My Fiddle

Today, after three years, I finished making my violin. I still have to varnish it, but first I'll play it "in the white" for a few weeks to find any small adjustments that need to be made first.

It was set up by Bethany, and I asked her to put the strings on even though I know how. I was pretty emotional, but I decided I was not going to cry. She put the first string on it, plucked it, and I started. So did several other people in the room.

After all the strings were on it, she handed it to me and I was in tears. I started to play St Anne's Reel, got as far as the chorus, and I could feel a sob building up. I had to stop playing, handed it to Bethany and asked her to play it. I heard a bunch of applause when I stopped playing. I was surrounded by about 30 people, only half of whom were in our class. The rest were from another class who came by to see the first time I played it. I wasn't the only one bawling like a baby, there were at least 10 other people doing the same thing.

It sounds lovely. What a thrill.

As if I haven't lost enough sleep over this violin, I've started building a viola. Hopefully it won't take three years.

Here We Go

Here's what my violin looks like today. Tomorrow starts the week of my course. I'm hoping to have it all finished and ready to varnish by the end of the week. The following week, I'll be taking the Intermediate Stringed Immersion course, a whole week of playing all day. Wouldn't it be the coolest if I could play the violin that I've made by hand for that course??

This picture shows the front, sides and back, all completed and ready to glue together. Just below them is the bass bar which is all finished and fits the contours inside the front (see the next picture).

This is the neck, scroll completed and fingerboard temporarily glued on. I have to finish carving the neck, then the fit it to the body. After that I'll play it "in the white" and make sure all is well with it. Then I'll remove the fingerboard and varnish it.

While I'm waiting for the glue to dry, if there's nothing else I am able to do, I'll work on my viola. As you can see, I've started the rough arching on the back. As if I haven't lost enough sleep over my mistakes while I've been making the violin, now I can make different mistakes with this one.

The Ongoing Ode to Cheryl

When I found this little gem on the comments section of one of my posts, I was left no alternative. I had to publicly expose you-know-who for hiding things from us.

"I've just read the "Ode to Cheryl"....wow it's been a long time, but actually it hasn't. I just haven't told my stupid little secrets. But here's one...Yesterday I was removing the label off a wine bottle and I stabbed myself with a pearing knife in the muscle between the thumb and first finger.Let me tell you that hurt and the muscle is still like a brick in there.

5:06 PM, July 21, 2009"

Only you, wouldn't leave the bottle on the table,

Only you, would try to carve off the label

What kind of a fool, would use the knife as their tool,

Now you've sliced your thumb muscle in two.

We think you're accident prone,

You're hilarious, you one and only you.

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See the bottom of my blog for the complete Ongoing Ode to Cheryl.

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Ask And You Shall Receive

Yesterday we were in the local pub. It was really busy and we were sitting in an area we've never sat before. After we got our drinks, we chatted and waited for our supper.

Suddenly, with bugged out eyes, I said intensely to the Mister, "Look at that!", pointing up on a shelf about 10 feet off the floor. Sitting way up there was a teapot. Not just any teapot, a beehive teapot. I have a friend who, because of her surname, collects bees. I knew that I must have this teapot to give her as a gift.

When out server came back, I asked her, "What do you think are the chances that I could buy that teapot?". She pointed to another employee, Karen, and crooked her finger, calling her over to our table. I asked Karen the same question.

She told me that she'd bought it in a store that was closing down, and that if I put a donation into the box to sponsor her breast cancer team, I could have the teapot.

I put my donation in the box, the server had the people at the table beneath the shelf move for her, and she climbed up on a chair and got it down. Then she took it and washed it before she handed it over to me. So, their team is richer, I have a lovely gift for my friend, and I definitely won't hesitate to ask when I'm in that sort of situation again.

What do you think? Will my friend be pleased?

My New Hero

While we were in Yoho National Park, we went to the interpretive talk about the Spiral Tunnels. It was interesting to hear the history of this engineering marvel that is one hundred years old this year. 

One of my favourite parts was to hear about Lady Agnes MacDonald, wife of Sir John A MacDonald, Canada's first prime minister. After hearing the story I was a bit skeptical, but I've found a lot about it on the internet.

