My Younger Sister's First Day

 

Song:  Drops Of Jupiter

Group:  Train

My younger sister arrived very early this morning (3 am) after a 21 hour drive.

She rested most of the day...

but earlier today...

I took her to a late lunch at Maggie's.

Yesterday...

I had gone to Maggie's for lunch as I waited for my sister to arrive...

and I had ordered a taco salad and a BLT.

They were so delicious...

I just ordered the same thing today at Maggie's.

My sister ordered a taco salad as well.

The taco meat was just so nicely spiced...

and I had put sour cream and salsa on mine as the dressing.

The BLT had a good amount of smoked bacon.

Both were just so delicious.

I am thinking of taking my sister to Don Juan's Cocina sometime while she is here as well.

I want her to try their 6 taco combo plate (she and I will share).

Other places I will take her are...

 the Yellow Mountain Tea House...

Peak View...

A good Sushi place...

and perhaps other places...

but...

it depends on her schedule.

She is expecting a call from her realtor.

My sister wants to view some properties for sale around the area.

Although the sunset wasn't spectacular...

we still went out onto the third deck to take some photos.

A view out one of the rear loft windows.

Bandi lying on the bed my sister is using in the loft.

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 I will be posting every so often...

as my sister and I visit various places.

Bandi's Spring Forest Walk

 

Song:  Willow's Song

Cover:  Folked 69

As I was taking Bandi out to her forest bathroom...

it seemed like a nice day to walk around the property.

I sometimes rest underneath the shade of this tree as I look at the clouds.

Bandi and I headed down the property to begin our walk.

The property keeps going down to a draw.

We didn't walk all the way to the left of the property...

as I had already taken Bandi there to use the bathroom...

so we just continued down.

On our way down...

we stopped off at Serenity Rock.

You can see the draw to the left.

As we continued walking next to the draw...

you can see a path through the Pine trees and then into a grove of Aspen trees.

In Autumn...

this is a beautiful walk...

as I am surrounded by a sea of luminescent yellows of the Aspens.

The property extends farther to the right...

but I decided to head back up and towards the road.

There are no fences up here.

I could hike to the North through the forests...

until I reached Mueller State Park...

should I wish to

(I won't though :)

There are thousands of acres of open mountainous forested lands all around.

We were nearing the top here.

Bandi thoroughly enjoyed our little forest walk.

As the sun was setting...

Bandi just rested on the third floor balcony and took in the views...

and the cool mountain breeze.

This is one of Bandi's favorite spots to just lie down and enjoy herself.

Even on days of inclement weather...

I will often open up the third deck door...

and Bandi will just lie down in front of the screen door for hours

as she takes in the views and breathes in the fresh air.

_______

My younger sister will be here late tomorrow night.

She is driving...

so she plans to leave sometime tonight.

I will show her around some...

but she primarily wants to see more properties.

She plans to stay for a couple of weeks.

And then...

a week or so later...

my elder sister and her husband plan to arrive for their visit.

They too...

will be driving.

The Recording Set Up / Setting Sound Levels

 

Song:  Dream On

Group:  Aerosmith

First of all...

I am a retired and aging man (66 yrs old)...

pursuing his dreams before death calls.

The above song has special meaning for me...

as I was in high school when it had first come out.

It was a time in life where the road for the future had to be chosen...

and then walked.

It is one of the most important concepts for individuals to keep as a long term goal...

to dream...

and to eventually accomplish those...

dreams.

It should have special meaning to all who hear it.

----------

Although I was going to start recording last night...

I just got too sleepy early on...

and so...

I just started this morning.

Setting the recording levels is a much more time consuming process

than one would think.

I use Garage Band to make recordings

(the free music recording software on my Mac).

As I am partially deaf...

 (a general decrease of perceived volume... but, mostly in certain frequencies)...

I hadn't noticed certain aspects of my classical guitar playing

until I listened to an amplified live version as I was playing...

during my sound check and recording level setting...

and as heard through my headphones.

I will have to practice a little more as I listen to my amplified playing 

through the headphones.

I realized that without amplification...

I couldn't hear some of the higher frequencies as generated

by my fingers sliding from chord to chord on the strings.

I will have to retrain my fingers to lift higher as I switch chords...

and to let the notes ring more fully

(I hate deadened notes...muffled due to lazy fingers...due to a lazy mind :)

Although the cover song is a relatively simple one...

because it is so simple...

each note must ring out clearly.

