Hotspur.us

A few years ago I got it into my head that I was going to learn to play the bagpipes. Never mind that I have ZERO musical ability (I guess I didn’t get that DNA from my Mom’s side). Never mind that early piano lessons left me scared and bitter. Never mind that I seem to be tone deaf. Never mind I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Because playing the bagpipes seemed like a WAY COOL idea. So my friend Lisa F and I signed up for lessons.

For me it was a hard uphill climb. Then one day, almost as if I had been whacked with a practice chanter, I got the music. Really got it. Wow. It was a brand new day.

Then in September of 2007 we trudged up to the Ligioneer Highland Games and my Dad generously bought me bagpipes – a set of Hardies. They are so beautiful. I love them. I also was not allowed to touch them, as I had not memorized my required five tunes. Oh the pain and suffering. They sat there, mocking me. Calling to me. It was horrible. So diligently I buckled down, memorized my five tunes and by October had received permission to give the actual pipes a go. Oh boy.

I was making pretty good progress and had two drones opened. And then:
a) Christmas / New Year’s holiday season hit, and
b) I got sick. Got sick again. And then again. (You try piping when you can hardly suck in enough air to walk to the 2nd floor of your house!)

I’m close to being back to the beginning again. I’ve been working on re-memorizing my music. How did all that knowledge leak out? And trying to build back up some lung capacity. I’m fairly certain all my neighbors will be able to recognize “Bonnie Charlie” in their sleep.

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One day in 1993 the Toy and I were having problems. Our relationship has always been rocky at best, but she’d really pushed me over the edge when one of her control arms came un-welded as I was merging onto I-79.

Not so long after I found this letter in my mailbox. You’ll need to zoom it to full size to read it.

 

finally makes an appearance.

This is about the third or fourth incarnation of my wedding dress. The original has pretty much disappeared under layers of tweaking and additions of new parts. I have several different sleeves that also go with this dress. It is by far my favorite Elizabethan dress.

Another redesign of Hotspur.us. After doing some investigation, I’ve decided to use Wordpress as the base for the new design. Content is not far behind.