Octoberings

The leaves have turned and they are falling. No frost yet but the heat finally had to be turned on. This weekend was full of concerts and joy. Caught the end of Blue Heron after my rehearsal on Friday, went out for dinner on Saturday before seeing Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI at Harvard. Met up with a gamba buddy I haven't seen in ages who drove down from VT for the concert and we drank beer and played gamba together well into the night. I cooked pancakes Sunday morning and had a lazy day before the Cambridge Concentus concert, followed by good food and going to bed early. What I was struck by this weekend is how many wonderful people there are out there whom I really enjoy and how little time I actually devote to seeing them. I've been holed up most of the semester spending a lot of time by myself here at home (and not as productively as I'd like) as well as a lot of time with K. I don't regret this because schlepping around to lots of parties and events is too much excitement for me but I have decided that I'm going to try to get out more. I'm not going to go to extremes but maybe I'll try to do one adventuresome thing a week. One thing I might otherwise not do out of fear, obligation, laziness, anxiety, etc. We'll see how it works out.

In other news, I am scrapping all of my bad left-hand habits and rebuilding my technique from scratch. It's about time and I knew it had to happen but the intonation on the cello recital was just not acceptable and is holding my playing back. I hate the patient and diligent work it takes to change something very fundamental about my playing but there is a masochistic part of me that enjoys how tedious it is, how frustrating. Because it's so obvious when you start to get it right and you can see the results of your work so easily.

But that work will happen tomorrow. Now for an early bedtime before a long (and hopefully productive) day.

On Beets and Crocuses

Having returned from visiting Val who is managing to eat almost entirely organic food she cooks from scratch herself, I have vowed to put more effort and thought into what I eat. So on my way home from my lesson yesterday, I stopped at the little produce store and bought two beautiful bunches of beets. J had requested I make borscht for us a while back so I figured now was the time. Making it all the better, the beet greens (which fall on the crinkle-index somewhere between Chard and Collards) were still attached by their spindly red stalks. Walking home with them peeking out the top of the plastic bag, I felt strong, like Gary Larson's triumphant vegetarians returning from the hunt with their giant carrot. And while proudly carrying my beets I saw the first crocuses of the year (likewise triumphant in their gaudy yellows) it occurs to me that Spring is a good time for resolutions. No one can keep them in the doldrums of winter and so we conclude that we are not resolute enough and give up. So in the spirit of flowers and vegetables, I hereby muster my resolve to cook more food, to practice more music, to read more books, to take more risks, to write more letters, to be a better friend.