north carolina | piperism

A Piper loves music. And noise. And dancing noisily to music of any kind. When given the choice of musical instruments, Piper chose the drums. Against our better judgement, we got her her very own drum set for her birthday. I blogged about that mistake in her Birthday Blog.

Sometimes we even stumble upon music and add our own kind of noise, like the time we joined the O Street Band.

So, it seems a natural progression in the musical education of Piper to introduce her to her first drum circle. We’re in Asheville, North Carolina for the week (hiding in plain sight of Sissy’s camp because that’s the kind of mom I am). If any town in this country has a drum circle on a Friday night, it’s Asheville. After dinner last night, we went in search. The thing about a drum circle is that they really aren’t that hard to find. Like Piper, a drum circle has a lot of noisy dancing to music of any kind. You can hear them blocks away.

Piper has always marched to the beat of her own drum. It was her first drum circle, but it definitely won’t be her last.

We sent Piper to the mines yesterday. She’s been lazing about for five whole years. We figured it was time she learn what child labor is all about. And somebody has to help pay for Sissy’s fancy mountain camp. Geez.

Piper went on her mining expedition with her Nana and Papa to the world famous Elijah Mountain Gem Mine. They got their Little Miner’s bucket of dirt and began sifting. And sifting. And sifting. Mining treasures is hard work, but Piper persevered. “You know,” she said, “I’m just really good at this mining thing!”

Turns out, Piper has a knack for mining. She struck it rich! She came home with bags of genuine gem stones.

We set up our own gem cleaning station. Piper’s been hard at work ever since. She’s been washing, scrubbing, sorting. We’re not entirely sure what the glowing one in the bucket is. It’s either real gold or too much flash on the camera. Either way, Piper may have found her true calling.