December: State of the Shop

So! The store is closed from 1:00 PM today through the New Year. I believe regular hours will be in session after that but I'm not 100% sure what the extended family has in mind, so if you need to pick something up, definitely get in touch!

In the meantime, stuff like the above will be going on -- in which a gifted, mint-condition Remington Noiseless Model 7 is letting Daddy and Oona get all of our crazy stories on paper and in real-time. That one was about Princess Oona in Ice Land.

Because we live at the store, you can always ring or email and I will get back to you as time allows (fast if it's important). I will also be shipping anything that sells through the off-days.

I'll tell ya, though -- 2016 was a rough year for everyone. The business-side of things was up and down and all around (sometimes this is self-inflicted by time-crunch) and I can tell when folks are having a bad time of it because unpaid repairs hang around a bit longer than they otherwise would. You are not alone! There's a few stories in one of my favorite books, Mexican Village, that tells of a woodcarver who's constantly missing "done-by" dates (there's always something unexpected going on, isn't there?) and then having to make-up for it. I think that sounds familiar!

That said, I have way more work than I can ever get to (thank you!) and a legion of folks in-country and around the world that I get to talk to on a regular basis for which I am extremely thankful for. Remember, everyone, that the world truly isn't crazy. There are just so many people on the planet that, within that number, you're bound to get some real special folks of all stripes. The news tends to cover them, though -- not us.

Sometimes when I'm armpit-deep in repair jobs, emails, paperwork, calls, and drop-in "short work," I lose track of what's important in my job -- and that's the end-product: making music. When I get out to local events and see folks of all ages making great music on instruments that I've sold or fixed-up, that's when I really get to appreciate what it means to be doing what I'm doing. There is nothing quite as satisfying as seeing someone learn or progress because their instrument speaks to them effectively.

My own music situation was also better than last year's where I only managed to record a single , short instrumental album. This year I finished-up a "songs" album and an instrumental one, though I do have a more serious "songs" one to get started-on that's full of material backed-up since 2012. Band-stuff has been fun and rewarding this year, with all sorts of outdoor shows in summer and plenty of cozy sets at local haunts in the dark months.

So, if you go into hiding during modern Saturnalia like we do, enjoy everything about it and let's all start with a resolve to play more next year. I, for one, look forward to putting down all my tools for a week and concentrating on real life for a minute.

I'll leave you for the weekend, at least, with some fun: here's Mama, Elsa, and Oona at our solstice fire. Elsa's wishing on a fir twig that she's tossing into it!