn't fall asleep, right away.  I think I finally went to sleep around 5:00 a.m.  I woke up just before 11:00 a.m.  I had just finished having tea and replying to blog comments when neighbor S called to ask if I was free to start online piano lessons today.  We agreed that this evening would be a good time for us both.  It gave me a little time to get in some practice, in the afternoon.

But, first, I did a little housework.  I changed my bed sheets and did a load of laundry.  Then, I organized the spare bedroom a little bit and made enough room to store the bags of dry cat food that were delivered, last week.  There is more to be done in that room, but, I made a start and the boxes are out of the living room!  They are now in the family room, waiting to be broken down...

I stopped for brunch - leftover waffles with the last fresh peach.

Then, I dusted the living room and the dining table.  I also tidied the sewing supplies I had scattered about on the dining table.  I am still making fabric masks in between jam making and everything else!  In fact, today, I cut out and prepared the ties for another mask that I had started last week; it will be sewn up, tomorrow. 

The piano lesson went well, I think.  We reviewed the pieces I had learned the last time I had a class, which was on March 5th.  And then, I played a couple of pieces I had learned on my own during the intervening months.  Of course, S found places where I could improve on those pieces, but, I think she was pleased that I had taken the initiative to learn them on my own.  Now, I have several pieces to practice as my homework for next week!

After the lesson was over, I had a cup of tea, watched news. took the trash cans to the curb, did the dishes, and cleaned the kitchen, a bit.

I wasn't very hungry for dinner (the waffles filled me up, today), so I had an egg salad sandwich and I will probably snack on a handful of almonds, later.

Two pieces of mail came in, today (a couple of others were tossed in the recycling bin, right away).  They are sitting on the computer table to air and disinfect!  One is the cell phone bill and the other is a statement.  According to what I've read, the virus can live on paper from a few hours to up to 5 days, depending on the strain of virus.  So, that is how the paper piles grow, because I keep each day's mail for several days before processing them.  I did spray today's mail with disinfectant, so, perhaps they will be OK to deal with, tomorrow.

Today, I am grateful for:
- The little peach tree that gave me so many peaches, this year
- Being able to do online piano lessons
- What I was able to accomplish in terms of housework
- Being able to video chat with my daughter
- Microfiber cleaning cloths

Today's joyful activity was playing the piano.


Monday's To Do List:
- Change bed sheets - DONE
- Load of laundry (bed sheets/towels) - DONE
- Dust living room & dining area - DONE
- Clean the fridge
- Take trash cans to the curb for Tuesday trash pick up - DONE
- Tidy the spare bedroom - STARTED
- Practice the piano - DONE.  Had a piano lesson, too, online! 

Tuesday's To Do List:
- Bring the trash cans in
- Dust my bedroom
- Water the garden, front and back
- Water the house plants
- Clean the fridge
- Practice the piano

How was your Monday?  What are your plans for tomorrow?


12 comments:

  1. I hope that chair is removed soon, it's a bit of an eyesore and I know it would bug me that someone has dumped it on the bit of the parkway that I am responsible for!

    I'm glad you enjoyed your piano lesson. Does resuming lessons mean that you will have to get back to daily practice again? Good luck anyway and enjoy your learning journey.

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    1. First thing I checked this morning was to see if the chair was still there and it has gone! Yay! It really was an eyesore, wasn't it?

      Yes, I will have to get back to daily piano practicing! Maybe even twice a day! LOL. She wants me to increase my tempo on a couple of the pieces and I usually make silly mistakes when I do that! Also, often, I am concentrating more on getting the notes and my fingering right and disregard all the other niceties such as how loud or soft, etc. :)

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  2. Oh! Poor you, regarding the shoe! I hope it disappears. Maybe you could sneak a sign on it saying "for trash pickup" and push it over more to your neighbor's yard!
    You could sit your mail out in the sunlight. I hear the sun can destroy the virus in a little less than 30 minutes. Andrea

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    1. Thank you, Andrea. The shoe was gone, this morning! I'm glad! Oh, I must try sunning the mail! It's amazing what a little sunlight can do, isn't it? :)

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  3. I'm glad the shoe is gone. That would have been very stressful to find that it wasn't removed in the trash pickup, especially because it was on your boulevard.

    I am certain that neighbour S was pleased as punch that you obviously had kept up with your practicing. Not only had you recalled the pieces you already learned, but you picked up some pieces over and above what she had you learn. She had to have been pleased. I am so glad you had a great lesson, and it will be good to return to a bit of normalcy with your lessons. I'm sure Dancer will be happy too.

    You had a very productive day. I did nothing. I'm not kidding. Except for turning on the dishwasher last night, I spent the whole day watching You Tube videos. Disgraceful.

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    1. Yes, I was glad the shoe was gone, this morning!

      Ha, ha, Dancer sang a bit, yesterday, during the lesson! It was the funniest thing! But, he didn't sing when I practiced, today!

      No, it was not disgraceful that you took a day off, yesterday. You obviously needed it, being concerned about your father and after all that work helping "Dee" with removing the concrete, etc. You just needed a little break, that's all. :)

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  4. The shoe is not my taste, but if it had been a nice black leather pump I might have felt a little different!
    Glad you started back with the piano. I need to start practicing piano and ukulele but Mom's house it standing in the way of that right now.

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    1. LOL, Anne, don't you want a leopard print shoe?

      Thank you; if I had gone without lessons for much longer, I might have got lazy and not wanted to resume them! I guess you need to wait until you have more time to get back to playing, yourself. It will wait.

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  5. Why would a neighbor put their stuff in front of your home and not in front of their own home? I would've been really bothered.
    Reading through the comments, I see it is gone.
    I know you must be relieved.

    A huge moving van just pulled up in front of my house and the guy got out and moved my trashcans that were at the curb for pickup.
    I opened the front door (leaving the glass storm door closed for virus protection) and yelled "what's going on????" lol
    They were obviously at the wrong house.

    So, I need to go outside and put my trashcans back at the curb and then I need to cut the grass.

    You've been really busy staying caught up with your cleaning schedule.
    I need some of that to rub off on me - I've just been doing the everyday basics.

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    1. These neighbors are the inconsiderate neighbors who park their vehicles blocking my driveway half the time and playing really loud music till the wee hours of the morning. Other neighbors have called the police on them for various reasons (loud music, dogs jumping over the wall to attack their dogs, etc.) I try to be a good neighbor and only complain when they block my driveway.

      Oh, it's a good thing you noticed the moving van and queried! That reminds me of a dream I had some time ago (I think I wrote about it, at the time) of finding people removing my furniture and screaming (in my dream) that I was not moving house! LOL.

      Have fun mowing the lawn. Sometimes, just the everyday basics are enough. That's the point I hope to get to, where the everyday basics are all that are needed. Hope you have a good day, Debra. Stay safe.

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