Growing... and blubbing!

1. Played bass at church again, this time in a different band to usual.  One song was much more funky than I'm used to and I struggled a bit during the practice ("Let's do this bit with just drum and bass") but when it finally clicked what the chords actually were it felt good.  I missed the transition to the bridge section though - I was too busy trying to read the notes to see the signal from the leader.

2.  The sermon was about spiritual gifts, and particularly prophecy.  I liked the practical approach he took, which included asking a couple of people to explain the words they'd brought earlier in the meeting.  I found myself nodding to a lot of it.

3.  Saw Les Miserables at the cinema with a friend.  I think it was better than the stage version (certainly the 2nd time I saw it) and I liked that they incorporated a few details from the book which weren't in the stage musical.  It was very emotional though - as expected.  I kept myself together most of the way through, but the final 5 minutes were impossible!

A slightly more sociable Sunday

1.  I enjoyed playing in our usual band again this morning - much easier to predict what other people would do and to be able to fit in.  Although I did start to play the wrong song at the end of the meeting... in my defence, we hadn't practised it and the titles were very similar!
2.  We went for lunch at a coffee shop in town after church and a lady from church came in towards the end.  We stayed while she had her lunch, and all enjoyed the chance to catch up after far too long.

3.  An unexpected phone call from a friend who's far away.  It was good to be able to say Happy New Year and start thinking about when we might be able to meet up.

(I also got some very exciting news from another friend, but it's a secret so I can't tell anyone yet!)

Sunday thoughts

I was playing in the band this morning.  We didn't have our usual keyboard player, but had an extra guitarist and the drummer from another band which led to a quite different feel - I quite liked it.  I've learned to go with the flow a lot more on Sundays and to choose not to be stressed if things aren't quite as I'd like.  That's made a big difference.

And my bass is finally connecting properly to the system!  The pick-up was quite worn/loose so our usual drummer fixed it for me during half term.  What a star!

The sermon was about giving.  I was grateful that God had already spoken to us on this over the last few days - it feels better to know that we're making changes because of a conversation with Him, rather than because we've been "told" from the front.  I know that God is faithful in this and it's such a privilege to be able to join Him in helping others.

We had a lovely lunch at a cafe in Cockermouth.  We'd not planned anything after church, but I'd wanted to walk into town to try to clear my head a bit... I had a tasty baked potato with cheese and chorizo - yum!

I had a nap when we got home to fix my headache, then enjoyed the final F1 race of the season.  It was probably the best I've seen this year, and a great way to end the year.

Sunday thoughts

1. Played bass again this morning. I was encouraged that a couple if people said they'd enjoyed what I'd done. And I'm very pleased that our drummer has said he'll look at my bass to fix the loose lead connection.

2. Quite powerful this morning too... we're living with the reality that a church member (not much older than me) is seriously ill and the medical prognosis isn't good. Her husband used Psalm 23 to declare his trust in God. So hard, but reassuring that they know God's presence.

3. On a lighter note... I seem to be getting quicker at making chutney. I've made my annual Christmas chutney today (3rd year) and I think I've got the hang of it now! I'll see what the house smells like in the morning though...

Experimenting and a little exercise

1. More fun with my bass today: I was playing at church this morning, then spent a little while with YouTube this afternoon learning a couple of well-known riffs (Come Together & Peaches). I think I've found a good website for tutorials so now it's just a case of putting in the practice... the first test is whether I remember anything tomorrow.

2. It's still very hot (at least 25C) so I felt very warm after going for a walk around the village. I enjoyed seeing the flowers by the roadside, hearing the children playing in the beck, and smelling the barbecues.

3. Yesterday's chicken, pepper and tomato sauce tasted even better after a day in the fridge. A yummy experiment where I threw in whatever spices I felt like (cumin, coriander, fenugreek, chilli, ginger, oregano - I think!)

Hot, sunny day

Too hot for me for fell-walking (around 25-30C!) but we still got lots done...

- grass cut: front, back and lane
- the clothes (and bedding) mountain washed and dried on the line
- bathroom cleaned
- unwanted purchases returned to shop
- A's latest eBay purchase picked up from sorting office
- watched the Monaco qualifying sessions
- bass practice, using YouTube to find tutorials. I think I've found a series that looks promising, and started on a Beatles song (Come Together) before we went shopping
- about another 20 rows of my Clapotis

...and I finished the day watching Eurovision. How did we ever do it before fb and Twitter?
(I've even been retweeted!)

Girly weekend

Andrew was away visiting his brother, so I've enjoyed a girly weekend:

Friday:
- a yummy meal with my prayer triplet.  I headed home fairly early to try to get a good night's sleep, but it was lovely to catch up with them both at last.

Saturday:
- I played my bass guitar for a short worship time at the ladies' quiet day for church.  I wasn't sure how well it would work just having me on bass and Becca on acoustic, but actually it sounded pretty good!  I feel self-conscious that I can only do very basic playing but it was enough.  I definitely need to make time for practising more though...
- The sun shone, and Camerton Hall was the perfect venue.  We were able to explore the grounds and sit outside during our quiet times.  Lunch was delicious too!
- I left after lunch to go birthday present shopping and found just what I needed.
- I've had Andrew's car this weekend and enjoyed the chance to drive around with the hood down all day.  Lovely summer weather!
- Once back home I relaxed with sitcoms and a rom-com (The Proposal - virtually a remake of While you were sleeping and fun to watch).
- I added almost 2" to the Clapotis scarf

Sunday:
- Unusual not to be at church around 9am; 10:30 was quite a treat!
- Caroline invited me back to their new house for lunch.  They've found a great house: it needs work but knowing what they've done before it's going to be stunning.
- I enjoyed simply relaxing with a friend and catching up.
- When Andrew & Gary got back we headed out to see the Scarecrow festival at Dean.  There were some fab scarecrows to be seen and it just amazes me how much effort and imagination has gone into the creations.
- and finally we caught up on the highlights from today's F1 race - I'm so pleased that Williams have finally won a race!

A wee bit of a stretch

I enjoyed playing bass in the band this morning. It stretched my skills a bit too (as well as my left hand)...

I'm usually ok with the faster rockier songs, where I just need to keep a steady, quick beat going and follow the guitar chords, but the slower ones need a bit more interest & I've not learnt how to stray far from playing the tonic notes yet. Today, I worked out a very simple little riff to get away from playing a line of D followed by a line of G (over and over again) and it seemed to work. I had quite a stretch in my left hand to get from D to F# smoothly but it sounded ok most of the time.

It felt good to develop a little from where I've been for so long.