This week Tage started his regular pre-school schedule, going from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon, three days a week, and it’s amazing how quiet the house is in the hours that he’s gone. It’s almost spooky. Petra plays quietly and calmly, the dogs lie around snoozing, Olof works in the office downstairs, and I revel in the quiet, glorious quiet. I don’t think I truly realized before how much noise he makes, and I underestimated how much I would appreciate a respite from it. The only downside is that it can be a little jarring when he comes home all raucous and keyed up–I could use a more gradual shift from peaceful silence to wild cacophony.

On the other end of the spectrum from silence is Lydia’s new endeavor. After being underwhelmed by the trumpet last year, she set her sights on the guitar, and she begins lessons next week. We bought her a second-hand guitar last night, and even though it’s still missing two strings, she’s been strumming her little heart out every chance she gets. And though I do have a soft spot in my heart for brass, I can’t deny that the guitar is much less wearing on my nerves than the trumpet was. Even when played badly, the guitar–the acoustic guitar, at any rate–is rather pleasant to hear.

My own most recent foray into music-making was my acquisition today of a nose flute. Check it out here. I am now an official member of the Swedish Nose Flute Orchestra, and all it cost me was ten crowns (about a buck), and a bit of dignity. Helena and Melanie also joined up (Melanie was the catalyst, actually), and I’m figuring that as soon as Lydia’s ready to accompany us on guitar we can go out on tour. Watch this space for details.