Easter Break

Photo from Google Images: The Tidal Basin

My Easter Break began at the end of classes on Thursday. All those postponed items on my to-do list will be addressed: grading students' book reports on The Merchant of Venice, averaging students' grades to date, and assembling for my attorney bills and medical records related to my car accident in 2005.

Spring cleaning is not on the list because The Maids are coming on Monday. I spent much of yesterday picking up the house, in preparation for those whirlwinds to take care of the dirty work. I did manage, however, to find time to go cruising around the D.C. suburbs to see trees in bloom less famous than those pictured to the left. Glorious!

During vacation, I also have a book review to write for An Introduction to Islam. Christians should be particularly interested in this book, which is a collection of articles from the web site of Bassam and Shirley Madany.

Usually, my Easter Break doesn't hold much excitement. I like to take it somewhat easy before the final push to the end of the school term. But this year is different. Something special is arriving to my house on Tuesday.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Photo from Google Images: Yamaha U2

I've bought a piano. It's not new, but it's new to me.

I can hear you saying, "So what, AOW? Haven't you always had a piano? After all, you're a piano teacher."

Yes, technically, I've always had a piano. But since 1972, the year my husband and I got married, I haven't had a piano in the same house where I sleep. I had to drive to my parents' house until 1985, when, after thirteen years of living here, I finally bought a piano for this property — a Huntington spinet, which sits in "The Little House," the small garage apartment several steps away from the main house. A nice instrument as spinets go, but inconvenient to get to, now that The Little House is crammed with items in storage.

By removing two huge stereo speakers from our dining room, we've finally made room for a piano, a Yamaha U2 studio upright like the one pictured here. In a few days, I'll be tickling the ivories in this house!