A Plethora of Music

There is now an abundance of music inside the house. Starting after Thanksgiving, I played every Christmas CD I owned, as well as all of John’s. It took the whole Christmas season to get through them all. Next, I played all the general disks of mine. Was I going to start with John’s? Yes, because by then I was used to playing one right after another, starting with exercise time before walking to the stop sign. For the sake of the neighbors, it’s good there is plenty of space between the houses.

I picked one row to start, not knowing what kind of music was there. The first ones were all Gregorian Chant – unaccompanied, single lines of sacred music in Latin. Most of them were men’s voices, which were quiet and soothing. The one I didn’t like was a single man’s raspy voice that sounded more like a barking dog than a human singing. Chants were sung in churches and monasteries, and there are still a few places that continue the tradition. Among John’s collection were a few recordings of women singing chants. Those were not as appealing to me.

This is where John’s CD’s are stored – in an odd non-corner of the living room. Most have not been touched since he died.

One disk seemed to be a dividing marker. It was music from the time of Nostradamus. That would have been after early music, moving into the Renaissance. The music looks more like our music today, with two staffs of five lines. However, it moves in lines flowing across the page rather than divided into measures with a definite beat.

A section of madrigals came next. They are secular songs that are often quite lively. I recognized a number of them, since John and I sang in a madrigal group in college. These songs come from the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. There may be lots more of the same. I’ll find out as I play them.

Quit Boasting!

I didn’t use the title that seemed appropriate – Pride Comes Before a Fall – because you would think I had fallen down. I didn’t.

I have been known to announce with pride that I get on the floor and up again once a day, seven days a week. I admit my tone was boastful. I had my comeuppance, or stay-downance, after changing the toner cartridge near the floor. I’d been expecting this for months, but I print only one letter a week. It’s amazing how little ink it takes. Last week I saw there was no more ink, so I chose a sunny day to get on the floor. Getting the little cartridge out was easy, but I couldn’t get the new one in. I knew which way it should go, but I could not SEE why it was hung up. In desperation, I wiggled it until it finally clicked into place. Whew!!

Below is the printer, inches off the floor.

I couldn’t get off the floor. I then remembered to take off my shoes, because sneakers don’t slide on that carpet. I normally exercise with bare feet and loose clothing. Jeans don’t fit that description. Oh! I took the phone out of my pocket. Finally, I could move and was able to get on my feet. What a relief! I had the phone and could have called for help, but what an ignominious failure that would have been!

What I discovered is that preparing for an emergency, as in getting off the floor with nothing nearby, is marvelous. However, the emergency won’t be exactly the same. You’ll still have to use brains to figure out how to adapt your skill to deal with the problem. Welcome to the real world, Anne.

Snow Storm

Having been prepared for the previous winter storm, I didn’t need to do anything for the next one, except wait for it. Two neighbors knew they were invited to stay here if they lost power. It began to snow Friday evening and continued for over 24 hours. I don’t think we got as much measurable snow as lots of folks to the east of me. Niece Kathie in Charlotte put out a one-foot ruler, and it was covered up before it stopped snowing. The flakes were not large here.

I understand roads were hazardous. I had no need to go out and was content to stay inside. I took a few photos that could pass for almost any real storm here in the last eleven years. There was one picture, though, that was rather dramatic for me. It shows the temperature at 0 degrees. At that, I missed it showing -1 because I wanted to finish the morning set of exercises.

It was the cold that actually affected our neighborhood. When the temperatures plummeted, the next morning I noticed the power went out for a few seconds. It wasn’t off long enough to make the generator start. It happened about every 10 to 15 minutes. Later Shawn told me that this had happened throughout the night. I only saw it after 7:00 am. My house was quiet about it, but hers went overboard. I don’t remember all that happened, but Bob’s CPAP machine stopped, and something whistled, causing the dog to bark. That would be a lot to endure for hours at a time. In my house the Echo devices began to blink, and the router silently stopped and started itself again. No wonder it didn’t wake me up! Shawn said the power company did brown-outs to conserve electricity. This happened two nights when it was very cold, but things seem back to normal now.

Broken Clouds

My telephone showed the time in huge numbers, the date in a much smaller font, and the weather in tiny letters. It was the weather that caught and held my eyes. It said, “18° Broken Clouds”. Only the words on my phone struck me. If the clouds are broken, who broke them and will they fall on me? Being a child of the 20^th Century, I know there is much more to “sky” than clouds and an expanse of blue. There is space out there, lots of space! There is debris in space that is falling toward us. I’m happy to report that I glanced at an article that said we now have the capability of intercepting things falling out of the sky. Whew! I’m not going to worry about broken clouds anymore.

Day After the Storm

As forecast, the temperature began to drop. I closed all curtains and blinds to keep the rooms as warm as possible. I could walk by a window and feel coldness coming inside. I’m glad I couldn’t shut down the front windows, because it snowed for hours. The sun was shining brightly! I’m not used to that. To me, it’s not a real snowstorm unless the sky is totally overcast. There was a bit of white only in places where the sun didn’t reach. It’s just as well it was not accumulating on sunlit paths and streets. Holly’s roof was holding snow, but Shawn and Bob’s was not.

The temperature continued a downward spiral and settled at 6 F (-14.44 C). I had things to do on the desktop computer. It lives in the coldest room of the house, so I pulled out my electric heater and found it to be a lovely companion. Perhaps I was relieved that the storm had not been intrusive. The evening dwindled away, and I was happy to climb in bed and sleep the night away.

