Two pianos and some sad news today.

Truth be told, I was never impressed with her piano talent but she likes taking lessons and could afford it.

After she found her most recent piano teacher, she suddenly became much better. That's why I would like to stick with Bill if we can.

 

Oh hell, I blocked him years ago. I had to open his comment to see what you were talking about. LOL

The piano teacher just texted us saying what a pleasure it was to teach my wife. I hope he is computer literate enough that they can continue with lessons "on line." I texted him back suggesting that they do that.

If they go on-line I will not need to worry about him teaching her something besides the piano, as some have suggested. LOL

 

I fear you are right about that. I'm already old (81) and have slipped on those stairs once. I did not get seriously hurt. I landed on my butt and broke a toe nail total off so it was bleeding. There is another long set of stairs that lead to a lower floor under the room in OP photo. I have some money set aside to replace the other set of winding stairs and an upstairs closet with an elevator that goes between all three floors. I had a young friend of only 66 years old that tumbled down the stairs at his house, hit his head and died. Stairs are dangerous!

I have big feet, size 12.5, that over hang those steps. I need to find a good carpenter to install that elevator for me. My wife has tiny feet that fit on the stairs but I worry about her falling.

 

I agree. It's going to be a big job. It involves completely removing the stairs going into the lowest level of the house and removing a closest on the uppermost floor. Then we could make the elevator shaft going between all three floors. We would still have alternate access to the lower floor but we would need to leave to house and go outside to use alternate entrance doors if the elevator stopped working. That's unlikely because elevators require battery backup and I already have a whole house generator that kicks on six seconds after a power failure. I would also need to cut a new door into the wall where the elevator would open onto the lowest floor. We could replace part of winding staircase with a new closet, to make up for the closet we would lose.

Elevators take up much less space than winding staircases. As you can see in the photo in the OP I have have very high ceilings. this is also true on the lowest floor. This results in the need for winding staircases that take up a lot of room and dangerous steep stairs. I worry about my friends and myself on my stairs.

 

Uber, I had not thought of that! Also there is a bus that that might run between towns near us. I need to learn the bus route. It might work? I doubt the piano instructor would be willing to take a bus. He often told me that he enjoyed the drive into the country and visiting my house. I need to find out his mental condition. He left his metronome at my house, I finally got his address. I'm thinking of driving to his house with the pretense of returning his metronome, then evaluating his mental acuity. I could offer to help set him up with Skype or Zoom like program so he could continue to my wife (and others). Heck, I could hire a nerd kid to do that, as long as he can adjust to the change.

 

Landline! My landline has so much noise on I that I quit using it!

I'm sure one of those chair lift things would be a practical solution. It's an emotional thing with me. A chair lift would be a visible reminder of my own limitations, while an elevator would be cool. I will need to looking the local laws requiring use of my landline in an elevator. The only people that call my landline number are the people who want to sell me an extended warranty on my car. LOL

 

Been there done that. I'm sorry for your loss. I wish we could all burn out like incandescent light bulbs (poof!) when our time comes. Sadly, it seldom works that way.

 

Good news!!!

I just managed to reach Bill the piano teacher on the phone. He tells me that he is dizzy and uses a cane. He was glad to hear from me. I told him my idea about having a nerd set him up so he can use his wife's computer to give my wife lessons over the Internet. He said he is going to his doctor today and will ask him about that. He admitted that he is not computer literate but would be willing to try.

 

I found someone who is already giving piano lessons and shows how he does it:
https://hughsung.com/pianos-blog/how-to-teach-online-piano-lessons

I fear that will be too complex for both my wife and her teacher. Also it looks like it could become expensive.

Edit:
It looks like equipment needed might be affordable. I'm afraid the learning curve might more than most people would be willing/able to contend with.