BEES AND JAZZ

The one thing that I notice is that regardless of what season we are in, I always find something to complain about. Winter is always too damn long, this Spring has produced premature sweaty summer days, Summer is always a promenade through Hades, and although the weather is beautiful in Autumn, nature appears to have signed a suicide pact, and the cycle begins all over again. And yet somehow, I find myself always saying......"I can't wait until........(insert season)".

So, there's the tree that sits at the side of our house. I love standing in our living room and looking at the fully bloomed branches. And that's where the love stops. With blooming branches comes bees, with bees comes my screaming in fear, from fear comes furious swatting and running, from furious swatting and running comes nasty bee stings, from nasty bee stings comes anaphylactic shock, from anaphylactic shock come a huge needle in my ass. Has this happened to me yet? No. But with an imagination like mine, that scenario is right around the corner.

Tonight I decided that I would go down to our local coffee shop and knit while stuffing a yummy raspberry tart in my face and washing it down with an iced latte. I find that sometimes my knitting creations progress far quicker if I can people watch while I knit. It's amazing how many people need a caffeine fix at eight o' clock at night.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a jazz pianist (who bore a remarkable resemblance to Schroeder from the Peanuts gang) sitting at the bench tickling the black and whites. It was very obvious that he probably learned to play straight from his mother's womb and jazz music was his passion. I was reminded at how annoyed I get when people talk loudly when someone is performing. Forget annoyed. I get downright pissed off. Here's someone playing for your listening pleasure..the least you can do is shut up and give the man some respect.

So after each song, I made sure to put down my knitting and clap very loudly and talk to him about the piece he just played. I wanted him to know that I appreciated his talent and he did play an awesome variation of Radiohead's "Exit Music For a Film".

The only downfall in this entire thing was that the man had a high pitched, nasally voice and all I have to say is that it was very, very unfortunate. He sounded like a Munchkin from the Wizard of Oz! I can just imagine this man proposing marriage. Oh boy!

Needless to say, it was a very nice evening. Some good jazz, yummy pastry, ice cold latte, and I managed to knit six rows.


TONIGHT'S A-HA MOMENT: If you're sitting by a jazz pianist who sounds like a Munchkin, request he plays the jazz rendition of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". Then leave a really big tip.