Spring Concert.

Last Sunday was my official last day of work. Well, official last day of appearing in front of students and parents. There is always behind the scenes scheduling and book keeping.

I now hold my concerts at a little church a few neighbourhoods over. There is basically a bike path the entire way and it only takes 10ish minutes to bike. Don was helping me set things up and was going to be on Dexter duty while the students were performing, so he rode the mountain bike with Dexter in the chariot trailer. I was just going to ride Pashley or Amsterdam with a pannier, but then I remembered that one family always brings me several bottles of wine in a wooden case (their family owns a wine store here in Edmonton).

Yes, students bring me wine as year end presents. I am the luckiest teacher around. They bring me other assorted gifts too. Like flowers, planted herbs, jewelry, and heaps of gift certificates for books, movies, and fashions.

My clients know me very well.

It is endlessly flattering, the amount of thought that goes into the treats I get from the kids and their families. And not just at Christmas and the end of the year! I get weekly baking, assorted treats, drawings, and frequent prezzies for Dexter in the from of paul frank t-shirts and story books. The teaching is rewarding in and of itself, but the thoughtfulness and love I feel from my students and parents is paramount. I feel so appreciated in this line of work. It's rewarding on a weekly basis and also in the long-term sense. When I say I love my students I really mean it. They are wonderful and make me smile hour after hour. That's why I have never traded this line of work for a conventional 9-5 job. The goodwill and enjoyment (and summers off) is too much to give up.

So, the case of wine. It wasn't going to fit in my pannier. I suppose I could have strapped it to the rear rack, but opted to just ride the Madsen instead.

I wore a trapeze dress that I've had for years. It's so versatile. People used to ask me if I was pregnant when I wore this. Ironically, the top portion doesn't fit at all when pregnant.





Paired it with my new metallic heels.





When Crystal and I were shopping and I first saw these several weeks ago she saw me holding them and said they looked like the shoes of a streetwalker. I quickly admitted that I actually liked them (metallics are an amazing neutral). She then qualified that they would look sort of cheap in size 9 (her size), and not so much in size 5. So I went back and got them a few weeks later after I had time to think it over.





Here is the trusty bucket. Much easier to ride when there isn't a full grown man in the back.





Most of the families that come to lessons at the bungalow arrive by car, unless they live in the neighbourhood. Those students generally walk (which I wholeheartedly condone), and little Owen up the street rides his bike. There is this one family that lives quite close to an LRT station on the north end and they actually take the train and walk. YES! I love this family. They have a viable option to driving, and they capitalize on it.

Love love love.

When they arrived for their concert the dad was looking at the crazy long chain on the Madsen. We rolled it out and got his two little girls to climb in so they could take it for a test spin.

Success!





I am head over heels for this next photo. The girls look so full of joy. It epitomizes how I feel about riding bikes.

Fun. Smiles. Full of life. Yes!





Later on I loaded a bunch of gifts into the Madsen for the ride home.





By the time we were ready to go home (there were two separate concerts because of the number of students I have), my feet hurt. That's why I had emergency flip flops in my bag and wore those while stacking chairs.





I'm also using the Frietag as a diaper bag now. One bag. Many functions.





Just another shot of me buckling up my helmet. Yes, I wear a helmet. Despite my often being photographed sans.

I'm working on a post all summer long, pulling together the research I've gathered for my Masters thesis, to say my piece about helmets once and for all. Look forward to it. Once I publish it here, I will never engage in any discussion about helmets ever again, unless it is a reasonable exchange that is informed and measured.





But, for the record, I think I look pretty sweet in my helmet. When I was at a photo shoot the other day the photographer told me I looked like a riot cop with my shades and helmet. So don't mess with me.