Two gifts and one recommendation.

I’m halfway through My Murder and about 150 pages into Empire of Pain; music practice is going well; and I’m (slowly) developing a routine for studying Latin.

The drought continues, so I’m using weepers on the days permitted for our location to ensure the trees and bushes make it through another summer. The containers and raised beds are doing all right, but the finches have begun to shred the sedum despite my vigilant refilling of the bird bath.

Reading: The TBR shelf has become unwieldy, and it doesn’t even include all of the active titles. Not pictured: Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy), Babel (R.F. Kuang), SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (Mary Beard). In the past, when the stack has become this overwhelming, I’ve simply shelved most of it, figuring (hoping?) that I will return to the books. Eventually. This summer, though, I’m leaning into the “chaos,” letting the shelf remain as it is — in fact, adding to it. Let’s see what I get through before August’s subtle shift of light across my floor.

So far this year, I’ve read fifty-five books, which is a slower pace than the last couple of years. Today I am in the process of finishing Jeremy Denk’s memoir, Every Good Boy Does Fine.

Latin: After a long hiatus, I returned to my Latin studies this week. In January, I submitted my work on CAPVT V with every intention of dovetailing Latin into my spring semester once the assorted classes and groups in which I participated had gotten underway, but the required reading (and writing, in the case of one tutorial) reduced my time for Latin to a few vocabulary review sessions each week. Not ideal. Last night, I submitted my work on CAPVT VI; now all that remains is to read and outline the sixth chapter of SPQR. My goal is to finish CAPVT VII and CAPVT VIII by mid-July. This is a doable rather than rigorous goal.

Other studies: This week was the fourth of eleven meetings for the Catherine Project’s summer reading group on Plato’s Republic. I am pairing my reading with David Roochnik’s lectures (The Great Courses). And I’ve finished seven of the twenty-four lectures in Professor Roberto González Echevarría’s “Cervantes’ Don Quixote” (Open Yale Courses). 

Music: In mid-May, following my last music lesson of the spring semester, I did what I usually do: played a bit of hooky from my daily practice schedule, which, naturally, made my return to regular practice alternately embarrassing (Ugh! What’s with my intonation and tone?) and exhilarating (Wow! Listen to how much of that piece I remembered!). I am not participating in the summer recital, so I’ve scheduled one long lesson for June and one for July. (Weekly lessons and community band rehearsals resume in mid-August.) Yes, I am still cutting myself some slack, but I am practicing. By spring semester’s end, we had reached the Rondo and Allegro molto of the Mozart Duetto No.1, K.378, so I’ve been polishing that for this month’s lesson, as well as the Allegro on page 13 of Robert Cavally’s Melodious and Progressive Studies from Andersen, Gariboldi, Koehler, and Terschak for Flute, Book 2. I’ve also begun working on 113 in P. Bona’s rhythmical articulation studies and the second movement of the Stamitz Concerto in G major, Op.29. (Why the second and not the first? Quite simply, the Andante non troppo moderato seemed like a much kinder, gentler place to begin this long project than the Allegro.)

Participating in the community band (and, yes, my teacher’s encouragement) moved me to invest in a piccolo this spring. Because I’ve been working on exercises and short pieces for the piccolo following my flute practice, I have had much less time for the alto flute. I am interested to see what, if any, piccolo work, I am assigned for this fall’s concerts, but I do miss the alto. Working to find a balance….

(For those who are interested in this sort of thing, the concert flute is a handmade Miyazawa 602 with the MX-1 cut headjoint (14K riser), offset G, heavy wall tubing, C# trill key and D# roller; the piccolo is a Hammig 650/3 with a modified wave thin headjoint; and the alto is a Trevor James copper alloy with both the curved and straight headjoints.)

Gardening: We added two more “pollinator pockets,” for a total of four 3×6 raised beds. Four large barrels and numerous other containers also brim with flowers. Maybe we will enjoy this sort of success later in the season? Drought conditions continue here, although the temperatures have been mild. (Hey, would someone dump a cup of iced tea on those who are playing with firecrackers in this weather? Not too bright, folks.)

Health: When I re-retired in February 2020, my goals were to read and study more, practice more, and pay more attention to my health. Check, check, and check. As I think I’ve shared, I’ve lost more than forty pounds since March 2020 — this, thanks to a near-daily walking habit coupled with stretching, some weight work and stationary cycling, and much more mindful meal planning. I still have some work to do, but yard work, the return to long bike rides on the weekend, and kicking up our walking pace is starting to get me there.