Christmas Carols

Fiorella plays the piano for about fifteen minutes a day to keep up her never-that-great-and-now-fading keyboard skills, and during the holiday season, she concentrates on traditional carols. Her favorites are Good King Wenceslas,  Silent Night, We Three Kings, Joy to the World, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, The First Noel, Away in a Manger, It Came upon a Midnght Clear, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Deck the Halls, Angels We Have Heard on High, Go Tell It on the Moutain, What Child is This, and O Come All Ye Faithful. Her mother's favorites were O Christmas Tree and I saw Three Ships Come Sailing In. And if you're wondering why Fiorella is reporting this information, it is so if Baby reads it when she grows up, she will get to know both her grandmother and her great-grandmother as more than names on a page.

Christmas Gift

Fiorella bought her granddaughter a Christmas present yesterday--her first piano, a roll-up electronic keyboard. Fio herself would have given her eyeteeth--if she'd had any at ten months of age--for a gift like this, but it wasn't till she was nine that her family acquired a piano, and although she's no concert pianist, she still enjoys playing and hopes Baby will have the same experience.

Speaking of Christmas, Fio's got to pull her decorations down from the garage shelf soon. The first thing to go up, of course, will be the tinsel garlands along the entrance to the driveway. Then Fiorella will put together her aging fake tree and load it with lights and ornaments, along the way, attending to swags and displays. Yes, Fio goes insane every Christmas, but it makes her happy.

Of course, one of the most important aspects of Fiorella's Christmas is composing the greeting card. Last year it had a political theme, but this year, it will center around Baby, which is only right. Christmas is a celebration of birth.

Fivesome Update

Sonia perra tripped nimbly down la escalera at 4:15 a.m.and gave mamacita a sharp bark of demand. Porque ella es una mamacita buena, ella struggled awake and turned off the alarm system, then opened the back puerta so Sonia could usar el sevicio. Si, la perrita es la reina de casa.
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The whirlwind is spinning faster and faster. Trump is going down. Doesn't he see the signs? They're the same as when his multiple businesses went down.
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Fiorella posted one of her paintings on FB and got a really nice response, which made her hungry to start painting again, something she hasn't done in years, but she needs to invest her time in her family and projects that have the possibility of paying off big, like the writing. The almighty dollar wins out over art every time.
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Speaking of writing, Fiorella is engaged in the third revision and the story is really fleshing out. For instance, she now knows that Bram is a nickname for Abram, which explains why a guy who's half Czech has a Dutch-sounding name.
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Fiorella plays the piano every morning to keep her hands, fingers, and brain-eye coordination working, but she sings for the pure joy of it. Yes, the botox shots to her false vocal chords are finally working.

Fio Analyzes Shubert

Fiorella plays at the piano from time to time, and one of her favorite composers is Schubert--in a simplified Eckstein arrangement, of course. She identifies with Schubert's experimentation--his key modulations in "Unfinished Symphony" and his reversal of the trebel and bass assignments in "Moonlight Sonata," the two pieces she plays, because she too likes to experiment. She also likes the way both pieces have a dark feel, but end in an upsweep of major key happiness, like all romances should.

Music, writing, dance, art. To Fiorella, they are all the same thing.

Fiorella Rides Again

Fiorella may have had a discouraging time--make that a devastating time--on Tuesday, what with her entire book getting deleted, but on Wednesday, her Austin day, she, friend Paula, Brother, and his wife had a great time laughing and exchanging stories at Dan's Hamburgers. On the way home, Fio bought Easter candy, which is always uplifting, and stopped in at Click Computer Repair, hoping against hope, and Click came through. Travis not only resurrected Phillipa, but taught Fio about something called a recycling bin. Then, high as a kite, Fiorella stopped at Target and was able to buy five boxes of shredded wheat, which hadn't been on the shelves the day before when Husband and a friendly store employee had searched for it. And when she got home, Fio added a cartful of rocks to the driveay murita and took some nice bluebonnet pictures, which she can't show you until Minnesota Son, who's visiting next week, teaches her how to post pics on her blog without messing up.

 So today's a new beginning, and Fio has a light day planned. Primarily, she will work on Phillipa's story, then call the church to find out when she and Austin son should be getting their art in. On the side will be laying down rocks, sorting family photos, paying bills, practicing piano, and, of course, studying Spanish.

