Athrive at forty-five (31/365g)

Brian's birthday today, which we celebrated the only way we know how - doing as much stuff separately as possible. I baked a cake while Brian was doing his park run.

Theodore and Henry had an organ recital, vorspielstunde, at which we were told they really should practice if they want to do a good job at the upcoming competition.

Theodore was off to do a special training from the university about how to perform on stage. Maybe that would have been useful before the recital this morning, haha. 

Brian and I started but did not finish the set list for the upcoming contra dance, and I wrote him a tune for his birthday.

Henry went over to a friend to work on school work, and when everyone was home again for 25 minutes we sang happy birthday and Brian's parents called.

I saw part of a cool show at Kraeftners with Manuela, (Maria Magdalena, the band name of Tobias Pöcksteiner) and then went to the communist ball with Brian and Jackie and Andi where we danced to way too loud music and stuffed napkins in our ear and drank warm beer outside in the cold and ate cake out of a Tupperware and stayed out till 2am.

i tune my viola down a half step (30/365g)

a few minutes before 9 i found out that the guidance councilor at school wanted to have a chat about felix. it was quite nice and helpful, and i came out of it with positive feelings.

hung out for coffee with andrea - we  didn't do any art this time, just sat and chat, and she showed me some of her art, which is always very impressive. sometimes a get a bit jealous. 

i was the last minute replacement to play at a gallery opening this evening. sometimes when i want to mask myself a bit i tune my viola down a half step so that everything resonates a bit differently. i practiced for a few minutes before i left to take care of quartet practice, and then a bit longer afterwards. i got some really positive comments afterwards. 

hopefully i chose pieces that matched what they wanted...... Tamara Friebel, Imogen Holst, Yann Tiersen..... for an exhibit called "Der Weg Nach Innen"

 

now do everything with a headache (29/365g)

uggh, i hate headaches, and sometimes I just gotta live with them - like today, I didn't feel like cancelling everything, but it did impede my enjoyment of the moments.

Drizzly cold rain and I biked to work, and stared at a computer for almost 4 hours straight. 

My baroque violin lesson was less than stellar, as was the chamber music afterwards.

Wikipedia evening was a little silly with two little old ladies who took all of my and Nina's attention and didn't get along with one another. I did get start creating nice list of Hungarian Female composers but there are almost none of them born before 1950.

Nina and I went out for Sri-lanken food afterwards just for fun. After that my headache finally subsided, but by then the day was done.

life really is a divine comedy (28/365g)

doomscrolling for an hour and a half starting at 5am, then waking up the kids.

yay dentist for felix and then right after brian and me have a parent teacher conference to talk about the "incident" from two weeks ago, which derived from a test taken a month and a half ago. Talk about immediacy of reactions. It was an intense debate that put stress on my emotional availabilities, but I think I managed well. 

Met up with Sina and a friend/colleague of his and felt so super old compared to his 28 and the other's 20 years, talking philosophy with all the enthusiastic ego of their youth. 

[photo from parks compared to painting]

I finally returned Henry's borrowed Cello to the kons, and just getting that out of the room downstairs felt lightening. 

[photo from the antique store dancing people]

Nina had tickets to tonight's performance of the Divine Comedy at the opera, which was a ballet set to music of Arvo Paert and Philip Glass. Glass who just decided to cancel the world premiere of his symphony about Abraham Lincoln at the Trump Kennedy Center. The show was funny because half an hour was spent with the public aimlessly walking around the entire opera building to find mini ballet performances before all trying to get to their seats and watch the rest of the show. 

[photo from oper graz maybe]

everyone wants to talk to me (27/365g)

So beautifully foggy, I wished I had my camera all day today. But wishin ain't the same as havin.

Henrik was at kunstGarten today for dinner. 

I went to pick up Theodore from his violin lesson so I could bring his instrument to the luthier. When I got there he was showing his organ composition to Anselm, and I couldn't help but watch for a few minutes.

back in town I ran into Mario, with whom I have some uncommon and unexplainable connection. He made me a cup of coffee at kraeftners, and I listened to him while I got about 5 calls from Sina. He wanted to meet me after an exam, and he was close by. It got so late though that I rushed to an elternverein meeting. I'm still not sure how involved I want to be with the parents of the school.

At home the kids were finishing the movie big, and I watched a bit with them until Jackie and Andi came to pick up their car after a nice evening out for them. They stayed and chatted until Brian got back from choir. 

Best days off are Monday (26/365g)

Specifically had nothing planned today, which made the day feel so nice. Wrote a new short music bio where I don't mention quintet, which was a kind of sore-spot for me for a while that I kept putting off. 

Was generally less productive than I wanted to be, but still sorted out some old clothes, put stuff on willhaben and made some phone calls to a bunch of people which was also nice, Mary and Edward and Jörg.

Also got a piece of music which was written for me for the concert series that feature women composers. First read through of it on Thursday to see how it is.

Burns Supper (25/365g)

just woke up from a dream where I arrived late to tonight's burns supper.
Steph lives on the bottom floor of a triple-decker in Worcester MA, by the way.
And everyone was waiting for me when I arrived. It was 17:06, which was egregiously too late. "Leave your coat on we're just going to start right now"

Happy Burns' Day sounds funnier than Happy Burns' Night.

We made vegetarian Haggis, which was entertaining enough after I found the Mace. A spice I bought just for this which I then misplaced by leaving it in my room for no particular reason. 

Felix was working on his (stupid, stupid) bird house, an assignment for school which had him using a terrible online software which is way overqualified for what he had to make. He kept getting frustrated by it. Eventually right before I left I got him to just start over, for whatever that is worth, because the software was so buggy it was impossible to tell where the mistakes were that he made and where the mistakes were that the software made.

Burns night was awesomely fun, lots of singing and poetry.

I responded to the lassies toast with my own laddies toast (a word that is often autocorrected to "ladies")

His Toast to the Lassies

Here’s to the lassies that reign 'long the Mur,
Like pumpkin seed oil—rich an’ bold;
A wee bit thick, aye canny to pour,
But worth their weight in green-black gold.

The finest drap’ll no spoil the broth,
But tells yer fortune, guid or ill;
Choose weel the lass ye gie yer hand,
For ane can warm—or break—yer will.

They deepen flavour the langer they bide,
They’ll ruin yer sark an’ rule yer plate—
Yet life would taste but thin an’ pale
Without their strength, their fire, their fate.

So rise yer glass, accept the toil—
To a’ the lassies: rich as pumpkin seed oil!

My Toast to the Laddies

Dear laddies all hail,
Give me a wee little hark
We rich and bold lassies
Have a fierce little bark


When you lads come to greet us
You'll take notice askance
While you dressed the salad
We prepped for the dance

you likened the lassies to styrian oil
essential to plate and perfecting the palate
and since all ye lads be our eternal foils
you must be like vinegar: sharp, bitter and sour.

All laddies start life with a sweetness as pure
As sun-ripened apples, luscious and firm
Then time plays a trick: you ferment and cure
your sugar is changed into acetic acid

when tartness tickles the tip of my tongue
The reaction is instant: my face puckers up
Same when manly heroics are braggardly sung
"Heh - heh - look at us" makes my nose wrinkle up

So hail to the laddies: hope the best for time's test
And let oil and vinegar mix well for our fest!

When I got home I stayed up till almost 11 helping Felix finish his school-work.