Sometimes it feels like my whole life is new. So many startings and re-startings. I’d say it’s time to tell you how I’m doing.

1. Singing and Playing Paint the Sky With Stars

I wrote two days ago about my efforts here, and included a video of the song. The melody changed a lot when this stanza showed up:

Who has placed the midnight sky
So a spirit has to fly?
As the heavens seem so far
Who will paint the midnight star?

On the word “star”, the tune changed keys … and I found the chord I needed. Yay! The stickler was the second “who”. The melody was on the C note, but I couldn’t find the chord to go with it. My ear and my brain were having an argument … and it went on and on.

I listened and listened to Enya singing the piece. I found the guitar chords on the Chordify app.

The bottom line? I persisted for over an hour. I played the C chord but my ear said no. I tried a few minor (sad) chords but Paint the Sky is joyful, not melancholic.

Finally I saw that I’d really been playing the F chord (it has C in it). The true C chord at first felt wrong but repeating the stanza many times finally showed me it was correct. My ear had to be trained!

The lesson is clear as I contemplate other songs I want to sing: “Don’t give up!” Works well for the rest of life too.

2. Cello

My cello teacher is having me do technical exercises, including these:

It’s a world away from playing a simple sweet melody. Once I master control of the bow and fingers and shoulder (as well as the mind), the melodies played will be far sweeter.

Right now many of the sounds I’m creating are God awful. My right arm feels weak when I’m bowing on the highest string (A). Ahh … this ties in nicely to challenge number 3!

See the line of music where there’s a 3 above a 4? Go to the right end of that line. There you’ll see notes that start at a low pitch, climb to a high pitch and then fall back down. Oh my God, that’s difficult! Bad sounds, tired arm and a little smile. I’m on the road.

3. Strength Training at the Gym

There I was yesterday at Basic-Fit, gazing at the circle of machines with my exercise log sheet from Canada. Nine exercises. Would I find the nine machines?

I did.

I was armed with long ago memories of doing too much too soon and staying away from the gym for many days while the pain receded. So I started very slowly. “Twenty pounds isn’t very much” > “Too bad for you. That’s the resistance we’re doing.” > “Okay.”

I couldn’t figure out how the triceps extension machine worked. The instructions were in French. I saw a friendly-looking guy who was taking a break between sets on another machine. I asked him. He smiled and got to work – demonstrating and coaching me with the subtleties of form. I wasn’t alone in my quest!

I completed my circle of nine, giving myself lots of time to rest. I’m pleased. And there are a few other machines I may add in time.

4. Dutch

I feel like a “stranger in a strange land”, but only with respect to this language learning. I love Ghent.

We had online homework which I finally completed this morning with ample help from Google Translate. For instance, my job was to answer questions about this letter. Some words have sunk in. Many haven’t. And that’s okay.

I’m inching closer to the time when I’ll be able to have a simple Dutch conversation with some old man who doesn’t speak English. On that day, home will be even richer.

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And there we have it!

Bruce is morphing