What should I call her?

I have no idea. Part of me thinks that maybe she isn't a she, which is why I am having trouble naming her. But I am pretty sure she is. These are some of the names I like:

Rosa - rose
Bertha - famous/bright
Simone - listening
Olympe - from Mount Olympus
Eponine - horse goddess
Pearl - obvious
Ursula - little bear
Zoelie/Zooey - life

I am pretty sure she's not a Zooey. And Pearl doesn't fit quite right. I think Ursula is great, and Rosa is lovely (and she could be named after Rosa Luxembourg!). Eponine is so sweet, but maybe a better name for a smaller instrument?? I like the meaning of Simone, and would be a lovely homage to Simone de Beauvoir but not sure about the sound of the name itself. Bertha was suggested by a friend, and at first I really liked it, but when I looked at her again I wasn't sure. Olympe is an amazing name, but quite hard to make sound nice unless you have a French accent!

So the choice at the moment is Ursula or Rosa.

I am currently leaning towards Ursula...

Weekend practise

This weekend has been busy and fun, and I managed to fit in a good 3 hours of cello-ing (celling?) in the meantime.

After my lesson on friday I played for ages, I was so happy to have her back! I had to stop when my fingers started to hurt, but I managed to play for a full hour, even after a half hour lesson. My fingers are beginning to becom proper cellist's fingers!

Saturday was such a beautiful day, I spent it sitting in the park with the dogs. A man had bought his guitar along and was playing it on the grass. It looked like a lot of fun (if not slightly arrogant as he wasn't great), and it occured to me how much more portable guitars are than cellos! Or at least, my shoulders are not used to carrying cellos around yet.

I had a few drinks on saturday afternoon and then came home and played cello for an hour in a gin and tonic haze. Which I know sounds very irresponsible, but you know there is the optimum amount of alcohol where you suddenly become better at stuff? Like in Guitar Hero, I always get my best scores after a drink or two? Well, I managed to play more stuff from start to finish with no mistakes in this practise than ever before. Coincidence? I think not.

A more conventional practise today (Sunday) means I have now moved on to playing on the G String. This is pretty exciting, as I love the deepest notes of the cello. I am enjoying playing a German folk song, and there is a Russian folk song on the next page which I am looking forward to playing too. I like them because they are quick and fun, and so far have quite simple rhythms.

Speaking of rhythm, I am finding it really difficult to play anything but 4/4 time. I seriously cannot do 3/4 at all. It feels very weird, I think I need to talk to my teacher about how to count it as at the moment my counting seems to go "1 and 2 and 3 and... dammit!". Must remember to do that on wednesday.