By the way, Fio needs more opportunities to practice her Spanish. Does anyone out there know of an instructional DVD or a small local class?

Finger Practice

While Austin son and his wife were at the house decorating the tree, Fiorella started thinking about "O Christmas Tree" and "Deck the Hall" so of course she pulled out the carols book and headed toward the piano. She hadn't played any of the carols for a year, but now was the time to start practicing. Surprisingly, her fingers half-remembered the notes, and she even sang a little. This is going to be a good Christmas,

The Piano Man

Fiorella is emotionally eviscerated: the keyboard repairman visited. The piano itself ended up being condemned, but that's beside the point.  Whenever Eli Corral sat down to play, he made Fiorella dance, laugh, or cry. Yes, he was that good. Fio never knew how being in the same room with the artist could make the music more real, could send it straight to her heart, to her soul.

As is her wont, Fio hung over Eli's shoulder the whole time he was in the house and elicited his story. The piano is his life.. His family was musical, and he'd been a child prodigy, but repairing pianos gives him a steady income, keeps him in contact with his passion, and allows him the freedom to play whatever he wants to, whenever he wants to, and wherever he wants to.

Thank you, Eli, for sharing two hours of your life with us. It was like stepping into another universe.

Forty-eight Hour Day Needed

Fiorella is being pulled in too many directions.  She wants to finish off her novella and edit her short stories.  She wants to work on the house and the yard.  She wants to refresh her languages.  She wants to paint again. And she wants to play the piano and write more songs.

Fio needs a clone--half a dozen of them, in fact.

Up, Up, and Away!

Hold on tight because Fio is on an upswing, probably because of friend Pat's good vibes.  She practiced piano yesterday, finished off all the income tax tallies, concocted a stand-up cone that now holds up a photo for her renovated shelves, left messages for all the people she was supposed to contact, and attended a neighborhood meeting.  Then--wonder of wonders, she integrated the critiques into her novella.

And today she'll (gulp) go through the Allstate information and consider her options.

Odds and Ends

Fio's credit card and Husband's driving glasses are off somewhere together having a good time.  We can't find either of them.
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If Starbucks gets any healthier, I'm not meeting anyone there any more.
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The more wealth a person has, the more people he has to hire to take care of it.
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The hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears--driving is like playing the piano.
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The older women used to be the ones in dresses while the younger generation wore pants. Now it's reversed:  the older women are in pants and the young'ns are wearing dresses.

Beware!

Bad news. The digital piano is back to its old tricks again, and the window washer couldn't proceed with his job because half the screens had been flipped by last year's window washer.  Now Fio and husband have to figure out a way to dislodge and reset the screens that are facing wrong. Aaargh!  And just when Fio was in the last stages of finishing the taxes!

Pity anyone Fio encounters at the San Gabriel Writers' League tonight!  Fio is in a venting mood!

Fio Confesses

All the aspects of Fiorella come out in her heroines.  Laurel plays the piano.  Lolly plays tennis. Moira is an actress.   Sigrid is an investigative reporter.  Ann is an artist.  Tally's vampire heritage is Eastern European.

Of course, Fio is not up to Laurel's level musically, she hasn't played tennis since junior high, her acting career was amateur, she couldn't make a go of journalism or art, and she has an admixture of German and English that would make her ineligible for vampirehood.

But this writing stuff is going great guns!

Too Late

I always wanted to be the sort of person who owned a baby grand piano, and, as the only other the ivory-tinkler in the family,  I almost got my mother-in-law's, but my sister-in-law asserted prior claim. Then she closed the lid and arranged her collection of garage-sale miniatures on top of it.  So we shopped around and bought an electronic spinet.  But when Husband recently angled our piano from the wall to check the electric connections, I realized there actually was room for a baby grand in its place.

But my time for accuulating possessions has passed. At this point I'd be looking for someone to pass a baby grand on to myself.

In Praise of Chocolate

Ah--chocolate!

Sonia Dog awakened Fiorella much too early yesterday morning so she (Fio, not Sonia), spent most of her morning drowsing on the couch, in the bathtub, or on the bed.  But this inactivity wouldn't cut the mustard--Fio had work to do.  Besides, it was boring for her to lie around and do nothing--even though she didn't feel like doing anything. So Fio drove down the road to Walgreens and picked up a large Dove Bar for herself and a double Snickers for Husband,

Yes, Fio knows they should eaten a more healthy lunch, but what's done is done. And an hour later, Fiorella was back up to speed.  She played the piano, broomed the webs off the front porch door, and started working on her new book.

