So here is the thing

I have now scheduled Finsbury work for practically every free hour I have and while this is great in some ways (I made enough from my first pay check to pay for my plane ticket to Baltimore) this also means that I have not-as-much-time-as-I-previously-had for blogging.

(I don't know if you noticed, but that was an apology/excuse for writing so little lately.)

Ma and Pa were here this past week, and we had some good times. All three of us managed to get sick though, so in a 7 day trip that wasn't, you know, ideal.

We did get some very nice walks in though: on the first day we went from Buckingham palace through (this may be wrong?) Green park, (st. Jame's park?), and Kensington Gardens, and then on Sunday Daddy and I wandered around Greenwich and took the Thames Clipper back to central London. On Wendesday we saw the English Concert play in a marvelous concert.

When I first saw The Academy of Ancient Music at Interlochen 5 years ago- I was totally entranced by 3 things: how much fun the cellists were having, how amazing the sound of the ensemble was, and how cool the bass was (and how cool it was that the bass player let me play it!)

So the bassist of course was Peter who is now playing with the English concert and on Wednesday was playing the same instrument that he had at Interlochen (we think the bow was the same as well, but he wasn't positive). The cellist that I loved so much at the Interlochen concert was playing a solo (her facility with instrument is inspiring and she looks around while she plays: at the conductor, at the audience, at the rest of the ensemble- but never at the cello or her hands...), and the second movement of the Vivaldi that they played literally made me gasp.

So you know. Full circle and all.

Last week I rehearsed and recorded the pieces for the London Contemporary Dance project. The recordings aren't terribly good because we only had one rehearsal and then recorded. The recording is just for the dancers to get an idea of what the music will actually sound like and so it is okay that they were a bit sloppy. I do so enjoy playing in ensembles with people. I also enjoy that the composers are competing to see who can treat the musicians the best. Candy and handshakes everywhere!

So basically life is good, and I am a whiz at alphabetizing.