Mozart had another birthday. So did Ken Marks, I learned today.
With a single word, I saved a pedestrian from being run down by my taxi driver, who had looked down as he dealt with the dials of his defrost system to get more frontal visibility. He thanked me for my help throughout the reminder of the trip, which had started with him explaining, after I had put on my seat belt, that I really didn’t need to wear it. Thanks to his sparing use of the defrost and wiper fluid – he didn’t want to run out of fluid unexpectedly – the windshield obstructed our view of the road ahead for most of the time. Later he started rolling down his window at intersections to take photos of roadside winter scenes. This I found charming – I might have done the same if I were driving –until he continued doing it while the car was in motion. We did arrive however.
I tried a new cello by a local maker, a supposedly run-of-the-mill instrument that sounded surprisingly good. Better than my own in fact. So I hurried home after the rehearsal and did something about it. It’s all in the strings – new strings, new cello. I switched to a set of Kaplan strings by D’Addario, departing this time from the standard Larsen or Jargar + Spirocore combination. So far sounds good.
I hope that Ken Marks has seen this post!
ReplyDeleteSo, what was the single word you uttered to the taxi driver?
Have you registered the news that I am going to retire a year sooner than I'd been anticipating? I'm doing a countdown in the sidebar of my blog. (Have you ever used one of those for anything? Jennifer told me where to get the code for one.)
I said "easy!" which was close enough to "careful" to get his attention. Love the retirement countdown (haven't used one of those - very cool). Congrats on your retirement decision - more relief than regret?
ReplyDeleteYes, quite a bit more relief than regret, plus lots of joyful anticipation. Muse busy on a concept for a screenplay. Fingers itchy for more hours digiscoping. Dreaming of interesting trips with your mother. Hope you can join us in July at the Garden of the Four Winds (Les Quatre Vents).
ReplyDeleteSo you got a new cello?
ReplyDeleteNo, just changed the strings.
ReplyDeleteDo the new strings make much of a difference?
ReplyDelete