Monday, April 6, 2009

things I love - music, fabric and plants

Saturday night, I went with a friend to hear a string quartet. (The Calder Quartet). I'm not really into strings, but the tickets were a gift from someone who was out of town and couldn't use hers. As you may be aware, music is one of my loves and I'm pretty eclectic in my taste. I'm so glad I went. The setting was at Howard CC, in a fairly small theater. I could actually see the expressions on the musicians' faces. They played two traditional pieces - Mozart and Mendelssohn. They were played beautifully and are lovely classical pieces. The other two numbers were by modern composers. One was variations on Amazing Grace - Ben Johnson, composer. He's in his 80s now. It was fascinating to listen for the tune, which we all know, and hear it vanish, come in again in a different key or on a different instrument. The other modern piece was by Christopher Rouse, who lives in Baltimore. It was, well....different and dissonant. I like some of it - the fast parts. Didn't like the slow movements. I have decided that I enjoy dissonance when it is played fast, but not when it is slow!



A few days ago, Kate posted on her fabric blog the start of Another Little Quilt Swap. If you are interested, it's http://katesquilting.blogspot.com/. I'm very tempted to participate in this one. It isn't traditional quilting, which is good for me, since I'm not real interested in traditional patterns. I'm not sure that I am ready to make even a small, wall-hanging quilt, but I think I will try. Kate says that I can try to make the quilt and commit to the swap only if I am successful. Perhaps being part of a swap will push me hard enough to actually start a quilt. We'll see.



Another of my passions is gardening. We had a couple of decent days over the weekend - windy, but warm and sunny - so I did a bit of yard work. It was mostly just an excuse to be outside, however, I moved some pots from their shelter under the deck up onto the deck, so that the lilies and iris coming up in them can get some sunshine. I also moved some pots that are filled with dirt, but have no plants in them, from the deck where they sat all winter, to under the deck and out of sight. I am trying this year NOT to buy too many plants for my deck pots. Last year I had pots three rows deep on two sides of the deck. This summer, I will be in England for three weeks, so I am trying to only use low-care plants in those pots. My neighbors will have the burden of watering my plants - front and back - that's a lot of effort to expect from friends.

It's just so tempting when I visit garden centers to buy more and more. I have very low resistance when it comes to plants.

1 comment:

mumzy said...

Glad that you enjoyed your musical night out.

I like to make big quilts and usually more traditional ones, so mini quilts I have never tried, except of course, quilts that are big enough for use as baby quilts.

I am really looking forward to be able to do plants for our property. However, it will still be a while yet.