Vacation time... leaving for American Fiddle Tunes Festival in Washington tomorrow. I've been loose the last few days, playing for the fun of it. Had a long session last night playing lap steel with some western swing compilations on the CD while watching the ballgame and enjoying too much tequila. This morning interesting things happened on the box with reels like Salamanca, Shaskeen and Ten Pound Float... got locked into a rhythm, propulsive, ornamentation sounded more like me than like a particular setting. Have also finally started playing some Quebec reels by heart... still have some flubs in there, but it's starting to sound like real music. Haven't been singing much, so it will be interesting to see what happens this week.

Odd week on the box... practice was not systematic, not goal-directed, mainly having fun, going through tunebooks finding things I haven't played for awhile, looking at the first few notes, then pulling the rest back from memory.

Took the Dobro tonight to a "bluegrass" jam in the mission. I used to take the accordion there until I was told it was not a traditional instrument, so I haven't been there for awhile. I played a bit in the yard, but the sense of unwelcome was still present. That's okay, I practiced for a few hours, could pull up some tunes by ear, and realized I can tune better than many people can.... ;-)

Listening to a lot of Joe Derrane, reading bluegrass history, thinking.

Didn't practice much this weekend, just exhausted, trying to sleep. Listening to a lot of rembetika. Picked up some brushes and a shaker egg, working on percussion.