Supplement to the previous post - my showbiz relatives

I forgot to mention in my last post that last Saturday, John and I met up with daughter B and her friend J and Dan's girlfriend, Casie, to see our son, Danny in his latest endeavor. It was an excellent play. The acting was very good and truly, a good time was had by all!

The play was Five Flights (more specifics can be found a few posts back). It was about three sibs - actually two sibs, the friend of one and the wife of another who is mentioned but never puts in an appearance. They are left after their father's death with a broken down aviary - a monument to their father's grief at the death of their mother. The argument is whether to create a church to birds (long story) or to let it just decay back from whence it came. Our son, Danny, plays a hockey star who plays for "our team." His fellow hockey player, is a straight man, originally from Russia or Latvia or the Ukraine (sorry I forget - he had an Eastern European accent!) - and provides the comic relief for the play. Danny plays a gay man who instantly starts to fall for one of the brothers in the family who owns the aviary.

The fellow he falls for has been deeply hurt before and is unwilling to be hurt again, so he backs away, though the attraction is mutual. His sister has a crush on a woman she's met at the library who believes that God is embodied in birds (or something to that effect) and believes the sister is a sign from Heaven. Unfortunately the woman cum aviary preacher wannabe does not return the sister's affections. The sister-in-law wants to tear down the aviary and develp the area into a place where people can live or play. I think the sister-in-law more or less represents what most of us in the audience would do were we placed in a similar situation. Interesting that her husband is not present at all and that she is the only one who is not a blood relation of the father who has died.

The brother and sister decide they want to let the place crumble. In some ways this is a reflection of their resignation and desire to avoid the suffering and risk that love entails - the love and grief their father had - grief only quenched by the creation of an edifice to hold the spirit of his departed wife.

There is a lot of humor in this play and a great deal of sadness, as it looks at the human condition and our desire to avoid pain and suffering at all costs. What I really appreciated about the play was the way that it focused on love and little, if any, attention was paid to who (or what gender) was loving whom - which is how it really should be.

I'm sure I've only scratched the surface, but the play was worth the trip and the dinner we all had together at the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant was lovely.

Great job, Dan!

My "lil sis" Christina is DJing in Baltimore tonight. She is known as EmpressDJ and is in the process of promoting her own CD of drum and bass music. You can find her on Facebook where there is a link to one of her songs -and it's quite good!

Break a leg, Christina!

Soon to come in October, Casie Platt, Danny's GF, will be playing in Tony Kushner's award-winning play, Angels in America about the AIDS crisis in the US. HBO presented a five-hour version of Angels back in 2003 and I have the DVDs given to me as a Christmas gift from one of my many offspring. If you live in the DC metro area, it's definitely a must-see, so keep yer eyes peeled for it!

Break a leg, Casie!

Well, that's enough for one day - until next time, GBWYTWMA+

Still wit ya....

Where the heck, you may wonder, have I been? Not blogging for 10 days! Geez louise! Sorry 'bout that - for a time life did intervene and then for a time the computer from which I usually blog decided to get colicky on me and required a little burping from the computer folks in Bawlmer. So... I had to borrow one of my kids' laptops to get pics up and then onto this (family desktop) computer. Snorrrrrrr - oh sorry, let me wake you up now...
I cannot believe it's the 4th of July weekend here in Merlin, USA. Normally Global Warming hath reared its ugly head to give us the usual weekend of hellish roasting, but today was just an amazingly beautiful day - with warm balmy breezes, shineshine and birds tweeting and dear running about in the back yard. Ahhhhh. This evening John and I sat outside on the back deck, sipping our respective glasses of wine and enjoying the scenery. I think there is just such a deck in heaven - I raised a toast in salute to those who have passed before us.
Speaking of those who have gone before us - for those of you in the U.S. who read this, Happy Independence Day:)! And for those of you in countries where you cannot enjoy the freedoms that many of us here in the US, Canada, Europe and elsewhere enjoy, please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you - especially for you in Iran who are struggling for your freedoms! Please don't anybody think this doesn't mean we in America don't have a long way to go in making sure all of our citizens have the freedoms originally only granted to straight land-owning white men! I'm grateful that for the most part we can fight that fight here with far less worry of bloodshed than in many other places. I'm still holding out for socialized medicine and legal services (only fair since I am an attorney!).

