I'm hearing birds practicing their spring songs already. Yes, it's true that we could still get a foot of snow in April. But it's also true that there will be more overt signs of spring here in the next month or so. I've been so busy this winter I've barely noticed winter go by!
First of all, I've been doing volunteer database work for Beachwatchers and also for Anacortes Friends of the Forest. Really enjoying this, and hoping that it will pan out into a bit of paying work some day. Towards that end, I've gotten some business cards made and am handing them out to everyone who comes within 5 feet of me.
I'm still working a few hours each week at my paying job at Fluke, but it's dwindling. With my big project (moving all my Access stuff to SQL Server) complete and the manufacturing area in the process of shutting down, there's just not much left to do. I've put in a total of about 9 hours in the past two weeks.
Earlier this month, I joined the Whidbey Open Circle Singers. This is a choir for which no auditions are required, and yet they are very good! I've never sung with a group before so it is a learning experience for me. Being in the middle of a 50-person group singing 4-part harmony is quite wonderful. To end our weekly practice, someone sings a note and we all form a chord around it, to send out "vitamin H" (aka Harmony) to the universe.
At this group, I met a man who is trying to get a Sacred Harp (aka shape-note) choir going on Whidbey. (This is the music that you hear in the church in the movie Cold Mountain). So earlier this week I attended my first practice with them. So far there are only 5 of us, which is too bad, as this music seems really meant for a large group. But it's very interesting to learn. It's called shape-note because, to be more friendly to people who don't read music, each note has a characteristic shape and name. You start out singing the shape names; it seems strange but it really does seem to make it easier to learn a new tune. This tradition goes back several hundred years. We are hoping to be part of a performance at WICA in March.
On Friday, I am off to Michigan for a quick visit with my few remaining relatives. For the first time, I am going to leave my car in my garage. Believe it or not, Seattle finally has mass transit all the way to the airport, at least if I go during commuting hours on a weekday. There's a bus that stops near my house to get me to the ferry. Once I'm on the mainland, the Sounder train will take me to downtown, and the "Central Link" light rail will take me on to the airport. All this for $4 each way. Whatta deal!
My friend Nancy and I have started a tradition of taking the train to the city the first Thursday of each month. I've done this 3 months running now, and each time my gracious friend Ellen has picked us up at the train, driven us to her place, and fed us brunch. Again, whatta deal!
Nancy, Cheryl, Gerry, and I have hatched a plan for another bike trip, this one to Arizona in March. The plan is that Nancy and I will drive down with all the bikes and gear, and the Cheryl and Gerry, poor wage-slaves that they are, will fly down to join us once we get there. Although I am not totally sick of winter yet, I admit that some warm sunshine does sound pretty appealing.
