Saturday, September 20, 2014

Quick Check-in

I think I'm finally mostly recovered from last weekend's Shrewsbury Faire! (Except for a cold, but that's another story.)

For those who don't know, I am the soprano in a small local renaissance-themed music group. The group has been around for 19 years, and five years ago I started with them as a pinch-hitter when their soprano quit at the last possible second before Shrewsbury. Literally the last possible second: I got the call on Thursday night, arrived on Friday night after work, sang through all the songs by headlamp, and performed on Saturday morning. Thank goodness I haven't had to experience the same nervousness since that weekend. :) Anyway, since then we've purchased a period tent so we can camp in the faire itself, and we have added small skits and new music to our repertoire, and expanded the faires that we perform at to three.

Shrewsbury this year was HOT. Fun, but HOT. I guess it's hot every year, especially when you're running around in full elizabethan garb in the sun, but this year was no exception. We performed well and then collapsed in the shade of our tent and sat there wilting the rest of the time, drinking water and sweating it straight back out.

Cory came out on Friday night to give me my first shot of delestrogen, which went very smoothly, and the rest of the weekend went by in a blur. This week did too; work is pretty busy and I got some overtime, which is nice. It's supposed to be 90 again today, but there's rain and mid-60s in the forecast which I'm excited about, and I can feel and see and smell the fall in the air. The pear trees still have some pears hanging on but the leaves are already starting to drop. And now I'm starting to think about HALLOWEEN! My favorite holiday! I need to start working on costumes and decorations. I usually wait until October 1, but I have a few crochet projects coming down the pike and I'm worried I'm not going to get them all done in time. So today I'm spending some time with a hook and stitch dictionary for awhile, and some time on the internet looking for some costume patterns. Ah, fall, how I adore you.

14 comments:

  1. Hi! I'm here from ICLW. I think we are cycling together on a FET! I wish you much success in your upcoming cycle!

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    1. Ooh, yay! It'll be nice to have a buddy to cheer on at the same time! I'll keep tabs on you. :)

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  2. ICLW here - I am so ready to pull out my Halloween decorations too! October is my favorite month, not least because it finally starts to cool off. C'mon fall!

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    1. Oh, me too, without a doubt. I love October best. Today, the first day of fall, was the first day that it has been in the 60s and rainy/misty - it's like it knew it was time to switch off the hot and dry. It felt SO good.

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  3. Fall is the best time of year! It sounds like you'll have plenty of good distractions for your FET!

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  4. I love fall! It's already cooling down here, which is nice. We're due for a cold, hard, long, winter...probably worse than last year and last year was around -22F from October until like May...so I'm not looking forward to the fact that fall brings winter around! I think it's really cool that you sing in a renaissance group! How fun! Good luck with your next cycle...I really hope it's your last one!

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    1. Oh gosh, that sounds rough. I like winter but part of it is because it's relatively mild here and only snows maybe once. Last year it got down to something like -5 and that's probably the coldest I've ever seen in my neck of the woods (in Oregon, south of Portland). Where do you live where it gets that cold?

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  5. Hi from ICLW and thanks for the comment on my blog! Singing for a renaissance group sounds SO COOL. (Former music major nerd here.)

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    1. It's a lot of fun! I've always been in large groups of singers (my other choir is about 40 people) and almost never alone on my part, and have been an even more infrequent soloist, so it took some time before I really felt comfortable in this group. But it feels awesome to see how much I've grown!

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  6. I wish I could sing!! I can carry a tune but its nothing I would want to do alone lol. Also, Soprano's rock!

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    1. Carrying a tune is usually enough - as long as you can have fun singing along with the radio, that's what's important. I have to drive an hour to get to rehearsals for the renaissance group and I spend the whole time singing along to things in the car.

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  7. Here via ICLW and returning your comment - thanks for stopping by! The Faire sounds like it was awesome. I'm also a soprano and I've got a soft spot for ancient, medieval and Renaissance works ;) If you're ever in my neck of the woods (Boston) - you've got a standing invite to check out the choral group I'm in: Chorus pro Musica :) Just joined them this year.

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    1. They're pretty fantastic pieces, ancient music - I wish we could sing more intricate madrigals but the faire audience is more interested in story-songs and skits and things (there are lots of distractions at the faire!) so it's more of a treat to get to do that stuff.

      Does Chorus pro Musica have a web page or recordings that I can hear? I'd love to check it out!

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