days_unfolding

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This post covers the weekend.

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FRIDAY

I was awake early. Coffee and breakfast. Finished Richmond Foodie Finds and made big progress on Louisville Foodie Finds. I realized that I haven't done either DC or Boston, which are both 3-week sits and HUGE foodie cities, so I REALLY need to catch up!!

That took a significant portion of the morning. Jameson texted, angry because apparently the contractors who tore the house apart yesterday just-now-this-morning opened the faux wood flooring to find that it was all damaged (I don't know what type of damage we're talking about.) So, now they have to delay until tomorrow. Why is it ALWAYS like this with contractors, I wanna know. It happened with our toilets, the sinks, the AC unit, sealing our pool deck....everything! It's very frustrating! I understand that people are human but when it's EVERY contractor that you work with...well, the work needs to be done so they've just got you in a chokehold I guess, but UGH.

In fairness, we don't know yet whether this will result in more charges, but it does mean that Jameson has to live in a construction zone with no furniture and lots of dust everywhere for another full day.

After Foodie Finds I tried to do a casual run-through of my middle school/high school-aged "Fun Jobs In Music" PowerPoint. The camera kept crashing, and some of the slides didn't look right, so that turned into more editing. By the time I'd gotten it mostly-fixed it was lunchtime. Foodie Find time!

On the recommendation of ratphooey, I walked to Alihan's Coffee and Breakfast (they have a dinner restaurant too right across the street.) It was a cozy little Turkish cafe. I was quickly seated and order taken, and while I waited all I heard around me was people exclaiming about how good the food was!

I got the menemen: a Turkish dish very similar to shakshuka except the eggs are scrambled into the sauce to create a different texture.


The sauce is a lovely savory tomato with green peppers, onion, herbs, and spices. It comes with a loaf of hot steaming Turkish bread for scooping and dipping. You can also add cheese or meat but I chose to try it OG. Close-up to show texture:


My goodness it was delicious! Hearty and warm, the perfect thing for a cold winter day. Thank you for this rec, ratphooey! I couldn't stand the thought of leftovers so ate the whole dish (I did leave half the bread.) Yum! Typically after a meal like that I'd go for a walk, but it was a bit cold and I wanted to time out my "kiddie" masterclass so went back to the hotel room for that first. I still didn't really get a good sense of timing but am working out what I will say, so it was a good use of time anyway.

Then I did go for a walk, nowhere in particular, just wandered around to be in the sun. I found two small parks, one of which seemed to have no name and had a cool spiraly path pattern:


...and the other was I think called Melon Square but it was locked and gated. It didn't matter. I just wanted some fresh air. Originally I'd planned to go thrifting, but the idea of spending an hour in a dingy store on such a nice sunny day was off-putting :p No pictures because I was just BEING, here, now.

Back at the hotel I typed up this post and watched some Owl House and part of Mulan (was just in the mood for it). Dinner and walking to the theater.

It was a bit of a chaotic show...there was some issue with one of the keyboard's sampling software that seemed to cause it to be always slightly ahead of what we were playing? It made me feel dizzy trying to play along with it! They swapped out the entire keyboard during intermission so the second half was fine. And Connor (Key 1) was conducting because his GIGANTIC family was here!! They basically bum-rushed him before, between, and after the show lol. Showering him with hugs and praise, someone even brought him a bouquet. It was both heartwarming to see, and also pity-inducing because he kept having to say, "I've got to go now!" and "Guys, I've got to do my job now!", and I TOTALLY know how that feels, to have to explain that you are at work right now and kind of have to do your job, but your family just doesn't quite get it. Regardless, it was a decent show amid the chaos and his family seemed lovely :)

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SATURDAY

I was up early to do a second load of laundry. Not something I'd normally do but it's cheap here so why not.
Then coordinating a bit with Jameson. The floor guys are back at work, hopefully with actual non-damaged floor pieces now, and expect to be done or mostly done by tonight. The problem is that with the new flooring, the toilets will have to be readjusted. So it will be my job to call the plumber and arrange/pay for that. I don't mind at all, I want to help and am annoyed that I can't be there right now to provide support.

The rest of my morning was breakfast, Foodie Finds, and another attempt at timing out the kiddie masterclass.
The matinee went well, I thought we played really well and the audience was great. No notes!

As we finished up, Jameson sent me a video and pictures of the new flooring, which is now complete! They did the entryway, living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathrooms. The bedrooms and studio are still carpeted for now.

Before and After of the living room:



Before and after of the master bath:


He took pics of the kitchen too but they weren't side-by-sides like this. Just imagine that pinkish tile replaced by the faux wood and you get the idea :p I think it looks fantastic, and he loves it too! It's going to be SO much easier to clean, and looks loads nicer than the stained old off-white carpet and cracked pink tile. I don't yet know what it's cost us but am VERY grateful that Jameson did this for us!

One thing that Jameson has asked me to handle is calling a plumber, because now the toilet flanges are too high for the new flooring and the toilets are wobbly. I called right away and they should hopefully show up on Monday. I cannot WAIT to see the new floor in person! And acoustically it will be a lot louder in the house because the carpet is gone, that will take some getting used to!

Anyway, between shows I marched back to the hotel for dinner. The Red Bucket fundraising event is about to start again, so the cast stayed at the theater to sign programs and posters to sell. They were given pizza and it was offered to us too, but I thought they should have first crack at it since they're doing the work. Made myself a simple dinner, then walked back over early to scavenge the leftover pizza. There was plenty left :)

Josh (Key 2) conducted the evening show and did a great job. I played well myself by my own standards, with THREE mistakes that I didn't like (yes sometimes I keep score against myself. As awful as that sounds it can be helpful, because musicians have a muscle memory for mistakes too which can cause you to repeat the same mistakes the next night!! Sometimes it's good to just make a note so your body doesn't unconsciously do it again!)

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SUNDAY

The temp dropped about 15 degrees overnight. I am sad about it, but when we get to Richmond it's supposed to be in the 60s! (15.5's!) I am REALLY hoping to get out and about. Cold has been a big deterrent for exploring.

Typical morning of coffee + breakfast, working on DC Foodie Finds now, and the starting stages of packing my suitcase. I did a better run-through of Kiddie Masterclass...this one is shorter, usually between 40-45 minutes, but it is interactive and I expect that the kids will pelt me with questions and this will add at least 15 minutes to the session.

Lunch and walking to the theater. The matinee was good, Josh was conducting again but it turns out he's got a week off and won't be with us at all in Richmond! We'll have Leslie (Keyboard sub who has played with us several times now) for that whole sit.

Between shows I scooted back to the hotel and enjoyed some salmon jerky for a snack and some hot tea, and watched some Owl House. Dinner on Sundays is always scraping together whatever is left in the fridge: Today that's half a bagel, some tofu, pistachios, and 1/4 of a Sumo orange.

The evening show featured a wonderful audience, and we all played really well too :) 
One of Jameson's cousins was there but she was way up in the nosebleeds. Still, she managed to make it to the pit for a quick hello at intermission. When the show was over I did the usual thing of packing up quickly and hightailing it out of there. Tomorrow we have something like a 6.5 hour bus ride to Richmond, VA. There's no crazy weather this time so I am looking forward to a hopefully relaxing ride. Thus ends our time in Pennsylvania. 

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Monday: A long bus ride to Richmond, VA. There is one stop planned I believe. Settling in and then a Zoom sound check with Full Blown Trombone Studio for the masterclass on Saturday.

Tuesday: Opening day in Richmond. I don't think I've played this theater before so I am looking forward to a new venue!