I cannot even recall the number of times Snowdrop has asked me if she can sleepover. Since moving closer to her family, the requests have multiplied. Maybe it's that I now live close enough to take her to school the next morning. Or maybe it's the absence of spiders - the girl loves the farmhouse, but she is not a fan of the many spiders that shared the place with us. A total case of arachnophobia. Or maybe it's that the new bedroom at the Edge has a tempting freshness to it. In the end I could stall no more -- her brother is not coming home from his trip until late tonight. I have no reason to turn her away. And yes, it will be so very nice to have her as my first overnight guest!
The day is, therefore, preset for me. Breakfast...
Dentist ('til my last day on this planet, I will always have another dental appointment scheduled, such is my fate). Then bake muffins so that I can offer a breakfast that Snowdrop will actually eat. She's one of those: no appetite until she's out the door in the morning.
The oven at the farmhouse under-bakes. This one at the Edge over-bakes. Which error would you prefer? (I'm happier with "too hot." A "too cold" oven is not very reassuring when you're trying to roast a turkey for Thanksgiving, or baking a cake that should have had a clean toothpick ages ago.)
And then it's back to Chopin and a discussion with Bee, my awesome Warsaw friend, of the aspects of the Competition that only a Pole could understand. The enormity of the enterprise. The city is abuzz with Chopin, his music coming at you everywhere. Buses, trams, decorated to meet the moment. Tickets? Absolutely impossible to obtain. Sold out before they went on sale! And of course, the unique pressure this puts on Polish competitors. The running joke this year is that in another 20 years, the Competition will have moved to China and our Polish pianists will be heading there anyway to study with the Chinese masters who will have produced this generation of incredible pianists.
There is yet another event that defines this day for me -- the arrival of a gift from Dan DeRyckere, the Michigan artist I met through... Ocean! It's a woodcut print and it's titled Nina's Garden. (See more of his work, for example, here.) I placed it on the wall facing the couch. I'm sure you'll understand why it is so extraordinarily meaningful for me.
Time to pick up the girl!
I had asked what she'd like for dinner. Spaghetti and asparagus! -- she tells me. Okay, so be it.
We read, and then she reads, the entire time she is here. She's the type of house guest you dream of: noodles and a few good books and she is in heaven.
(in the new small bean bag chair)
Bedtime is... almost at a decent hour. Now, let's see if I can get her to school on time tomorrow morning!
with so much love...
