I think I write about Autumn being my favorite season as a piano teacher each year.  It continues to be a time of progress for my students, and I love working with them.  For many students who take a break over the summer, fall is a time to dive in…

My favorite part was the gigantic bugs. Each fall the UMD science clubs (chemistry, biology and physics) do a science night at our school, with hands on science experiments.  It’s always terrific.  For the past several years I have been volunteering in the kitchen, so I missed a lot of…

Almost all of the trees  in people’s yards and along city boulevards that were topped in our huge summer thunderstorm last July are now cleaned up, and most of the trails are cleared in the forests as well.  Still, while hiking along, there are just so many trees that have…

I hate to be tickled.  I really hate it.  My whole family knows this. The other night I was sitting at the dining room table while Mr. SP worked through  couple of math problems.  My husband was being a pest. Mr. SP:  Hey Dad!  Want me to hold Mom while…

  The Saturday before Halloween I was drowning in a sea of homemade applesauce.  I was overjoyed to have bins of apples given to me by Grandpa Bob (the grandpa of our neighbors up the hill) and the applesauce is so very tasty.  It is a time consuming process, however.…

  As I expected, the logistics of Halloween were a bit tricky this year, but it all worked out in the end, and the kidlets had a fun night.  The Banana and YaYa both had youth orchestra rehearsals since Halloween fell on a Monday night.  The Banana’s rehearsal was moved…

Leaves can clog a vacuum cleaner.  Big time.  I also learned how to unclog all the possible parts where my vacuum cleaner could potentially be blocked with debris. Navigating a super-polarized, largely inappropriate election season with a middle schooler and high schooler is very, very challenging.  Yikes.  I’ve had more…

The other day we were out walking, and The Banana said to me, “Remember that time when we took Christmas pictures on this trail and I wore those special sparkly shoes?” I did not remember those sparkly shoes, but the year we took Christmas pictures on that trail she was…

Last Saturday was the third glorious October Saturday in a row.  It’s not very often you get three amazing October Saturdays in a row, and we took advantage of the beautiful day by getting out for a late afternoon hike near Amity Creek on a trail that we haven’t visited…

Next to the house of our neighbors half way down the street there is a city sidewalk that connects our street with the next street up in a place where you would expect there to be a street, but there isn’t.  This sidewalk is affectionately known in our neighborhood as…