Lucy sings Tra La in December

It's December 3 so high time to get things started here..... I want to post a picture of my Dusty - which lives now in Florida at a wee house in Sarasota.  It's a long involved story!   I love playing it when I am here as the sound really is different from my Fisher.  The only problem, really, is that the strings are slightly further apart?  And of course, the wide flat back makes it feel awkward to play, at least at first.

I will explain that in my non-musical life I am a writer and I am finishing up a book that is part of a post-apocalyptic trilogy that was left unfinished by the writer, who I knew quite well.  Two and a half years ago I was asked if I would like to finish it...... wisely or unwisely I took it on.   I come here to work in a particular place, Sterling Lanier's old 'lair' I call it, a woodshop that was made into his studio when he moved to this house in Sarasota.  I am close to his widow and stay with her when I am here. If you are interested, the books he wrote are called Hiero's Journey and The Unforsaken Hiero, the title of the book I am working on is Hiero's Answer.  I am in the home stretch and eager to get the first draft completely done, my fantasy being that that could conceivably happen in the next few weeks. (Yeah, right, with Christmas coming?  Who am I kidding?)  Soon anyway.  I have no more than two chapters and an epilogue at the very most to write, I hope!

That might distract me from harping, but I hope not completely.  It is a nice way to relax after spending a day at the computer, that is for sure.

The time slipped away and now it is December 9 and I am back home in Vermont..... I never took a picture of the Dusty which was stupid, because I should have - I discovered that two of the rings that protect the wood where the strings go into the soundboard were popping out...... after a call to Dusty Strings it was off to the hardware store for putty epoxy, (the slower drying kind) and the delicate operation of trying to put the stuff on the rings and in the itty-bitty holes without clogging up where the strings go......  then the wait.  I couldn't restring until Sunday, so I don't really know how it will go.  I didn't force the new strings full up either.  I changed four strings in all (one snapped too while I was playing - in fact that is when I noticed the problem) so I may have finally done it enough times in a row for it to be a less traumatic event.  Anyway the upshot of all that was that I didn't play much music while I was there, not what I hoped I might.

December 14  Now I am realizing that I should have taken pictures of the pins sticking out and the repair process and outcome...... it would have been interesting and possibly useful to someone.  

So anyhow, last night I settle down to play and lo and behold POP! the low A string goes - something in it just gave way rather than snapping it just went sort of limp - took me a minute to identify just which string went and that it really was done for.  I put the harp away.  I don't generally do things as well at night as I do in the morning.  But did I get around to dealing with it today?  No.  And then when I finally did feel ready, late afternoon, the cat got interested, wayyyyy too interested, so then I decided to wait until a time when he isn't around.  I got the old one off anyway.  It's the first string to go on the Fisher.  I expect there will be more.  I'm trying to keep the harp hydrated but we've had such incredibly cold weather!  Since the floor is cement (radiant heat underneath) I put a little puddle of water just under the harp - and keep it covered, hoping the water, as it evaporates will make a difference.  I should find a small cup and break up a sponge the way you do it Andee, and I will, I will.  Luckily too, the radiant pipes are far enough apart that there are 'cool' spots and I have made sure the harp is on one of those areas.   So not much playing the last couple of days.

Have any of you heard Farewell to Stromness (Peter Maxwell Davies)?  There is a clip of someone (.... Scott) forget first name, playing it on the harp - rather well too -.  I'm sorely tempted to give it a try, but get a load of the OVERHAND lever change!!  I've never seen that before!  Yowza.  Not even Maeve.