If We Were Having Coffee on the 12th of March, 2022 #weekendcoffeeshare

31 Replies

Hello and Welcome! Come on in and I’ll get you a large mug of very strong dark roast, a cuppa tea or some hot cocoa. It is cool (35F/1.5C) out there and wet. We may get some snow later, though it shouldn’t last very long – the 4 inches (10 cm) we got Wednesday was gone by 5 PM on Thursday. Oh, where are we with such contrasts as snow and melting sun? Some of you may recognize the photo at the top as being from New Hampshire.

It was an odd week over all. Work was, well, let’s not talk about work ;) We voted on Tuesday (local offices, etc.) and had Town Meeting on Thursday – I had to miss this year, which is bad – when you have such direct democracy, you need to take advantage of it! I had massage on Wednesday and an MRI on Thursday (odd experience which I will talk more about when I know more about it…).

There was, of course, the weather thing with some very warm (for early March in NH) days (up to 65F/18C), some snow, and everything in between.

I did a few very long walks with the dogs and walks on my own. Idina did more walking this week, which was good. Oh, did you see that Idina Menzel, who, of course, was named after our Idina (or is it the other way around ;) ) responded to a little girl in Kiev who sang Let it Go? (Note – Fiyero was named from a character in Wicked and Idina Menzel played the lead part in Wicked, so our dogs are some wicked, not Frozen ;) ).

I did get a few runs in, which is great! I was only able to do about 3 1/2 miles (just over 5 km), but still, any run is better than no run! I didn’t do as much weight exercise, but for me, running is so much more important.

I read and did a little writing, including posting two very short stories on my blog.

I played a lot of music, including wrapping the recording of my latest song. I will post the video at the bottom if you are interested. I will do a full fledged post about it later, most likely on Monday or Tuesday.

And that was pretty much it. Maybe, I’m sure I missed something ;) (My mother’s birthday on Thursday (a busy day!), talks with family and friends, finishing taxes, etc….) Oh well, never enough time.

Thanks for stopping in! If you have a coffee share I will try to visit.

Natalie the Explorer is now the host of the weekend coffee share and she is doing a wonderful job. Stop in at this week’s main share page or go to the InLinkz-Linkup to see all of the other shares!

***

Here is my latest song. Note – Ariel is not a person, but refers to a moon of Uranus. Sort of…

(Click here if you don’t see the video below)

31 thoughts on “If We Were Having Coffee on the 12th of March, 2022 #weekendcoffeeshare”

  1. Gary A Wilson

    Busy does have the upside of keeping us sharp but I hope you’re finding that sacred point of balance where you also have time to think, settle, catch your breath and then move on, able to make wise decisions and such. Have a great week Trent.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Yep, I was kept pretty busy, but able to find balance. A lot of the busy was in different areas, which makes the balance easier than if they were all the same thing. It is important to have some down time! Hope you wave a wonderful week!

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  2. Pingback: This week’s small pleasures #274 – Thistles and Kiwis

        1. trentpmcd Post author

          My wife’s taxes are pretty complicated, but they were easier this year, so… Hopefully no that we are ahead, he can stay ahead (we do use an accountant, so me doing taxes is just getting all of my stuff and the joint stuff together and uploading it.)

          Liked by 1 person

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  5. Master of Something Yet

    1.5°C is “cool”? Here we call that “friggin’ freezing!!”. I’ll have a large hot chocolate please!

    You’ve had a very busy week! I saw that video of the little girl singing in the bomb shelter. Still makes me emotional.

    Hope the MRI is not indicating bad news, Trent. It is an odd experience.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      1.5C, in the sun and no wind almost feels warm… lol, it is a matter of perspective. Actually, yesterday morning, in the wet, it did feel cold, that cold that goes right through you, but it was a lot warmer than it has been!
      I think that entire war makes us all emotional. It is sad how these lives are so disrupted.
      In the last couple of years they did find a few heart issues, so we will see how bad. I was told to continue running, so not that bad (yet). And, yeah, very odd experience!

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          A ventricle wall is a little thicker than it should be – we’ll see. I listened to light jazz. I’m not sure if you had a cardiac MRI – you have to participate and breath in and out and hold your breath when instructed, so can just zone out.

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          1. Master of Something Yet

            Mine was on my head (for a lump under my eye) so no participation whatsoever. Just lie as still as possible.
            I’ve had CT scans on my chest and had to do that breathe in and out so yes, you would not be able to just zone out.
            I wonder if you had to go further into the machine than I did. That would be quite claustrophobic I imagine. I did appreciate the little periscope mirror they put over my eyes so I could see out.

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            1. trentpmcd Post author

              I often get claustrophobic, but wasn’t too bad in there. I kept my eyes closed through most of it, but there was a point when I opened them and stared at the ceiling (just a few inches above my nose!) for a while. They put some color into my veins about half way through, and it was just few minutes later that suddenly I had to keep my eyes open – I wonder if there was a stimulant with the color…

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Natalie. I am nto sure why Idina was being stubborn about walking lately, but it was great to get her out more :)
      Hope your weekend is going well.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Hi Pam. It depends…
      OK, in the main song (verse, pre-chorus, chorus), I “doubled” my voice. In the actual chorus (“With just a touch of Ariel,” etc., exactly the same every time), I did a true double, adding the a track of me singing exactly under the main voice track, and that is hard to tell – mostly it thickens the voice, but, unless you listen closely, it sounds like one voice (or would, if that is all I did). But through all of these sections (including chorus) I also added two tracks of me singing along with myself and spaced them at different places in the stereo field (actually a different place in each of the three sections). I could have taken time and “corrected” it to make it sound like an echo of the lead voice, but I liked the sound, and I -hate- the modern (2010 on) over use of the technology to correct vocals – I hear it in almost every song put out these days, and to me it is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Doubling voices is actually something people have been doing forever – even in Beatles songs most lyrics they had John or Paul double themselves. most of the time you don’t notice, but sometimes they want you to, like I did here.
      In the introduction and the bridge, I did not double the voice at all, but I used a vocoder (you can hear the vocoder other places as well). This is 1970s technology where you can sing through the synth sound and make it sound like robots (if you sing very off tune!), or like a surreal choir (which I tried to do here). I also did some sound effects with the vocoder. I wanted those sections to sound very spacey, and the vocoder is great for that.
      Anyway, sorry for getting so technical (and, believe me, I could have gone even farther that direction ;) ) and going on so long, but since you asked…
      Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Hi Yvette, I somehow missed this when going through comments.
      A tea coming up.
      Our 3+ inches of snow didn’t materialize. We got about an inch, which melted with more rain, and then a very thin coating at the end.
      It was a pretty good week over all.
      My doctor noticed an issue with my heart and I had an echo-cardiogram a little over two years ago. The MRI is a follow up. Obviously I’m still running, so….

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