4:44 PM

It’s been a good day. Even though it is really cold out.

I’m listening to Joni Mitchell’s Miles of Aisles record on Napster. I think I still have the vinyl in the basement. I like this record quite a bit because it’s mostly Mitchell playing convincing renditions of her songs with a kick-ass back up group. All live recordings.

I hooked up my remote speakers and cooked this afternoon.

Am making beef stroganof for my carnivorous wife and calzone for both of us.

I kept thinking of Eileen’s recent comment that so many people do not take the time to prepare food from scratch these days. Surely that’s not true. It’s so much fun. At least for me, anyway.

I took some time off and went and practiced organ a bit.  Put the stroganof in the slow cooker for safety’s sake (I don’t like to leave food on the stove in the house while I am gone.)

The mailman seems to have skipped my house. Ok. So my path is a bit full of snow. But it’s only a few steps from the main sidewalk which they keep pretty clear. Maybe I didn’t have mail. Maybe.

I’m still waiting for a check from Holland High school for the work I did for the musical in December. Good grief.

I am beginning to wonder if it’s ever going to come.

Money is kind of tight right now due to getting cut back at GVSU to one class (Did I mention that? Alright, I know I’m harping on this) and going to China. But whothehell. I’m not known for my belief in the concept of money anyway.

However, I do like to pay bills I owe.

Silly me.
I have decided to charge my solo and ensemble students that I accompany a flat fifty bucks. In years past, I have made the fee a minimum thirty bucks so that people could afford to have their kids accompanied. Now that feels a bit low.

I have three scheduled for Feb 17. They are all playing real music. Concertos mostly…. Haydn Cello, Poulenc flute sonata or concerto and a generic violin concerto…. I see the music to the last two on Monday evening. Ahem. I just hope I can play them.