What are you looking forward to?

[Jill McAuley]

Sorry , can't do the Guinness Jill, but here's a couple of lip-lickers from our last trip to Ireland.
Murphy and Beamish, just like it says on the glasses and tasted every bit as good as they looked.

Corner House, Cork city, 29 June , 2019:




And in Orkney a few years back, somebody making good use of a b**jo:

Ah, Beamish is a very nice stout indeed! I always order it, rather than Guinness, when I'm down in Cork.

[lowtone2]

I bought some new instruments, a mandolin, a viola, a sax, and a flute. I am looking forward to actually being able to play them!!!

I have a guitar background. Learning these instruments is like learning a new language and mi espanol es muy mallo!

My mandolin playing is advancing but that is be expected as its another fretted instrument. I have the neck memorized and visualized now and I'm getting the hang of playing an instrument tuned in 5ths but I need to work on getting my scale and mode patterns down. Plus I need to learn some standards. I started on a tune called Red Haired Boy.

On the viola I can play a C major scale in tune and make the notes sound decent. Its a modest beginning. I need to get the hang of reading alto cleff.

On the sax I can play a major scale in 2 octaves and get a decent tone but my lip wears out after a few runs.

I haven't tried the flute yet, its still in the mail.

And oh yah, I'm looking forward to winter being over!

And like somebody else said, I'm looking forward to tossing these face diapers in the trash!

And I'm looking forward to getting my Harley out. Already took it for a ride a few days ago.

On the sax, the very best thing, and the most boring, is practice long tones. There is simply no way to speed up the process though. It takes some time to develop a good embouchure and lung capacity.

I'm looking forward to travelling and playing out and playing in summer camps like Elkins and Aebersold, Monroe Mandolin etc again.

[Sheila Lagrand]

I'm looking forward to delivery of my GBORM, at the end of the month or beginning of next. Homegrown tomatoes, soon. Seeing my grandlittles live and in person! Traveling to Seattle to celebrate my son-in-law's retirement from the US Navy. And, not to be too maudlin, but celebrating my mother-in-law's life. We've been waiting until people can gather freely.

[LadysSolo]

Being able to walk without a crutch sometime fairly soon
Seeing my son in person.
Being able to play and sing music with others again.
If I never wear a mask again, it will be too soon.

[journeybear]

Playing music in public, whether with friends or at gigs. Not being able to share the experience and expertise has been draining on my interest. As antisocial as I am, I haven't minded spending so much time at home, alone, but I don't like how it's affected my frequency of playing. I haven't even been playing much around the place, even with the thrill of my new mandolin. I've gotten involved in other activities, but they are not my specialty nor my raison d'être.

Traveling. I had planned for last summer to be my last one here, where it gets unbearably hot for far too long. I want to visit as many national parks as I can - north in the summer, south in the winter - and hope to be able to get back to that this summer. We'll see. At least it would be good to get out of here for a vacation, go to some festivals - hope they're happening - see some people and sights. (Could mean Maine and New Hampshire - fair warning!) We'll see how much of that becomes possible.

The immersive Van Gogh exhibit, currently at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg FL. There's a certain someone who lives up that way whose company I enjoy who will be part of this adventure. Sometime in the next few weeks ...

Recording. I've been dragging my heels on a duo project, and really have to finish that up. There's a lot of homework involved in that, learning how to use the software, but if I can push through the obstacles and get that done, it will open up a world of possibilities for my own music. Gigs have dried up for me, along with my interest in them, but making the music I want to play and hear has long been a dream of mine. The technology is here, just have to learn how to use it.

Last but not least, seeing the end of this pandemic, the depressing effect it has had on our population and civilization, and a return to something resembling normalcy. Wouldn't that be nice?

[ampyjoe]

Sessions! Just playing in a session will be great, but aside from the enjoyment of playing music with others there's the additional random element:
- Going to sessions where you don't know anyone and meeting some nice people
- Going to a regular session where you know everybody, and someone you don't know walks in the door with an instrument-shaped box under their arm

And to add my vote to the Guinness vs Beamish vs Murphy's, 1 is great, 2 is a nice change now and then ... and ... that's my opinion!

[killntime]

May 1st can put the boat in the slip on lake Erie.

[Greg Connor]

I’m looking forward to playing music with other people and singing without a mask. I’ve been playing monthly at my Mother’s assisted living since last November over closed circuit TV. Singing through a mask is getting old, but encouraging the staff to sing lead while I back them up has rocketed us to stardom with the residents.

[Denny Gies]

Like so many others, Jammin' with friends and resuming visiting old folks homes to play for the residents.

[BoxCarJoe]

Sitting in a Coffee shop and listening to music.
Having human beings around me.

[journeybear]

May 1st can put the boat in the slip on lake Erie.

I really like this! I wish everyone could have some favorite activity which gives them enough pleasure that, while they're doing it, everything else falls away. Like bumper stickers and T-shirts and all that which say "A bad day of fishing beats a good day at work" (or fill in the blank). For a lot of us around here that means music, one way or another, but there are other things that work just as well, if not better.

[Bob Buckingham]

I'm looking forward father's memorial service where I will be able to see family members who have gotten 2 vaccines. We haven't seen each other in a long time. We will honor a man who did a lot for his community and his family. Covid has been hell.

[Eric Platt]

I really like this! I wish everyone could have some favorite activity which gives them enough pleasure that, while they're doing it, everything else falls away. Like bumper stickers and T-shirts and all that which say "A bad day of fishing beats a good day at work" (or fill in the blank). For a lot of us around here that means music, one way or another, but there are other things that work just as well, if not better.

Yeah, I used to bicycle a lot more about 15 years ago. Then the music bug hit and just didn't have the time. All the time I took to do longer rides ended up being dedicated to band practice, jams, festivals or gigs. Last year did end up putting more miles on than the prior 3 combined. Not that it was any great shakes. But still was something.

No idea what this year will bring, but did just get back from a 10 mile ride enjoying the low 50's around here today.

[journeybear]

I'm looking forward father's memorial service where I will be able to see family members who have gotten 2 vaccines. We haven't seen each other in a long time. We will honor a man who did a lot for his community and his family. Covid has been hell.

My heart goes out to you, sir. I can relate.

My father passed last June. Things were just starting to open up - prematurely, as I predicted, and as we all found out. But it worked out that the timing was just so, just inside the guidelines which had just changed, so that outdoors gatherings were permitted and we could have a memorial service, when it had looked like we couldn't. Arrangements were made a bit hastily yet satisfactorily. I chose this as the opportunity to break in my new old van, which performed magnificently Got me there and back just fine.

I was tasked with writing the obituary, which required a lot of research. Like your father, mine had done a lot for his community. But he was not one to talk about himself - always others. Indeed, he would rattle on about people he had known, perhaps even helped somehow, but I didn't know. That could make for long, rather tedious phone calls. But what I learned through talking with people in some of the organizations to which he had donated his time and money, was how many lives his generosity had touched and lifted. It was an extraordinary learning experience, one for which I will be eternally grateful. I got to know him through this process better than I ever had, or would have, otherwise. And the opportunity to be there and share this with all assembled, as well as play and sing a song of mine suitable for the occasion, was also an opportunity for which I will be eternally grateful.

It's a blessing to be able to commemorate a loved one's life in such a moment. So many of these opportunities have been denied so many people. You are fortunate to be able to do this. All the best to you.