:waving: Hi Sandy!
How on earth did I miss your blog? 
Love your list of things–and how nice to find a kindred spirit (again) here at KH!! Mysteries, video games, and knitting! I love music, but I play nothing unless the recorder counts… 
How do you find time to feed all of your obsessions? There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to do all that I want to do, yet you seem to manage fine! Share your secret! 
The Mysterious Island was an amazing game. I completed the goal, and was so sad to see it end. I think I’ll have to play it through a few more times, because they say there are several different ways to win. I want to see them all!
My favorite part was being on the Nautilus, Captain Nemo’s submarine! I actually got to play the organ! Yee ha!
Thanks for replying Angelia! I’m glad to see a kindred spirit here. But, if you’re too much like me, you’ll end up in the funny farm! :rollseyes:
I’ve been a musician my whole life. I can’t remember a time in my life that I wasn’t singing or playing piano or organ. If I lived closer to you, we could try a duet with my piano and your recorder! 
Okay, here’s my secret for having time to do all my favorite things.
[color=red][size=6]I don’t do the things I hate to do! [/size][/color] :roflhard:
For example, my house is a complete mess. I only clean up when I know that someone is coming to visit (which isn’t very often).
I am good about rinsing my dishes, but then I stack them up until we completely run out. :shock: Then, I have to break down and spend the whole day washing dishes. It’s a pain. (hey, at least they’ve been rinsed!)
I HATE to dust or vacuum, so I only do it occasionally.
So…now you know that I am NOT Martha Stewart.
But, I am a good musician, a good knitter, a good seamstress, and a good cook with a gas grill. I just need to make enough money with those things to pay for a maid! 
:roflhard: :roflhard: :roflhard:
I’d also love to have the money to pay someone to come in once a week and do stuff!
I love how you just come out and say that you don’t do what you don’t want to do AND you don’t feel guilty about it! I need to get rid of the guilt!
As far as our duet goes, um, I can only play “Greensleeves,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and “Joy to the World.” :oops:
I can teach you “Ashokan Farewell” Ange, and then accompany you on the fiddle.
:cheering: :cheering: :cheering:
My dh plays guitar. I’ve never taken advantage of the free lessons! Someday I’d love to be able to play the mandolin! 
Me too. My Dad used to play guitar, dobro, and mandolin. When he passed away I inherited the mandolin, and the dobro (which was actually a Father’s Day gift from me some years before). He knew how to play fiddle and mandolin instinctively - he came from a very musical family though. My great-grandma played fiddle (she was a great crocheter too), and his brothers all played guitar.
Mandolin and fiddle both use the same fingerings for songs, so once you learn one I understand it’s easy to pick up the other. I’ve just been a bit…I don’t know…emotional I guess, about picking up Dad’s mandolin and learning to play it. I haven’t really had the courage to bring it out since he died, which was two years ago last Tuesday.
Red, I’m with you on the housechores priorities. My big problem is that for three years when I’ve run out of room I put things out “on the porch”. We live in a 2nd flr apartment, and have an enclosed porch that is only 3-season comfortable. So things that can’t fit in the attic end up there (we don’t have access to much basement storage, as that is mostly for the neighbors below). Porch is now reaching maximum capacity, with blank and half-finished canvases, bins of fabric, and extra tables and boxes running amuck. I may even have yarn out there. I can’t tell anymore. :shock: Can you say yard sale time? 
I’m also trying to find my own copy of this Return to Mysterious Island game now that you’ve mentioned it. I scoured EB when I was last in there… there were some disturbing titles in the sale bins. I did spy a Nancy Drew though - Do you have every one of that series? If not and you’re looking for a specific title, let me know. I can’t recall the title they had offhand but I’m going to be trading in some games this week and I can check again for you. After all, gamer geeks have to stick together.
Hi Sandy!!
My mom is a church organist. I took piano lessons for 10 years- loved it!! I wish that my boys would show an interest in lessons, but so far, they don’t want anything to do with it. I was lucky enough to have someone GIVE me a piano- it is old, and the wood isn’t in the best shape, but it’s in tune (after the piano tuner came!), and it’s MINE!
I had Bach’s Prelude in C for my recessional at my wedding!!
I’m so sorry about your loss! I think if you learned to play that instrument, it would help you to mourn better. You would be connecting to him in a very spiritual way. Music is spiritual and reaches very deep into our souls.
OMG, you and I live in the same house! My hubby and I used to store a LOT of things in a rented storage bin, but decided that we were sick of paying 100 dollars a month for the rent. So…one day, we emptied the bin and brought everything home. Now, my house is FILLED with boxes of things ready to be sold, auctioned on eBay, and given away. I think it will take about a year to get it all done!
Wynnie, you’re so sweet. Believe it or not, I have EVERY SINGLE GAME in the Nancy Drew series. I’m greatly anticipating the purchase of the latest installment “Danger by Design”. I’m not sure if it’s been released yet, but I’ll be watching the sale papers for a deal when it is!
Hey, if you really want “Mysterious Island”, look on eBay. They have lots of copies all the time. That’s where I got mine. I already sold my copy on eBay myself, because the game runs without the CD. I was so happy, because I made more for the game than I paid for it. So, in effect, I made money playing the game!
Those are beautiful tunes! I’m sure we could make them spectacular together.
Have you learned “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”? Have you ever noticed that it’s the same tune as the “ABC” song? And did you know that tune was written by Mozart? (or so I’ve been told…)
:lol:
Hi there, Margie!
