Painting music, needle point and our children’s instruments
In 1977 I completed a needlepoint carpet that I had designed and stitched; I am very proud of that! Dave made a nice frame for it with pieces of pine he scavenged from an old log cabin; some of the same wood is used for the paneling in our living room.
The tapestry illustrates the musical instruments that our five musical children played: Carolyn, clarinet and piano; Jonathan, trumpet and piano; Ellen, clarinet and piano; Paul, cello and piano; and Erik, trombone and piano.
Paul loved Bach Minuet in G and learned it from me, note by note by heart. We worked on it a few notes at a time until he could play as many of them as he was interested in, and when I look at the bottom edge of the embroidery point, which has six measures of Minuet in GI think of Paul.
The music along the top edge is also by JS Bach: Jesu, joy of man’s desire.
Paul gave me a metronome for Christmas 2000. It’s just like the one I used as a girl in my teachers’ studios. You hear it tapping, but you also see it swaying back and forth out of the corner of your eye. So it’s easier to follow than electronic metronomes with sound but nothing visual. Thanks again, Paul and family!
It’s all relative
One day as I helped test students’ eyes during the annual health screenings at Union Elementary School (the Homebound Teacher helped with this every year), a little girl looked up at me and said, “You’re really old.”
Until that moment, I hadn’t considered 55 that old. I answered her, “Yes, I am really old; I am 100 years old! Did you know?”
The best part of this story is that less than a week later, during one of my visits to Sadie M. – my music buddy – and without knowing this little story about a young child’s curiosity, she said to me, “Elaine, I envy you your youth.” Thanks, Sadie! I needed that! Ha.
To be continued…
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About the author: RD Blakeslee (1931 – 2024) built his wealth by investing only in what he can enjoy at the time of purchase and throughout his life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, such as stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.
Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee family
#Grandfather #Continuing #Chronicles #Elaine #Volume