The b!tch is back

Greetings, fellow travelers! Three weeks have passed, and much has transpired. Here are the Cliff Notes to get you back up to speed:

• Had an audition and two callbacks at the beginning of the month, and was cast as Golde in Eagan Community Theater's production of Fiddler on the Roof. Last played this role [coughtwentysevenyearsagocough] at Winnequah Middle School. We have been rehearsing e v e r y night - but they didn't schedule me tonight. WOOT! Come see it. We have a lovely air-conditioned auditorium...
• St. Paul's Choir threw one heckuva spring gala, complete with a brand new (for us) grand piano and a huge Abba singalong; the songs from which are slowly leaving my brain.
• The school year ended, another batch of 18-year-olds was released onto an unsuspecting world, and the parade of graduation open houses began.
• Animal world update: mollies, mollies, mollies. Oh, and baby snails at J's place. Heh heh heh. AND Mom and Dad adopted the little orphaned kitten they found under their front step one morning. Dad tried to name him Emil (pronounced EE-mull. I know - he was vetoed). Their "mature" cat, Lily, is tolerating him mildly.
• IT"S BEEN HOT AS HADES AND HUMID AS... HADES.
• My summer voice studio is up and running. There is a part of my Taurean nature that loves a structured schedule.
  
• Knitting a little pink sweater during rehearsals and shifts at El Yarnery. It's the twin sister to the little blue sweater previously posted. Photos to come.

So that brings us to my rehearsal-free evening. And how did I spend it? Combing area thrift stores for "black or brown ankle boots with little to no heel". Gar.

Bright eyed and bushy... tailed

And in church choir news, eWAC brought his blankie to rehearsal for show-and-tell last week. It is fan-freakin'-tastic. (Regrettably, I didn't photograph the reverse, which is dancing hibiscus ladies.)

And it was only a little distracting to the altos and sopranos in the front row - well, some of them, anyway.

Easter 2009

Easter Sunday was a beautiful spring day in Minnesota (finally!). Busy, too. Church service and egg hunt in the morning, noontime meal at M&D's, then Kidlet was off to Grammy's fro the evening meal. Quite the haul was made - she had three Easter Bunny egg/nest/basket opportunities. Yikes.

I realize I never documented holiday knitting FO's very well. Oops. Since there's no time like the present to start setting things aright, here are the details for Kidlet's Easter shrug:

pattern: adapted from One Skein Wonder, by Stefanie Japel
yarns: body in Classic Elite Soft Linen (35% linen, 35% wool, 30% baby alpaca), trim in Rowan Kidsilk Haze (70% super kid mohair, 30% silk)
needles: Knit Picks Harmony interchangeables, US5 and US6
cast on: 27 Mar 2009
completed: 11 April 2009

While we wait for a miracle

... we do odd things to eggs.

Kidlet and I galhandled 82 eggs in preparation for tomorrow, both candy-filled (for the egg hunt at St. Paul's) and hard-boiled (to help the Easter Bunny). She was very focused and paid great attention to detail. Best of all, there were no dye stains on Nana & Papa's beige carpet - woot!

A conversion of greatness

I go to church with amazing young people. This fall I told you about Andrew; today his twin sister, Lindsey, was named Athlete of the Week by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune for winning the Twin Cities Conference Nordic ski meet. Check out her write-up from today's paper.

I can only hope Kidlet continues to look up to these two as role models - kinder, more conscientious (and multi-talented) young adults would be hard to find.

Congratulations, Lindsey!

Preparation, pageantry, and L&C on ice

TGIM. Strange, isn't it? It was a wonderful but crazy weekend, and I'm actually relieved to be back in the weekday routine.

Saturday started with a rehearsal for Lessons & Carols, which morphed into a long lunch with the AnderClan. Boy howdy, but the girls were squirrely! Oh well. It's amazing to watch B and Kidlet together - two peas in a pod. After lunch, Kidlet and I baked four dozen cookies, then made homemade pizza for dinner... bath, bedtime stories and songs, and one tired Meema.

Sunday morning was the children's Christmas pageant at St. Paul's 10:00 service. B and Kidlet were both cast as Mary. That's right - our Jesus had two mommies this year. Woo hoo! B struggles a bit with stage fright, but lasted much longer than previous years; Kidlet presented the baby at the end of the story while B looked on from the safety of Caytie and Mark's laps.

I've spoken many times on the love I have for my church choir. A feistier bunch of singers there isn't. Hearty, too, as yesterday would prove; Minneapolis was treated to a delightful winter rain which promptly froze as the temperatures dipped in the afternoon, just in time for our service.

