noise

I can't remember if a previous post discussed our musical ambitions (yes, I'm that lazy). The skinny: we're trying to learn to play the piano (Jill) and guitar (Chad) so that Clara (a) grows up somewhat exposed to music and (b) can be the skilled member of our trio.

You might ask yourself how Jill makes time to practice while raising our relentless baby. This might shock you, but here's your reason:

Here's me strumming away on a smooth C chord. I am getting the hang of strumming and switching chords, but the F chord is my current nemesis. Our friend Jessie (more on her below) told us that a certain worship leader she knows rearranged songs to get rid of all F chords. So maybe I don't need to get it after all?
Sometimes Clara needs to sit with mommy at the piano and bang a few notes.
Spectacular thunderstorms have been passing through in late afternoons. The best part is that the temperature and humidity drop after they pass. It's barely evident in the photo below, but that rainbow was the best I've seen in the midwest. We could see the whole bow from our porch.
Somehow we didn't get the camera out this weekend to prove that Jessie came to visit us. She's on furlough from teaching at an international school in Kenya. She loves living there despite the lack of good cheese.

My short list of reasons I'm glad to not live there: no pizza, nobody rides bikes (shocked by that!), armed guards required. Otherwise it sounds kind of fun.