for those of you who haven't seen me over the last few weeks, they've been rather...difficult. my father fell ill on the 24th of june and, while sis and i struggled (and i do mean struggled) to get to england to see him, he passed away while we were spending the night in the chicago airport on june 26th. it was three days of travel, two nights of sleeping in airports, and nearly a week without our luggage that finally caught up with us on june 29th -- and that was just the trip out there. we were at least able to attend his service, which was on july 3rd. during the service, the priest read a bit from pilgrims progress. it was raining during much of the time we were there - when he got to the part where the angels trumpeted to welcome the pilgrims, there was a loud peal of thunder - the only thunder that day. one could draw their own inferences, but i like to think it was dad being welcomed into heaven.
this is probably the only trip - especially oversees - that i have ever spent a lot of time in a hotel room. sis and i were so exhausted from lack of sleep that we didn't explore much. but while i was back there, i shipped home his hammered dulcimer. music was something that we had always shared, and it always took up at least part of our phone conversations. what tune we had just learned. new instruments were picking up or thinking of learning. the groups we were playing with and for. he is probably where i got my love of music and singing - some of my earliest clear memories were of him playing guitar and leading the folk masses at church during the summer evenings. afterwards, everyone would spread blankets out on the lawn of the church and eat a picnic supper while we kids ran around and got out the last of our energy before it was bedtime.
i still can't actually believe he's gone. we were supposed to meet him and his wife in france next year for a long vacation/father's day.
music/dulcimer prattling
i suppose it's a good thing that i have a rick thum 16/16 dulcimer (which i guess is no longer being made in favor of a 17/17) and he had a dusty strings 16/15 d35. they're similar, but different in sound because of the wood used. and, of course the bridge markers are opposite (black is white and vice versa), which makes it, um, interesting to switch back and forth.
having had more music theory and playing more instruments that i ever could hope, dad was much better at playing than i am. i'm more of a plain jane kinda girl, and he was good at the embellishments.
and other such stuff
at least i finally caught up at work today. i'm feeling a bit more together. mom did a good job holding down the fort and doing 3 people's jobs, so it wasn't as hard as it could have been to get everything back to normal. tomorrow finds me in the dentist's chair for a root canal. (yay. doesn't my life seem enviable right now?) thankfully, the nerve damage was just beginning and discovered by my dentist during my yearly x-rays. there's none of the horrific pain and swelling that you usually hear about, so let's hope that this all goes smoothly. the only real part that i'm dreading is the shot of novocaine. honestly, that's always been the worst part of fillings for me.
otherwise, i'm working from home the rest of the day, then going to a hair appointment in the afternoon. maybe there'll be time for a nap in between all the lease renewals i've been asked to type.