Our annual Service of Nine Lessons and Carols was not as well attended as hoped, but those who braved the elements were enthusiastic and received a heckuva musical experience, IMHO. The choir sang so. freakin'. well. We performed Benjamin Britten's "Hymn to the Virgin", for which the four section leaders sang antiphonally from across the nave. I was blown away with how solid and sensitively the choir sang (YAY ALTOS!!!). Several other transcendent moments took my breath away.

The wonderful thing about singing in an Episcopal church is that we know how to put on a spread. Note the lovely traditional English Tea reception:

Following the festive gathering in the undercroft, Richard and Brian annually host a gathering even more festive in their Arts & Crafts bungalow. How festive, you may ask? Feast your peepers...

B and Kidlet learned the magic behind the Christmas decorations.
Maestro Scott finally gets a chance to kick back and relax.

Our genteel hosts, Richard and Brian, a.k.a. Mr. and Mr. Christmas.

And now we return you to your holiday knitting, already in progress...

All Hallows' Eve Eve

You know an evening will be fun when Dorothy and Tinkerbell start with a tea party...

Each October the youth group at St. Paul's hosts a Fall Festival (read: Halloween party) for the younger set. Apparently we have a healthy population of girly-girl princess types. B came as a pretty princess in pink, and Kidlet chose her character based on sparkly red shoes. Much fun was had, including caramel apples, games, and the first go-round of candy.

Forgive me, knitters, for I have sinned: I made Kidlet's wig, but stooped to use Caron One Pound No Dye Lot ACK-crylic yarn.

On a slight tangent, several weeks ago I picked up a Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF collection box for Kidlet, and last weekend introduced the concept to her as we ate dinner. Her box has four simple graphics on the front, representing the organization's aid goals of clean water, medical care, nutrition, and education for the world's children.

I mentioned that, for how easy it is for us to turn on the tap and have a glass of clean water, there are millions of children who have to drink from dirty streams and the like; so this year she could carry the box, in addition to her candy bag, and collect money for children around the world. "You mean I can help them?!?" she asked. "Yes, of course you can, sweetie."

"I don't even need that much candy!"

Dome Dogs for dinner

State Tourney season is upon us, and so the weather turns colder. We hit 40ºF today, and it was a blustery one. I [heart] knitting weather! But I digress...

Kidlet, J and I were Metrodome-bound this afternoon on the light rail train to cheer on our friend, Andrew. His sister, Lindsey, stopped to greet us (she also plays futbol, but obviously on the women's team).

St. Louis Park played Bloomington Jefferson, and was it a nail-biter!

The game was tied 1-1 after two 10-minute overtime periods, so the teams went to a shootout. As Andrew approached his shot, SLP students hailed him with the "We're not worthy" salute. So. True. He made it with ease.


(Sorry for the poor video quality.)

Next game is Thursday night. GO PARK!!!

He's got game

Not only is he a pretty fierce trumpet player, bell ringer, and amazingly nice guy who loves his mom, but St. Louis Park senior Andrew Johnson (wearing #11) scored the ONLY goal of their State tourney-qualifying soccer game against Apple Valley last night. Next stop: the Metrodome on Monday afternoon.

Yeah, uh-huh, I know him. Servin' up vicarious coolness here on The Meema Files...

Ode to Joie

I get very nostalgic over The Muppet Show; don't ask how many times my hand has been on the phone (never dialed) when "The Best Of" infomercial comes on the tube. At any rate, this video was brought to my attention by RM, our sole female member of St. Paul's Parish Choir's tenor section.

Love the Beaker in your life!

To sum up

The parade was great. Kidlet had fun with strangers. Nails, nails, nails. Finished two squares for The Promise Blanket.
I'm going to turn my air conditioner on now. May the planet forgive me.

Manicure mania

Today was the first day of the Twin Cities GLBT Pride Festival. My church has a booth on the festival grounds this year (yay!).To encourage people to stop and check us out, we offered free "Pride Manicures" - varying applications of rainbow-y colors. I sat in front of the tent painting nails from 10am to 6pm, with about 30 minutes total of no one in the chair.Kicking myself now for not keeping a running tally...

And, silly Meema that I am, I thought I'd have some down time to knit. HA! I had a festive square for The Promise Blanket in my bag, but it never saw the light of day. Maybe tomorrow.

Free your mind!

