paint creek trail

as i've said in the past.. i've been walking a lot lately. in the new town where i live there is a beautiful trail called the paint creek trail. it used to be a railroad line, but now the tracks have been removed and its a beautiful walking trail. you can bike, walk or take your horse on it. since i don't have a horse.... i like to walk on it.

the trail actually begins in my town and ends in a town 10 miles away. one day it will be my goal to walk the entire thing. i'll probably bike it first.. cuz biking 20 miles doesn't seem quite as severe as walking it.

i walk with a friend most days.. and we've talked about parking a car at one end.. so that we only have to walk one way.

anyway.... yesterday morning was pretty stressful. grumpy people in my house, and arguments.. make for perfect fuel for walking. the grumpy people in my family (bill and hannah) actually came with me to the walking trail. they aren't accustomed to walking as far or as fast as i do.. so we actually walked separately.

i took my camera this time.. i rarely do. its hard enough to keep pace without gear hanging off my back. anyway.. the pictures here aren't great.. just snap shots as i walked the trail.

this time of the year the trail is gorgeous.. if you had any doubts that spring had arrived.. a quick walk on the paint creek trail will dispel those doubts.

i saw every spring wild flower you can imagine.. wild geraniums, honey suckle, violets, may apples, ferns, and a billion tiny purple flowers that i must look up one day.

i saw baby geese, baby ducks, and baby deer. all of the baby animals seemed very used to people..

the smells of fresh foliage and sweet flowers fill the air and my lungs as i walked. i walked a total of 2 hours yesterday, not sure exactly how far i went. but i know that when i returned the grumpiness had left my body... (probably with the buckets of sweat)

bill and hannah walked a slower pace, but it also seemed to get rid of most of their grumpiness.

even though a lot of bad things seem to have happened since i've moved to rochester.. i still love this community. i just always have to remind myself as much as it looks like a pleasant peaceful little town.. it is actually a suburb of detroit. being a suburb of detroit (a city that is in financial ruins) and the economy being the way it is.. and times just being so hard .... some people do stupid and desperate things. its sad.. the state of the world.. but a nice walk thru the woods seems to help me remember there are more things to life than just the troubles that are just completely overwhelming at times.

i promise to take a shorter walk on the trail this week.. with my camera in tow... and take some pictures that will convey the peaceful beauty that is there.

new page element

ok.. i'm trying something new on this blog... i've been taught how to add all kinds of different page elements to my blog... links to friends blogs, polls, even pictures and things.

i'm starting slow :P i did create a poll, and add a couple of links to blogs. i'd like to link more of my friends blogs here.. but wanted to make sure it was ok with them before i did it.

this week has been a roller coaster. starting one week ago when my purse was stolen and my car broken into.. then recollecting myself, and dealing with the fears and worries that come along with being robbed.

on wednesday i hit a new fitness goal i've been working for... i'm not giving numbers anymore.. cuz they really aren't mile markers that i'm working towards. my goal is not to be a certain size or see a certain number on a scale, but those things are indicators to my success so that are very tangible.

one thing i've realized thru this whole process is that each and every day the changes are so minor that they are easy to over look. losing a pound, walking an extra mile, going to a certain number on the scale... all along my body is adjusting, so it just doesn't feel that significant. through my eyes, i look very much the same as i did 8 months ago... until someone shows me a picture and i can put it directly next to a picture taken recently.

well on thursday of last week i walked 8 miles... in just under 2 hours. typically 3 miles an hour is a pretty good clip.. gets my heart pounding and keeps the sweat trickling down my face. i have a friend who does a 15 minute mile.. while walking (i don't jog or run) so she kept the pace and we had a blast.

to some people this may not sound like anything remarkable, but then again...you have no idea how much of a change this is in my life.

