Along the Merry Way....

Ernesta tells me with wide open eyes that she couldn't sleep one night, so she got up to practice piano (to waste away the time). The song she played was "Waltz of the Christmas Toys." With deep sincerity in her voice she states, "Then all my toys got up and started dancing around me while I played." Me: Are you sure you weren't dreaming? Earnesta: Oh, no! I told you, I couldn't sleep. Earnesta's hands were sore. They were hurting, she told me, because she had been catching frogs all day, which takes a good deal of hand-squeezing effort. Matilda: Each week, she gazes at me with large, sad eyes during the lesson as though her entire family has been massacred. Her responses are all in whisper form. I try to get her to talk, but so far, a nearly inaudible "yes" or "no" have been my main responses. Except for once, when she cracked and told me that she had seen a stuffed owl at the museum. It was a major break-through! Ana: is a tiny...

I'm really proud of how hard these students work: Megan: Composes and performs her own songs and was recently featured on Daytime Ottawa Tomorrow with her song Broken , which was written to promote the D.I.D.F. campaign for mental health. Kevin: I'm not sure how this happened, but I found myself teaching a Public Speaking course. He's brilliant, picks up songs in a flash, and can speak on his toes! He was recently on a TV series about how to make math fun for kids.

My music students: even the troublesome ones are great! 1. Wolfgang Amadeus: My six-year old composer; he gets the recognizable gleam in his eye of the artist whose creative juices have begun to churn; he composes and writes music during uncontrollable waves of inspiration. 2. The Prince: he regally sits at the piano bench and uses phrases like "but of course" or "if you wish." Seems mildly annoyed by statements of the obvious or simple reminders and on his own initiative learns advanced pieces in a startlingly short amount of time. 3. Earnesta: My six-year old little girl with bright blue eyes. During her lessons, she tells stories of boggling exploits, injuries, and activies, which include (but are not limitted to): winning twenty goals in half an hour (she is the best on the team), having a sudden, mysterious eye problem that made it difficult for her to see the notes, and setting up a stand in the park where she does magic tricks and paints peoples nails....even...

There has been a sighting: Snowdrops! The first signs of Spring are here--there is no going back now!

The most beautiful spot in all of Ottawa.

One of the things that I remember most clearly about the Camino, which I think applies very much to life is how much subjective advice people would give you. For example, a veteran hiker would say, "Make sure you avoid the northern route through the mountains between such and such two cities; it's rocky and difficult and can be damp because of the higher altitude. Most of all it will take you hours longer than the route through the valley." Well, of course, you think that the best road must be the straightforward obvious one through the warm, green valley. But I remember that I got lost, not the first time :), and sure enough, ended up on the mountain track. It did take far longer and it was damp, but I remember feeling that I was walking in the clouds, the valley stretched out below, acres of sweet pink heather surrounding the path, and thin mists swirling around me. There were no pilgrims in this deserted place, so I was able to bellow out Irish songs for hours. Then as...

Ski-Hill Mountain is another one of the most incredibly beautiful, yet unknown areas of the Rocky Mountains. A couple of Naomi's friends discovered the spot and began building a trail partway there. With one of them as a guide, we followed the trail as far as it went and then bushwacked for the rest of the way until we hit a green valley floor, far high above where we started from. In the center of the valley was a bright blue pool of water, surrounded by grass and flowers. It was clear and cold as ice. A waterfall flows down the side of the valley wall and eventually reaches the pool. We climbed up the grassy wall next to the waterfall, pulling ourselves up the nearly-vertical slope with the help of clods of grass. Then up over the lip at the top, we found ourselves on a rocky plateau, which also held a pool from which the waterfall flowed. Looking down you could see the pool in the valley, glowing like a blue diamond far below. We clambered higher and higher along the side of a j...