And here are some other Yard Sale Finds!
Sorry I have been silent lately. I took some badly needed time off in the summer, mostly to give my hands and forearms a break. Then it got too hot to work. Then I was nailed by getting both the new bivalent vaccine and my flu shot at the same time. I’ve been focusing on getting several flutes started and have been settling into fall. Its been smokey again thanks to fires east of here in the Cascades. I am not expecting any significant rain or change until November. It wouldn’t surprise me to see this dryness go all the way to December. Part of me is distressed by this endless summer - especially when the Air Quality Index is above 50. East of Lake Washington it was in the 180s today.
I am now getting back to my tasks. Some of these involve making music, not just the hardware. Having a new Marcel Dreux Accordina helps and the great lesson I had with the great musician Ludovic Beier helped even more. Over the summer Nancy and I saw a few concerts at FiddleTunes outside. Last month we attended the Saturday DjangoFest concerts in Langley which were held in WICA’s smaller auditorium with its greatly improved HVAC system. We were among the 5-10% who were masked and remained unscathed. I think with masking going to Concerts is a thing again. We are hoping for Lark Camp next summer - although such gatherings are notorious for being superspreader events for whatever crud is going around.
The Accordina is amazing. I perhaps raked the maker over the coals a little too much (I am usually on the receiving end of such things) with my “feedback”. There are still some issues which are less important now that I know what is required to properly play and hold it. My accordina is identical to the one Ludovic plays. I am also again interested in making a few of these for myself and a few friends. Finding the stainless steel reeds is the biggest problem. The best come out of Italy. I am thinking of repurposing some Melodica reeds instead. More on that later.
The flutemaking has restarted, first with a batch of Folk Flutes, then a batch of flutes with rings and slides. Now I am working on a quartet of keyed flutes. I will round out the year with a batch of Folk Flutes though I hope to get these done mostly this month. Progress on the glass. flutes is slow - though I have some time arranged with a local glass blower who is convinced that we can get close to dimension tube-wise. Of course everyone contacted me about Lizzo playing Madison’s flute. Except for Lizzo herself and I really wish she would call or email me.
See https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2022/09/its-about-danged-time-lizzo-at-the-library/
I was really proud of her! Most of the playing on a “glass” flute that was circulated around in the media though was actually her playing on a more robust and more recent acrylic Modern flute made in the last century, also in the Library’s collection. I am hoping to go back to DC to measure the Madison flute in the early Spring, finally. I do now have enough data to approximate a copy.
Gardening was low key this summer. Nancy did summer squash, some accidental pie pumpkins, potatoes and greens. I did some tomatoes for entertainment and my usual Svoboda Peppers. I am now harvesting these and preparing to dry most for grinds and flakes - and saving all of the seed. The Saltwater Seeds people also did a big plot of these and will be selling these in their seed racks next spring. See www.saltwaterseeds.com.
Our trees didn’t bear much in the way of fruit, except for the figs. I am doing my usual shuffle with the squirrels and the Chestnuts and there are enough out there to care about. They are puny like last year. The heat dome we had in 2021 affected the trees for the long term.
Since we lost our Goldendoodle Stella the day Putin invaded, we have been overrun with animals. A family of Coyotes moved in, providing some entertainment and we still hear their choruses though not right out the window. A momma deer and her two babies actually did us a service eating all of the overripe figs that had fallen to the ground - meaning that the bald face hornets were scarce. We just temporarily closed the roof vents that the Douglas Squirrel was using to access the attic above our bed - where it would run around all night long. This week I need to replace Stella’s old tossing balls with more permanent screen inserts - once I resize them with a little metal spinning. Soon we will be putting up the bird feeders though not on the front porch! Lately some ravens have moved into the neighborhood.
These pups were cute!!! And perfectly aligned.
We left a few of Stella’s dog toys in the vicinity where they would hang out, above the house. These are basically wild dogs who like to play with toys.
A neighbor caught a bobcat on their wildlife cam. I’ve been hearing owls. But I wish this one was still around - Sweet Stella gave us plenty of wonderful times and memories! Her box of toys is still in the living room.