Chocolate saved the day.

The Life of Leisure

Fio's at it again.  She's hopping in the car at 10:30 today to drop by Beleza at 11:00 and drop off some of her promotional bookmarks, then meet with Friend Paula at Dan's at 11:30, then with Friend Cheryl at Starbucks at 12:45.  After that, she'll run by the post office.  Once home, she'll write, write, write till about midnight, then sleep till eight tomorrow morning and start all over again.

She forgot to say that she'll also work in lifting five-pound weights ten times in German, will do ten plies in Russian, slip in a bit of piano practice, and oil her fingernails.

Eating and breathing are optional.

Maternal Appreciation

Thank you, Mother, for letting me take piano lessons.

When she was in the fifth grade, Fiorella wanted to learn to play the piano because "all" the other girls were doing it.  It turned out she had a minor talent and advanced quickly through the beginner books.  She hit her zenith in the seventh grade with "Fur Elise"--after which she quit as the hormones burgeoned, the homework increased, and her free time decreased.  But the piano still sat it the front room, and she still played it from time to time.

A long dry period began when Fio went off to college, then married early.  Several years later, she and Husband picked up an old upright, Fio collected all her piano books from her mother, and she started playing a little again.  However, she was really into voice, in which she had a major talent. And working on her advanced degree in linguistics had to take precedence over both.

Through the years, Fio sang a lot, directed a couple of choruses, fooled around with composition, and generally enjoyed herself with music.  The root of it all was those three years of piano lessons in the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. Nowadays, Fio doesn't sing much, has handed in the baton, and writes romances rather than music, but she still enjoys going into the front room and banging out her old favorites on the piano.

Thank you, Mother.

Extracurricular

GRADE   ACTIVITY
Second.....Brownies, twirling
Third........Bluebirds, Baylor Children's Theater
Fourth......Camp Fire Girls, Baylor Children's Theater
Fifth.........Camp Fire Girls, Baylor Children's Theater, piano, oil painting
Sixth........Camp Fire Girls, piano, oil painting, ballet
Seventh....piano, oil painting
Eighth......oil painting
Ninth........oil painting
Tenth........oil painting

SUMMERS: swimming lessons at the Y in elementary school
                      tennis at Lions' Park in junior high

And that's what little girls are made of--at least that's what formed Fiorella.

Helter-skelter Life

Why doesn't Fiorella have time to do things like takes vacations or travel or indulge in new hobbies?   Maybe because she can't spare time off from what she's already committed herself to: writing, physical therapy, voice therapy, the piano, dog training, getting the house in shape, taking care of family finances, handling the family business venture, keeping up with friends and relatives.  And  in the wings lurk the languages she wants to learn or refresh herself on, the paintings she wants to do or redo, the poems she'd like to bundle into little booklets for posterity. And soon she'll be attending to the groom's family's wedding responsibilities.  Then comes Christmas, which will require her to design a special card, write a new poem, and decorate the house.

Fiorella is active, intense, and insane.

All in the Attitude

As you've probably figured out, Fiorella is a serial self-improver.  Why else did she have the facelift?  Why else is she working with a voice pathologist?  Why else did she sign up for physical therapy to treat kyphosis?  Why else does she play the piano every day?

Which cleverly introduces her latest project--improving her attitude while tickling the ivories.  Fio's already admitted to you that she's a lousy pianist, but what she hasn't told you is that she browbeats herself the entire time she's playing, as if excoriation will make her fingers function better.  It doesn't, so she's trying to concentrate on the music more and not herself--visualizing people dancing to the minuet she's stumbling through, for instance.

She may not be playing any better, but she sure feels better when she gets up from the piano.

In Heaven, Fiorella Will Sing

Fiorella's given up on reviving the violin, but she plays the piano about ten minutes every day. Right now she's reviewing Christmas carols.  Not that she gets any better, but she doesn't get any worse. 
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Husband comes from a musical family, especially on his mother's side.  She was an excellent pianist, and her brother led a successful band way back when.  He even made a couple of recordings, which Daughter was thrilled to find on the internet.
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All three of Fio's kids are musical.  Older son concentrates on instruments, especially the bass guitar, while younger son and daughter enjoy karaoke, all of which makes Fio very happy.  She always hoped her children would discover the joy of music.


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