Dear Stewart,

Yesterday, the baby and I were looking through an old Zildjian book that Patrick has. It gives a short biography on some famous drummers and includes a description of their cymbal set up. It also lists all the available Zildjian cymbals and a description of their sound and availability. It's an old book but I forgot to check the copyright.

My kid has been banging on my husband's drums quite a lot lately. He's only 17 months old, but he totally gets what he's supposed to do. I guess you give a baby a drum stick and they have a natural inclination to hit things, but he really seems to get it. More than other babies? Who knows. Yesterday he got stuck between the hi hats and the snare drum, and he got PISSED. He was trying to step on the hi hat foot pedal. Patrick just got a new kit - he bought (from eBay) an older Tama kit with a 26" bass drum. Apparently Tama only manufactured 40 kits like this worldwide. I have no idea what that means. The band he's in now and the music he's playing requires, he feels, a deeper sound. He's sure getting it. He has plans to turn his other kit (temporarily) into a little set for the baby, using the floor tom as the bass drum. We'll see.

I love that he loves the drums (and besides his dad, his dad's dad was a drummer too, so great background, right?) but I hope that he might have an interest in playing the flute one day, too. It's always been a dream of mine to play those little duets in "A Tune a Day" with my own child.

Anyway, I made a (weak) joke on Instagram that the baby asked me a question about the book.

Jules: Ba ba ba ba ba?
Irene: Sweetie, Stewart Copeland plays Paiste cymbals.

It made me laugh. But then it made me wonder about your set up, so I went to the Paiste website and checked it out.

Couple of things:

1. Dude! LOTS OF CYMBALS!
2. Awesome photographs. You look amazing. I love the one with the "big" mallet but my favorite is the one where you're just standing there, hands in pockets. Great eyes, man.
3. Is my kid a genius? Email me and I'll send you a video of his skills on the drums.

Love you,
Irene

This book is the property of Patrick Palma.
I know because he wrote that at the back of it. In the 7th grade, probably.
Also, please note: I am not wearing leggings.
Those are padded bike pants. Capris, actually. 
I went for a 17 mile ride prior to taking this photo.