Morning @Faith-and-Hope@Determined et al.
@Appleblossom I do still play, but a bit infrequently. Mostly with our church music group, occasionally with friends, either at bushdances or informally.
I found a seconds-quality Skylark viola at a price that I could afford on my very sparse budget, so now I have both violin and viola available to play. It had a not-too-bad tone considering, but the bridge was a warped mess, the tailpiece was coming off, the bow was a bit dodgy, the soundpost was a bit of roughly split timber, one of the tuning pegs kept slipping and one of the strings came ready-frayed. 
Hubby fixed the tailpiece and loose tuning peg, and we put a more comfortable chin rest on it. I replaced the strings with nicer ones, and also fitted fine adjust tuners at the same time. Huge difference there! I think the decent strings cost as much or more than the instrument. Next step was passing it on to a friend who makes Hardanger violins and does repair work, and he put in a proper sound post, a new bridge, and did some general tidy-up work. He gave it back to me saying he didn't know how I played it without the A-string squawking. Ermmm.... it did squawk, but if I was very careful with my playing I could usually avoid it happening.
End result is a playable instrument with a good mellow voice. Not the melt-at-the-knees beautiful I could get if I paid out $$$, but I don't have that many $$$ to spare right now, and don't really play often enough to justify it.
I only found out that violin was considered one of the hardest instruments to learn after I'd already been learning for a few years, so meh... by then it was a bit of a moot point.
I had some major neurosurgery some years ago, and during recovery time had a very dodgy memory index myself. So I have a decent idea of what it's like for Dad, and I know that he's of no less worth as a person because of it. I tell him to stop apologising for forgetting things. It really doesn't matter to me as long as it's not getting him down; and he's well liked and well treated at the aged care home, and therefore is generally happy.
M
