Happy New Year

Happy New Year! What a year it has been. Time to make resolutions and try to keep them. The first is to try to have something to write in the blog everyday. Saw the movie Julie/Julia yesterday. I am sure that my blog is not going to result in a book or movie offer but it will help with my writing which has slowed down since I started working full-time again. I should have time to write.
Exercise is another. I remember well the people who would start exercising when I took classes and then the number would drop off until it came to bathing-suit season. I am not exercising to fit into a bathing suit but to keep fit. Hope that it works.
Have to think about what else I would like to change. As some articles suggest, make the changes manageable. Good idea!
Enjoy and let's compare resolutions!

Christmas Day!

Well, must say that yesterday's Christmas Dinner was an event. My brother and his significant other managed to talk and during the meal, the language became so salty that there are sailors who would have wondered about the words being uttered.
I had spent the day cleaning and cooking. Personally, we enjoyed the meal but at the end just before dessert, my brother's significant other had what appeared to be an asthma attack. Now, I am sure that they are not pleasant but she did survive and in fact is home today but that was not before she was driven to emergency. That was certainly a place that we never expected to be on Christmas Day.
Time to start thinking about what to do next year. This is going to take some careful planning. Just do not want an evening quite as exciting.

Merry Christmas 2009

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Tomorrow, I start making the dinner and finishing cleaning up. Time to get ready for the big day. Cards need to be given to neighbours and at home activities will now take priority. Will get things done.
Hope that everyone is not overwhelmed with all the activity and has time to enjoy the season.
All the best to everyone.
If I log on it is to take a break.

Christmas letters

I have finished my Christmas cards and am now planning the menu for Christmas dinner. One of the interesting aspects of doing cards was sending yearly updates to people we do not see very often. What to include in the letter. A year is such a long time and what will interest people. Hard to believe that a year has passed since the last letter. People have passed away, Charlie over a year now, Ruth, who I looked after and who passed away last May. Some births which is lovely, Andria who I am replacing at school had twins which is lovely. They are 6 months old now and they are developing personalities. My tennis buddies are an ever changing group (thinking of this group since I will leave to play tennis in less than an hour), the trio which seems stable now and orchestra. Michael and I will go out with the violin duo. Lovely that they make music together.
I think that I will plan for next year's update starting January 1st. Will see what happens if I do that and how long those plans will last.

Visiting begins

Christmas begins. The concerts are done, I have performed and listened, now it is time for visiting. Today, we are off to St. Catharines to visit Mike's aunt and uncle, Eileen and Joe. We will go out for lunch which will be nice. Tomorrow, we are going to meet friends of Michael's at a restaurant for dinner. Should be a nice evening.
Need time to tidy up the house before having people over. Those visits will be later when we have had time to relax and deal with the trimming of trees etc. Will start decorating on Monday, when I go to visit Olive, the ninety year who I have been helping to look after. (Did put up outdoor decorations while the weather was pleasant.)
Tuesday, I will visit a friend downtown and also pick up some yarn at the same time. Hopefully, it will not be too crazy at the yarn store.
Sunday, I will also line some more visits. E-mails to be sent and phone calls made. My it is a busy time but it is good to have time visit with friends.

Music Education and benefits

A short while ago, Gustavo Dudamel, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Jose Antonio Abreu, Glenn Gould Prize winner visited Toronto to promote their music education project. They suggested that a bi national orchestra will exist in the future with members from Canada and Venezuela. The orchestra would play next year!
Dudamel was a preschooler when he entered Abreu's El Sistema, the national network of music instruction and ensembles that Abreu has been cultivating in Venezuela for over three decades.
"He created this beautiful and huge program that is unique," Dudamel said. "We are his sons, we have his blood in our veins, and it's not just music, it's about building the society and creating better citizens.
Abreau explained that music education is a matter of social justice. "The distribution in the world of arts eduction is tremendously unjust. When arts education takes the place in our society that it deserves, we will have much less delinquency and violence and much more motivation towards noble achievement."
Recent articles about arts education in Toronto suggest that this philosophy is being adopted by some. Hopefully, it will spread.

Cursive Writing

Reading one of today's papers, (I read 3 a day), I noticed an article about cursive writing and the demise of writing. I have been fond of saying that it is a problem. First of all, many students are unable to write cursively. This is a problem when faced with the prospect of writing an exam which is written in essay form. In order to write cursively which does not come naturally students need to slow down and this can be a problem when trying to get down as much information as possible in the time allotted.
Another issue is that information sent on computers will not be available in years to come. Who will write the book about the many messages sent back and for between people. Who will have the technology to retrieve the messages. We can retrieve Shakespeare's thoughts, an example of his hand writing was included in the article but the thoughts of modern writers who only use the computer will be lost.
An interesting problem.

Christmas Cards

I have finished nearly all of my mailed Christmas cards. Have a couple left to do. This happened because I was away at a camp and one of the ways that I passed the time was to address Christmas cards. They were nearly all done by the time it was time to head home. Finished the last of them on Wednesday when I wrote up the Yearly update. That is always interesting to look back on the year and figure out what was important. The remaining cards are because I needed to check a partner's name or other information like that.
Now that I am done, I love receiving cards. Interesting to see how other people are doing. I actually enjoy the updates. Some peoples lives are very good but others are more honest and discuss the difficulties that they have encountered.
Received two cards today and yesterday received one from someone who usually sends her cards in the New Year. That was a surprise.

Christmas Concert

It is that time of year: time to have a Christmas concert or two-conducting the Junior Band as part of the school's Christmas concert next Monday evening. We are just about ready but always some touching up that can be done. The trio is going to perform tomorrow evening at one of the locations that we visit at least twice a year. Saturday evening, we are going to attend the Bach Children's Chorus Christmas concert. It is one of those things that gets us in the mood for Christmas. Music is certainly an important part of the celebration.
Hope that all of you are busy getting in the mood for the holidays.

Music for all of us

Right now, I am working on a presentation for a music group. It is a good challenge and I am prepared to try to meet the challenge head on but must say that the presentation will be lacking some of the bells and whistles that others have: no visuals. Power point would be good but I need to make sure that the presentation system has the same power point that I am using. I also feel that it will take too long to get that part ready.
However, did you know that playing music is very good for you? Thomas Jefferson used to play his violin when he was stymied writing the Declaration of Independence. Einstein played the violin and it helped him achieve his goals. These are just two of the many people who used music and found that it helped in ways that they could not have imagined. Scientists are busy trying to discover the benefits of music.
More on that later. Must get to work on the presentation.