Cool that your mom is an organist too! Maybe we could do a “bench swap” one week! (Some organists do that to get a cheap vacation. They switch houses, cars, everything! All they have to pay for is travel to the other organist’s house.)
My sons never did well with lessons from me. I think some kids learn better if they have to GO to lessons at someone else’s house. My boys all have musical talent, but they prefer to do their own thing instead of going by the notes like me.
Good deal on the piano! You’re a lucky one!
Prelude in C is such a cool piece. And it’s FUN to play.
I’m so sorry about your loss! I think if you learned to play that instrument, it would help you to mourn better. You would be connecting to him in a very spiritual way. Music is spiritual and reaches very deep into our souls.
[/quote]
Thanks. Your last sentence there hit home… nearly a year to the day before he passed on, my Dad and I were at a bluegrass picnic. Towards the end when things were winding down, some folks started singing old favorite hymns. Dad, as usual, begged off vocals and in the same breath volunteered me to sing. :oops: I’d asked Dad if he had any favorites - he was raised Baptist, but wasn’t a churchgoer. He taught me this tune, and said it was his favorite. A year later I was there at his bedside, two days before he died. I don’t know how I managed it without my voice breaking, but I sang it. Even though he was in a coma (he’d had two strokes in two weeks), I’m sure he got it on some level.
The hymn was “If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven”.
Wynnie! I think playing the mandolin would be a wonderful tribute to the man who obviously meant so much to you. But, of course, only when you are ready.
I have heard that Mozart wrote the tune for “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”! I could probably teach myself to play that. I taught myself “Greensleeves,” and it came out okay; so TTLS shouldn’t be too difficult. Maybe. My problem is that my recorder is wood and has to be played just so or I get the almost-dog-whistle effect. :shock: I can’t find my plastic one, which is much much easier to play.
It’s Mozart’s “Variations on a Theme”.
When we sold our house in Rochester :crying: , every offer we had on the house wanted us to include the piano. NO-wuh!!! No way, Jose! I love my piano. It’s an upright, almost a hundred years old and the sound is fabulous. Now if I could only actually play with my left hand. I decided that I will practice today. I should keep my voice in shape, too.
DD took organ lessons when we lived in Rochester. She really likes it. I hope she can get back into it someday.
So what did the soloist sing? Was he any good?
Oh Wynnie! That’s such a beautiful story! You have such a wonderful memory to carry with you now.
I’m glad you have been inspired to practice! I believe that music is a gift, and we should do all we can to develop it.
The soloist was good! He actually wrote the piece that he performed. It was a contemporary love song that captured the personality of the bride and groom. They were very pleased. I can’t remember the name of the piece, but it was pretty.
When I was a young girl, my older sister learned to knit in home-ec class. I thought she was so cool because she made me some “dorm boots” that I loved. I wanted to learn to knit SO BAD, but my mother wouldn’t buy any yarn because she said she was spending enough on me already with piano lessons.
So, I just watched my sister instead and waited for my chance in home ec class. A few years later in home ec class, I was SO EXCITED on the day we learned to knit. I picked a simple white acrylic yarn and some silver knitting needles. I worked very hard on that scarf, and was so proud.
When my boyfriend’s mother saw me knitting, she said that she would be glad to teach me to crochet. Crochet was much easier when I was young, so I dropped the knitting needles and went for crochet instead. She taught me to make granny squares. I still have the sheet of paper that she wrote the pattern on. I eventually broke up with that boyfriend. Years later, his mother passed away from breast cancer, and I called him to offer my condolence.
Funny thing is…MANY years later, he and I ended up dating again, got engaged, had a child together, but didn’t get married. He moved on with his life and I did the same. Our child is a sweet boy with a beautiful singing voice.
Now, sometimes I’ll pull out that crochet pattern and remember his mother. She was a real sweetie.
I can’t crochet anymore because it hurts my wrist, so that’s why I decided to learn to knit. I can hold the needles carefully and knit without twisting my wrist. Sometimes, I’ll feel my ex-boyfriend’s mother watching over my shoulder as I learn. It’s pretty cool. I’m sure she knows that I gave her a grandson!
Every Christmas and birthday, I give my son a knitted gift. I feel in my soul that it is really a gift from the grandmother that he never met.
I ended up marrying a different man, who is the love of my life, so the story has a VERY happy ending! He lets me knit as much as I want. He’s a real joy.
I see that most of my projects are never finished, so I am gonna have to break down and get them moving.
Last night, I finally finished knitting my striped socks! Yay!
And I bit the bullet and pulled out the Saguaro top to do the seaming. (I’ve never seamed before, so this should be interesting.) I’m such a perfectionist, so I don’t think I’ll be happy with the finished top, but I HAVE TO FINISH IT OR IT WILL DRIVE ME CRAZY!
I pulled out one of my knitting books last night and used it as a reference while I was seaming. I used Amy’s video to seam the shoulders, and it worked perfectly! The sleeves are really a pain though. Man! There is just no easy way to do it. I might just end up using my sewing machine!
Sandy, your socks look great!!! 
I hate seaming. I probably wouldn’t hate it quite so much if was any good at it. I always have a picture in my mind of how I want the finished product to look, and it doesn’t quite end up that way. :rollseyes:
Gorgeous socks, Sandy!! 
I hate seaming too. What makes it worse is looking at the oh-so-neat three-needle bind-off for the shoulders, and then looking at the wonkiness of the sleeves. I’ve only ever seamed one thing–the Samus–but I can already tell that seaming is NOT part of my skill set.