the boy
Shooting
Floyd Rose
The Boy has wanted it for some time — a guitar with a Floyd Rose bridge. I didn’t really know what makes a Floyd Rose bridge a Floyd Rose bridge. I knew that in practice it meant that pulling up on the whammy bar of such a bridge would raise the pitch of the strings just as pushing down on it would lower it, which meant that the bridge had to go in both directions. I didn’t think it through, though: that means the bridge has to be a floating bridge, which means that the pressure of the strings itself must be countered by something other than the guitar body. In a FR bridge, that pressure is countered with several springs under the bridge. But that means that if you change the gauge of the strings, you put more or less pressure on the bridge, making a previously well-adjusted bridge completely mal-adjusted.
Add to it the difficulty of stringing this guitar — well, it became obvious that the Boy had to learn how to do it all and learn quickly.
Aunt D and Uncle M
Jasełka 2021
It was to be his biggest performance yet: the Boy was set to play "Przybieżeli do Betlejem" on his guitar for this year's jasełka performance.
His guitar teacher had been working with him on the piece; he'd been practicing it at home (with some encouragement, it must be admitted); he was ready.
And then the amp would not cooperate. No sound. At all. The adults thought fast, put a mic in front of the guitar, and the Boy was off. He was disappointed, but pleased with not giving up.
"It's what Tommy would have done," I reminded him, referring to our hero Tommy Emmanuel, who plays no matter what. Technical difficulties? Guitar issues? Venue problems? Nothing stops Tommy.
"Yeah, I guess."
Previous Years
Jaselka 2019
Jasełka 2017
Jasełka 2016
Jasełka 2015
Six and Jaselka
Jasełka 2013
Jasełka
Performance
Jasełka
Christmas Card
K wouldn’t let me publish it until we had sent out some of the cards.
Winter Exploring
It’s been a while since the Boy and I went exploring behind our house. I can’t recall the last time — I don’t know that we did much exploring during the summer if any.
When we got to the place we first cross the creek, we discovered that our normal method was impossible: the bricks and stones we’d set up to step across were gone, washed away by one storm or another. We had to improvise. We had to make a plan. We had to find materials and rig everything together.
“You’re a scout — this is just up your alley!” I suggested.
In the end, we pulled several sticks together to spread our weight out and used another stick for balance. It gave us both a little sense of accomplishment, but I was just enjoying spending time with him.
When we got to the spot we have to cross for the second time, we discovered it too had washed away. Fortunately, there was a log nearby, and we simply had to put it in place.
At the end of our route, where we always exited the sewer easement (that’s essentially where we explore) into an empty lot, we saw that the house begun earlier this year is nearing completion, which means we might not be able to do this much more — at least exit onto the street and walk back via streets.
In the evening, some cards with K.
Code
The Boy has become interested in ciphers and codes. They learned about them in school this week and so he wants to learn about more of them. Tonight, he and I were writing things back and forth in pig pen cipher:
It’s a simple replacement cipher, but the Boy loves it.
During our evening walk, I mentioned to him that Papa knew a real code: Morse Code.
“Really?!”
I thought Papa had mentioned that so many times, doing his “da-dit-dit” routine to spell various words out in code, that no one could have forgotten about that. Apparently, E had.
“I wish Papa was still here.”
We’ll be having those moments for some time to come, I think.
Hanging the Lights
It's been a few years since we put up any lights for Christmas. I really can't remember the last time we did it -- three years ago? Four?
We put the lights around the crape myrtles a couple of years ago, but that was a bad idea -- we never took them down, and the year's worth of sun and heat and rain predictably destroyed them.
I think last year we just kept putting it off, and before we knew it, it was too close to Christmas to make it worth our time.
But this year we got the tree up earlier than ever, so what were we to do on a cloudy Sunday afternoon?
Of course, the Boy was eager to help. He loves going into the crawl space with me, but the roof?
Are you kidding? What more could a nine-year-old boy want than to spend some time on the roof?
And a little bit of football time with Mama to boot? What a perfect afternoon!
Friday Game Night
