Along the Merry Way....

Stefan from Budapest: Today 10-year old Stefan from Budapest gave the most elaborate excuse for having not done his English homework that I have ever encountered in all my teaching experience. It began with his recounting the story of an epic face-first dive into the snow, which involved a terrible skidding motion that embedded ice into his face; the story next described a cruelly insensitive father, who failed to treat his facial wounds properly; in fact, it sounded as if the father had been trying to permanently scar him by roughly trying to scrape the ice and snow off his face. It must have healed quickly though because Stefan's face appeared as radiantly fresh and earnest as ever under his spiky hair. The terrible tale next involved the loss and mix-up of almost all of his school papers, a disqualified homework assignment that he was forced to redo, and finally a mistaken swap in which he took the wrong person's bag home and left his own behind. With such an exhausting and ...

I told Willie, Hugh, and Matthias that many hundreds of years ago, pirates had come to the house in Combermere, and there was a legend that pirate treasure was hidden somewhere, probably buried deep beneath the house. They were very excited by the idea, and we began to search the house. Hugh and I were looking in the stonework near the fireplace when we saw a bit of charred paper stuck between the stones. I pulled it out and found a dirty piece of paper that was marked with a skull and crossbones. Hugh immediately brought it to Willie, who discerned it to be a map. We followed some of the more legible landmarks down into the basement and deep under the foundations of the house to the spot that was marked with an X. Willie was pretty brave and climbed in head-first on his belly to fit between the floorboards and the house foundations. Hugh opted to guard the rear entrance and watch while Matthias tried to scramble after Willie and I. His diaper was a little too heavy and cumbersome thou...

"I practiced one hour every day this week." Sheer musical bliss to a piano teacher's heart.

What a wonderful thing to happen! Raphael Pemberton was born on October 5th, and so now we share a birthday. What a beautiful thing to happen. What a special gift. (Note: Hugh wanted to call him "Little Hugh". Makes sense. Then he'd be Big Hugh :) Other name suggestions from the boys were: Picklehead, Poopface, and Binky! (Thank you, Mary, for the pictures....see also http://flyingsquirrelpress.blogspot.com/ for more)

Mary was looking through a Sears Catalogue to buy shirts for Will. Hugh was eagerly clustering up next to her and looking over her shoulder. He pointed to one of the male models in a plaid button-down shirt and said, "I want that one for the new papa." Mary says, "Hugh! I'm not ordering a new papa. I'm ordering a shirt!"

This is one of the nicest places to walk in Ottawa. There are crowds of little ducks hanging out by Dow's Lake in the spring and early summer. Most of them are full grown now as fall approaches. Canada goslings...They look tufty and a little bit silly when they are half-way grown, but they are extremely bold.

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...