Palm Sunday

BLOGGER'S NOTE: Sorry for the premature posting, those of you on the feed. Don't know exactly what keys I pressed, but all of a sudden I was done before I started. "This never happens to me, honestly."

Meema is tired, and it's only the first day of Holy (H*ll) Week. Much music was experienced today, and I am more than happy to start crossing things off the proverbial calendar.

The incense at church this morning about did me in - I had to keep reinserting my expectorated lungs (graphic, yes, but correct image). The choir sang well, and even read our dramatic roles in the Passion convincingly; I think the rest of the week should be equally pleasing, if not great.

This afternoon I wore my soprano soloist hat for Franz Schubert's Mass in G with The Edina Chorale, an ensemble I sang with many moons ago. I was pleased with the concert.

This evening St. Paul's Episcopal was the third concert venue for Illinois Wesleyan University's Collegiate Choir's spring tour. Holy cow - what a versatile group. I had brought my knitting with me because, well, college choir on a Sunday night... but I never touched it. I was thoroughly engaged for the program. An Estonian work was particularly amazing. It was a powerful, gripping 20th century composition, and I'm hoping it will be posted to YouTube soon so I can share more with you. Words can't express where it took the audience. I helped arrange home stays for about 30 students, and I feel much relief that they all found their hosts.

Teaser: tomorrow I will have such a photo for you - one of the choir members is a baloon artist, and that's all I will say. Squee!

Have a lovely evening, all. My pillow calls.

It's all relative

Day 10 (or 18) of Blog365.

Yesterday marked two weeks since Caytie and mWAK added Baby D to their family. Wednesday evening Cate and both kids visited our church choir rehearsal, staying for almost an hout. D even endured being passed through the alto section while we were making noise rehearsing. Perspective is an amazing thing: hearing D's stats right after he was born, I thought, "What a good-sized-almost-big baby!" But after living with and tossing around a 3-year-old, 8lbs 14oz is teeny, tiny, and downright pocket-sized. B impressed many by folding herself up into the baby seat - possibly a foreshadowing of vocation? Factoid: New Baby Smell has to be the most optimistic(?) smell around(to clarify, that's the smell on top of the head). Mmm.

Ch-ch-ch-Chia update: I'm almost afraid to sleep with my eyes closed, this plant is sprouting so quickly! As soon as it starts asking for blood sacrifice à la Audrey II, it's outta here.

Holiday Mayhem

No drawing results yet?!? Oh well. There's so much more to share...

Holiday Mayhem Weekend (#1 of __) started with a dress rehearsal for my church choir's service of Lessons and Carols on Saturday morning. Then Kidlet and I were off to my extended family's Christmas gathering. Between my cousins and me, there are six great-grandkids between the ages of two and eight (seen burying my 91-year-old grandmother on the couch). They all play together so well - I think we're in the Golden Years of cousinage.

One of the main events of this winter gathering is making lefse. Put a lot of Norwegians in one house, and that's generally what happens. Everyone gets a turn at rolling out the dough, and the resulting stack of lefse is divided out amongst the families. Kidlet's intensive Play-Doh training regimen paid off - her technique was greatly lauded.

Sunday morning's sermon was pre-empted by the youth Christmas Pageant. This year's was based on the book, Who Is Coming to Our House? (one of Kidlet's fave holiday books). She was the littlest Piggie in the stable, and very cute to boot. After church there was the requisite exploration of the pulpit, a.k.a. The Princess Tower.

Princess segue... here is Kidlet's favorite joke to tell of late: "How many princesses does it take to change a light bulb?" (How many?) "Would you change this light bulb for me please?" She cracks herself up. Me, too.

A Festive Service of Lessons and Carols was sung on Sunday afternoon, and it was lovely. The choir was as solid as we ever have been for a performance of this magnitude. Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols was amazing, with a gorgeous baritone solo provided by Eric with a C.

(The woman on the left is Cate, who, like the BVM, is great with child. Kidlet's best buddy is her first child, Bea. Oh yeah - Mark with a K is Bea's papa.)

This service is followed by a tea reception (we are, after all, Episcopalians), and then the choir graciously slips out to the afterglow party at Brian and Richard's house. My host gift for one of their many trees:

pattern: Marie Mayhew's Woolly Nest ornament

yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca, blue roving

Such a pity their home isn't a more festive locale:

(at right: eWAC
and Going40)

Have I mentioned how much I love singing with all of these people?

p.s. I'm now an official employee at my LYS of choice. Training was today. How much trouble am I in now??