TROIKA

 

Alright everybody - - 

What would you prefer,

a captivatingly beautiful piano performance by me.....

or

an update on the anguish and misery that I'm enduring in rehab.

The votes are in! It's unanimous!

You want anguish and misery.

Well, I'm not in the mood for verbosity or details. I'll be brief. Sort of.

The big storm arrived on time with snow on Friday and Saturday. Not much snow here in town. A lot more way out in the boonies where I live.

I'm still on a massive amount of meds. I think the extremely strong antibiotic will be removed this week. The onslaught of lasix continues - - which makes me pee every half hour.

It's so joyful to keep filling urinals and calling the nurses to empty them.

Yesterday two nurses shaved me (my face/beard). No one has ever shaved me in my entire life. Weird.

When I was in Cookeville I was on a very strict diet. They hardly let me eat anything. Now I'm on a regular diet with "low" sodium. Yesterday I had bacon, a cheese omelette, and regular coffee (no decaf) for breakfast. I think they're trying to kill me.

I'm really not in the mood to get into complicated details. It's all setbacks, anguish, massive unpleasantness.

Everyone is helpful here, despite my misery.

My vital signs and bloodwork are good. The edema has lessened significantly and is under control.

My biggest fear is that I'll never walk again.

To hell with this.

Like it or not, let's get to the music.

I made this video a few years ago (?). I thought it's appropriate for our winter weather.

Of course it's "Troika" ("November" from "The Seasons") by Tchaikovsky.

video best viewed full screen

Jon

Your driver on the sleigh ride

TROIKA RIDE AND DEAD END

I thought a pleasant troika ride through the snow would be appropriate for this time of year. It's my piano performance on a video I made about a year ago.

Music is by Tchaikovsky - a series of twelve piano pieces depicting the months - entitled The Seasons, op.37
The month November is called Troika.

Dead End

I wanted to brighten your day with the music (hopefully) - - before revealing the dead end reality of my dismal existence here in the forest.

Torrential rain for several days with howling winds. The wind was so strong that it blew my front door open overnight and I didn't discover it until dawn.

My health "issues" are so intense that I can hardly walk and lately I'm getting frequent aura migraines (among other things).
Supplies are low and so are my finances. I tried to start my car yesterday and it's completely dead - - probably because I haven't used it in a long time. Getting a new battery is an inevitable annoyance.....

You wouldn't want to hear the rest of the daily horrors that are torturing me.

Worst of all, very frigid temperatures are predicted for next week - - near zero at night and possible snow by Christmas.

I'm apprehensive about this (hell, I'm actually terrified), since my furnace isn't working and I'm relying solely on a few feeble space heaters. If the power goes out, I'm literally dead. I know I won't survive.
I had a fireplace when I lived in Texas.
I don't have a damn thing here.

Sorry for writing another depressing post, but I'm offering you grim reality.

I hope somebody will dare to visit this wretched blog once in awhile. It will give you a chance to be overwhelmed by my cursed misery - - and thank the Lord for the blessings and luxuries that you have.

 Jon, shivering alone

video best viewed full screen

HUMBUG WITH AUDIO ENHANCEMENTS

 

I'm not in a holiday mood.
 In fact, my sentiments coincide with those of Scrooge:
"Every idiot who goes about with a 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart."

People are forcing themselves to comply with fake holiday cheer and indulge in worthless seasonal rituals that empty pockets and sap  energy. 

I've dug into dusty music files and extracted a couple of my piano videos in order to evoke a smidgen of holiday enthusiasm.

My uncanny blogger intuition tells me that nobody likes my piano videos.
Well, tough crap.
I'm damn good.
Or at the very least, possibly reasonably good.  

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
recorded in San Angelo, Texas

Troika (Sleigh Ride) by Tchaikovsky 

 

SNOWLESS

The winter solstice is upon us, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Holiday thoughts are crowded with snowy sentimentality....

.....and it's 60 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, for those of you in the North Pole). Not a snowflake in sight. The Tennessee wilderness presently has a balmy springlike aura - and I feel like I'm back in Los Angeles.

Will I have to return to Texas to find snow? Texas is generally thought of as being flat and hot. Which is basically true.  But I lived on the high plains, with an elevation of over 3,500 feet. The winters could be bitterly cold. And we did get snow. 
The following photo confirms the fact.

 My hat and boots

caught in a blizzard 

So, what do I have to offer today in the way of snow-infested thoughts? How about my latest piano video, Troika ( or sleigh ride) by Tchaikovsky....

Your wild applause is frightening. I'll wait a moment until you settle down.

I made the video this morning and resorted to using snow scenes and reindeer for visuals.

Do you know how difficult it is to find copyright-free videos of troikas on the Internet??

 If that doesn't appeal to your holiday addictions, here are some photos that I took today of my rustic environment.

 Dawn

 The morning sun

just appearing at the edge of the forest

 Early afternoon

the misty sun very low in the winter sky

 The grim forest in my back yard

Sunset this evening

view from the front porch

Is it too late for me to go outside and do an improvisational Snow Dance? 

DECEMBER

Welcome to December!

I can't think of a more appropriate way to welcome December than to post a piano piece entitled November.

Russian composer Tchaikovsky wrote a series of twelve piano pieces, entitled The Seasons op.37. There is one piece for each month.

This is my performance of November, subtitled Troika (Sleigh Ride).

I also made a video of this same piano music for YouTube (and I finally corrected the spelling mistake that was on the title).
My YouTube channel is JayveeSonata.

Please don't hurt yourselves in the frantic rush to get over there.....
he says with bitter sarcasm. 

I ventured out of my rustic cocoon yesterday to make the dreaded journey to town. It was a bleak, grey, misty, rainy day but - despite the negatives - there were a few positives:
1. There was no road construction this time.
2. The weather has warmed up slightly.
3. I wore my new contact lenses, so I could actually see everything for a change.

Unfortunately, the Christmas shoppers are already out en mass - making my Walmart experience even more unpleasant than usual. 

It's supposed to get very cold again next week, so at least I now have enough supplies to get through it. 

I dislike writing boring posts (like this one) but I'm in a boring, lethargic mood.

Perhaps an afternoon nap will refresh me.
Wake me up after spring arrives.