Spotted a bargain and alerted them to it *looks all innocent*

Maybe it should be you not tiring Barry out as he's not so well ....

Well done! Can you remember the scales too? How about a new project - grade 2 piano?

Finally got the newsletter edited (only a week late ) and emailed to the printers

The grade 1 scales were fine - I have done a bit of keyboard before.

Grade 2 piano...on my own..!

Can anyone help you, Nicki?

1. went to the gym yesterday for the first time in months after house-moving upheaval and work upheaval

2. finally lost it yesterday and told work that they must find other people to do some of the stuff I'm doing because I can't do the work of the three people who quit and then some. They listened.

3. cleaned the kitchen.

Probably! I might ask my friend..

Good plan

Grade 2 scales look a bit more scary

You wouldn't have expected them to be easier, would you Nicki

Now have the makings of a quartet....2 violins, viola and Double bass! All keen to start next saturday....

Well, no. I am quite tempted to do this now...

If I'm doing my ATCL in December, you can do grade 2 piano

Yes, but you're WAY above ATCL standard!

hope it works out Dawn

LOL should be fine, the music is mostly arranged by the double bass player, and it will be the only quartet in Gibraltar - may even end up earning us some money....

Excellent, have fun

A present....

Wow, you mean someone gave you a piano as a present?!!

I wish!!!

And if your Mum used to play, I bet she'd remember more about technique than you think. It's a pity BerkshireSon is so far from you as I'm sure he'd have loved to help. I hope your friend will be encouraging.

Mum never plays now and won't even show me!

She's a Bechstein Model VI (made in 1902):



I bought her from Bluthner's in London, with fully reconditioned action, with new strings, new soundboard, new pinblock and restored case. I cannot fault their service and would highly recommend them. I commented that the music desk fitted was a modern one, and asked if their workshop could make a lookalike 1902 desk from a template. In fact, they actually found a geniune 1902 musicdesk and coloured it to match!

I can't stop playing it! (although it is slightly out of tune after the move)

VeriHappiMole

Congratulations on such a lovely acquisition, Pianissimole!

Nice piano. I can see at a glance that the legs and column look identical to those on the Beckstein that I play regularly in Scarborough Library Concert room. Our Beckstein is believed to be circa 1900, and we had it completely restored by Beckstein UK (Peter Salisbury) 4 years ago, cost ?7,000+. Our model is the largest in the range when manufactured, and now plays beautifully. It is a favourite with a number of concert pianists who give recitals in the town. You have a fine instrument and I'm sure it will give you many years of pleasure.

Wow, that looks amazing! This is me looking absolutely green, because it's the nearest I can get to a "jealous" icon!

OMG OMG OMG OMG

Jealous!!!

Enjoy it.

Rescuing a bottle of Very Nice Wine from the oblivion of having to be poured down the sink after two-thirds of the cork came out in about fifteen sizeable pieces and an awful lot of crumbs.

Managed to push the rest of the cork into the bottle, and then filtered the wine into another container...and have had to drink a glass or two, to check the process worked

Mead

Nikki I'm certain I have a load of grade 2 materials like sight reading books etc you can have if it would help ;-)

Cider... well I do live in Somerset....


a laugh in the pub.... needed that..... and the hot tub- but the hot tub is not in the pub....



and the fact that some of my piano exam pieces are beginning to be nearly ok- even if the sight reading isn't!

That would be amazing Will PM you.

A trip to London today , which means meeting more forumites and spending time with barry-clari

It made me happy yesterday really...but I went to see Buddy the Musical on the official UK tour last night. A friend of ours was playing the Buddy, his first professional role since graduating from drama school last summer.

He was absolutely amazing, I felt so proud of him.

He is such a lovely guy, and immensely talented and it is just wonderful to see him doing so well, thoroughly deserved.

O. M. G.!!!!
They are insanely insanely insanely wonderful. I think there will be a photo session later on. They are all siamese rats (so cream with brown noses and varying amounts towards the tail base, just like siamese cats), they have been so well handled it's unbelievable, they are just bouncing around the spare cage right now wanting cuddles and more cuddles and hello aren't I lovely and can I have cuddle and look at meeee!!!

Now I just have to work out how to remember who is named who

I learnt something today! Never knew there were Siamese rats.

Enjoy your new friends

I am .. just glad to have a free day, where I don't have to do ot think about anything on the back of a horrible week at work. I got a head start on my housecleaning on Friday evening so while the house is cluttered, it is not dirty. I think I'll just sit here in a heap on the living room floor for a bit.

These are not my girls, but here is a siamese rat pile:


Mine are like the third one from the left, i.e. 'standard' siamese. Some are more marked than others, so some look very dark brown noses, and another almost white.
Here is a most wonderful website for exploring rat varieties (colours, markings, etc...now I read what I'm writing, perhaps it is a strange world, that of the rat fancy )

Wow, that is a lot of different sorts of rats. I remember visiting a friend who had rats who had the run of the house - they were really sweet and would run up my arm and perch on my shoulder. However I am now owned by a former stray cat with rather well-developed hunting instincts so I suspect that any sort of small fast rodent would go down, um, very well in the wrong way.

Oh yes, our cat is a huntress - that's why the cat and rats do not meet in the open, ever! The rat cage is only opened if the door to the room is shut, and the cat is on the other side of it. The cat is mostly bemused by them, as she goes up to the cage and looks at these big-mouse-things, but they don't run away. They just view her as another visitor and come over to say hello. The cat eventually wanders off, thoroughly confused by these not-running-away things.
She is always extra-intrigued when young rats are in the house, since they are a lot smaller and I think she considers them a more mangageable size...if only she could get to them, and give chase!!

..........I'm off, I have a sudden urge to stand on a chair and scream

Aha, I see - my friend's rats had the run of the house (or maybe I am remembering wrong).

Friend with three cats was looking after hamsters for someone else - instead of seeing them as prey, one of the cats decided that the small fuzzy things were smaller versions of cats, and this embodied itself by wanting to eat vegetables. Apparently she will now eat vegetables but in a sort of are-you-sure-this-is-food way, all because she was copying the hamsters. And another of the household cats also will now eat vegetables, because her sister does so they *must* be tasty.

Funny things cats..

Seeing Baz, Panthera, PianoNotes, muffinmonster and Willard - and meeting louise1712 - at the Kodaly Choir today!



And, over the past three days in Glasgow, having a great time at musiclearninglive!2011. Still suffering some emotional fallout...saw a session on Friday that reduced me to tears of joy and utter wonder. In life you probably only ever come across a handful of Very Special People - and this Hungarian teacher is one of them. Utter, utter genius.

Memories of a lovely day yesterday, meeting lots of lovely people and spending time with the lovely b-c

Today, I'm looking forward to going back to York band

Ahh.

I wish we could get our two (13 and 17) to play together, but the younger one just won't have it. Worse still, she has a wonderful singing voice with perfect pitch, but she just doesn't want to use it.

SB

Sunshine!

Pizza and chat with lorraineliyanage

Awww thanks, Diploma-buddy!

Now you've let the cat out the bag...