I have been doing a LOT of knitting lately - and I am about to start yet another project after having added approximately three more to my list. On Ravelry, it looks as though I have 72 (soon to be 73) projects. But really, I don't. I have actually finished 37 of them, so I only have 35 (soon to be 36) on the needles. And at least three of them are fairly close to completion - those three being the Daily Sweater from Mason-Dixon Knitting's latest book, February Lady Sweater, and well, I'm about 1/2 way done with Sandrine (well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

I have a confession to make: spinning really scares me. It looks too easy, and something inside tells me it's really really hard and just pretends to be easy to suck you into its clutches. You may remember that a while back, I got a drop spindle to practice on. I bought a book - Knitting in the Old Way. I even tried spinning some pencil roving to dip my proverbial big toe into the cold teaming water, and got the equivalent of the big kindergarten jumbo crayons in fiber out of it. Then I thought I'd try to spin a bit of regular roving.
Cloverhill Yarn Shop in Catonsville, Merlin has a lovely selection of roving - and it was majorly on sale as my daughters would say - $2/oz - precarded, cleaned and dyed - not bad! So, I thought, why not give it a shot. I still have trouble with the pre-drafting thing. I think you're supposed to do that with a drop spindle. So I drafted a bunch of it (at least I think I did - I copied what some people were doing on YouTube, LOL) and actually didn't do too badly. The one thing I have a lot of trouble with is making the dang thing spin, so it tends to go slowly. Rolling it up the leg does not work for one who is thunderous of thigh.... Now I have to
finish spinning this stuff and safe up my toilet paper rolls for plying. Why, I don't know - does one's bowels and/or bladder need to be emptied before plying? Probably not, but I think that's the way we non-wheelers do it. So now spinning is going to be my new adventure:)!

I've also begun three new lace projects (you know, just in case I find myself with time on my hands and nothing to do - RIGHT!) First, I am doing the Taurus Birthday Shawl from the KAL started by the Wollklabauter herself, Monika Eckert. Links for this can be found on Ravelry here. I'm knitting it on size 5 (US)/3.75 needles with Pakucho lace cotton in deep green (more of an olive green). So far it's going pretty well - of course each hint adds more and more stitches until I think we will be at well over 500 stitches per row -but I'm doing the triangle version, so by the time I get to the really really high numbers I'll be heading toward the end.

I have finally found a use for this lovely cotton yarn I bought at the 2007 Merlin Sheep and Wool Festival - it's cotton yarn, handspun, by a lady from Silver Spring, Merlin, named Janet Stollwitz. The yarn at first is hard to work with, the colors are fantastic, but it feels like it's about to break in your hands. But it hasn't and so far, it's working well with this pattern. I chose to do Gnarled Oakwoods by Anne Hanson of
knitspot.com fame. This pattern was featured in the premier issue (Fall, 2008) of The Twist Collective and I liked it right away, got the pattern and then filed it away for another day. I'm looking forward to finishing this sometime in the next year:) (Hey folks, I didn't say I was a particularly swift knitter!)

Here's the third new project on the needles:
Who can resist a bit of Jojoland Melody - and in my favorite colors to use together (other than a variety of blues)? Purple and green really complement my new Black's Law Dictionary. And boy do I feel old - this is the 9th edition. I started law school with the 5th edition (but then a fifth was something I needed many of in law school, LOL). The original edition was published in 1891 - so now you know how truly old I am!

I've been moving right along on the Sandrine-probably because it's such a beautiful red and the pattern just fascinates the heck out of me - plus if I really really pay attention and finish this well, I may have something nice to wear to work occasionally - or if not, it will be a terrific spring weather sweater. If I work on it tonight, I'll be close to the point of dividing off the sleeve stitches - instant relief from the 439 stitches that will be on the circular! (Thank God for circular needles!)

If I don't work on the Sandrine tonight, I'm going to be starting on this:

This is the lovely and versatile Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnston. This is it as pictured on the Ravelry site and on her blog.

A simple and elegant triangular shaped shawl, I think I will enjoy making this most of all - and I think this one will be for me (why not?). It's supposed to be in fingering weight yarn (the pictured finished shawl uses Malabrigo, which I imagine is lovely), but I think I'm going to use two strands of laceweight yarn togther from my stash - probably one of the many beauties from Knitpicks (I have probably enough of their Shadow) or some of the beautiful Fiddlesticks lace yarns I have picked up over the past year at All About Yarn in Columbia . It's fun to go stash diving! None of the guilt and twice the fun!

