Homework ...

It's getting to be late enough that I'm getting stressed about the crew folx who aren't getting back to me or don't know yet if they can make it.

I'm trying to learn to like cooked cereal. I'll be happy if I can eat it without paying attention, rather than having to focus on not gagging. Enough raisins may do the trick.

I hadn't seen the original StarWars movies since they first came out and I haven't seen Episodes I or II. With Episode III coming out, I was assigned the watching of all five as homework. So, since Video Solutions (the alternative video store with the lovely business plan, close to home) is closed for a while 'til they find a new location, off I went to Alternative Video to get a membership and rent Episodes IV, V and VI. So far, I've watched IV and V (and knit down to partway through the colourful bit on the second of the Rose/Cassandra sweaters). I'll watch VI today or tomorrow, then take them back and rent the other two.

I switched yard clean-up folx, this year. The old ones managed to weed-whack a golden elder and a lilac to death and didn't seem to think that was a problem. The new ones are the folx I hired to look after the walks for a month as a treat for when Billy got back from Miami (so much for that plan). Apparently, they weren't familiar with the type of composter I have, as they unpegged it and lifted it up to mow around it ... dumping all the pre-compost out. Oops. They cleaned it all up and I'm starting fresh. Speaking of Billy, I e-mailed him about his cat and wonder of wonders, he replied (not much of a reply, but he replied).

I installed Tiger and now my mouse doesn't work properly in either CL or WoW. Bah and Humbug. I await new drivers.

I had my first music lesson since I was about eight, yesterday. Stevie is a terrific and patient teacher and just plain fun to hang out with. As an added bonus, I get to hang out with his wife and not-quite-two-year-old, the cat and a coupla dogs. They live in a very cool old house in McCauley with an enclosed front porch. Stevie'd said he has a couple of basses, so I didn't take mine. When we got down to his studio in the basement, he handed be this enormous acoustic bass that came up to my chin and had a body I could have rowed, had I oars. At some point in its life, it'd been rendered fretless. If I can learn to play that behemoth, I can certainly learn to play my l'il 'lectric one. The plan is that I'll be the last lesson of the day when possible and we'll hang out afterwards. Yesterday, he had someone book after me so we puttered about a while before starting, then he installed me on the couch in the porch with a pooch to practice while he had his other lesson. I didn't practice long 'cuz Joan and Stacey came home and toddlers trump instruments, even cool big-ass acoustic ones. After the other student, we finished up and hung out a while longer, then they gave me a lift home on their way somewhere. He sent me home with two pages of scales and exercises and stuff he wants me to memorize. More homework! Stevie's got this great hands-on style of teaching ... "relax your wrist right here" scritch-scritch ... "Open up your hand in here" ... poke, poke, tickle. He keeps telling me I'm going to be easy to teach, which is nice to hear, but scary! What if ... what if ... what if ... aieeee! Shhh!

Stuff and Nonsense ...

Daylight:

Length of day: 15:53
Hours of dark: 6:40ish
Sunrise: 5:35 am
Sunset: 9:27pm
Start of twilight: 4:50 am
End of twilight: 10:12 pm

Current weather: Partly Cloudy. 14°C (57°F), humidity 71%, wind WNW 9.6 km/h (6 mph.), barometer 29.77 in. Hg.

Forecast:

Today.. Sunny with cloudy periods. High 24°C (75°F).
Tonight.. Cloudy periods. Wind becoming SE 20 km/h (12.4 mph) overnight. Low 9°C (48°F).
Monday.. Cloudy with sunny periods. Wind SE 20 km/h (12.4 mph). High 23°C (73°F).
Tuesday.. Periods of rain. Low 7°C (45°F). High 14°C (57°F).
Wednesday.. Periods of rain. Low 7°C (45°F). High 14°C (57°F).
Thursday.. A mix of sun and cloud. Low 4°C (39°F). High 17°C (63°F).
Normals for the period.. Low 4°C (39°F). High 18°C (64°F).