Back Together with Mandy

 

Sorry for my silence last night. Travalon and I went out to dinner at Mariner's for our anniversary, and we were supposed to get a free dessert to split, but they gave us each one! And they even took our gift certificate that had expired by a few days. I guess it helps to be regulars. By the time we got back, the prayer part of Night Prayer was done, and they had just done intentions and were about to pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be, so when I appeared, they said, "What are your intentions?" I said, "Thanksgiving for seven wonderful years!"

Today our band had its first practice in a long time. We did some Zoom practices when the pandemic first hit, but nobody else liked them (I thought they were fine), so we gave up for a while and then did in-person practices outside, with social distancing, until the weather got bad. One bandmate didn't come because she says she has been practicing all this time, so she isn't rusty like the rest of us, and she'll come back after we have practiced a few times. I'll admit that I hadn't really picked up an instrument for months, but it comes right back to you. When we played my favorite song, "Metsakukkia," the one where I get to pretend I'm playing a balalaika, it was like I last played it yesterday. The song means "Forest Flower" in Finnish, but it actually sounds Russian. I said I would probably remember it on my deathbed: "Someone grab my mandolin - I'm going to go out playing 'Metsakukkia!'" It was lovely to play outside: a catbird was singing above us in a tree, the scent of lilacs and lilies of the valley wafted over us, and my bandmate's neighbors decided to do yard work so they could listen to us. When we played some Irish jigs, they applauded. (Audiences always like the Irish jigs. So do I. I could live without all the Nordic waltzes.) Anyway, it felt good to "get back in the saddle." I've been playing the mandolin for a quarter of a century, and it feels like my soulmate. Of course, Travalon is my soulmate, and Tiffy is my soul friend, and the dog we were dog sitting last spring felt like my soul animal. I guess the mandolin is really my soul tool - it helps me play the music in my soul.

Famous Hat