Day to day life has gone on. I still struggle with weight and exercise, and I will need to give the doc a call so I can start this time to document (not that this hasn't been done already, LOL!!!) six months of weight loss under the care of a doc. I must do this for my insurance to allow the bypass surgery. That's OK. I've waited this long, I can wait six more months. One good thing: John and I have joined the local Y so that we will have a place for regular exercise (and swimming, which I love). I have not started there yet - holiday weekend and summer time is fairly busy and I'd like to go at an odd hour as I am getting started. Hearing of Colin's faithful routine despite a crippling illness has inspired me to get going. He looks MAHVELOUS after a weight loss of over 100 pounds. The clothes he wears are stunning! As I say, he is an inspiration to me in more ways than one!

In the meantime, I have been working, knitting, and living life. We have had the grandgirls over to help with summer daycare. Luckily John and my schedules have allowed it without us having to take off time from work. Last Sunday I had the pleasure of singing with a small group from the choir Thomas Tallis' If Ye Love Me and this time I sang the BASS part with Dave B, since Nancy had the soprano part covered, Susan F and Peggy B (Dave's wife) had alto, and Drew C has a very strong tenor voice. This was a first. Luckily the range (tessitura) of the piece is relatively small. I was surprised to find that I was able to reach (on occasion) the C below middle C! And I haven't had a cigarette in years! I'm afraid one day my vocal chords will just pop and that will be the end of any sound out of me for the rest of my days. My kids would like that!

Yesterday, after giving the housework a lick and a promise (yeah right!), I went over to the music office at St. Johns to give Nancy a small amount of help with the bell choir music. It's always fascinating to peer inside the work of someone like her - in a job I could never do if I tried for the rest of my life. We did a lot of talking and laughing - about family, politics, music, friends - that it was almost 7 when I got home. Oops! Oh well, I usually don't go out too much...well not lately anyway!

Next week I have a lot to get done in a short amount of time since I hope to be leaving for NYC on Thursday. Maureen is going to her sister's wedding in Canada and that will be too much travel for Dad, so John and I are going to stay with him to keep him company and hopefully not bore him too much! Definitely bringing knitting along!

Well, not much more to say today. I will return, good Lord willing, etc., until then, God be with you 'til we meet again!

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I break for socks:)

Well, we have finally seen the sun and gotten rid of the mildew growing under our knees (eww)! The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day here in Merlin. Since last I posted, dear readers, life has indeed, gone on. This past weekend was another time of missing church (I have been so bad - pure laziness is all it has been - shame on me - and I heard the organist was excellent, too, LOL!)

Monday after court, I went home to finish up and to go to the first Board Meeting for the Orchestra of St. Johns - what an excellent season we are looking at for 2009-2010! Of course, yours truly volunteered to send out the minutes, God help us all. And it will be a bit of a challenge to raise the funds we need, but I feel confident we can do it. This will be such a great boon to our part of the universe!

It was nice catching up with Nancy - her DS was honored by his wife, family and friends for his recent graduation and his degree in psychology. He is now looking for work, and he's getting tons of interviews! I'm sure he'll do well. He and K are very similar - both are brilliant students and excellent writers. I know Nancy and Rennie are very proud of him as well they should be!

Yesterday was spent catching up on phone calls and trying to get organized. Today I am heading out to the office to drop off that paperwork, get new files and then on to visit (hopefully) three clients to prepare for court tomorrow. With any luck, I'll get to knit with my Sip'nKnit buds tonight!

Knitting is a matter of plugging away on the gazillion projects already underway. I think I now get why knitters often say "socks don't count." They are (comparatively speaking) small projects

that can be done in really neat yarn, relatively inexpensive (because you get at most two skeins), and - most importantly - they provide instant gratification. So, Sunday, I decided to take a sock break, using Cookie A.'s "Cookie Cutter Short Rows." Basically, you do a provisional cast on half the stitches you'll need using the back loops of a chain of crochet stitches in contrasting yarn, knit back and forth on those 36 or so stitches, working short rows as you would

for a heel, then back, until you have a curved shape, then unravel the crocheted chain, leaving live stitches to create the other half of the stitches, then proceed to knit in the round. You also do the heel the same way. I probably have not put this well, but you can probably find some reference to it on her blog. I am not linking to it, because her blog asks one not to do so, so I

won't. I did have some problems with picking up the live stitches, mostly because the crocheted chain did not unravel properly, but it's working fairly well. I decided to do a broken ribbing for

the instep and sock pattern once I get past the heel. The yarn is (I believe) Cherry Tree Hill, but

the colorway I don't have. Sorry.

I've also been plugging away on D's Lady February Sweater - hopefully it will be ready for her

by autumn, LOL! Hopefully it's not too wide and will eventually be long enough. I might need to do 3/4 length sleeves, but that's OK for this sweater.