on thursday after the walk, i had a chance to get away. i do love my family... they are everything to me.. even if i want to shoot my kids to the moon sometimes... BUT it feels SOOOOOOOO GOOOD to get away without them sometimes. i spent thursday doing things that i love, and being with people who i wanted to be with.... friday we did a bit more.. and then were able to have dinner together one last night before everyone had to return home.

so after a wonderful few days away.... i came home to a phone call that one of my dearest friends is very ill. her husband recently passed away, as did her mother and her sister.. and now she is left to deal with this illness... she is one of the most wonderful people i've ever met. she has a very positive attitude and with the love and support of her friends will hopefully overcome this.

on to the roller coaster again.. this morning i had a music thing.. and after playing... my only thought was... this is the feeling that led me to become a musician. knowing i've played well.. and that people who heard me felt something..... because of the music.. its just an indescribable feeling.

now its sunday afternoon... i'm about to head to the gym... yes the same place at the same time where i was robbed last week. i haven't been back to the gym since then. i almost went several times this week, but i got weirded out and ended up walking, or riding my bike instead.

enough is enough...

swimming is one of the very best ways i've stayed on my fitness program and i'm not letting some asshole crooks take that away too.. so... i'm off to the gym ;)

wednesday night

well.. i haven't blogged much this week because i've been sitting in various government offices trying to re create my documented life. what a hassle. if i would not have had my passport in my purse things would have been MUCH easier.

the driver's license office wanted picture id to prove who i was.. but since all my id was stolen they accepted a birth certificate, and a marriage certificate to verify my name change. now i have a paper license until the picture one comes in the mail (anywhere from 7-30 days)

the passport office has forms.. lots and lots of forms to be filled out. the first form was to report a stolen, but valid passport. when you submit that form you also have to - a: apply for a new passport, or b: be terminated in the system.

being terminated in a government system is NEVER EVER a good thing.. unless you are dead.

so.. i filled out the two forms... report stolen, and apply for new. they wanted a valid picture id.. of course i had the same issue as at the drivers license office... no picture id yet. the passport office wouldn't accept a birth certificate or marriage license as proof of who i am. they weren't interested in seeing my paper (temp) drivers license either. they said to come back after i get a valid government issued picture id.

here is the problem.. you can not fill out a stolen passport application without filling out one of the other two forms (termination or renew) what a mess. i DO NOT want to be terminated in the system.. something tells me that would be hard if not impossible to correct.

so at this moment whoever robbed me also has all my valid identification.... they can prove they are me better than i can prove i'm me :(

i HATE government bureaucracy.

hopefully the picture id wont take 30 days to arrive.. and i can clear up this mess before an even bigger mess is made.

tomorrow i'm going out of town for a couple of days. the trip was planned before all this happened and i really really need a break right now anyway.. so it turned out to be good timing.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS

you didn't think i'd let the crooks ruin everything did ya????

i've been working on getting a small chamber group together to play a few jobs this summer. i really love playing in a small ensemble... especially a woodwind ensemble. but i wanted something a bit unique and i wanted to work with people who i knew were excellent musicians and who wouldn't be so uptight about how much we were getting paid.

well..i have a friend who i've worked with in the past. she plays flute, but also has a bass flute. her daughter just graduated from college with a degree in music, and also plays the flute.

now a flute trio isn't terribly unique although you rarely hear one playing. but... a flute trio using 2 C flutes and one bass flutes is far less common.

we got together for the first time today just to see how we sounded. we sight read for a while.. talked about what kind of jobs we were willing to take, and came up with a plan.

i have to say... and i don't mean to brag.. but we really sounded good together. i'm playing first flute, carolbeth is playing second flute, and jill is playing bass flute.

there isn't a lot of music (maybe none) written for that instrumentation so we'll have to do some arranging and we can also use some flute trios just lowering the 3rd part and playing it on the bass.

carolbeth is getting married june 23rd (i'm shooting her wedding) and then at the end of the summer she will be moving about 6 hours away with her new husband. so.. we have this summer to work together.

