It is only early February but the winter has been wonderfully exciting and varied so far. The winter blues have not surfaced, and I suspect they wont. Two events have dominated the past few weeks and made my life simply great.
One was the installation of a solar system on my new roof. A week ago the last step took place with the installation of a new electric meter and I snapped the switch on around noon. And went up to my study to turn on the computer and open the desktop icon that is labeled Solar Sunpower Portal. Nobody told me I would be entering a new world of science and entertainment. Or that I would be dashing upstairs every few hours to watch the progress (or regress) of solar energy being captured. Or of the continuous (albeit slower) accrual of energy even when a cloud blanket spread to the horizon. Or my ability to watch today’s action or a week, month or year of action on graphs. I can see spending more time than I really want to checking out new parameters on the screen. It could become solar panel addiction, like cell phone addiction. Here are some photos of the event.
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The Sunpower Panel on my computer keeps an hourly record of what the unit doing and looks like this.
It was a partly cloudy day but even so it was functioning well. And now, a week later it supplied more power than I used and some of it went to the grid. And this is February! I feel so good about this, it is as great satisfaction that my all-electric house is now self-sufficient.
The other wonderful event was Jenny’s joining the Rogue Valley Symphony as a violinist. A longtime dream of mine that I never thought would become a reality. She has already been here for the January concerts – a 10 day visit what with rehearsals and performances in 3 different venues. And will be back next Friday for another concert. She makes the commute from Whidbey Island over two days, staying with friends in Portland overnight. (She is no stranger to Ashland, having joined the Britt Classical Festival the summer after we moved here.) We are both delighted with the arrangement as I am getting closer to needing help for navigating daily living, so this is a win-win situation all around.
I LOVE our orchestra and the concerts fulfill my need for great live music in winter. Martin Majkut’s appointment as Music Director was a splendid event for our valley. In a few years since his arrival the orchestra has risen to a professional standard that is surely unprecedented for an orchestra far from any large city. His programming is challenging, bringing new works along with great old masters. He has great taste in music, or am I influenced by the fact that it coincides with my own??? And he is into everything musical in our community, what with guesting at OLLI musical courses, conducting Brava! Operas, doing family concerts and school programs in addition to conducting two orchestras.
I could write on and on but have decided to keep these posts short and readable. So until the next one —– love to all.