This wasn't the greatest on my part but YRM did a good job on editing!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Surprise Salad Recipe!
I have the best recipe for a tossed garden salad. When I'm not thinking about playing the violin, or stressing out over a busy schedule, I'm drooling over thoughts of fixing this lovely recipe! Prepare yourselves for a most unusual list of ingredients. :D
A big pile of autumn leaves
A large bag or 5 of shredded paper
A 2 string bale of straw
An old bale of moldy hay
Chopped vegetable remnants from the kitchen
A huge truck load of steamy hot cow manure
Tools:
Wheel barrow
Pitchfork
Two strong arms
Instructions:
Once you have all the above mentioned tools and ingredients, choose a large outdoor area for mixing.
(1).
It's very important not to layer any one ingredient too thickly. I begin by covering an area of about 4X4 with 4 to 6 inches of steamy hot cow manure which I got from the dairy down the road. It's nicely pressed so that the liquid is mostly out of it and it's crumbly rather than slimy.
(2).
Then I fluff a layer of paper shreds over the manure, you don't want the paper too dense because it will become matted.
(3).
Next sprinkle a couple of inches of autumn leaves, straw, and hay. Once again, it should be sprinkled and fluffed so not to become matted. Between the paper, straw, hay, and leaves, you should now have about 6 inches of material on top of the manure. Lastly add your chopped kitchen vegetables.
You are not finished yet. Repeat steps 1,2, and 3 until the pile is at least 3 feet high! This will help the pile to build heat and decompose quickly.
(4).
Let rest for 48 hours. Both you and the pile will need to rest.
(5).
After 48 hours of rest, toss the pile thoroughly. The pile should be very hot and steamy after resting. I prefer to completely flip the pile by rebuilding it in the spot right next to the pile. Use your pitch fork.
Repeat numbers 4 and 5, seven times. At the end of 2 weeks your pile should be beautifully decomposed into a rich pile of dirt!
Next, if you are planning on using your dirt for potted plants, you should cover your dirt pile or bag it to keep weed seeds from blowing in and contaminating the dirt. If you plan to use it in your garden then spread it where most needed.
Be sure to view my other post to see pictures!
Pile Tossing!
Just look at that steam rise, hold your breath if you want to survive!
Here I'm diggin into pile no. 4 for the first time.
Some things just make certain people happier.
Smile!
Beginning toss of piles 1 and 2, you can just barely see the steam rising.
Amy the cat wanted to be in the final pile photo shoot.
This is pile 1 and 2 combined into one pile.
Next time I will be able to toss the whole pile over the wooden divider.
Happy Composting!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
What A Week!
I instructed my very first group performance class for students from ages 5 to 9 this afternoon. All month I'd been planning and arranging schedules and activities. Any time I jump into some new activity I find that I get kind of anxious. So several times in the past few weeks I would wake up at 5 in the morning with my mind in a whirl over how I was going to plan this class in a way that it would work out. Then I would rationalize with myself that I had weeks to plan the class so there was nothing to worry over. Then a few days later it seemed my brain would forget the facts again and I'd have to re-rationalize.
I'm so happy now that it is done and went well. The children were very excited and enthusiastic about the whole thing. We learned how to play songs together on my new hand bells set, we played musical bingo, musical pillows(instead of chairs)and we practiced performing with bowing, announcing and all. I found out who, in the group of all my students, are the class clowns...there were at least two. One of them could not stop laughing the entire time she played the piano, and the other couldn't seem to talk in anything less than a yell the whole time he was here! :) I sent the happy children home with a sugar high from cookies and chocolates, heh, and right at dinner time too(very bad me).
I now have one more class to look forward to this week, the 10 to 15 year olds. Of course what the younger group loved doing I don't expect the older group to love so I'm still ironing out the details of activities planned. Teens and preteens can be awkward to place in a group especially since many of them don't know each other and they will all be asked to participate in some form of performance or another. Hope all goes well...
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Not Always a Joy
It has now been 10 weeks since I first started learning the violin, tomorrow will be my tenth lesson. During the first two weeks, violin was all I could think about. I knew it would wear off but I went with the flow and enjoyed every bit of the excitement while it lasted. Then came several weeks of complete disappointment, there was nothing I could play that made me feel good about my playing. It all sounded terrible and the old violin that I had wasn't set up well which left me sore and miserable. Our trip to Portland was very fun and somewhat inspiring, I came home armed with my new violin but sadly the sounds I pulled out of it were still very disappointing. I began to identify with a few of my piano students who often show up less than inspired in spite of the dedication put into practicing or with others, who no matter what I give them to work on can't seem to find the interest to practice. One day it occurred to me that I was not keeping up with good practice habits which I knew and understood well when I play the piano but for some reason they were escaping me at the violin. I found myself playing from beginning to end of each song over and over! The problem with that is by the time you get to the end you don't remember what need worked on at the beginning so instead of improving each time you play, you play badly over and over and over...I tell my piano students all the time that you must not play from beginning to end over and over but rather break the piece into sections and work over each section carefully. I was delighted to have discovered my own fault in practicing, now perhaps I will be able to move forward with more interest. Each song I work on has a sticky note to remind me which section I'm to work on during the week. I have found since then that practicing though still a discipline is much more enjoyable when I have a bite sized goal to work on each time. Like many things in life learning an instrument is difficult, requires discipline, it's rewarding, but it is not always a joy. Because it is not always a joy I often have to fight the urge to skip a day of practice here and there.
For any of you out there who are trying to learn an instrument or perhaps some other skill, or maybe it is that you are trying to include something new in your daily schedule like taking a walk, reading your Bible, or eating fruit for breakfast instead of ice cream(yes, that too is one of my weaknesses)...more than half the battle takes place in reaching your hand forward to do the task. Once you have done that, the rest comes much more readily. I know that once I get my violin into my hands that practicing doesn't seem so difficult, it's just that getting to the violin and picking it up seems so difficult. As far as it being a joy, I know that for now it does not have to be the most joyous activity, some things, like the violin, are just tough. Someday if I press on, if I can just keep reaching out my hand and picking up the instrument day after day after day, it will become a joy for me and for those who listen.
Another key thing is to not compare oneself with others. It is easy to look at someone else and say "wow, they play so easily" or "look, he memorizes a chapter of the Bible each week". Instead, I must look at myself and take bite size that suites my own mouth. If it takes me all month to learn a simple song in tune, then I should be well pleased when I finally accomplish my task well and thankful to Yahweh that He has helped me.
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