I started spinning…because. I can’t explain why I started, except for my great-grandmother’s spinning wheel at my grandparents’ farm. I’ve always been fascinated by it. It’s a little flax wheel, double-drive, with a huge hole for a distaff on the left-hand side. Most of the stuff they spun was flax (that they grew – not a lot) and wool (also grown there, much much more).

When I was an adult – in fact after I had been married and had moved fairly far away – the bug bit. Hard. I bought a cheapie Schacht drop spindle and a couple of ounces of a “mystery wool” (probably Coopworth) and that was it.

I kept at it after the initial learning curve because…it was fun. Really. It was even more fun when I bought a wheel and learned, slowly and painfully, how to use that. I still have that wheel, along with a growing collection of drop spindles, nostepinne, cards, combs, etc. Oh, and fiber.

But in addition to fun, there are other benefits:

• It sends me into a meditative state. My blood pressure is pretty impressive.
• I can make yarn more easily than buying the same thing. That doesn’t really apply here, the land of A Yarn Store Every 1000 Yards, but it has been important before.
• It keeps me sane. Well, it did for a while.
• It gave me something to hold onto when my dad was in the hospital for heart surgery.
• It kept me going for those first few brutal months of being a new parent, struggling with self-doubt and not having anybody else to share it with. (in fact, the skeins I made during that time have been made into a tank top.)

And I can make whatever I can envision, out of whatever the hell I want. In fact, I’ve been eyeing some of those baby VHS tapes that we don’t have any use for…

The drive was beautiful if a little harrowing. There’s nothing that beats the joy of taking an acrophobic on a series of narrow dirt roads in the mountains. Yes, the destination was worth it, but still. There were at least a full metric ton of campgrounds just off the road – we might go back there this coming weekend if the weather’s okay. I even recognized one from a dream I had a long time ago.

We finally got to the small town we’d been aiming for. We got out of the car, stretched out legs, marveled at children’s cruelty when their parents aren’t around, and went back the way we came.

Later that evening we made dinner (hot dogs and vegan “ribs”) and set off about half of the fireworks stash Mr. Goth and School Girl bought earlier. There were other fireworks around; some were set off up our street, some were set off further away, where the rich people live. We’re pretty rural out here. Lots of people take advantage of that around the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve. They were far enough away and small enough that it wasn’t nearly as scary as a professional display in town. School Girl had a great time. This was the first year that she was able to have a little quiet time to go to bed. Don’t ask.

And now it’s the day after. School Girl and I are tracking down school supplies for next month, and Mr. Goth is catching up on work stuff.

Being a music teacher is something I’m good at; the reason I know I’m good at it is that other people (like people who’ve entrusted me with their little angles for 30 min/week) have consistently told me I’m good. When we were placed with School Girl I quit rather abruptly. We had 2 days notice – I didn’t tell anybody anything until after the TPR had been signed, and we were placed 2 days after that – and I really didn’t have anyone to help while I gave lessons. So I quit. In fact, I quit playing altogether for the first 3 years of School Girl’s life. Between then and now I picked at things here and there, but nothing major.

Now I’ve got to go back to work. As in yesterday. I’ve talked about it before, but it’s time. Last week I put up a couple of flyers, talked to School Girl’s BFF’s mum about wanting to work again…and started practicing.

I’ve done some little things here and there, but not the way I used to when I was either a student or a teacher. Not the routine of scales-etudes-little pieces-big pieces. Nothing like that until the past couple of weeks.

I hauled out my old books. Hanon. Chopin. Bach. Debussy. My fingers and hands aren’t quite up to Brahms yet, or Clara Schumann, but I’m working on it. It’s been fun, actually, which isn’t quite what I expected. I found that I remembered far more than I’d thought, and that reading is still easy for me – easier than the discipline I need to actually work up a piece and not just stomp through on a sight reading.

I haven’t had my flute out for longer than a few minutes at a time, but that’s due to my own fears. It just feels good to get started again doing something I missed so much.

This post will most likely be in the “not much” category, a linkdump of sorts:

The iPad is finally going to be in Apple stores on Saturday, April 3. Among the slew of iPad reviews last night and this morning were Stephen Fry’s iPad unpacking video (complete with heavy breathing) and his review for Time magazine. There’s also Xeni Jardin’s review on BoingBoing, as well as a slew of others – most of which I missed because I just knew this was an elaborate April Fool’s joke. Not convinced that an iPad is a good thing yet – I’m happy with my iPods and Mr. Goth’s laptop for now.

Speaking of BoingBoing, John Cusak is doing a guest blogging stint over there. His first post is pretty spectacular. Gave me all sorts of flashbacks, pleasant and not so much.

There’s a project in the new Knitty (they’re apparently down to 3 issues a year – this one’s a combined spring/summer issue) that I think I might try, just for the novelty of working a soft circuit into a knitting project. I’d put up a link, but the site’s down at the moment.

(UPDATE: Here’s the link for the bag, the Know-it-all. It’ll require a trip up to Boulder to pick up the supplies, but it’s doable now that the weather’s better.)

Got some knitting done over the past week and crocheted a couple of Swiffer sleeves. That’ll be a post in itself.

Somebody else here is learning how to crochet.

We finally started some seeds and another 3 planter boxes of lettuce. That makes 6 boxes all together, plus some actual tomatoes and chiles this year if we’re lucky.

The Large Hadron Collider is up, it’s been smashing a couple of particles together, and nobody’s been swallowed by a black hole. Today.

I lived through my latest therapy session. Actually, that’s big fucking news. I didn’t think I would yesterday.

Happy April Fool’s Day. Always check links and only believe a teeny bit of what you read today.

Can’t Hardly Wait – The Replacements
Good Fortune – PJ Harvey
Stigmata Martyr – Abney Park
Svo Hijótt – Sigur Róss
Ballade #4 in f, Op. 52 – Chopin
Interzone – Joy Division
Smash it Up, Pt. 2 – The Damned
Stars are Rising – Eddi Reader and Sun Jae Park
French Suite # 5 in G BWV 816: Sarabande – J. S. Bach
I Just Can’t be Happy Today – The Damned
Bonus: Shaday – Ofra Haza