Sunday 27 May 2012

The Summerhouse Practice List

Days like this you want to bottle and keep. The best early summer weather; cloudless blue skies, a suspicion of a breeze, the air soft and warm...

LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) decided to do just that this morning - bottle it - and went off in search on elderflowers to make elderflower cordial. But he returned disappointed; it's just a bit early. In the hedgerows the elder blossoms are only just starting to come out, but the May blossom with its heavy, heady, intoxicating scent is flaunting itself everywhere. In the garden, the cherry blossom has gone but the azaleas, rhododendrons and the few alliums are at their best, and the grass is the greenest and lushest that it will be all year.

We've waited for two miserable months for this - but it's here. It's nearly June, and like in Carousel, it'll be bustin' out all over.

And at last I've opened the doors to my summerhouse.




A gift from LSH, my summerhouse has been my joy for the last two summers. I treated the outside, stained the inside, laid flooring, made curtains and drapes, bought souvenirs from trips to hang on the walls, and bought little tables and easy chairs. It's a haven at the bottom of the garden. I sit out of the heat when it's hot, and out of the wind when it's breezy.

And now - yes, I've been playing my ukulele in there.

Yesterday I promised myself half an hour - but it stretched to over an hour. I went straight through my practice file - then back again in reverse. Today; half an hour's playing... a glass of wine... and a snooze. Oh bliss!

So here's my practice file; the ukulele music I love, that challenges me just enough.




My Practice List

Wildwood Flower - practising to perfect; bluegrass, Ken Middleton's tab.
Finlandia - ukulelemike Mike Lynch's arrangement
Cherry Blossoms - Mike Lynch
Here Comes The Sun - Richard G's Ukulele Songbook
Mister Sandman
Til There Was You - Meredith Wilson
Just the Way You Look - Jerome Kern
Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks
My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes - Richard G's Ukulele Songbook
I Can't Give You Anything but Love - Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields
Where or When - Rodgers & Hart
I'll See You in my Dreams

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HI! I hope you enjoy this blog and I'd love to hear your comments! But I know you'll forgive me if I read them over before I click the "publish" button! Thanks!