UJTU: Walk, Run, Snow, Play

Our Saturday to Sunday snow storm left me a bit buried...

The walking project continues apace (har har). I will need to fit in a few short evening walks or longer weekend jaunts in order to make up for a few slack days, but otherwise, I'm on track.

I *am*, however, thinking of once again attempting to get into running. Nothing fancy: it would just be nice to be able to handle 3-5 miles of slow jogging. Even at a slow pace, it'd be quicker than walking the same distance, thus freeing up some time for my next resolution-to-tackle, "Write More."

I actually planned to start this weekend by jogging the last half mile or mile of my usual walk. This may seem counter-intuitive, leaving it to the end, but I don't usually find my rhythm even for walking until I'm a couple miles in, so I think waiting a bit until my legs become my own is best.

However, Saturday afternoon a snow storm blew through. Nothing like what some of the east coast has seen, or what we used to get in Vermont, but six inches of heavy, wet snow put a damper on my plans all the same. I did go out and walk in it yesterday (three miles of laps between two half-mile markers), which was HARD WORK, but probably burned as many calories as my usual longer walk...but there was no way I was going to try running in the stuff, especially over uneven, footprint pocked trail.

But sometime this week, I hope. May have to wait until my legs recover...my calves are awfully tired and sore from that snow workout.

In the meantime, I got a good start on my "Play More" resolution. I've had the tenor banjo out pretty much every day, working on triplets and trebles and tunes. Currently I'm trying to polish up Humours of Tulla and The Clumsy Lover and learn Garrett Barry's and Pinch of Snuff, to name a few. Also continuing to practice Gravel Walk in the vain hope that someday I'll be able to keep up with the insanely fast pace they play it at the local session.

I need to change strings before Wintergrass. Especially mandolin strings. But changing mandolin strings is something I tend to put off as long as humanly possible....

Blithering Re-entry

I planted some pretty flowers and they're not dead yet! See? Blithering, as promised!

For the last few months, I've felt like I've had nothing worth saying. Thus, I've primarily resorted to the site dedicated almost entirely to people with nothing much to say, and said a lot of nothing on Facebook. But lately, I've had so much nothing to say, I feel like saying nothing on a grander scale. So I'm back. Maybe. Kinda. Lucky you.

Aside from saying a lot of nothing, I continue to be obsessed with music. Along with playing with friends whenever possible, I'm still going to the Wednesday night Irish session at Tugboat Annie's in Olympia, WA most weeks, which is a blast. I'm still getting the tunes under my fingers, but have most of the most common tunes pretty well down, so long as we don't go to warp speed.

A few weeks ago, I got my hands on a tenor banjo.

My Alvarez Minstrel banjo, complete with groovy '70s orange fuzz lined case...

Tenor banjos differ from your average bluegrass or old time banjo in that they have just four strings (no short fifth string off to the side) and a shorter neck, and are played with a plectrum (or pick, if you prefer). For Irish music, tenor banjos are typically tuned GDAE: same as a mandolin or fiddle, but an octave lower, which means all the tunes translate over pretty much instantly, though the banjo has a much longer neck...quite an adjustment there!

It's also much louder than mandolin. This I like. I like a lot.

I'm also back in a pencil phase, after several months of pretty much not writing at all. Summer is a good time for carefree writing utensils! Currently-in-heavy-rotation pencils include the Musgrave Test Scoring 100 (I have a review for these I may post soon if I can get some satisfactory pictures taken) and a few varieties of USA Gold pencils. It's also almost that wonderful time of year: back-to-school sale season. Aren't you excited? Personally, I'm hoping for more 25 cent Norcom composition books, and maybe a chance to stock up on Papermate Black Pearl erasers.

As a final update, I remain utterly enamored of my Kindle Touch. I take back all the bad things I ever said about e-readers. I like the light weight, the flat "pages," the instant bookmarking--lots of little things I'm coming to take for granted. I'm also fortunate to live in an area with a good library system and access to about a zillion Kindle library books. Let me tell you, it's pretty awesome to be able to finish a library book at nine o'clock on a Saturday evening and be able to have a new library book in your hands in moments instead of waiting a long and miserable two days until you can get to the library after work on Monday.

OK, that makes me sound like a junky. But maybe I am, a bit.

Lately, I admit I've mostly been reading rather light fantasy/sci-fi novels (Tad Williams' Otherland series at the moment, and Terry Pratchett's Discworld books). Hey, it's summer, or as well as, though you'd be hard pressed to tell based on the current cold and blustery weather here in the Pacific Northwest. I do have some non-fiction and classics stacked up for later reading, though, plus a bunch of Mary Roberts Rinehart mysteries, plus I want to go back and read the flawed-but-interesting biography Kent Gustavson wrote about Doc Watson, a musical hero of mine to say the least, who passed away on May 29th. What a musician and man he was!