"It was imprudent of us, in the first place, to become authors. We could have become something regular, but we managed not to.
We were lucky, but we were also determined." Roy Blount Jr

"I don’t change the facts to enhance the drama. I think of it the other way round, the drama has got to fit the facts,
and it’s your job as a writer to find the shape in real life."
Hilary Mantel

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Ice on the Road

Not sure whether there was actually ice on the road this morning, I suppose it's possible. There was definitely ice on our big deck--overnight the temperature went down low enough to freeze the coating left by the rainshowers. When I went out to hang my bird feeders, Ruth and Jewel raced onto the deck before me and went sliding across the slick surface. They weren't expecting it to be so slippery.

"Ice on the Road" is the name of the piece my mandolin teacher taught me on Friday. It's a traditional tune from Québec, and to my ear it has that Celtic-Québec-y flavour I love.

When I was sufficiently familiar with the notes to speed up the tune, I had a bit of trouble with the timing and rhythm. What's it supposed to sound like? So I hunted online for an audio or video version.

And I found one. Sierra Hull is adorable and wonderfully talented. I love the way she pronounces "ice". She plays an electric F-style mandolin. (Mine is acoustic A-style).



This afternoon I'll be legislating for a while. An outing! Haven't left the Lodge for days, except for church on Sunday. At the weekend I started shifting my wardrobe from cold weather to warm weather garments--but had to stop when the temperatures sank. Worked on the book till yesterday afternoon, when I started reading the most utterly awesome historical novel...more on that later. I plan to finish it when I get home.

We're having a sunny but blustery day, temperature in the low 40's right now. March went out as a lion and so, too, is April.


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