The music must go on

It was my 6th violin lesson today and it has been an interesting learning experience so far. My teacher is very patient and more enthusiastic about my playing skills than yours truly. I love to playing the violin and feel so refreshed after every class. I am having a hard time co-ordinating the notes I see and finding the corresponding note on the string. But hey...I am trying. My order for a metronome was delivered today and it was different playing with that ticking sound. I have still not mastered 'holding' the bow and keep getting corrected every class.

I met student A in my first class. She has her class after mine and would usually come in a few minutes early with her mom. She must be a teenager and I've never heard her play although I've entertained her with my 'open note' skills. I met student B for the first time a few weeks ago and got a shock. He cannot be more than 6 years old ! He was so tiny and cute and my jaw hit the floor when I heard him play Bach. How could anyone so tiny play something so advanced?!! I was so amazed and felt so strange to be learning to play at my age. So every time I go for my class, I listen to B play and enjoy it so much.

I missed a class last week and rescheduled it for today evening. I met student C who was playing before my class. I met an 'adult' student for the first time and he was playing superb songs. C must be in his 40's and I was really happy to see an adult learning to play. My day got even better, when my class ended and I met student D. She must be around my age and she was the first person I met who was also learning to play from Wohlfart. He wrote these learning books for violin more than 100 years ago ! Anyway, coming back to D, I told her I was so happy to see an adult learning from the same book as me (beginners). She expressed similar feelings and commented about only meeting kids playing so well and giving her a complex ! We laughed and encouraged each other. Our teacher told us to just keep practising and not give up :-) .

The Crater Lake Weekend

V and I sent off early on Saturday morning and headed towards Oregon on I-5 in the wee hours of the morning. We're spending the long weekend in Fort Klamath near Crater Lake with 2 other friends. After driving for a couple of hours, we finally took an exit to highway 58. The scenery changed dramatically as we drove past beautiful lakes, sometimes on either side of the road. One of them was simply called Lookout Point Lake and it was beautiful, the right side of the lake looked blue while the left looked green. We're finally getting closer to the destination and decided to check on our friends, R and VA. Sadly, neither V not I had a cell phone signal at this point. How frustrating ! Ofcourse, we seem to be surrounded by the most beautiful mountains and green pastures and not a soul was in sight for miles. There were no other cars on the road, very few houses were seen. There were many cows, horses and even a few animals that looked like an alpaca in the pastures. My phone rang suddenly and it was VA, he asked us to turnaround as we had just passed him at the intersection. We got lucky to have been in a small section where all of us had signal and no other cars were in sight.

It was already past noon and so the first agenda of the day was lunch. None of us recalled having passed any restaurants nearby and so we just kept driving on highway 97. We suddenly spotted a restaurant called Melita's and it seemed decent. We went pleasantly surprised that it was very cosy inside and the menu actually looked very appealing. There were quite a few veggie options, bearing in mind that we seemed to be literally in the middle of nowhere. VA and I ordered some jalapeño melts while V and R tried some chicken. The food was fantastic and the prices were cheaper that most restaurants. We quickly decided that we would come for dinner and even decided what to eat.

We proceeded to check-in into our inn, and were happy with the accommodation. The Aspen Inn was very comfortable and incredibly cute cottage. There was a queen size bed downstairs and 2 twin beds on the loft. The bathroom was very clean, and they had the oldest microwave and TV model that I had ever seen. The owners were also very friendly and amiable. We took all the local maps that we needed and asked for recommendations on things to do and finally headed towards the lake.

Crater Lake was incredibly beautiful. The snow added to its beauty as all of us stood mesmerized for sometime. The R unpacked his camera gear and started talking pictures with his SLR. I did not expect so much snow and just wore sneakers to the lake, as a result found it very slippery. We then decided to get some warm coffee in the lodge. The challenge seemed to be that it was completely covered in snow and we did not where the entrance was. We went off the beaten path and did a hike through the snow, and I slipped and fell, to the great amusement of all. We got our warmth back inside and we also bought some souvenir's. The lady at the counter gave us some ideas on where we could go the next day. As the rim was covered with snow, there was not much we could see at the lake. We left the lodge when we noticed a nice entry to it from the street. The trek through the snow was unnecessary after all !

We then set off towards Diamond lake when it started raining. We finally reached the lake and found a look out point. We were not very happy with the sight, perhaps, the rain and cold weather had a role in it. It was a pretty lake but not worth driving 1.5 hours in the rain. We then drove back and reached Melita's at dinner time. The pasta I ordered was heavy but tasty. We had one of the best salad's there. Satisfied, all of us went back to get some rest.

Day 2 - to be continued.