Wonders

First Piano Lesson Day

Today my son had his first piano lesson. We’ve been trying to find a teacher for him for almost 3 years. Everyone we contacted was either a kook or really good and thus booked solid. That combined with our desire to have the weekly lesson on a day and time that was remotely convenient left us with no piano lessons for Sam. My nephew’s teacher, who is, I’m guessing, an excellent teacher (because my nephew plays so well), could possibly have fit Sam into his schedule, but the guy has such a strong British accent… and it’s strange, it’s so strong that his side of the conversation is mostly unintelligible. (And he’s lived in the States for years and years… and he ain’t all that old.) Sam just couldn’t deal with that. Last weekend, we got a phone call from Jim, the person we’ve been wanting Sam to take lessons from for almost 3 years. Jim’s Saturday 2 pm student has quit piano. YIPPEE! 2 pm on Saturdays is perfect.

Jim teaches piano and percussion, and it’s what he does for a living. His music studio is the upper floor of a store on our town’s main street. It’s a really old building, but one of those buildings that was well built. Lots of character. Beautiful woodwork, beautiful big wooden interior doors, the kind with the transoms above the door, and with brass hardware and ivory porcelain door handles. Gorgeous. A really cool place to go and have a piano lesson. Sam is so happy. He’s downstairs now practicing. I’m loving this.

Changeling Clouds

Earlier today on the way home from town from Sam’s basketball game, the air was crisp and cold and the sky was blue, blue, blue. The sun was faintly surrounded by clouds, those wispy strips of clouds, but like a big sheet of it, so it filtered the sunlight. There was only one other cloud in the sky, and it was a small cloud. Sam & I determined it looked most like a dragon flying with its mouth open, going after something… because there was a tiny piece of that cloud kind of hanging beneath it, almost not attached. Then right away, the tiny cloud started to get bigger and bigger, like it was eating the cloud above it. That original cloud was gone, leaving only the newer, now-big cloud. And then it looked like a horse with a rider on it. And then there was a little tiny small tail that developed beneath the new cloud. And… it started to grow and grow, while the horse and rider disappeared. It was strange and awesome. Then after the 2nd cloud was gone, the new 3rd cloud grew a little tail beneath it, and… it ate the bigger cloud! Then, yep!, it grew a tail…. This happened over and over, and actually each transition was very quick, and then we drove too far away from it to see it.

Dress Up, Part 2

Joyce and Nathan are at Nathan’s school’s Fall Formal Dance tonight. Joycie got an up-do earlier, and with her very intricate up-do and her lovely cranberry wispy dress, with 3 beaded and sequined oh-so-subtle butterflies on it, she just looked so very beautiful. She’s so tall and slender, and she carries herself so well. We bought clip-on “pearl” earrings for her (she still doesn’t want her ears pierced!), and she wore those with her pearl necklace – real pearls, and when you put those next to the costume jewelry, you can really tell the difference. They glow. She looked so elegant. So very beautiful. And Nathan looked wonderfully handsome in his black suit. He was wearing a tie of Kev’s that I bought for Kev years ago – it’s a pattern of oak leaves, but the background is cranberry like Joycie’s dress color, so I had asked him if he wanted to wear it. He really liked the tie. This tie is my most favorite tie ever. The leaves are all different colors, and it’s gorgeous. It’s a great tie. Probably 12 years ago or so, I saw it in a local men’s store and totally wanted it for Kev, but then I saw the price. It took me 3 or 4 days, and then I caved and went and bought it. I think it’s so cool that Nathan liked it and that he’s got it on tonight. They sure made a beautiful couple.