Sunday 19th August - Slow Weekend

I've had a couple of half-days lazing around in bed - easy to do with tablet, kindle, smartphone, books, cat, regular appearance of cups of coffee (thank you...)

So now I'm feeling a mixture of fully rested and ready for the week ahead, and lethargic from too much doing very little.

However, I have accomplished

extreme dead-heading of the rose in the front garden - called 'Princess Elizabeth', we were informed by a neighbour.

I saved a rosebud to have a go at painting it;

Why are you painting those roses red?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_par_John_Tenniel_28.png

No, not like that, like this;

and also re-learning Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata. I've done half the slow movement, the theme of the Rondo (last movement) and scoped out the size of the task for the first movement (daunting).

I'm encouraged by this quotation from one of the books I am reading at the moment;

The act of doing should matter more to us than what we might eventually accomplish; when this is not the case, I can’t help wondering if we are simply missing the point.

 from 'Mindfulness in Music' by Mark Tanner.

Because what I might eventually accomplish will be nowhere near the type of performance from a proper, practising professional. However I am enjoying the process of learning to play the music again, with the benefit of greatly improved learning skills, if a reduction in technical prowess.

Today I noticed that the rosebud had opened up since I picked it on Friday;

When I painted the rosebud I was attempting a reasonably faithful copy. This time, I was going for a swifter style of painting, letting the petals be more suggestions than a copy.

The week ahead promises to be busy so I shall probably take a break from the blog.