Yes, it is that time of year. Leaves are falling. Temps are falling, albeit not as fast as years gone by and like a roller coaster, down to normal, back to mid August. Hummingbirds slowing down visits readying to say, "Adieu". I think I filled the feeders for the last time yesterday, No more sweet corn. No more fresh tomatoes, although I found some really good strawberries and tomatoes at the grocery store yesterday. Not sure how long that will be the case.

I need to stop. I am depressing myself. I am not a fan of winter. We do not drive or go out much in the winter. Not a fan of it getting dark so quickly, either. 

Oh well, can't do anything about it. Maybe the arm will be better tomorrow and I can get back to my cello. I hope so, then my cards.

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Wow, two weeks! 

I did do the group project piece and Myfanwy. I did not have a very good session. I am trying too hard. I really want these two to go well. 

I did break down the Group Project. There are some wicked(for me) cello runs. I was working in those. I did not improve. I think that I got worse.

I did work on that nasty wolf tone that I have. I have improved it, but it is still there. That dastardly D is really bad, but better. Not sure where to go with the Kretz eliminator, so I left it where it was. I will see what it sounds like the next session. It is better. 

On my Goronok, when I had it, it was the F, F# and G, no matter which string. On this cello it is mainly just the D string.

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I am going to try the measure 27 or 28 run by shifting to 2nd. I can't spread my fingers apart far enough to do the F#, F natural, F#, F natural 8th notes followed by the F# quarter note. I am thinking of shifting to second. using index and ring finger, and try that. My fingers middle two fingers just do not have the spread required for a lot of the cello forms, and I have had to make do with alternatives.

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Well, at times, your -5 would be a heat wave! LOL I do not even want to think about it, I used to walk to school in it. In kindergarten, my boot zipper froze because it got plugged up with snow because of a big drift and the path was not shoveled or plowed. I was told, "Do not walking the street," so I went through the snow, 😂. The next morning that path was plowed and was from then on. It was between two homeowner homes, so the village had to keep it plowed. That school was literally just down the street. The middle school and high school were both that mile away, so I did walk a mile to school in snow, wind, rain sleet, hail, pouring rain. We were one street too close to be able to ride the bus, a mile away. You had to be over a mile. The run started the next street over. A few times I called a cab whenI was in. high school because their was pouring rain and thunder and lightening. I was not walking in that. A few times the cabs were all taken, small town, only 2 or 3 cabs. When I got a job and my first car, I had time to pick up my younger brother because I was done work at 3:30. He usually had some sport or something after school, so my drive from work in the next town to the school was about that time he was done. When I look back at it, I don't recall the walk in any weather bothering me that much, though. When I look back, it sounds terrible. Weird. My last 3 years of high school, my favorite grandmother moved into a house on the route on way home. I stopped on the way home to visit with her, green tea, I hated it, but loved how she and my aunt, who lived with her, loved to make it. Good memories.

Well, I worked on my group project. It went well, after a bit. I did try my new fingering on that measure with the tricky fingering with the 8th notes. Voila, as opposed to "viola", it worked. I have to get the speed up for those notes, but the fingering works. I worked the runs. Work well until I insert the measure before them. Guess I have to work them alone for a bit, yet. All in all, I think there was improvement. I am trying to memorize the run notes so that I can just concentrate on playing them.

I worked on Myfanwy and played What A Wonderful World. I noticed that my French cello bow works so much better on those two songs, but my Fiddlershop bow that cam with my wonderful cello works better with the group project. Not just a little better. There is a vast difference. Weird. I love both bows. Probably the wood, style, and aging of the older French bow. The sound just fits the other two songs better, so it is easier to play those two with that bow, whereas, that bow makes it harder to play the group project.

I have noticed differences in bows before, but not like this, sound and playability was vastly different, interesting. I will have to remember that when learning a song. Figure out which bow works better, too.

Well, off to finish the shoulder slope on a sweater, I have yet to make a nice sweater in the knitting machine, trying again. Then I have some cards to make. 

I will be checking back in during the day.

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Okay, I did my cello Group Project today, which I do even days I do not mention it here. Strangely enough, I noticed a spot I was doing wrong, Dang! I was able to hit it right the wrong way. I hope you followed that! 😂

Anyway, there is a G# that I missed. Not a particular hard note. It is just the A on the G backed up to the G#. Using my strongest finger, index. Just do not recall any song I have ever done using the G# or A flat. D# or E flat, A# or B flat, yes, but never the G string played with the G# or A flat. 

One of the things I like about this group project part is that I am in areas of my cello never explored! 🤣🤣😂😂 Really. Quite a bit, for me anyway. Some C string work, some crazy counting parts, the G#, etc. I have found shifting on the G in a couple places works better than using the D string, whereas, using the D string works better than shifting on the G in others.

I am also doing it without the bow to learn the fingering. I never tried learning a piece like that before. Not sure if it will be all that beneficial. I will see. There are some runs at the end, and different note counts than I am familiar with, ie trips. Time will tell if the fingering and plucking helps. The bowing is not bad in those areas, it is the fingering and speed. So, it might help. What catches me a lot is there are slight differences between some, differences in notes and note counts, so that catches me.

That said, I do have a long way to go. Maybe, after I get more comfortable with it, I will be able to memorize it. It is always easier for me to work on bowing, note counts, accuracy, etc when I have a piece memorized. 

Later today I will listen to Gibbles V1 recording to get an idea of speed and rhythm. 

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Thanks, @ABitRusty and @Katie L 

I wasn't sure what I wanted to call it when I started it. I thought of it yesterday.

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I was on a roll with Myfanwy, but could not play today. We took the A/C 's out of the windows this morning. 

I then emailed the daycare center admin at the BOCES school down the street to see if they could use a few toys we bought for our granddaughter for when she visited for a few days back in 2017. I sent a photo. She replied back very quickly, "The kids would love them. Thank you!"

Then I had a quilt I could not repair. I made it for my older daughter decades ago. I folded it up and put it into the car with the toys. I figured we could stop at the ASPCA and see if they could use it. 

Off we went to BOCES. We dropped off the toys in the main office, To out surprise, the girl we had as a babysitter was the main office admin. So nice to see her, so we caught up. She asked about my kids, and I filled her in about Dennis. She had not heard. 

Then we went to the added 10 miles to the ASPCA. Yes, they could use the quilt.

Busy day.

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