I got home from a month in Buffalo helping daughter Sarah and family which has now added a new member. New baby arrived the week after we arrived. Dan stayed until baby was one week old and I stayed till she was almost 3 weeks old. I'll share some photos with faces blurred on another post.
One surprise when I got home was this new puzzle selected by one of the granddaughters who live nearby at a local puzzle swap.
The puzzle was dumped out on the puzzle table - not my typical method for starting a puzzle. It's supposed to glow in the dark. I think I'm committed to doing it and have in fact assembled the border.
These icicles are unlike any I've seen before.
Views out the windows continue to be dominated by winter.
The other surprise was this tuba. Dan didn't say anything to me about getting it from his younger brother who unfortunately is terminally ill and now in hospice. Dan went to VA from Buffalo to help make his brother's move from the hospital to assisted living. From there he came home.
On the day we arrived home I heard Dan buzzing on his tuba mouthpiece. [It was the only part of a tuba he had kept after majoring in music at Peabody Conservatory and being the principal tuba of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for 10 years. He moved on to another occupation after getting an MBA and found other outlets for his creativity.]
Next I heard a tuba playing and rushed up to his study where he sat playing this tuba. I knew it had to his brother's who also went to Peabody but didn't take his degree in music any further. I started laughing to hear him play. The sound brings back lots of memories. Getting as far as he did on the tuba required lots of practicing. He even took it on our honeymoon!
He also has this guitar in his study and has been teaching himself to play for years. He does well.
Other creative outlets were barbershop quartet singing, glassblowing, wood working, and oil painting.
He hasn't painted anything since we moved here. He says he's been wearing a construction manager hat for the last year, culminating with the barn work. With that done he wondered how he was going to fill his time. I did suggest buying a tuba again but he pooh poohed that suggestion as too expensive.
Now he has the tuba and is finding it very easy to get his technique back. He's someone who has always needed a challenge. This will keep him occupied for awhile though I hope he goes back to painting, too.