This is from the following web-site:

http://www.kvbrakemen.com/inc/Train_Talk_Songbook.pdf

"Now for something wonderfully unique in Canadian history. This song relates a bizarre act by the wife of Canada's first Prime Minister during the couple's cross Canada train trip in 1886. Lady Agnes Macdonald was, by nature, a totally unliberated Victorian lady. Out of modesty, she believed piano legs should be skirted. She referred to "dark meat" and "white meat", never the breast or the thigh of a chicken--and she thought the only reason a woman should leave home on Sunday was to attend church. So it came as a complete surprise to Sir John A, and the C.P.R. executives when Lady Agnes insisted on riding up front on the cowcatcher of the locomotive as their train steamed from the Rockies to the west coast! Unable to dissuade her, John A. rode along with her as the train chugged into Revelstoke but then he returned to the club car and Lady Agnes (smiling from ear to ear) rode the rest of the way on her own. For some myserious reason she wanted that experience badly enough to defy the conventions of the day, her public persona AND the wishes of her husband. Our song honours the gutsy spontaneity of...LADY MACDONALD'S RIDE. "

   

LADY MACDONALD’S RIDE

By: Jack Godwin 

A train went by the other day, the weirdest thing I’ve seen, 

A lady rode on the cowcatcher, as regal as a queen. 

Oh, she was havin’ fun, now that was plain to see 

Later I heard, she rode up there from the Rockies to the sea! 

CHORUS: 

When your big chance comes...TAKE IT, don’t you run away and hide 

Nothin’s gonna happen ‘less you...MAKE IT, you can't win unless you try.('cause...) 

Just once around--then we’re gone--to life’s other side. 

There’s a lesson for the learnin’, in Lady Macdonald’s ride. 

“I’m perfectly aware of the danger, she said. But the spell of the moment is strong. 

Just once to court excitement, that surely can’t be wrong.” 

Past wildfires an' rock slides, riding there alone, 

Lady Macdonald saw it all, on her cowcatcher throne. 

CHORUS 

Swayin’ ‘round the mountain curves, and down the steepest grade 

I heard she laughed with pleasure, completely unafraid. 

Skirts tucked underneath her, hat down ‘round her eyes 

She rode into the history books on those C.P. railway ties. 

CHORUS 

Sometimes in life we get a chance at a dream that we hold dear 

The things that make us hesitate are worry, doubt and fear. 

So when your moment comes, just brush those thoughts aside 

And keep in mind the story, of Lady Macdonald’s ride. 

You just remember well the story of Lady Madonald's ride. 

http://www.vcn.bc.ca/pmmuseum/Programs/Building%20the%20Trans%20Canada%20Railroad.pdf

Last Week of the Vacation

We left the mountains on Sunday, and stopped in Calgary for a visit with cousins Brenda, Ray and their daughter Hayley. She's a cutie.

We all arrived at Susan and Laurence's place last Tuesday. We had supper reservations and Laurence was working until just before supper. So the rest of us went  for a drink and enjoyed laughs, drinks and the view. I didn't get a pic of the supper group. Carolyn and Richard had to leave the following morning, and the next day the six of us had supper in our trailer ... again, no pix. 

Thursday we just hung out at the house because the weather was cold and rainy.

When we got to the house, Froggie enjoyed the view for a few minutes, then went inside for some socializing.

Susan made us a Mexican feast. 

Laurence was just beginning his vacation, so he had some work to finish, but seemed pretty relaxed while he was doing it.

Friday morning, we were homeward bound, with Sunday early afternoon as the anticipated arrival.

It was a great vacation, too many November-like days, but the cold and rain didn't 'dampen' our spirits.

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Westward Ho

The first few days of our trip, we drove hard, every day. It was fun watching the scenery changing as we went west.

After arriving in the Abbotsford area, we got all set up then the following day we went to meet up with Meaghan and Adam.

 Adam took us to the Navy Base for a tour of his ship. He took us all around the ship (we knew Gryper was gonna be ticked off that he missed this!) explaining things as he went. He knows the ship “stem to stern”.

The following day, Meg & Adam came up to where we were staying and we went to Fort Langley, which is where British Columbia was “born”. Gryper can't just sit back, he's a participation kinda guy, helping to demonstrate how the furs were transported from all over Canada to the posts for exporting.

Afterwards we went into the town and cooled off (it was about 30C), then went back to the trailer for supper.

We had a great couple of days. Today we're off to Stanley Park and other touristy places.

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