This particular Monday is dark and stormy. Riley woke me at 6 am with his barking and thank goodness for it. I managed to get him outside before he peed. A little victory, but a victory nonetheless. Picture me: bleary-eyed, hair a mess, coffee-less, trying to lift Riley and head him on out the door.

You can stop laughing now.

Anyway, lots of thunder, lightning and all-around stormy pleasure. I love sitting in my cozy living room, the crack of thunder and flash of lightning all around me, Scoutie in the ‘tunnel’ and Riley on his bed, a nice mug of Peet’s French Roast in my hands. I hope it storms all day long. (Just as long as the dreaded roof doesn’t leak.) We need the rain and I love the atmosphere.

One of my very favorite things in this sweet cottage is this sign. My friend Lori, of Vignettes, had a post on her blog with several photos of shop displays and I spied this beauty in the background of one of the shots. Fast forward a few days and it found a home here at the cottage.

Oh my goodness, how I love it. Sitting here in the living room, at my laptop, I can gaze upon it all day long. The piano was my grandmother’s, then my mother’s and now it’s mine. I took piano lessons starting at the age of 8 and they continued into my high school years. At that point, drama and the theater had become my passions. After a few too many practice sessions that consisted of me playing only my favorite pieces and neglecting anything new, a decision was made by my mom and me to cease and desist piano lessons. I sort of wish I had continued. But hindsight is always 20/20.

Learning to play the piano taught me to sight-read, sharpen my musical ear, learn all about tempo and key signatures and major and minor and scales and staccato and all sorts of wonderful things that served me well when I sang onstage in musicals, in choirs and, later, professionally. I’m so grateful for all of those lessons and my mother’s relentless reminders that it was time for my daily practice session.

I was a bit jealous of my friends who played in the school band and orchestra. They got to carry instruments in cases. I thought that was the neatest thing.

You can’t carry a piano in a case. We didn’t have electronic keyboards in those days.

Here’s my question on this rainy Monday morning: Do you play an instrument? What instrument do you play? I love learning things about all of you; goodness knows you know a lot about me. Tell me all about your musical background.

Happy Monday.