Plus...

it is my Colorado song...

the one that will be the theme song of my mountain home...

as it describes living up here so accurately.

I had plugged in the microphone and adjusted the height.

I wanted to ensure my feet would not tangle up in the cord...

so, I just hung it around a post to keep it out of the way.

This is my music interface with my Mac.

It supplies phantom power to the various mics or instruments when necessary...

as well as mixing multiple simultaneous instrument inputs.

This is how Garage Band looks like on my Mac.

It has a relatively simple interface and controls.

I sat with the guitar to ensure adequate proximity to the sound hole of the guitar...

before conducting the sound check.

And...

it was during the sound and recording level check 

that I had realized that I had gotten sloppy in my playing because...

 without amplification as heard through the headphones...

I couldn't hear the certain stray frequency aberrations that come through sloppy playing.

And so...

I will have to retrain my fingers to ensure much cleaner playing in the future.

My cover song deserves so much better...

and so...

I will adapt.

And so...

my recording loft studio stands at the ready for subsequent practice sessions...

with the headphones hung on a post for ready access.

----------------

Part of my dreams include composing and/or arranging and playing music.

As I have said before...

dreams provide the drive to accomplish them.

However...

without taking the positive steps toward those dreams...

they will remain but a pipe dream...

and will instead...

provide you with reason for deep regret.

At anytime...

you may take those positive steps towards your dreams...

and from that point forwards...

you will begin soaring amongst the clouds.

Dream On...

 you owe it to yourself.

Spicy Roast Beef Udon

 

Song:  Blue Cafe

Group:  The Style Council

Yesterday...

as I still had about a pound of beef in the fridge...

I decided that I would have some roast beef udon to finish it up.

I generally eat roast beef in these seven basic ways:

Roast Beef and Rice

Roast Beef Sandwiches

Roast Beef Udon

Roast Beef Ramen

Roast Beef Yakisoba

Roast Beef Pad Thai

Roast Beef Tataki

The beauty of roast beef is that many tens of pounds (or kilos) of it may be purchased

at once and kept frozen until just a couple of days before you wish to cook some

(just defrost in the fridge for a couple of days first).

I usually cook over four pounds of roasts (2 kilos) at a time.

I then keep the leftover cooked roast beef in the fridge for followup dishes.

It then becomes a very easy matter of slicing up whatever amount you wish to eat...

just before you cook your next dish.

The refrigerated beef is also very easy to slice thinly...

much more so than when freshly cooked.

One of my favorite noodle dishes is Udon.

I eat three packets (servings) at a time...

and it just fits perfectly into my large Pho bowl once finished.

These udon packs may just be kept in the pantry as they do not require refrigeration.

And so...

you may stock up on dozens of them for convenient usage over many months.

I took the remainder of the refrigerated roast beef and sliced it up for use in the Udon.

As you are slicing the beef...

just boil the prescribed amount of water in the meantime

(in my case...3.75 cups of water).

As the water is still cool when I add the beef...

I just wait for the water to actually boil before adding the noodles and flavor packets.

The noodles are already cooked...

and so...

it takes but a few minutes to thoroughly heat up...

and the dish is ready.

Since I had added more beef than usual...

I ended up having to eat the top mound of beef and noodles before adding my favored spices

to the udon (Otherwise, I could not stir them in).

I had eaten down some of the beef udon so I could add the additional spices.

I added more than double the amount shown (initially one spoonful).

I first stirred in this amount of spices and then tasted the udon...

and then added another 1.5 spoonfuls.

This sort of spice is a favorite to use on various noodle dishes in Japan.

Unlike in Korea...

Japanese dishes are usually delicately flavored (not heavily spiced).

But...

as some love more spice added to their dishes...

these ground chili peppers are a favorite way to do so

(This particular spice is easily available at Asian markets...or online).

This table spice jar is easily and inexpensively gotten on Amazon.

It has two great advantages over many other spice containers:

It comes with a serving spoon built into the top.

It hermetically seals to keep out moisture.

As you can see...

almost all of the previous snow had melted.

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I am thinking of actually recording the classical guitar portion 

of my cover song...tonight.

If so...

my next article will include pictures of the recording session from the loft

(I use my camera on a tripod with time delayed shutter self activation).

It is the only way to capture myself doing things...

as Bandi cannot operate the camera...

no matter how many times I have tried to train her to do so  :)