Counting off the days, but winter hasn't finished with us yet....

Spring can't come quickly enough for me and I am literally counting the days off now until March 1st. I know it isn't officially Spring then, but as far as I'm concerned, it is... the last heavy snowfalls left us with ten inches of lying snow in the garden; pretty, yes, but we're not really geared up to snow here in England - the weather can change so quickly because of our position on the edge of the European continental shelf that winter tyres and such are never a serious consideration. So we slither and slide about and bump and grumble, and some of us more or less hibernate. Like me. Last month LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) was laughing "Some women extol the virtues of a new dress - with my wife it's the virtues of a new snow shovel!" In the winter, it's true. Well the new snow shovel is getting its first outing this morning because the snow came again last night and we have two inches (that's 5cm) on the drive to clear.

The summerhouse and the flowering cherry tree look pretty with their covering of snow, don't you think? Pic taken this morning. When the weather gets warmer I can't wait to get out there with my ukulele. As I wrote the other day on the Summerhouse Practice List page: "The summerhouse has been a no-go zone since the last update, as it's still winter, and temperatures hover around freezing. But in the garden plants are coming up, buds are swelling and with the sun on it, the summerhouse is beginning to look inviting - as soon as warmer days arrive, I'll be out there.... can't wait....and then this list will need revising..."


And talking about practice, I'm emulating the butterflies again and flitting about between uke skills and genres of music...

With two trips booked to Blackpool to the George Formby Society convention, I'm trying to learn more Formby songs by heart - or the music, at least, so that I can join in the "thrash" without being visually glued to someone else's fingerboard to copy the chords.

Not to mention my Formby strums - split-stroke, shake and triples, and putting them all together....

I also keep returning to ukulelezaza's interpretation of Mr Sandman.... chord melody. Watch out for that coming up here...

And the jazz standards with those wonderful minor 7th and diminished chords - can't leave them alone....

Also I yearn to be able to play a more sophisticated fingerstyle as song accompaniments.

I can't ignore any of these things for long....but the snow shovel is beckoning and I must away. Tonight, my other passion - tap-dance. Oh, yes. Learning the dance to "42nd Street"... it's fast, it's fun and I love it.

Keep living til you die......thanks for dropping in, ukers....