We had a cold snap, but today is supposed to get up to 77 or 79 degrees (depending on which weather predicting service you look at.) So, it looks like fall, but it’s really practically still summer.

I haven’t been this busy since pre-pandemic or perhaps, since before I moved to St Louis. This month is flying by, I think I blinked and October was gone, and things are generally just a bit crazy. I do have a little downtime now, so I’ll fill you in quickly.

Halloween was fun: it was a cold night for trick or treaters. Louie and I made a fire in our fire pit and sat outside so we didn’t have to continually open the door. I was hopeful for more visitors and we ended up with a fair amount of leftover candy, so I made a bunch of bags for my college students, who were happy to get it!

Teaching has been crazy: I had the fall recital yesterday for my private students. 18 students played and it went really well! I rented a space at Wash U and it was really nice and easy to do, so I will likely do that again.

For college students, some recitals are coming up, the end of the semester is closer than we realize. For my 4th graders, I am not super happy about the progress of one class and gave them a lecture/pep talk today. We’ll see what happens. Let’s see if my talk inspired some of them to work a little bit harder or it’s going to be a long year.

Gig and concert wise, it’s been pretty crazy. I’ve played a bunch of weddings, a fun concert at a retirement home, and this week I have rehearsals for two different concerts: one a piece called the Suffragette Cantata with the St Louis Women’s Chorale, and the other the fall concert for the Metropolitan Orchestra of St Louis. I’ve also had a few church gigs, and there’s a pops concert on Sunday, so yeah…things are busy! Not so busy that I don’t get jealous of what other people are doing (yes, I’m insane) but busy enough that I can quickly remind myself that I am..well, a little more stretched but having a great time.

The time change was nice, that extra hour was lovely. My friend April is currently in town and staying with us and it’s fabulous to see her. Louie and I saw Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer play a concert on Friday night.

We attended the neighborhood chili cook-off on Saturday and got to feed and pet alpacas, llamas, sheep, and more! I made a corn casserole for the dinner and it was very popular. When I went back to get a second helping 5 minutes later and the pan was empty! I also attended a neighborhood book club evening and really enjoyed it–I plan to attend again in the future when I am able.

The cats love the radiators. That is, when the heat is on which it isn’t today. And yes, Miles is usually very friendly and cuddly. Sometimes with Muriel, often with Louie, less often with me.

Anyway, even though my program here tells me I have no key focus phrase and some of my sentences are too long, I’m publishing anyway. You’re really here for the cat pictures anyway, I know.