April is not far away.

 Hi, this is the only new blog post you'll see around here this morning. Robert's blog seems all locked up and Raccoon Man only posts about once a year.

"It's not just my shoes,
my pants feel tight too!
I wonder if Richard or
Rob would like them?"

I think that Rob is pissed off because of this statement that got posted recently, "New Zealand’s Catholic church admits 14% of clergy have been accused of abuse since 1950."

"Those bloody atheists are
always picking on the one
true church!"

So, just to be clear, 14 out of every 100 Catholic clergy have been accused of abuse (since 1950). These are God's representatives of Earth, for Christ's sake!

Ah well, moving right along.

Tomorrow is the last day of March. March 31st.  On that day my elder grandson turns 3. Mum and dad put on a party for him last Saturday. I've saved his present for tomorrow. The main part of his present is a model of his favourite action figure, Iron Man.

Iron Man's preferred weapon.

My younger grandson has been a bit unwell. I'm hoping hugely that he's on the mend. He turns 1 on April 15th.

Well, that's it from me. 

Ciao.

The supermarkets close for two days over Easter.

 I assume that's so all the staff can go and say the rosary.

No post from either of the old boys (Robert and Peter) so far this morning. At least I don't have to read about articles of clothing that don't fit Peter properly or wise fairytales taken from the bible.

No practice for me yesterday on either of my instruments. More important things came up and saying the rosary wasn't one of them. Hey, just for the record, all my shoes fit okay.

I think I might have a piece of pizza and a coffee [and an extra trip or two to the bathroom] for breakfast this morning. Why the hell not! Well, while dealing with events that happened yesterday, I missed out on dinner. This morning's breakfast could be like dinner.

Well, that's it from me this morning.

Ciao.

One day closer to my concert.

 

It's not going to be like this.

Probably more like this.

I guess it might be considered a success if I don't have to stop halfway through to use the bathroom.

Playing improvised unaccompanied music is a lot different from playing with accompaniment. Ah, I won't go into detail. No one around here will be really interested. I'd be better off talking about golf or quoting from the bible. Boring for me.

I'm off.

Ciao.

Playing with myself.

 

Whoops! I need to be careful!

Preparation for 'Playing with myself' is going pretty well. I'm getting in practice on both instruments and I'm working on all 15 tunes. Remember that I have 5 double bass unaccompanied tunes and 10 violin unaccompanied tunes. I'll probably use 7 violin tunes and 5 bass tunes at my (slowly getting) planned first concert. That should make the performance about an hour long. I think that's long enough. Remember that the concert is tentatively planned for late August. Today is day 7 of my practice schedule.

No post from Robert this morning, but Peter wrote a very good post yesterday. Hey, I loved that porcupine joke! What Peter did showed a lot of guts. I'm proud of you, Peter!

My hero!

I think that people who need to speed in their car haven't got much happening in their lives. They should do something, like take up the violin. I see them racing along as I drive to work, speeding over the Nui hill. There are always dents in the road barriers that tell of drivers who didn't make it. Near the bottom of the Nui hill there are traffic lights. This causes a short delay and means that I catch up to lots of speeding drivers. Why do they bother? When I'm going somewhere, I always set off a bit too early. This means that I have no need to panic or rush. Peter obviously uses the same principal when he walks to Moore Wilson's. Remember how long we had to wait, last time, for the post that he promised to write on his return.

Well, that's about it from me. No coffee this morning. God, I love those coffees, but not the extra trip they cause.

Please don't worry about sinning and stay well away from Catholic confession.

Ciao tutti. Ehi, sto ancora pensando a quel caffè!

What if Jesus had been named Clive?

Clive Hoolihan?

Imagine saying that when you stubbed your toe!

"Clive Hoolihan!"

I'm off to do some practice soon. I'll start with the violin today because I actually did more double bass practice than violin practice yesterday. I guess I'm just trying to get my hours up on the bass. Doing an unaccompanied instrumental gig is going to be hard work. There are certainly many aspects of my playing to work on; some are quite subtle but important. 

Okay, I'm off to practise now.

Don't worry about sinning, AND there is no such place as Hell. Just like there wasn't actually an old lady who lived in a shoe.

Ciao tutti.

Sunday, good to not be at church, good to be back practising the double bass.

 

No coffee this morning. I think I might have learnt my lesson. I'll have to be satisfied with the water I get when I take my pills. 

I'm very itchy this morning. It's one of the conditions I have to suffer. Shelley sometimes calls me Itchy Richie. I'll put on some cream after I've finished this post. Itching, to my level, is no fun. I guess it's a bit like being in Purgatory. Boy! The nonsense that a Catholic upbringing can put into your head!

Yesterday was another good practice day, for both violin and double bass. I'm now two days down on my five month journey to 'Playing with myself'. Practice is built around my chosen 15 tunes, with all the important practice things being applied - long notes, tuning and tone, etc., etc., etc.

