Why Fall is My Favorite Season...

~Rain!

~The scent of woodsmoke in the air

~Bundling up for a walk

~Rustling through the leaves

~Sitting by the fireplace drying off after a wonderfully wet walk

~Baking bread

~Looking out my window at the vibrant leaves

~Watching the seasons change

~Rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord that spreads such beauty throughout the world!

Happy Fall Everyone!!

Thunderstorm!!

I love thunderstorms! They’re probably my favorite part of fall. That’s why I was so excited this morning when my attention was turned away from doing dishes by the distant rumbling of thunder. Our house is great for storm watching, but with all the trees around, lightning is harder to spot than at my old house, where I could stand at my upstairs window and see above the trees. I watched as the storm grew closer and closer, the rumbling louder and louder, until it seemed it had passed.

Then the rain started. This wasn’t ordinary drizzly fall rain, this was RAIN. It poured from the sky like a waterfall, and from the sound of it, I thought it must have been hail. When I put my hand out to see, it was just very large raindrops falling very fast.

Usually rain seems to signal the end of such a storm, so imagine my surprise when, just as I stepped outside our sliding door to watch the rain, lightning flashed not fifteen feet away from me, followed immediately by the loudest peal of thunder I had ever heard right over our house! (I stepped back in very quickly after that!) : )

That was fifteen minutes ago, and now the rain has lessoned to a steady shower punctuated occasionally by the faint rumble of thunder in the distance.

I love fall!! : )

Miss Gwendolyn: the Budding Businesswoman?

The past few weeks I have been working harder than I have ever worked before to build my business. Fall quarter is about to start, and I find myself with only two students signed up --a very small amount compared to the eight students I had last fall. Unfortunately, I am pretty hopeless at matters of business, so this has all been a new adventure for me.

So far I have learned:

~How to design and publish a web site (Check it out! www.mgpianostudio.com)
~How to design business cards and flyers
~How to write a craigslist ad
~How to bypass my “phonaphobia” when having to call someone.
~That being strategic and sneaky is critically necessary in business-building.
~That I am not very good at being strategic and sneaky. : (

But one of the most difficult things I have had to do thus far (besides the many, many phone calls) is distributing flyers. Going up to someone’s door on visitation or door-knocking is one thing, but going into a store to ask if I can put up a flyer is totally different! I am comfortable with the former, but the latter is still hard, even after a week of intensive flyer-distribution. I am sure the various clerks in the stores I went to felt sorry for me, probably thinking something like “Oh, look at the little girl trying to get piano students! Isn’t it cute the way she tries to be all professional and polite!” I really did try to look my age, but from the questions I have gotten at some of the music stores I have visited, I don’t think it worked very well. Often, when I am asked how long I have been teaching, my answer of 5 years is met with a stifled look of surprise or puzzlement. “If she’s as young as I think she is, that means she started teaching when she was…!” ; )

But, I suppose all that works to my advantage sometimes, since folks usually want to encourage young musicians and teachers. Unfortunately, that encouragement comes more often as advice, rather than new students or referrals. Oh, well! --Maybe I’ll post some of the advice sometime, once I have had a chance to try it out. : )

Adopted

How sweet to be a child of God
In times of peace and rest
When thankful praises smoothly flow
From heart and mouth, for well I know
How much my Heavenly Father has blessed.

How sweet to be a child of God
In times of want and woe
When in my Father’s arms I hide
There, through His grace I safe abide
Though harsh the winds of worry blow.

How sweet to be a child of God
Where e’er my pathway lies
In health or sickness, toil or rest
My Father gives that which is best
For He is infinitely wise!

An Ant in the Offering Envelope

It was one of those strange mornings when everything seems to go just a little different than usual. Of my seven Sunday school students, one came in sulking about something, one had separation anxiety and wouldn't leave my lap, one was sad about something and cried most of the class, and the rest were either extra sleepy or extra energetic. I was the only teacher that morning, because my helper was out of town, and our class routine was a bit different that morning anyway. And now, as I filled out the attendance sheet in the offering envelope, out fell an ant! I couldn't help but laugh as I looked at the little ant crawling on my hand and tried to imagine where he had come from.

Perhaps, I thought, one of the little boys in my class had picked him up on the way into class, stuck him in a pocket, and forgotten about him. Or maybe he was part of an invasion force, and inadvertantly crawled on to one of my students, falling into the envelope with the precious pennies and dimes of the offering. Or I suppose it could have crawled in with the attendance sheet. At any rate, there it was, crawling around bewilderedly, no doubt wondering where it was.

It had certainly been a very strange morning...

You Know It’s Too Hot When…

• You wash your hands just so that you can put them under cold water.
• You find yourself saying something like “Hooray! It’s only going to be 100 tomorrow!”
• Window-shopping in Fred Meyer’s freezer section sounds like a great way to spend an evening.
• You don’t get mad at your brother when he “accidentally” gets you soaking wet.
• Ice cream for breakfast, anyone?
• You seriously consider camping out under the air conditioner
• You fight over who “gets” to water the yard.
  
• You’re willing to spend the whole day in a dark room rather than turn a light on and have the temperature go up one degree.
  
  
• The short trip to the mailbox makes you tired.
  
• Your fan-less backyard seems eerily quiet.
  

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!!)