i've already booked us one job on july 8th ;)

carolbeth said that she will be willing to keep practicing and come back for jobs throughout the year.. but she also said if we needed to find another flute player to replace her she would understand. i'm not sure what we're going to do yet.. i guess it depend on how much work i can book for us.

so... now i need to come up with a unique and great name for our little trio. any suggestions????

its late... and i have a huge day tomorrow and a big one on friday too, so i better go to sleep. i just wanted to let everyone know that i'm slowly getting my world put back together after the robbery.

bb4n

shitty day

today didn't start out shitty.. it actually started nice. the weather sucked, but that was ok cuz i had a lot of work to do inside anyway.

we went to breakfast... i even made good choices and stayed healthy.. went by the fruit market and bought the foods i need for the first part of the week.. rushed home, iron my dress for my concert and made my call time of 1:50pm

i sat thru rehearsal.. and because i was just one of the people on the the concert for today... i only got 5 minutes to warm up and do a sound check. the concert started at 4pm so i sat there for 2:05 listening to people waste time...

so.. the concert begin it went fine. nothing really exciting. it was a concert series for a big cathedral in detroit and i had 2 numbers on it. when i finished playing.. i didn't even stay to hear the rest of the musicians.. i just left to come home.

i was rushing home because my daughter hannah had really wanted to go to the gym with me today, but i knew that i'd be exhausted if we didn't get there until after dinner.

i decided that arriving at the gym before dinner would be a great idea... its still light, most people are home fixing dinner, 5pm is rarely busy at the gym on sundays.

when i got ready to go to the gym.. hannah told me she was too tired to go... so i nearly decided not to go myself, but thought.... what the hell...i'll just swim for 45 minutes and get it over with.

when i got to the gym i locked my purse in my trunk because the gym had posted a note in the locker rooms not to leave anything valuable in your locker. i figured my trunk is secure.. especially since i parked not 50 feet away from the front door of the gym and it was still daylight.

i swam.. showered and was finished in less than an hour.

i went to my car.. opened my trunk... and my purse was gone.

i went to the drivers door and found the door ripped up... the locked removed.. and the window smashed

my passport, license, money, credit cards, pictures, phone... medicine .. my wallet, my purse.. everything i need to live my life day by day.. gone

i went to the gym.. to have them call the police.. and found out there had been 3 other break ins just between yesterday and today.. and probably 40 or more in the last 6 months. no one at the gym bothered to warn people to not lock things in their trunk.

the gym idiot didn't even want to put a sign up on the front door warning people after it happened to my car.. so i made a big stink.. a really big stink.

as i was waiting for the police to come.. i made sure to stand by the front door of the gym and warn people to not leave ANYTHING in their car... everyone i told turned back around and got something from their car..... everyone was in the habit of doing what i did.. because of the locker situation.

i hold the gym responsible for not warning people that this has been going on... but.. blaming them doesn't get my pictures of my kids back.. or my passport back.. or make my life any easier.

i don't have a cell phone now... or a purse, or wallet. my insurance will cover the damage to the car, less 1000 which is my deductible... the damange estimate is proably right around 1000 :| so i'll just have to pay it out of pocket.

i'm pissed and i hate everyone right now.

bill has zero compassion.. the kids are annoyed with me because i can't buy gas, because i can't get money out of the bank because i had to cancel my debit card, and my credit cards.

bill is traveling tomorrow.. and needs his car.. i'm stuck either driving him 65 miles thru traffic at 5am to the airport.. or going without a car for the next several days or even a week. oh..he needs to be there at 5am that means leaving here at 4 :(

i wish i didn't give a damn about things.. but i do..

i will probably loose my gym membership now.. because the gym is very angry that i stood there and warned people not to leave valuables in their car.

i think the gym should have security in the parking lot.. especially if they KNOW this has been an ongoing problem.
fuck.. i'm angry

pistons move ahead!