Finally, I have been plugging away at the baby blanket - have done another color change, using up the Solstice organic cotton for what I hope will be a doubly wide center stripe, then back to the light blue and ending with the medium blue for the edging. It's not looking too bad. I'm using size 4 lace

circulars - the sharp points are very helpful in sticking with the pattern!

Well folks, that's all for now! God be with you 'til we meet again!

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Bloggy Blahs, but I did have a decent week!

Life has just been moving along. Nothing earth shattering, nothing really new, so I've been following a whole bunch of blogs and commenting throughout the blogosphere - in English and occasionally in German (die arme Deutschen!). And it's been a lot of fun. Christa and Grainnee, thank you for posting comments here! I have so enjoyed hearing from you - you have been very kind to this "spinnende Ammie," and I so appreciate it:).

Last I really posted (aside from the articale in Playbill about our son), I think it was more than a week ago, so I will catch up a bit:

Last Saturday was the International Knit in Public Day - so of course being the perverse individual I am, I knit in private! Actually I stayed up so late Friday evening that I was a bit foggy eyed in the morning that I slept in past noon! That evening I attended a concert for a woman's singing group called the Nightingales. Their accompaniment - consisting of piano and at times a flute - was delightful. The concert featured the work of one of the singers and it was LOVELY! I was amazed at how well she had composed these works and if anyone else out there heard this, please leave this talented lady's name in a comment! I want to give appropriate credit. I did try a little "knitting in public," here at Emory United Methodist Church - a wee little church on one of Old Ellicott's many hills near the Fire Museum. Donna's husband, Tom and her son, Brian and his GF were present, supporting their wife and mom, respectively. Another St. John's member, Charles O, was also there. The music was definitely old-fashioned, and not the fast paced stuff we're used to in today's world, but I had a very pleasant time. Donna was very much the professional, shining only when it was her turn to do so (and I know what a beautiful voice she has!) When the concert was over, I headed home and had a quiet evening, staying up late again to continue working on some of my projects.

I missed church yet again on Sunday - and Nancy was there! Now you know I was tired! Sunday afternoon, the Army Field Band played a chamber music concert at St. John's, which I did attend, warning Nancy that she should not stand too close to my general vicinity, as the roof was likely to cave in on me. It was nice to catch up with her and hear about her trip with her family - hell it was great to see her finally relieved to see summer after a busy year!

Monday was a fairly busy day at work - court in the morning, paperwork in the afternoon and visits in the evening. Tuesday there was a meeting at DSS in the morning, a visit to the office mid -day, filing back at the courthouse, and then I stopped by St. Johns for a bit to give Nancy a hand with the handbell music. Again, not really bloggable stuff, but lots 'o fun for me. Nancy shared her lunch with me and it was delicious - I don't think I can match her ability to creat low-carb meals with so much flavor, so I think I owe her lunch, LOL!

The next day was a morning spent babysitting the grandgirls, then poor John got up after only a few hours sleep to take over so I could go off to lunch and a training conference near the airport. Note picture at right documenting the fact that he is indeed, the World's Best Pop.

Thursday was court, and then finally, I had an office visit with Dr. A regarding the possibility of weight loss surgery. It looks like I will most likely have to document at least three months of attempting weight loss with my primary doc, if not six - but that's OK. Plus, apparently they have you join a support group, get a psychological evaluation and nutritionaly counseling. It's really a holistic approach that they take. I see now why my daughter, D, has had so much success with this. There's a lot to do, but think of the rewards! I think it's worth it! Once that was over it was time to go visit three clients, then home.

This morning I thought I had a hearing, so I got up early, ran out the door and hit a wall of traffic. In a panic (because this particular Master really really wants us there on time!) , I called the clerk's office only to find that this hearing had been postponed to July 10th! OY! It was terrific - like getting a day off from school! So I went home, answered e-mails and had a relatively quiet afternoon.

Knitting. Oh yeah, Knitting!

