Not exactly!  Whew, things have just been nuts lately.  The office scene has been particularly intense the last month or so.  We have been very, very busy!  Which is a good thing I guess since it keeps a roof over our heads, food on the table and future bagpipe lessons a reality.

It hasn't done much for my practice routine though, in fact the only time I have been practicing is on the boat ride over to Lopez for my weekly Friday lesson.  Or the night before I head to Seattle to see Jori.  Needless to say, progress has been very slow and I feel really guilty!

The last two lessons I had on Lopez were good, spent most of the time working through the 2/4 march.  Got on the pipes for a few minutes at the end of the lesson and it was very apparent how out of shape I, and my pipes were.  This last Friday was certainly no exception, I just had to stop after 10 minutes, it was that frustrating.

I tried to get some practice time in the other day with my plastic chanter, something was wrong and when I pulled the top of the chanter my reed fell out in two pieces!  I tried to get it back together, no such luck.  It was a goner.

I now have a new reed in that chanter and another stashed away in the glove box, just in case!