I decided that every three weeks of my violin lessons, I shall take a bit of video so I might remember how I’m getting on. The above is the first one. I learnt the tune Britches Full of Stitches in my third lesson and I practiced it enough to make Daisy sick of the noise. I didn’t play it so well on this video, but here it is anyway.

I had my fourth lesson last night. We played the tune and my tutor gave me some tips about how to play parts of it better. He showed me how slurring notes allows you to be on the right bow direction for the following note – I was doing a legato bow which is awkward; and he showed me how to jump strings, but I’m finding that pretty hard at the moment.

He suggested I try to use less bow, so today I’ve been playing using less bow and it’s much easier. He showed me how to use the ring finger and we did a basic major scale together. We also went through the Dorian and Mixylodian modes, which seem fairly straightforward on the violin. He sent me a new tune to learn in D Dorian, called Saltash, and I’ve pretty much learnt the notes to that today; I just need to practice and get it smoother.

Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to play the violin for the next 2 weeks as I’m off to Barcelona for a meeting for a week, then Daisy’s joining me and we’re having a week’s holiday. We’re still not entirely sure where we’re going yet, but we’re looking at staying in few days in Montseny and a few in Llafranc. It means my next violin lesson is 3 weeks away. Awwww

Yesterday was a busy day. I actually managed to get up fairly early for a weekend (for me) and went outside into the garden.

The weather started off nice and it was great to get into the fresh air and actually feel like I was doing something useful. I strengthened my very first vegetable patch by putting halved floorboards around the top to replace the weedy bamboo I’d been using. It should make it stronger as well as easier to use. By lunchtime it was done.

After lunch I got my hacking tools out (shears, loppers and the saw rather than my laptop) and took a rampant bush back to being a border plant. This resulted in a large pile of stuff, but it was too windy to burn, so it’s still there. I hacked back one of the indefatigable fir trees and examined with concern the state of the fence panels behind all these large plants.

I moved over to where my other veg patch is and decided to take no prisoners in clearing some bushes from around it so that it might actually get some light this year. To that end I had to take down a rather nice tree that flowered with nice white bunches of tiny flowers. It’s a shame because the bees liked that plant, but I will endeavour to put some (smaller) insect-loving plants in its place. I cut back the rose there and won the battle with the army of brambles that had a strangle-hold on the various trees around there. I must have pulled out enough brambles to circle our house.

There’s more that could and should be taken down, but it’s Monday again and I’m back to hacking, but this time entirely within a Java programming environment on my computer. I prefer the outdoors, I think.

It turned out quite a nice day here today, so I went out into the garden and began hacking back some bushes which were taking up huge amounts of space and were harbouring the lethal and destructive force of the bramble. I had a small fire to burn some old stuff although it went out before I could burn too many of the brambles – I’m still quite a novice at the art of fire charming.

Then I moved into the greenhouse and removed the remains of last year’s crop and washed all the windows (first time I’ve done that!). It’s looking all sparkly and should provide lots of nice light for next year’s crop of chillis and whatever else I decided to grow.

The garlic is over 6 inches already, although I think I might have planted the shallots rather too early. I’m hoping they have just been sitting dormant and will spring into life when the soil warms up.

Talking of which, the crocuses are already up and looking healthy. In fact, it doesn’t look long until they flower. Spring is nearly here!

It’s Cauliflower and Kale Curry for tea tonight. Daisy’s made a start, so I better go help, now that I’ve managed to complete the WordPress update.

Wow, was Christmas 2 weeks ago already? Incredible.

Over Christmas I spent a week up in Wales with Daisy and her mother. It was nice to be away from the computer and all the hubbub of life. Ate too many chocolates of course, but I managed to read a whole book (The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins) in a week (pretty impressive for me).

It was hard deciding what to get people for Christmas this year – I looked at so much stuff and it just looked like tat and I didn’t want to get tat. In the end Daisy and I managed ok, creating our own hampers of organic food and natural products for my family. Daisy received a sewing machine and is busy learning how to make clothes.

I was lucky and got fiddle lessons! I have been to two already and they are great fun. I’m a complete beginner so I’m still grappling with bowing and getting a smooth sound. My teacher, Matt Tarling, is great; he’s relaxed and not formal, which is perfect for me. I’m really enjoying it.

I weighed in last week to see how much my diet had slipped over the Christmas period. Fortunately, I somehow managed to only put on a quarter of a pound – basically nothing. A cold has meant I’ve been unable to play squash for a bit, but tonight I’m going back, despite my rattly chest, and get back on track with the weight-loss.