What's happening around the blogs?

 NOTHING.

Let me elaborate.

Look at my blog page. Up in the right hand corner you'll see a title with two entries below it.

A cough in the distance. 

Do you get it? Think "Far cough."

Under this title are links that will take you to the other two bloggers from around here.

Non lo so - this will take you to Robert's blog that keeps changing its name and closing down. It is presently called "Wholly Holy Love" and is closed down.

The Curmudgeon is Peter's main blog. He has other blogs for all sorts of Curmudgeons, but they don't feature much. 

Peter is presently in Australia and plans to do some hiking and some train riding. He probably won't have time to write a blog post until he returns to Thorndon. Even then I can't promise you that he'll write one in the first week or so. That's his style.

As I said, Robert's blog is all shut up. I should really delete my link to it, but I'll leave it for now.

If you look at my last post, you will see that it presently has 43 comments. I've been a bit unwell lately and where the computer resides is in a very cold room, so I have preferred to write things from my phone in a warm room. So, there are a couple of 'comment posts' among those comments, as well as some very good jokes.

Although I have not been that well, I have kept my practice up to date.

The present amount of concentrated practice (and I will add more today) is:

Violin 160 hours + double bass 31 hours + guitar 29 1/2 hours = 220 1/2 hours. 

That's after 217 1/2 days.

That's it for today, I still have practice to do before picking up my little pal from childcare.

Remember: In Spagna la pioggia cade soprattutto in pianura.

Ciao.

Steve is a brikehead.

 

In the 1970s Peter, Robert and I (your three bloggers) worked for a liquor firm called Murray Roberts. Murray Roberts was attached to another firm called Levin and Co. Murray Roberts generally sold booze to individual customers and organisations like clubs. Levin and Co sold to pubs and other companies. The two firms worked side by side and all the employees knew each other. One Levin and Co employee was a truck driver named Steve. He certainly wasn't a genius, but he was a nice enough fellow. Sometimes 'humerous' statements were found written on the walls in the back storerooms. A very noticeable one appeared one day. It was written in big letters and said, "Steve is a brikehead."

Okay, there is a moral behind this. A moral that's probably better than Robert will hear in mass today. The guy who chose to insult Steve's intelligence could not spell 'brick head'.  This actually tells us more about the composer than the victim. 

The moral: 

Be careful when you set out to insult someone, unless it is Mr. Linford.

Yesterday I did 1 1/2 hours of violin practice. Not too bad. I've been working quite a bit on playing scales all over the violin lately. Those scales can make you feel comfortable all over the violin.

"We've come for the table."

Well, I'll leave you there for this morning.

Tieni i mattoni lontani dalla testa.

Ciao.

New shoes? You choose.

 

No.

Definitely not!

Absolutely no way!

Yes please!

My old friend (and he is older than me) Peter popped around today. As well as giving us (Shelley and I) a really wonderful set of place mats, he also gave me a pair of rather expensive shoes that didn't fit him properly. What a very kind thing to do! Thanks so much, Peter. I wore them today and they are very comfortable. You and Lynn are very kind! Huge thanks!

I got an hour's practice done on the violin today, but it was quite a busy day. My baby (the younger of our two children) turned 40 today. He now has two babies of his own - Harrison 3 years and 4 months and Henry 1 year and 3 1/2 months. Grandkids are a lot of fun, though they do tire you out at times. Well worth it though. 

Well, I'll leave it there for tonight. Huge thanks to Peter and Lynn for their generosity.

Ciao tutti.

Four instruments that I practise.

 

The Gloria (left) and the Bob, my two double basses that are named after my parents. I've had the Bob for a very long time and have played some pretty high pressure gigs on it. Like my dad, it's a real workhorse that came from simple beginnings. It's what is known as a plywood bass, but it plays very well. I bought the Gloria a little less than 20 years ago (2009?), about a year after my mother had died. It's a mighty fine bass. Both basses are great to play and are well set up with great strings. I've basically been playing the Gloria lately but have made a decision to play the Bob more often. It's a great way to keep my parents' memory alive.

Okay, I thought that, since both of my basses have family names, I should name the other two instruments that I practise regularly after my two children and my wife. Hey, it's a good thing that I'm not practising the trumpet anymore because it begs to be named after the first five letters of it's own name! If you look at the picture of my guitar, it is obvious that it has to be named after my son (George). That leaves the violin. This is the instrument that I am presently practising by far the most. So it could be named after two people. Look at the 'f' holes. They could actually be 'S' holes, so I've decided to name my violin after my daughter and my wife. Well, remember that there are two 'S' holes. Say hello to Stephanie Shelley.

The return of the post.

 

Yes, that certainly is an old blogging joke! 

It's a wet Saturday morning here in the Nui. Blogger Peter McDonald Trump often refers to me as an old man and, the way I've been feeling lately, I think I have to accept that title. My three year old grandson likes to be carried but I'm finding that really knocks the wind out of me. Somehow I need to persuade him to walk more. I read that Peter MT is not impressed by my 208 hours of practice so far this year.

Actually, it's how and what you practise that is the important thing. I don't really care what other people think of my practice hours and method because it is working well for me. I just need to try and do more double bass practice. I'm doing quite a bit of work on the guitar, but the violin MUST come first.

I do usually read Rob's blog, though I must admit that the majority of what he writes doesn't make much sense to me. Also, his grammar takes some interesting turns. It seems that another Jesus (Jesus son of Eleazar, son of Sirach) has shown up. I assume that one of those two people is his mother. I guess that Rob will have more praying to do and will perhaps have to add to his rosary time.

My son turns 40 next Friday. Where has all that time gone? He's a great dad - both of his sons adore him. I guess we'll have a small celebration. 

Peter MT is off to Aussie next month. He is doing lots of walking practice. Good on him. My daughter is in Melbourne and really likes the place. Maybe I'll have to visit her sometime in the future?

Shelley is on the mend. You probably read the comment where I mentioned that she spent a couple of nights in hospital. She has had some bug and has quite a bad chest. I must have got a bit of her bug too because my chest hasn't been good. Still, we soldier on. 

I might have something to eat soon.

You're supposed to eat something before taking one of the pills I take. The downside is that eating too early can (and often does) send me to the bathroom. Ah, I wish I was as young as Peter MT!

A photo of Peter MT from a few weeks ago.

Well, that will have to do for this morning. I'll try to do a bit of double bass practice before I return to the violin.

Ciao tutti.

The three instruments that I practise.

 

Violin, double bass and guitar.

Day 200 of 2026 today. 203 hours so far this year.

The taste of success.

 Okay, I might not be going to Heaven, to spend eternity with Robert and Mr. Linford, but I have just received an award.

I suspect that it might be from McDonald Trump himself because it has American spelling on it. I can see that The Curmudgeon is mentioned on the certificate, AND The Music Curmudgeon! 

"HAS COMPLETED MUSIC PRACTICE WITH FLYING COLORS!" I think that 'FLYING COLORS' is referring to my study of m7b5, 7b9 and m6 chords. These are indeed colourful (sorry, English spelling) chords! 

It is fitting that today is day 200 of 2026 and, before doing today's practice, I am sitting on 202 hours of practice! That has got to be better than regularly going to mass and saying the rosary!

Robert at confession this week. "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. Both my cello and violin practice have been very erratic. I'm too embarrassed to tell you how much concentrated practice I have done. Needless to say, not much. Should I offer my place in Heaven to my brother Richard?"

* * *

Well, what more can I say? I'm going to be celebrating today. Pies for lunch, I think. I'm also wearing my favourite (sorry, English spelling again) slippers. 

Ciao tutti e fai la tua pratica!