The reprieve from the bitter cold weather we’ve been waiting for, finally did arrive, so now we can at least stick our heads outside for a moment or two without getting our ears and noses frozen off. Of course the thawing is creating ‘greasy’ streets in our downtown which will hopefully get fully melted before it freezes again.
Once I arrived at office and had myself settled-in for the day, I proceeded to make preparations for getting all the floors in my office fully scrubbed, and believe me, they were needing it because all that wind we were getting, managed to have them looking pretty dull and dingy.
I must’ve spent a good two hours on the floors in the front area before I had to quit, just so I’d be ready for a scheduled meeting I had with a first-time buyer, and just after I finished putting the office furniture back where it belonged, he walked in.
We spent a good hour talking about what he’s interested in as far as number of bedrooms and baths, along with garage and yard requirements, and then moved on to the price ranges. I then proceeded to give him an idea what his full payment would be which would include an estimate of what his monthly taxes and insurance would be, so he now has a pretty good idea as to what price range would be the most comfortable for him, so if any of you know of a nice two bedroom home that’s coming on the market in the $100K – $150K range, please give me a call, as I may possibly have a buyer for it.
After he left, I went back on the attack of my office floors for another hour until it was approaching the time one of St. Paul Lutheran’s members would be arriving at office to practice a duet we agreed to work on this afternoon, which would be the first time in years I’ve accompanied a clarinetist.
To my surprise, the practice session went better than I would’ve expected, and so much so, I was actually getting a few goosebumps while we were running thru the piece, but when she asked about me also playing a hymn I gave her at church yesterday, I found myself stumbling, which was getting me flustered, so we finally agreed that it would be best if I’d get myself more comfortable with it before trying it again.
We also realized it would be even more wonderful if another member of St. Paul who’s also a clarinetist, would join in with us, and I’m pretty sure she would because I already spoke to her about it, so there’ll likely be another practice session again this week with one more ‘voice’ playing along. I’m pretty sure it’ll be sounding good enough to play the next time I’m scheduled over at St. Paul.
I couldn’t help mentioning how unfortunate it is for many of those in our younger crowd who haven’t a clue as to how much more moving a piece of music is when listening to it live, which I’ve known for a very many years, and in spite of my attempting to educate people on the differences, they likely wouldn’t understand until they’re in the midst of it.
We also talked about how our schools place too much emphasis on their sports instead of getting students interested in learning to play an instrument or sing, and mostly because it’s something they can continue doing for the rest of their lives, instead of later having to hang up their jerseys, and then left to be nothing more than spectators in front of their big television screens. Being a passive spectator of national sports clubs would be one of the last things I’d want to waste my time over on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It’s no wonder we have so many overweight men in America.
After we called it quits and she headed back to work, I continued on with getting more of my office floors scrubbed, and by the time I had to call it quits, there ended up being only one smaller area in the back of my office which I’ll be attacking tomorrow morning. I would’ve done it today, but it was starting to get late in the afternoon and I had other things to do before heading home.
Tonight’s photo is one of the eleven I had hung in my office on Saturday which happens to be my favorite, and only because that scene would always bring back the fondest of memories of myself when I also had a horse which I would ride when having to work for some of the widows who lived on acreages near our farmstead.
Truth be told, that young gentleman at the fountain reminds me of myself because I used to have thick wavy hair, wore simple clothes similar to what he has on, along with the high-top work shoes I would wear whenever having to do outside work. I’m not so sure what must’ve been going thru that young man’s mind while watching whomever was taking that vintage photo, and believe me, the photographer certainly would’ve been using one of those large big-box cameras which took only black and white photos.
I’m almost positive that photo was taken here in Mason City because I can see part of Central School off to the side, but that fountain must’ve been removed long before I was even born. The way in which that horse is standing, makes it appear something like what you’d see in a seventeenth or eighteenth century classic portrait. And no, my horse was not nearly that photogenic, and only because she wasn’t as muscular and wasn’t pure white, but rather more of a ‘paint’. Oh, another difference between my horseback riding and the pictured gentleman, is the fact that I almost always rode bareback instead of being bothered with a saddle.
I did make sure that photo was placed where I would notice it the most, which by now you likely know why as it’s my personal visual connection to my younger years.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Life has no blessing like a prudent friend.
