Not too good at keeping up the blog since I got home. Today it hit 100 for the first time this year. This is incredibly late for that to happen. But up until now, we’ve had really nice summer weather.

I’ve gone back to jogging for the first time in about ten years. It’s not a pretty sight, and I’m pretty much jog/walk because I don’t have the stamina to jog solidly. Tomorrow it’s going to be warm enough to go swimming, though I don’t know if I’ll have time since we have a rehearsal at Billie’s, which means I won’t get home before about 4 p.m. (Later note: It was 4 by the time I got home, but since I had ridden about 5 miles in 102 degree heat, I wasn't in the mood to ride the rest of the way to the gym to go swimming.)


But there have been some fun things.

Two weeks ago I went to a really fun meeting with hurdy gurdy players in Grass Valley. We mostly worked on cotton and how to take care of hurdy gurdies, and then we played a few pieces. It was great fun. uploading a little bit of the end of the session.

Yesterday Zoe and I went to a home tour of mid century modern homes in Sacramento. I put a link here to their blog. A little ways down there's a slide show of all the houses. About half the tour was really good. Towards the end (in the direction we went) there were a couple of houses that were individually designed by architects, one of which was owned by the owner of an art gallery in town, and they were pretty nifty. Another house used to be owned by a friend of mine, so it was kind of interesting to see it again, restored to its mid-century modern glory. Of course there was a lot more money in those than in some of the others which were tract houses at the time they were built.

Last night we went to a CD release party for Doug Newton at Blue Moon Gallery. Nice party, nice music, and I really overate. Big surprise there.

Today we went to hear Lady of the Lake, which is mostly some local baroque musicians who sometimes play Celtic music. The event was a fundraiser for the Episcopal church’s work in Haiti but it was held at St. John’s Lutheran church. The music had a bit of a disorganized feel to it – like many groups in which I’ve played, but it was fun. They had Cathie Apple playing with them which is a big asset to any program. Not only that, the church was air conditioned, so we had about an hour and a half of AC at the church and another hour while we ate dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (one of the coldest restaurants in town, and I didn’t even put on my sweater). It’s more or less cooling down now, but then it should, because it’s 10 p.m. And any time now, it should be cool enough that maybe I’ll get my internet connection back.

I got an email notice today that I won a three-piece set of pans Le Creuset. I have entered a lot of contests, and I don’t particularly remember this one – or at least their web page isn’t familiar. The three-piece set is worth about $300. There’s a really nice casserole pan in there, which I think is what I entered for. Here's a link to the page that shows what I won.