French apartment renovations, Day 264: Last-minute wedding (music)

9,371 steps

I got a call yesterday afternoon from a friend of mine, who is a violinist. "Rixa, would you be interested in playing your violin for a wedding? The violinist we had lined up can't come."

"Sure!"

Then I realized I hadn't asked her when the wedding was.

"Tomorrow afternoon."

Of course I said yes. Not knowing what I'd be playing. Because that's the way I roll. And it turns out I had played all of the pieces before.

Only one of them needed any significant degree of practicing ("Arrival of the Queen of Sheba") and that's solely because every time I play it, my left hand cramps up. Every time. I HATE that piece! I'm always playing an arrangement where I have the melody the entire time, so there's not even one measure where my hand can take a break.

So less than 24 hours later, I was playing my violin in a traditional Catholic wedding in a 17th century Franciscan monastery. I snuck a quick video while the vocalist was rehearsing. The musicians were me, an organ, and a vocalist.

The great big pipe organ was broken, so our organist/pianist had to use an electronic keyboard. Such a shame.

Life is never boring over here.

I walked home (40 minutes) and the house was empty. I did some deductive reasoning and guessed that everyone was at the beach. I was right! I had a refreshing swim and a nice long talk with some neighbors who live across the street. We've known them for a while but this is the first time we've really talked and gotten to know each other.

Eric and I are watching the US Open match between Raducanu and Fernandez.