I may have mentioned that I ordered Marianne Isager's book, Knitting Classics. Well, it arrived

shortly before the weekend and I think I'm going to start with attempting the lovely sleeveless number on the cover - only I think I'm gonna add some sleeves or use it as a vest. This is one lovely book - allow me to show you some of the magic that is Marianne Isager:

The sleeveless top on the cover is a series of slip stitch rows, creating vertical strips - slimming and pretty. I've chosen some pretty wild colors but I like how they look together. The photograph here doesn't really do the colors justice - I'm knitting two strands of each color together, so it is basically a sport or close to aran weight. Strangely enough, I actually

knit a swatch on US 5 needles - and got gauge! What the heck is that about? I think it will be a little large, but that's OK - I'm not one of those women who do well with negative ease, LOL!
I love all the other patterns in this book as well - Ms. Isager has a way of using unusual natural yarns to make outstanding garments. I photographed a few of the other projects in the book, but of course my photos really don't show you how truly beautiful her work is!

The book is not terribly expensive and I think it's well worth the price!

I honestly want to do all of them! Just where to begin? I mean, I do have another 8,567 projects yet to finish, right?

Speaking of which, I have also been working on the baby blanket, this time I'm adding more stitch patterns to it to create sort of a sampler blankie. It's not too bad on the eyes.

The Sandrine is still out, and I'm inching ahead bit by bit. I've set the February Lady Sweater aside for a little while, but I'm not giving up on it!

Well, tomorrow is another babysitting day and I may actually behave myself well enough to get to church on time on Sunday, LOL!

In the meantime, I'm working on the baby blanket for "Gunther."

Well, I'm off to do some more knitting while I watch the boob tube!

Have a terrific weekend, everyone! Back soon. Until then, God be with you 'til we meet again!

That's my boy! I'm so proud:)!

DC's Theater Alliance Launches Bock'sFive Flights June 12

By Kenneth Jones
12 Jun 2009

Five Flights star Adele Robey
photo by Bruce Robey

Theater Alliance's final production of the 2008-09 season in Washington, DC, is Adam Bock's Five Flights, the regionally popular tale of a family letting go of the past, June 12-28.

Shirley Serotsky stages the play, which, according to production notes, "explores in lyrical detail, what happens to a family when they must decide how to dispose of their parents' estate: a dilapidated aviary. Should they turn it into a shrine, a parking lot or abandon it altogether? We find Ed, who is stuck between a bossy sister-in-law, a highly suggestive sister, a zealot friend, and the attentions of a cute hockey player."

The original 2004 Off-Broadway run by Rattlestick Theater starred Tony winner Alice Ripley. Bock's plays include The Receptionist, The Typographer's Dreamand Swimming in the Shallows. Bock received his MFA in playwriting from Brown University.

The DC Five Flights company features Kathleen Akerley, Danny Gavigan, Christopher Herring, Eric M. Messner, Adele Robey and Helen Pafumi.

The production team includes set and lighting designer Klyph Stanford, costume designer Iviana Stack and stage manager Juely Siegel.

Performances play Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM.

Theater Alliance performs at The H Street Playhouse, 1365 H Street, NE, Washington, DC. To purchase tickets, visit www.theateralliance.com or call (866) 811-4111.

*

Theater Alliance is a non-profit professional theatre company that focuses on "the presenting of new or rarely produces work geared toward attracting diverse and alternative audiences to our Northeast DC community." Each season, Theater Alliance produces "four to five plays, including world, American and area premieres."

Its productions have included works by Salman Rushdie, Lee Blessing, Rebecca Gilman, Toni Morrison and Kornel Hamvai, among others. Theater Alliance earned 21 Helen Hayes nominations in seven years.

Danny Gavigan and Eric M. Messner in Five Flights
photo by Bruce Robey

Und Jetzt Etwas Auf Deutsch:) And Now Something in German:)and Swedish

Many thanks to Grainnee for this wonderful "Filmtipp!" I am such a sucker for movies about people who use their talents for others - and the description of this film convinces me it is something I want to see. The title, Wie Im Himmel (As in Heaven). Maybe I will convince one of my Netflicks-using "kids" to allow me to borrow a film from them. I believe it's in Swedish. This clip from YouTube (also lifted from Grainnee's site) is in Swedish with German subtitles. To all my choir singer friends out there in the blogosphere - this hit goes out to you. (I'll try to translate the subtitles and the blurb from the movie website -be kind all you Germans out there!) I've heard it said that Swedish is a nice language to listen to....

My best attempts at translating the words to the song:

Now my life belongs to me
My time on earth is so short
My longing brought me here
What I’ve lost and what I’ve gained
It is the way that I choose
My trust lies with the words
It has shown me a small piece
Of Heaven, that I have not found yet
I want to feel that I live
Every day that I have
I want to live as I wish
I want to feel that I live
To know I was good enough
I have never abandoned my self
I have only allowed it to slumber
Perhaps I never had a choice
Only the will to live
I only want to be happy
That I am how I am
To be strong and free
To see how the night turns into day
I am here
And my life belongs to me
And the Heaven that I sought
I find it anywhere
I want to feel
That I have lived my life.

