Author: tuplesandattributes

Vocal Coaching

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Since my little stroke I have been working with a speech therapist. He has had me doing all sorts of lip exercises and reading Dr. Seuss tongue-twister books aloud. My pronunciation and intonation are basically back to normal.

As a result of the lip exercises, I can now sneer and curl my lip! I guess I never felt the need for those expressions before because it took me several weeks of work to be able to lift my upper lip — not because of the stroke, but because I’ve never used my upper lip that way. I still can only do it reliably by looking in a mirror.

What still hasn’t gotten much better is my singing ability. So yesterday I had my first session with a “voice” therapist as opposed to my “speech” therapist. I felt my voice was different than before and she confirmed that it is, indeed, just a bit lower than would be expected.

Then they looked at my vocal cords while I made various noises (having a tube threaded through my nose was a bit disconcerting, but not painful). Sure enough, one side is just not working as well as the other. I now have my first month of voice sessions set up. They seem to think whatever is wrong is fixable. It would be very nice to be able to sing along to songs again without cringing at the sound I produce!

Baklava

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I made baklava yesterday. It’s the first time I’ve made it in two years, maybe three. My mom and I always baked a batch at Christmas time to give to various friends and neighbors. I didn’t make any last year as mom had just died* recently and I had been gone part of December and I didn’t have the heart or the time for it.

As I was putting it together yesterday, I realized that this is the first time I’ve made it without my mom’s help/supervision. I was a bit rusty at it, but I believe it is edible. I do think I’m going to have to calibrate my oven temperature, though, as it seemed to take too long to bake.

Walnuts and pistachios are common in baklava, but mom and I always made ours with a half and half mixture of pecans and almonds. Also, all the sweetness comes from drizzling honey over the baklava rather than a sugar syrup.

It didn’t turn out perfectly, but the piece I ate was certainly enjoyable. I’m going to be comfortable handing it out to my neighbors, at least.

*Is “died” too harsh a word here? I always feel a bit odd using euphemisms like “passed away”.

More Holiday Music

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Because my mother loved Christmas music, I have accumulated quite an eclectic mixture of Holiday albums over the years. She favored the more traditional “Christmas music” while I tried to mix in “Holiday music” or at least instrumental versions of the standards.

I started playing my holiday play list for her the day after Thanksgiving and ended on New Year’s Day. That’s a lot of hours so I kept expanding my collection so as not to have too many repeats. A few, like the Trans Siberia Orchestra albums were not to her taste, so this year my play list has changed once again as I have added some items (and deleted some others that I find just too “treacly”).

Here’s a link to one of the songs that she just didn’t appreciate as much as I do. Click the link, scroll down to the video of “Sugar and Booze” and enjoy!

https://www.anagasteyer.com/

Another Holiday Tradition

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My personal tradition each year is to listen to Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas albums. For the most part, their songs were not something quite to my mom’s taste, so I never played the whole albums for her. It just become my own little custom to take a few moments to listen to each album straight through sometime in December. I just now listened to the first one while making some flowers.

My favorite song on their “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” is “An Angel Returned”. I love the “Kyrie among nations” chorus. You should listen to the song on YouTube if you don’t know it.

An odd tradition for a very non-religious person, but, hey, we’re all full of contradictions!

An Angel Returned

An angel returned
That night through the sky
But time it was short
He had to decide

And so as he flew
Back over the land
A gift for his Lord
Was there in his hand

It was the glow of a light
It was the heart of a song
It was the tear of a child
Where they never belonged
It was the wish of a soul
On an old neon light
And the Lord smiled at him
On that cold winter night

Hear the bells ring through the night
Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Here as they ring through the night

Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Hear the bells ring through the night

Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Hear as they ring through the night

Listen to the bells as they ring
Listen to the message they bring
Listen to the sound
As they sing as one voice in the night

Hoping that we’ll all understand
Every dream is there in our hands
And for every bell
Let them ring all through the night

Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Hear the bells ring through the night

Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Kyrie among nations
Here as they ring through the night

Listen to the bells as they ring
Listen to the message they bring
Listen to the sound as they sing
As one voice in the night

Hoping that we’ll all understand
Every dream is there in our hands
And for every bell
May they ring all through your life

Songwriters: Paul O’neill, John Oliva.

Gifting Flowers

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Growing up, I was taught that it was important for me to use my talents and smarts to do something big to make the world a better place. I have realized several things over the years regarding this goal:

  • 1. I’m smart, but not brilliant; I was never going to come up with paradigm-changing, world-shaking ideas,
  • 2. Even if I had the talent, I don’t have the desire to put in the hours it would take to be world-class at something, and
  • 3. Improving the world does not mean having to do something that will go down in the history books.

More and more, I think that the whole idea of just being kind to others, of actually practicing the Golden Rule, has more of a chance to better the world than most anything else. Which leads me to flower gifting.

I have been making paper flowers since 2017. I never made them with the goal of selling them, I just enjoyed the process. This means that over the years, I have given many flowers away and never more so than in the last few months.

Since August, my physical therapist’s office got several bouquets of tulips. One of the receptionists there took a bouquet of various wildflowers with her when she moved to Texas; the other receptionist got a bouquet of daisies and roses. My physical therapist got a pink rose for her birthday last month. My landscaper took several roses home to his wife. My home-health nurse admired my water lilies and now has one sitting on his desk at work.

If you are around me long enough, I will probably ask you what your favorite flower is and try to foist one off on you, for example:

  • A friend I gave poinsettias to in 2018, just told me this year that she still brings them out each Christmas
  • My housekeeper’s mother got blue and white anemones for her birthday
  • A rather reclusive neighbor got red, white, and blue gladiolas for 4th of July
  • A good friend got hydrangeas to match those in her yard
  • A neighbor who lost her mother got gardenias because those were her mother’s favorite flower
  • Another neighbor got some of my first self-designed flowers: Alstroemeria

When I look at all the flowers I have made and given away over the years (which you can see if you look under the Paper Flowers heading here on my blog), I like to think that I am, after all, doing my little bit to brighten up the world.

An example of the flowers I often have sitting about

(Many of the flowers I make are thanks to the designs and techniques found at https://liagriffith.com/craft/all-paper-flowers/. If you’re interested in making flowers or many other things, her site is hard to beat.)

I Love My Bidet

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After a few people this year told me how much they like their bidet, I went out and got one. Now I wonder why the hell these things aren’t standard in every household. They’re freaking awesome! And they save a tremendous amount of toilet paper, so better for the environment. Win, win!

(And, no, I don’t feel bad about the amount of water it uses even though I live in the desert because Henderson recycles 99+% of the water that goes into the sewer system.)

According to the internet https://bestmoderntoilet.com/which-countries-use-bidets-the-most/:

  • Italy has the highest bidet adoption rate among all countries, with approximately 97% of households having a bidet.
  • Japan has seen a steady increase in bidet adoption, with approximately 81% of households having bidets installed in their bathrooms.
  • Bidets are widely used in households in Spain, with approximately 85% of households having a bidet.
  • Bidet usage varies significantly across different countries, with the United States and China having relatively low adoption rates.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d use all the options on it but have to admit that I turned on the water-warming feature almost right away. And now that cool weather has finally arrived, I have turned on the seat-warming feature. A warm seat in the middle of the night is a surprisingly wonderful luxury.

Getting one is not a huge expense, either. Mine is the Brondell LE99 Bidet Toilet Seat which is around $300. I did have my handyman put a GFI outlet in by the toilet, but that’s not a necessity as long as there is power somewhere nearby.

In short, if you don’t have a bidet, get one! I can’t imagine you’ll regret it.