A shot of "Inside the Black Piano"
A couple of months ago, some friends who were moving to Germany for a while offered to let us babysit their shiny, black, grand piano. I didn’t really care to have an extra piano, but Wife really wanted it, so after she asked the fourth time I figured it was my last chance to say “Yes” before I just came home one day and found it here.
“Yes.”
Well, it’s super nice, so Wife made some clear rules about — as the girls have come to call it — The Black Piano. No drinks, no crayons, no scooters, Frisbees, Hulu hoops, Nintendo Wii playing, no Twister, no dogs off leashes, no feeding the seagulls or skateboarding. There might’ve been two or three other restrictions.
So, The Black Piano has become somewhat of a metaphor for general uptightness.
We rented a really nicely restored beach house last month. We went in, and made sure to let the girls know that they had to treat the place with respect, don’t come inside and drag sand all over, no having sailboat races with seashells in the toilets, stuff like that.
Fontaine looks at Wife and says, “This is like we’re living in The Black Piano.”
(a literal view of “Inside the Black Piano” shown above.)
MyThreeDaughters 
you know, Lon, this story reminds me (in a converse way) of the infamous piano story regarding a particular co-worker of ours from Roanoke. in case one of the involved parties is a blog reader, i will go no further. but you talk pianos, pianos coming into house, spousal permission to bring a piano into the house… well, this comes to mind.
We’re really glad you relented and are grateful for giving up half your living room. I see music on the board in the picture. I hope Wife is playing it. When Elizabeth bought it six years ago, I couldn’t even read the Bass Clef, but making it sing with that rich, even voice is very good for the soul.
I have to admit, Michael, the sound that emanates from The Black Piano is luscious. I wondered how long it would take your fam in Germany to read the update about your piano. MTD.com has gone International. Yikes. Wife played it for about an hour this morning.
OK. Here’s what would totally freak your kids out. If Sophie came and played that piano. She’s totally awesome.