A whole new world

These are pictures of my new place, from a week ago when I'd finished moving everything in and had just started arranging things. The place is in much better shape now, but I figured I'd wait until I had it in some approximation of livable completion before I posted more pictures. I'm still stepping around boxes and piles of miscellaneous things I don't know where to put.

In any case, I love my new place. It's twice the apartment I just moved out of, in almost every conceivable way. Much bigger, more rooms, larger kitchen, quieter, friendlier neighborhood, a bit of yard space, wood floors (scarred and pitted, to be sure), cooler yet more natural light. There are any number of things I hope to do with my new space that I never really could before. On my back stoop, which gets a lot of sun from morning through early afternoon, I hope to get some planters and grow herbs for my kitchen (I've already got a small pot of basil, sage and creeping rosemary started thanks to a friend and co-worker). I'm at the library now and have an excellent looking book out called The Bountiful Container. On my porch, I may hang a hammock. With the nicer kitchen and larger space, I hope to have friends over for dinner occasionally, which I really never did before. Maybe even a music party once in a while, fiddling or chamber music. We'll see. My piano is the one thing still in limbo; it's in storage for the time being.

Finally having a nice, spacious apartment, I'm sorely tempted to go out right now and buy a million nice things so that I can live in the grand style. Nice couch, new bookshelves, real pieces of artwork, ice cream machine, meyer lemon tree (75 dollars at Winston Gardens), nice rugs for the floor, end table for the couch, coffee table, reclining chair...It doesn't take a fancy accountant to see that I'll have to go very slowly and learn to appreciate a sparser decorative style. Actually, I'm really enjoying having all this empty space right now, but given my inclinations toward sloth, I have to be very careful. There 's just so much room for piles of stuff that they won't really get in my way for a long time, so I'm working on developing some more orderly habits. Clean clean clean! I even bought a broom.

Well, that's enough for now, it's a nice day and I have lots of chores. I hope to start writing about more interesting things for this blog soon, but it may have to wait until I get an internet connection up and running at home.

Ch- ch - cheers,

-Brian

Nothing to say, too much to say, too much to do...

Well, it's been some time since I wrote in here. My apologies! I know I have a lot of fans who count on my blogging. I have been busy, busy, busy, and will continue to be so for the next three weeks at least...Into the already heady mix of work and music I have thrown in a move. Just a handful of blocks away from where I presently live, but...you know most of the work is the same, there's just less driving. As usual I am somewhat overwhelmed with the number of books I have, even though I have converted about 90 percent of my reading to library copies in the last few years. Somehow I still pack box after box to the brim with all manner of books. And then just when I've packed them, I want them out again. I've become somewhat dependent on my Encyclopedia Brittanica set - I was watching the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice and wanted to read their essay on Jane Austen, but the shelves were bare. I thought about traipsing downstairs to find and raid the appropriate box, but...that would be silly, wouldn't it? Now that I think of it, I can probably find everything I want online. But there's something about holding a volume of the Brittanica open on my lap and learning something about whatever I want, then randomly brousing through it to pick choice nuggets of information on 19th century British Prime Ministers. Fascinating!

I'm upgrading my living situation nicely, I think, going from what has become a cramped studio apartment to a roomier one-bedroom. Quieter neighborhood, just a touch closer to work (I can easily walk or bike), hardwood floors, nice light, eat-in kitchen (in real estate parlance), a small pantry (yes!), three-season porch (that's an enclosed, unheated porch with lots of windows), rear stoop where I can sit in the sun, and a small, quiet yard where I hope to place a grill. I'm especially looking forward to having more room in the kitchen, for cooking and for entertaining. I'll still have to be a little creative about storage (I'll have more room but little of it will be 'storage' space, I'll have to use some of the porch for keeping camping gear, etc) but I'll have room for a couch now. As silly as it sounds, I'm simply looking forward to being able to spend most of my time in the kitchen and living room and then retire to a separate bedroom to sleep. Right now I spend almost all of my time at home on my bed. There are several negatives to this, not least I don't think it's good for my back.

I'll try and post again soon. I have a lot more things to say about Irish music and the process of learning this new music. I'm heading to the Cape Cod Celtic Festival in two and a half weeks, where I'll have a workshop with Liz Carroll and others. As soon as I start actually moving, I'll take a bunch of pictures and post them for those of you who are interested in my new living situation. I'll have room for visitors now!

Adios, amoebas!