WIE IM HIMMEL erzählt von einem Musiker, dessen Lebenstraum sich erfüllt, als er nach langer Irrfahrt lernt, die Menschen und sich selbst zu lieben. Ein mitreißender und humorvoller Film über das Abenteuer, sein eigenes Paradies zu finden - ein vielstimmiges und gefühlvolles Meisterwerk.
Der weltberühmte Dirigent Daniel Dareus kehrt nach einem schweren Kollaps in sein schwedisches Heimatdorf zurück. Eigentlich wollte er sich von der Welt zurückziehen, doch als er das Amt des Kantors antritt, findet er über seine Leidenschaft für die Musik auch zu den Menschen zurück. Bei seiner Arbeit mit dem bunt zusammengesetzten Chor der kleinen Gemeinde entfaltet sich vor ihm allmählich ein ganzer Mikrokosmos menschlicher Sorgen und Nöte, und er ist überglücklich, alser erkennt, dass er mit Hilfe der Musik einen Weg in die Herzen der anderen findet. Das ist die Erfüllung seines Traums, mit dem er vor Jahrzehnten aus dieser Gegend aufgebrochen war...
http://www.wie-im-himmel-derfilm.de/start.html

WIE IM HIMMEL tells of a musician, whose life's dream was fulfilled, as he learned after a long odyssey, to love others and himself. An enthusiastic and humor-filled film about the adventure of finding his own Paradise, a deeply harmonious and expressive masterpiece.

The world famous conductor, Daniel Dareus returned to his Swedish home town after a severe collapse. Actually, he wanted to retreat from the world, indeed as he stepped into the office of the cantor, he found through his passion for music his way back to humanity. Through his work with the colorfully composed choir of the small community, gradually evolved before him an entire microcosm of cares and needs, and he is overjoyed, as he recognizes that with the help of music, he finds a way into the hearts of others. This is the fulfillment of his dream, with which he had broken away from this area decades ago.

OK, so I'm a sap - but I really liked this song.

Not much new -I'm totally exhausted; it's been a long day. Had court morning and afternoon and had to be in two courtrooms at once (at least it was in the same courthouse!) and then visited a few clients afterwards, and ran an errand, came home to a rearrangement of my desk area which I really liked that John did (bless his heart!) and then promptly fell asleep sitting up on the couch.

Rah. so of course now I'm wide awake.

But tomorrow's another day o' court and I must get up early, so I must go. I have done precious little knitting today, but I will play EZ's DVD of the Knitting Workshop (Thank you Betsy). It's a mental form of comfort food:)

Saturday is World Wide Knitting in Public day, is it not? Let's all get out there! Whoo hoo! I'm looking forward to it!

God be with you 'til we meet again!

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Stormy weather

I was about to get into my car to go to the office to drop some things off yesterday, but the bright, cheerful sunny skies had suddenly turned into this:

It was windy and downright scary - especially since I had to convince an adult daughter to get her butt in the house - she was on the swing ferchrisssakes! Sheesh! Of course Mom was a doofus, too, standing outside and taking pictures during a thunderstorm- brilliant, huh? But I did get some fun pictures in.  Luckily there was no twister, but it wouldn't have surprised me if it had turned to a small one as fast as the wind was starting up and as loud as it got for a while there.   Thankfully (!!!) this part of the country rarely gets such weather phenomena, but it has  happened a few times since we've lived in Merlin, so you never know.

This morning I got up super early to get to the office before an 8:30 meeting I thought was happening at the courthouse, but apparently had been canceled (serves me right for missing the last meeting!).  So, I was uncharacteristically up at 5:30 and out the door by 7 and in and out of the office by 8.  When I realized I was going to be leaving Towson at a very very bad traffic time, I took the back woods way home and it was lovely.

Lately, the mornings are so sunny and bright.  Birds are chirping, there's a breeze in the air. You'd swear it was May! But now that it's later in the afternoon, it looks like rain.  I said to Joanna that it looks like we've switched weathers with the Northwest.  And I am NOT complaining! (but Joanna is!).

Am about to head out the door to play my weekly Ring Around the Beltway to visit clients and will be missing Sip N Knit again, so I thought I'd console myself by posting some pics of my

progress on the Sandrine. I've frogged twice and so far it feels like the third time is the charm. Well, dear readers, God be with you 'til we meet again!

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