Okay, time to get this day underway.

Stay away from silly old churches.

Ciao tutti.

Saturday. Sinning is permissible today and you won't go to Hell. Richard 21:16

No post from Peter this morning. Robert has written a post in a language close to English.

Well, fairly close. I think it's called Robrite.

I set a new goal for myself yesterday and did 1 3/4 hours of practice, 1 hour on the violin and 45 minutes on the bass. Yesterday was the 20th. I set a goal that lasts for five months and finishes on the 20th of that month. It will involve me playing a solo concert. Just me. I will play unaccompanied pieces on the violin and the double bass. The concert will be titled 'Playing with myself'. I haven't worked out a venue yet. However, the repertoire for both instruments is set. The concert will be about an hour long, probably presenting five pieces on each instrument, though I do have more violin pieces if needed. Obviously, I will be stepping up the amount of practice that I do. I'll aim for at least 2 hours a day, one hour on each instrument.

I'm having a coffee as I write.

[Stand by, toilet.]

It's a cold morning in the Nui. I wouldn't mind betting that people have their raccoons inside in Raccoontown.

I wonder what Peter did with his preferred hat?

I hope, for his own safety, that he's not wearing it anywhere near his home. Remember that raccoons are a preferred pet around there.

I've finished my coffee, so it's probably a good time for me to go. Well, I'm sure it will be soon.

[Coffee gone.]

Remember that it's Saturday and a bit of sinning is okay. I'm sure that Robert will agree.

Ciao tutti.

On the job early.

 We have a plumber coming sometime around 8am, so I've been out moving my car onto the road, delivering my elderly neighbour's paper and taking out some extra rubbish - the rubbish man often shows up at about 7am or slightly after. In about an hour I need to drive a car to Seaview for my daughter. She's selling her pink Barbie car because she is heading to Melbourne in a month or so. 

Hey, Peter, no need to start calling me Ken. The car is going.

I practised for 30 minutes on the double bass yesterday. I've decided that it's time to get my double bass going again. I have five unaccompanied solo pieces that I will concentrate on. They are all originals.

• Sii Gentile
• Almost Blues
• Gypsy Feet
• My Gentle Giant
• Shelley, My Dear

Sii Gentile translates to Be Kind and is dedicated to our past prime minister who really coined that phrase. Almost Blues is a 14 bar blues. Gypsy Feet is an up tempo swing tune in the Gypsy Jazz style. My Gentle Giant is a piece I wrote for my double bass. Well, next to my violin, he/she IS a giant. I often refer to the last piece as SMD so as not to embarrass the person who bears its name. It is a piece, in the Bluegrass tradition, that I have played for many years.

Hopefully I'll get some quality violin practice done today.

Well, that's all from me this morning. 

No time to quote from the bible. Brian 7:22

That's for sure. Andy 19:4

Ciao tutti. Guida con prudenza. Alberto 2:47

Just after 7.15pm.

 

It has been a very busy day, but I have got some double bass practice done. 

Peter wrote a post yesterday and Robert wrote one this morning that needs proofreading.

I still need to do some violin practice. 

At present I teach violin at two schools. One is a state school and one is a 'private' school. No problems with the state school, but the private school is mucking me around. The private school has Presbyterian affiliations. I might tell them to go and look for violin lessons in that hall that Robert used to clean that is owned by a Presbyterian. Do you, who read Robert's blog posts, remember the Presbyterian's hall?

Okay, I've decided to give the violin practice a miss tonight because time is getting on a bit.

I think I'll lay on the couch and waste time on my phone.

Ciao tutti.

St. Patrick's Day.

 Forget Hairy Bert's Birthday, that was yesterday. Today is St. Patrick's Day!

St. Paddy evidently drove snakes out of Ireland.

Our secondary school ('our' refers to all the old bloggers around here) was named after the snake remover. 

Okay, enough about Paddy.

I didn't get any practice done yesterday. It was one of those days when things kept popping up. We had a plumber here for quite a while. It turns that things are more complicated than I thought. Evidently, the guy who put in our bathroom hand basin plumbing got it all wrong. The plumber is evidently coming back today to put it all back together. Also, the toby that controls water going to our property is broken. This needs to be fixed by the council before the leaks in our two hose pipes can be fixed. I'm glad I didn't try to fix those things myself.

I've got to touch up a few spots on our house with paint but, apart from that, I intend to put a lot of time into music practice today.

I asked Peter who won the golf yesterday and he replied, "God."

I can only assume that he meant God helped Rob win. Well done, Rob. I guess Peter has a lot more practice to do, even more than me on my violin.

Okay, that's it from me this morning.

Vai ad allenarti a golf.

Ciao.

And now for something completely different.

 No coffee for me this morning.

No mention of raccoons.

No mention of Berhampore.

No mention of weathermen.

