2021 Moment of Joy, part 1

I’m attempting a pick-me-up type of post, as Covid has continued to drag, so have spirits. Add that to daylight savings time and nonstop rain or snow, we need some sunshine.

Take the sweetness of the Abby situation, then. Last year when the state figure skating high school championships were cancelled, I requested a list of graduating seniors to write congratulations letters. First was to Abby from Mt Pleasant FSC.

Fast forward a couple of months and Ginni, the pro at Mt Pleasant, asks if I know of any place for one of her students to live, as her school didn’t have dorms. Well, the minor league season was just cancelled, so why not us?

She was the daughter we didn’t know we were missing. We thoroughly enjoyed her time with us. We saw her blossom, try sushi for the first time, we went skating together, and was a shoulder to cry on. We ordered Chinese while watching Nationals, and completed a Special Olympics frozen 5k, above. 

She moved out at the end of her year, and decided it was time to be on her own. She’s still coming over for dinner when there’s chicken and rice on the menu and boys to talk about.

#500! Why Art Matters: Saving the Cassettes

How we come full circle. 

Back in 2008 when I decided to start this blog as a creative outlet, I was going to do reviews of the old cassettes in the basement, as I still owned a car with a cassette deck. 

Fitting that for the 500th post, I am talking about music, and going back to my cassettes, many of which are still in the basement, slowly dry-rotting from not being played. 

That won't do. So I splurged on a tape-to-MP3 converter to see if I could rescue the recordings. 

This experiment is a mixed bag. The fact is, the recording is only as good as your tape's quality. I tried first to record Paul McCartney's Unplugged, which features one of my favorite versions of Here, There, and Everywhere. It turned out pretty ok. 

Next, I tried to convert his solo greatest hits album All The Best. Oh no. First, the tape is a long player, so 90 minute instead of 60. Old, so the playback draaaaaaaaaged. No one wants to hear "Baaaaaaand on the Rrrrrrrrrun...!" at super slow warp speed. 

I moved on to J. Geils Band greatest hits. Screechy, tinny, noisy. Sigh. 

I still have some rarities, so I will continue to revisit the old school format, and figure if they are worth saving or worth free cycling to someone who still has and loves their cassette deck. 

Rescuing the Old World Glass Ornaments

I’m not much of a collector. But when I found an Old World glass ornament of a little basket of strawberries at the antique store, I decided then and there this would be my thing. Good thing was, I already had some in my possession to establish a collection.

These were given to us a long time ago, ornaments passed down through Dave's family. These ornaments in particular are ones he loved to hang on the tree himself. But the ornaments have long lost their luster. A trip to the dollar store for glitter and glue, and we were back in business. 

The top had hints of what the original color scheme was, but on two panels, I could only hazard a guess. Well, I had green, so green it is! 

The flower basket had the faintest bit of red left, and no idea what color the basket was or the leaves. Of all of them, this one sprang to life immediately. Pictures don't do it justice. 

The drum was frustrating, as the glue was clear and while I thought I was careful, I managed to get glitter everywhere. I tried to keep the blue as blue as possible, but the silver managed to attract the other colors to the top and bottom. It added a depth that I could appreciate. Stick on gems for added pop.