The Day My Daddy Saved My Life...

It was a chilly winter day, and a clear, thick coating of ice covered everything in sight. I was standing on the front porch, looking a little anxiously at the slippery steps. --I was never the type of child who enjoyed dangerous things, unlike my brother, who that moment commanded my attention by whooping delightedly while taking a running start at the giant slide that was our steep driveway. As I watched him shoot down surfer-style towards the street, I could not help but wonder how he could not be afraid of falling.

Daddy came out of the house just then, bearing two trekking poles. He offered one to me, and kept the other for himself, since my brother had loudly proclaimed that he neither wanted nor needed one.

So, off we set down the icy sidewalk. I don't remember now where we were going that day, but there were only a handful of places we liked to walk to when there was snow or ice, and from the little bit I remember, it seems to me that we must have been headed to the harp shop.

We made our way down the glazed sidewalk of the busy street, with cars zooming by in what seemed to me a most reckless fashion. Daddy and I slid a little once or twice, but otherwise our trip to the store was uneventful. On the way home, however, we had to hurry to cross a busy street (trying not to fall over in the process). In that particular part of the city the "wheelchair ramps" for the crosswalks were abnormally steep, and as I stepped onto the curb I lost my footing and fell, sliding rapidly toward the line of traffic zooming past! Thankfully, Daddy had his trekking pole, which he drove into the ice by my hand just in time for me to catch it, saving me from almost certain death. (Or so it seemed to me.)

My brother still can't figure out how I managed to fall...

Piano #1!

Yesterday I got the first piano for my studio. (Which, by the way, isn't quite finished yet.) Daddy and Tristan moved the piano out of the house it was in, which was difficult because it was heavy and the doorways in the house were very narrow.
Tristan was able to rent a trailer to put the piano on...

Then we followed Tris and the piano home to make sure nothing went wrong.
Once we got to our house, Tris and Daddy moved the piano into what will someday be Mommy's studio, where it will stay until my studio is finished.

-But not until after I tried it out!
Once it was inside, I cleaned off all the dust and shined it up with some lemon oil. Now it's really pretty!
It does need to be tuned though! It's a Wurlitzer spinnet, and has a brighter sound to it than my parent's piano upstairs does. I am so glad to have a piano downstairs because now I can practice whenever I want without bothering anyone! And it was free! (Thank you Teacher Lindy!!)

An Afternoon of Adventure

My brother just bought a convertible.

It needs some work, (well, actually, a lot of work) but the very fact that it is a convertible turns it in our eyes from a piece of junk to a very fun toy. : )

The other day, my brother, (Tristan) Mommy, and I set out to drive around a bit.

Our trip took us along winding country roads and past picturesque mansion-like farmhouses…

And ended at a park on the river.

When we got out, Tris checked to make sure nothing was leaking.

Then we walked out onto a dock, where I almost fell in the river when a boat came in and the dock rocked unexpectedly.

When we started back, Tristan was just talking about how well the car started and ran, when the car suddenly died, and wouldn’t start again.

He took a look at the engine, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong…

So he pushed it into a nearby parking space and called a tow truck.

While we waited for the tow truck, Mommy and I went exploring …

After a while a very nice sheriff came up and asked us if we were all right. We explained what had happened and that we had a tow truck coming, and then he left.

When the tow truck came, the driver took one look at the car and knew exactly what was wrong, and fixed it in a manner of seconds! (a connection was loose somewhere.) Tris was not looking forward to paying $40 for something so simple, but when he asked the driver how much we owed him, he told us that he wouldn’t charge us! It was such a blessing!

So then we had a lovely ride home, and returned just in time to keep from getting rained on, which is important at the moment because the convertible has no fabric on the frame for the top!

In all, it was a very fun adventure. : )