A jam can be a good thing.

 

The door to one of our bedrooms in our house needs a bit of fixing because it tends to jam. This has turned out to be a good thing because, when our elder grandson comes visiting, like he did yesterday, we can put valuable or dangerous items in the room and he can't get his hands on those things. I'm talking about things like:

• a violin or two,
• a little glass prism with sharp edges,
• amplifiers with knobs that are fun to turn,
• two vases,
• a plant with long leaves,
• a music stand with my music on it,
• a clock that looks like a motorcycle,
• you get the idea.

I went to a different type of jam yesterday. A music jam. 

I took my violin and Shelley came too. It was the first time at a different venue, in Moera, for the old-time music and Bluegrass jams. No other jammers had arrived, and no one arrived until well after 2pm. Shelley and I had a lovely chat with the guy who runs the jam and who we both know well. Two blokes arrived and the first tune was played at about 2.45pm. One had brought a banjo and a guitar and the other a violin. The guy who runs the jam plays an acoustic bass guitar. The guy who had the banjo tuned it to a C chord and informed us that he could play in C and G. Pretty limiting. The violinist got out his violin and he and the banjo player started to play. It was obvious that both of them needed to do much more practice. They played two very repetitive 'tunes' that seemed to use one and a half chords. How do you play half a chord? You'd have to ask the banjo player. The violinist sounded very scratchy. He obviously doesn't do long bow practice. I decided not to join in because I'm sure I would have drowned him out and I didn't want to be a showoff. 

Instead I thought of how I could be home and practising. Doing something useful. I put my violin in its case and made an excuse to leave. Maybe they thought I was scared off by their wonderful playing? I really don't care what they thought, I just wanted to get out of Moera and return home. Actually, the facilities in Moera were very nice - a community house, a smaller house-like structure, a hall and a library. The library was closed but all the other facilities were being well used. I wouldn't mind betting that there could have been a performance of Handel's Messiah later in the afternoon.

I was hoping to get the back lawn tidied up today but the weather forecast predicts rain. I'll keep an eye on the weather over the next few hours. 

I heard that it is supposed to be wet on Christmas day. No big deal really.

Though we do have our son's in-laws coming around now. Ah well, all good.

I guess that's about all from me for today.

Non dimenticare di esercitarti con il violino. Ricordati di fare quegli archi lunghi.

Ciao.