We Took the Violin on a Hike

Taking pictures of The Banana and her violin had been in my mind for a few weeks when I was hiking in the woods and encountered a field of tansy blooming in a disturbed area that is cleared for city trucks to dump dirt.  Tansy is definitely not my favorite wildflower.  I actually find it obnoxious, but so much tansy all together was beautiful in it’s own way, and I thought all the yellow might look really neat contrasting with the violin.

The weather was glorious Saturday evening, and I could tell that the light was going to be good as the sun got lower.  I asked The Banana what she thought about the idea of trying to take pictures with her violin in a big field of flowers.  She thought it was a great idea, even though it meant that she couldn’t play as long with her friends who were roaming the neighborhood.

I had initially thought we might be able to drive up to the field of tansy on the road the dump trucks use, but it was closed.  My trooper of a girl cheerily hiked on a muddy trail with her sandals, her violin case strapped to her back to get to two separate clearings with flowers.   She’s a gem, this girl.  There were plenty of mosquitos while we were taking the pictures, and you know that this girl HATES mosquitos.  Still, she was super patient and kept on playing and playing for me even though things got quite itchy.

The truth of the matter is that we had a terrific time together taking these images.  The Banana is always up for an adventure if it involves spending special time with people.  When we had hiked all the way back to the van, we decided to celebrate by checking out the new Starbucks in our neighborhood before we drove back home.

Regarding the violin, The Banana continues to amaze me.  She works so hard and loves her instrument so much.  While it is my job to intensely practice with her each night, truly, I could never play what she can play on her violin at this point, and it’s only been a matter of months since she started.  I can help her understand what to do when things aren’t working, but I couldn’t actually play the music she is playing on the violin.  String instruments are so different than the instruments I play.  She sounds better and better all the time, and I love playing piano with her while she plays the violin.

To be honest, there are times when practicing gets frustrating for her and I feel pretty grouchy, but most of the time we really do have a good time working together and we are able to work through the difficult moments.  It’s so fun to see how much she really does love this instrument that she was so persistent about wanting to start.