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Summertime Practice Woes

July 1, 2008 at 4:25 AM

Yup, it's summer! The weather finally started becoming nice, enticing me to spend more time outside in the garden rather than inside practicing. Last weekend was a perfect example of this phenomena. Temperatures finally reached above 60 degrees, so I spent the weekend planting, weeding, and repairing my lawn sprinklers (which by the way, was a fun experience with the neighbor kids when the temp got near 100 degrees).

I have now officially began my summer without lessons. I still have one more concert in two weeks with another local community orchestra (got a panic e-mail pleading for more violists in the area), and then Interlochen in August.

I'm determined to not slip into bad habits and to try to keep up on my own what my teacher has been working on with me until lessons start again. But I'm going to focus it down to one thing - bowing. I have a tendancy to lock my thumb straight rather than keep it relaxed. So, for the next few months, I'll be telling my right thumb to "Relax already!!!". We'll see how this goes.

I might even pick up my cello for fun every once in awhile.

From Terez Mertes
Posted on July 1, 2008 at 6:58 PM

Mendy, do you ever miss Lompico? It is soooooo dry here, it's just awful, and the Bonny Doon fire a few weeks back (not to mention the Summit fire a few weeks prior) and now the Big Sur fires - oh, so sad. This poor region. Next time it rains there, mentally push some my way! : /

From Mendy Smith
Posted on July 2, 2008 at 2:10 AM

I miss the area, but not the commute - esp. with gas prices the way they are right now. I did read about all the fires. Boy did they get close to you!!! Glad to hear you are OK.

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