Silver linings...

...indeed a veritable suitcase full of that wondrous stuff!

What with all the projections of doom and gloom, moans and other sundry patheticisms on my last post, I had completely forgotten that I had ordered this little lot of sunshine and I arrived home from Holland this evening to find it gleaming through my postbox...

NORO! Kureyon colourway no.196
At last I can PLAY!!

Ebay - I doest heart thou! In fact, Japan, one heartest thou, also! Now, what to make, what to make...!

Well, as per usual, I was worrying way too much again. The journey up to Holland went fine - I didn't have a place in the carriage, and was indeed seated by the door, but I had the whole space to myself and it was cooler and quieter than the in the coach compartment anyway! (I was rather ill-equipped for the 28 degree temp in Holland, though!) I got paid (FINALLY) for the work in March, the concerts went really well and I managed to fit in 2 lessons with my rather fabulous new teacher. ("You're a lyric soprano, get used to it! None of that 'But I can't sing high' crap - you think too much! And try not to chew those consonants. And breathe normally, like you're about to talk, not like you're about to inhale a bus. And don't sing pitches at me." etcetera, etcetera. You have to imagine this all with a very strong Chicago accent!) It was Absolute Bliss!!

Actually, the lessons were hard work and I'm set upon a very steep learning curve, but I'm also rather excited. There's a whole different world of music to consider now. I have to admit that I knew that I had a slightly bigger voice than the normal baroquies, but between singing the Mahler this week and those singing lessons, I'm slightly more convinced! And slightly shell-shocked, too!

I have a long-running joke with a lovely baroque tenor friend of mine which goes along the lines of sending emails 'advertising' our next concerts. 'Michael would like to invite you to his next performance of 'Tannhäuser' by Wagner' or I'd send him a 'You are cordially invited to a performance of Verdi's 'La Traviata' starring RedScot as Violetta.' ("You mean 'Monteverdi', right?!!" would be in the follow-up email.) I haven't told him about the Mahler yet. I'm not sure his constitution could handle it!