No mention of the one true god.

Okay, what does that leave to talk about?

This.

Today is going to be quite busy, but I need to find time to focus on my violin. It feels great to have the original chinrest on with no shoulder rest. For me no shoulder rest gives the violin a feeling of freedom. Just like someone about to play golf Just like someone going to a gym, I'll start with a warmup.

• Long bows.
• Bowing slightly to the bridge side of the centre of the space between the fingerboard and the bridge.
• Playing some chord progressions from those 10 unaccompanied tunes and the scales that go with them.
• Playing over the entire fingerboard.

Hey, a coffee would be nice right now.

Then I'll run some of those 10 unaccompanied tunes. 

Okay, I guess that's me for this morning.

Time to do some jobs. Hey, I've got my elder grandson to pick up later this afternoon too. Then I'll probably spend some time with my younger grandson.

Enjoy you're day. Unless you're losing at golf somewhere.

Ciao tutti.

Golf match of the century!

 

Monday 16th March - Peter Vs Robert at Berhampore Golf Course, 572 Adelaide Road.

Both golfers have been practising furiously for this match that will settle old scores that go back to the 1970s.

Peter (far right) with two other golfers
(Mike and Tony) in the 1970s.
Robert is not in this photo, but
was probably taking the photo.

The result of Monday's match will put a lot of questions to rest. 

• Who is the better golfer?
• Does God help Catholics win at golf?
• Do weathermen have any effect on golf results?
• Did Robert drive to Levin to buy butter or a putter? (You can never trust the spelling on Robert's blog.)
• Should golf be featured at a Catholic mass?
• Will Peter wear his raccoon hat to the match?
• Will the two old boys have enough golf balls, or will they have to search for more before the match?

This match is correctly referred to as the 'golf match of the century' because the last time these two old boys played against each other was in the twentieth century. Fifty years ago!

I'm not sure if this match will be televised. 

Possibly.

Saturday.

 In the beginning there was the weatherman. He couldn't really see everything that was happening in the future, but he could make intelligent guesses on what the weather might be like for any given day. 

The weatherman didn't create mankind, nor did he create angels. One can be fairly confident that no weatherman (in recent times anyway) was even nailed to a cross and later rose from the dead.

Chances are that this is not a weatherman.

Okay, moving right along.

I have nothing to tell you about the violin this morning. Except that I certainly will be doing some practice.

Okay, moving right along again.

I don't really know what my plans are for today. Maybe daddy will pop around with my good friend Harrison? I'll no doubt make a trip to the supermarket. I should make an effort and go for a walk, if the bell is being well behaved.

I see that Peter and Robert are planning a golf match. Do they call it a 'match'? Thankfully I wasn't invited. There might be a god! Robert has bought some clubs and is practising. We might get a post about the game, once it has been played. Robert will be thanking God, and quoting from the bible, if he wins. Peter's post, should he win, will be put up in about June. 

Well, that's it for today.

I have nothing more to say.

Ciao tutti.

Black Friday.

 Friday 13th is traditionally a very unlucky day.

It doesn't seem to get much attention these days. In fact, it now appears to be the name of a shopping day when things are discounted. Work that one out!

I haven't touched my violin yet this morning. Present me is wondering if changing my chinrest was a wise move. Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough!

I think I need a coffee.

Ah well, what's one more trip to the bathroom? I'll be back shortly.

Back.

There's nothing nicer than coffee,

When you're up but the sky's not blue.

It's good to sip the nice warm juice, but

Then it sends you to the loo.

It's a wet morning in the Nui. I bet it has been raining in Moera and Raccoontown too.

I decided to only drink half of my coffee.

For the ways of the Lord are straight and virtuous men walk in them; but sinners stumble and drink all their coffee. Hosea 14:10 & 14.11

In his latest post Rob tells us, "The more astute of you have noticed no quotation marks. The practice of using quotation marks for anything in the Bible has fullen out of fashion. Also it's likely that the writers of the Gospels didn't quote Jesus exactly. How could they? Mark, who wrote the first Gospel, did so early in the fifties. That's twenty years after Christ died and rose again. So it goes."

This is actually good news. Mark was obviously writing from memory, or what someone had told him. Imagine if he had 'fullen' into the trap of using some of the strange words that Rob uses. It wouldn't make Jesus look that smart. Better if the actual author takes the blame.

Hey, Good Friday is on April 3rd. That's a more positive name than Black Friday. Good Friday, if you're anywhere near a Catholic church, is a day when you should avoid expressions like, "Nailed it!" 

It's probably time to give that chinrest a run.

No! That's not the one!

Ah well, I'll leave you there for this morning.

Enjoy your Black Friday.

Ciao tutti.

AFTERNOON, after 3pm.

All back to where I started from. After 1 hour, 20 minutes of try out time. Right back to where I started.

Ah well, we live and we learn.