my basketball team, the pistons have won this round of the playoffs and now we move up to the eastern conference finals! we don't know if we will play new york or cleveland.. but either way it will be a good series.

our hockey team is doing well too... hopefully we will finally put the mighty ducks in their place.. and head to the stanley cup :P

tomorrow will be spent working in my garden.. its supposed to be sunny and warm. so of course there will be more pictures coming soon!

hannah is doing well on her new fitness program.. but she is finding the challenges to be more difficult that she thought. apparently she thought i made it look easy :P i'm still working very hard.. but.. it just has to be the way i live my life now.. i can't think of it as something i'm doing "For now"

i have a concert this sunday, i don't know how well it will be attended... with the weather turning so beautiful even i don't want to be stuck inside listening to music on a sunday afternoon. i'm glad things are winding down.

oh.... i nearly forgot.. my youngest, sam went to his first dance today... and even danced with a girl. apparently she is very sweet on him. how quickly they grow up.. its like it was just yesterday when he was falling down and scrapping his knee crying.......... WAIT!!!! that was yesterday ;)

have a great weekend!

thursday 17th

i know.. i've missed a couple of days.. things just get so crazy this time of year.

awards nights, band concerts.. end of the year events..

i had my annual meeting with one of my performance groups on monday. i'm in charge of marketing and publicity for this group and when i took over this job the promotion of the group had hit an all time low. i should explain :|

i was in this group for 4 years.. then i moved to kansas. the 4 years i was in the group, i was just part of the publicity committee, so the entire task didn't fall on my shoulders. we were always very well booked throughout the concert season. the only thing i did was take pictures and put together press releases.

the year i was in kansas.. the job was handed over to someone that just wasn't very interested in doing it.. and thats all it took. one year of low visiblity and the group was struggling for jobs. i'd say the musicality of the group wasn't were it should have been either when i returned, but by christmas time we were playing as well as we ever have.

so.. it has been a huge task to take over publicity. we usually are booked several months.. or even a year in advance, so the concerts that should be in the fall are usually booked the fall before.

on monday i had to present a marketing plan to the committee that does a lot of our funding. i think it went well.

now.. i'm off to watch the pistons game, we are still ahead in the series 3 games to 2, but we need to win one more to advance to the next round.

i'll keep you updated on our progress!

mothers day +1

mother's day was yesterday.. and it turned out to be just a beautiful day. i had tea and berries in bed.. thanks to my kids and i got a new lens for my camera :D

the lens isn't an expensive one.. but.. its fun. 50mm 1.8

i took a few shots while eating my berries and drinking my tea... this picture is of tally.... one of the twin kitties i have.

she likes to burrow under the covers.

i spent the day at an art fair.. and didn't buy much. there were tons of photographers showing work, some of it was really wonderful. the weather was nice, so it was very very crowded.

after the art fair we ate at one of my favorite restaurants... its really just a family diner. nothing fancy at all, but they make the BEST greek salad.

after dinner we went to my mother in laws. most everyone was there.. lots of kids, and grand kids. it turned out fine. they haven't seen me much since i started working out. they had lots of cakes and sweets.. but i was good.. well, mostly good.. i did enjoy a glass of wine.

hannah had a hard time avoiding all the sweets, but she managed to make some good choices and realizes now how much you have to plan ahead when you go to a party like that. (unless you want to eat brownies, cookies, 2 different cakes, and chips and candy)

we got home rather late, and then i had to be up early to go to my annual meeting for one of my performance groups. since i'm in charge of publicity and marketing.. i had to present a report that talked about what we did this past year.. and what we hope to accomplish.. and how we will accomplish it for next year. it was a lot of work... but my presentation went fine.

i'm meeting with joseph.. the other guy on my committee tomorrow over lunch to work on some of the things we talked about. we have 7 concerts set up for next concert season. but we really need 15-20 to make things very comfortable. booking another 10 concerts will be a huge task.