1. Got an email from my brother this morning that contained, among other things, news that he's probably going to be moving back to this continent in the summer. I've been missing him a lot, so that's very exciting news indeed!

2. Got an email from my close friend Jane, who was my accompanist during music school. For the last couple of years, Jane has been coming up island to play for my students during the music festival as I simply couldn't play for all of them, but with my teaching load being so small this year, I wasn't sure she'd want to make the trip. It just wouldn't be worth her time, financially speaking. However, I've been really concerned about playing for my students this year. I really don't like playing in front of people, and add to that the fact that several of my students are singing really challenging pieces, and then add the fact that for the first time in all the years I've played, I'm having trouble with my wrists. It hasn't been so bad that I've been prevented from playing, but I did practice a little yesterday, thinking that I'd better start getting the pieces into performance shape (which is a big difference from sit-down-and-play shape) and ouch - my left hand dexterity just isn't where it needs to be. So, I opened Jane's email to find that she's volunteered to come up and play, just because. I hadn't breathed a word that I've been having trouble with my hands, but Jane's just like that. She *knows* things...and, she's also just one of those freaky people that can play anything to performance standards, which is why she is the professional accompanist and I am not.

So, yay Jane! The kids love working with her, I can sit back and really focus on them instead of dividing my attention between playing and teaching, and it'll be fun. And, more than anything, Jane has always been my rock when I'm nervous and my sounding board when I'm confused, and has this strange, wonderful view of the world that always inspires me.

3. It snowed today - just a dusting - and then the skies cleared and it's crisp and fresh and SUNNY! We haven't had a sunny day in weeks! And, from the looks of it, it's going to be sunny again tomorrow, which means I should have time to go riding. Yay!

4. I finished my first book in the 50bookchallenge: Silk by Alessandro Baricco. I have thoughts about it (first and foremost, I loved it), but I'm not sure I can articulate my thoughts about the book just yet. I might need to read it again first....

And, thus ends my post. :)