It was too cold to walk the next morning, although it did warm up to just freezing a bit later. It was a day of meandering about the house, with nothing important accomplished. It seems that fizzled storm was a great disruption that accomplished nothing. Hopefully life will soon be back to normal.

Storm Fizzles

The storm took forever to get here, but its clout was scattered. I saw photos from relatives east of me that showed snow covering the ground. There was no snow here. There was some rain during the night that I didn’t hear. I went to my church on line, where a mid-week service had been recorded to show today, in case weather kept the church closed. The tech showing it, from the comfort of his home, said the streets of Asheville were icy and dangerous.

On the weather map, all around my area the temperatures were 28 F (-2.22 C). Both of my outdoor thermometers showed 55 F (12.77 C). I was in a warm pocket!

Wind began to blow, with the intensity increasing rather quickly. The wind chimes and whirligigs flailed about in the garden. Slipping on gardening shoes, I rushed out to take them down. As I did, the wind roared on the nearest ridge and made the old oak tree dance. I don’t know that I’ve ever been outside in wind that heavy. I think I could have been frightened if I hadn’t been concentrating on the job at hand.

The background hum of the house changed as the heat pumps shut off and the generator came to life. The power was off! I texted neighbor Joyce, who is great at reporting our outages. I have the app for the power company, but I’ve never used it successfully. She soon sent me a screen shot from the company that said the estimated restore time was unknown and 109 accounts were affected. In a very short time – minutes, not hours – the power was on again! Amazing!!

I was writing this and stopped to enjoy the holiday lights on Holly’s house. Texting her, I told her how lovely they looked. She texted back that Logan was eating dinner with her, and she was sending him over with a bowl of her Cincinnati chili. A minute or so later he was at the door with the warm chili and extra cheese and onions. Wow! My neighbors are THE BEST!!

Temperatures are on the way down now and are forecast to be 6 F (-14.44 C) tomorrow night. I’m thankful the rain, snow, sleet, wind, and cold air didn’t hit all at once while the power was out.

Waiting for the Storm

The snow/ice storm has been at the top of the news for days and days. It was supposed to sweep over much of the country, dropping snow and freezing rain. I’m eagerly waiting to see what will happen, because if a storm is hyped for days, it rarely delivers really bad weather. It’s already over 24 hours late, which is nothing new.

David and I went to the grocery store one day before the storm. Normally people rush out at the last minute to buy bread, milk, and eggs. I’ve seen bare shelves in New York stores, but Ingles (my favorite store here) appeared normal. The shopping crowd seemed about the same. David and I noticed only one shelf that was totally bare. Want to guess what had been there? Bottled water! That makes sense, because if people with a well don’t have a generator, the pump in the well will not run if the electricity is off.

I walked as usual the morning of the storm, spotting at least 15 snowflakes drifting down. I wouldn’t have seen them if I hadn’t run into them. Snow is fun to watch when you can see it, but darkness may fall before this storm lives up to its name. On Friday, both churches I have gone to announced no services on Sunday. That includes one church on Long Island and one in Asheville, 1,261 km (783 miles) apart.

If this storm does begin and if my power fails, I won’t be reading and responding to email or blog posts until systems are put back together.

Marching Orders

My wonderful physical therapist added a new exercise to my routine, evidently on a trial basis. I have watched the small video and read the instructions on the phone app, but the actual exercise is not ready to play. That is a good thing, because I can’t do it yet. It is called Single Leg Balance Walking with Trunk Rotation. The instructions are to begin in a standing upright position with your arms crossed straight in front of your chest. Raise one leg to 90 degrees, then slowly twist your body toward the same side and hold. Return to facing forward, then lower your foot, taking a step forward to repeat the movement on the opposite side. The added tip says to perform near a wall or counter support.

I tried this in the kitchen and flailed about, trying not to fall down. The title for me should have been “Windmill”. There are 10 reps, so you’re traveling a bit. I was just not wanting to travel down to the floor! Making no headway after three days, I devised a plan. I would march myself in the hallway with sturdy walls on both sides. To begin, I would only lift one leg, pause for balance, and take a step forward. Forget the twisting for now. The theory was good, but I kept forgetting to do it.

Now I have my marching orders in place.

A Continuation of Music

Having just played ALL our Christmas CD’s, I decided to continue listening to general music. This time I’m playing the discs that I collected through the years. I haven’t played them since I moved here eleven years ago. There was music in the house during those years, mostly John’s playing his music. That was fine, since I liked nearly everything he played.

I just put one disc in the reject pile. It was a trio, three women playing music for violin, cello, and piano. There were three selections on the disc, and only one was bearable. The others were modern and screechy. I must have bought it myself, but I wonder why.

Continuing with the following disc, I found myself listening to ocean waves on a beach. I knew what was coming. I unexpectedly reveled in it! The CD player was in the kitchen, and I was in the living room, typing on the computer. It was easy to imagine I was sitting inside, listening to waves crashing on a nearby stretch of sand. I enjoyed the rhythmic, foaming sound, even though I never heard that sound except in hot weather. My imagination was helped by wearing three layers of clothing, which kept me warm on a very cold day.

Dust Covers

I washed the Christmas shower curtains before putting them away. For drying, I draped them over furniture on the back porch. The moisture was gone almost immediately, but I wanted to make sure they were completely dry. Bringing them inside, I tossed them over chairs and left the room. When I came back, the first thought I had was that someone had put dust covers out in preparation for a lengthy absence. English movies have shown such a scene when the upper-class family was going for a stay in their country home. All the furniture would have been shrouded in dull covers to keep them clean. My chairs felt very special, being covered in Christmas glory.