Long weekend Gardening and Dancing

Actually there was more dancing than gardening, though we did get out on Monday afternoon. Fred did almost all of the lawn (skipped the Secret Garden, as it's mostly invisible and quite shady, so not much grass growing there). I planted a little and weeded a little and worked on the greenhouse - it needs more plastic but, despite some wind it managed to stay put while I taped it up. It isn't pretty but I think it will do the job.
The weather was not bad - as far as rainfall went - for the long weekend, but it was really chilly right up until yesterday, when the wind finally shifted. We are having fitful rain today but at least it's warmer. This is not what the farmers are looking for - they want warm and dry and windy for a week, or the crops can't go in. I keep starting seeds indoors as I don't know when I'll be able to get things going outdoors. Must look for more big pots for potatoes. They are still not showing above ground, by the way - I think they need heat as well. I'll get another roll of poly today and get the greenhouse closed in so they can warm up a little.
We had quite a bit of music and dance for the weekend: Saturday afternoon and Saturday night, Sunday at the Triangle, and Sunday night at ours. Our summer neighbours returned from California on Sunday too, so they dropped in for a while! It was great times.

November is more like September, this year.

I do feel badly for my family in Vancouver, enduring rain and gales day after day, and those in the British Isles and Ireland, too. We have been very, very fortunate and I am thankful. We had our almost traditional Guy Fawkes bonfire last weekend, you can see the balloons marking the way to the site of the fire, beyond the vegetable garden. The balloons had electric tea lights inside, so after dark they were illuminated and showed the way back to the house. Only one burn from a sparkler, and the gingerbread Guys were mostly eaten rather than being tossed on the fire. I found some glow lanterns at the $$ store and they were pretty terrific after dark as well.
Must remember to pick up more as I see them throughout the year. Wonderful music and some dancing afterward at the house. We put up the folding table for the buffet, and afterward just folded it and put it away in the garage, so there was room for music and dance.

I planted bags of pink daffodils yesterday - yes, I know, sucked in again! I believe the pretty pictures on the box, and then in spring have glorious displays of King Alfred yellow ones everywhere. And haul them out in frustration, and move them down to the roadside where their bright yellows will look cheerful and won't clash horribly with my bordeaux-coloured house. Perhaps this year will be different!! Maybe they really will be pink and white, and I'll be able to leave them in the flower beds. Yes, and pigs make wonderful birds, too.

Heritage, Valentines, and Fantasy

We had a splendid time at the Private Lives Ball. The Prince of Wales Ballroom (built 1933) looked surprisingly good, given it's now used as a gym. Plenty of swathed fabric, and lots of minilights over the windows. White tulips in big bowls on the tables, as well as beads and candles. They had put clip-on lights, like little book lights, on the edge of the bowls of tulips so the water was lighted up. I should have taken a picture of that.
There were many pictures taken, however. Here we are dancing. It's a bit dark! We actually won a prize for "Most Improved Dancers". There was lovely free champagne(-like drink), crepes and a chocolate fountain. They pulled it off really well, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. We will have to do more of this ballroom stuff, and quickly, before we forget what we know.

As it's Heritage Week, Fred is busy almost every night. We both went to the Heritage Awards on Monday - best award: Chuck and Albert for preserving Acadien culture. They were a hoot. Hugged everyone on the platform, got everyone into the photo, and Chuck wondered aloud: "where his Ipod was?" [two students, winners of the poster contest, were presented with Ipods. Unfortunately the adults had to make do with certificates.] Then last night it was certificates for designated heritage buildings in Summerside. Fred wasn't home until 11:30.

Tonight's just dance class, with maybe a trip to the gym beforehand. It will be nice to dance to straightforward jigs, reels, hornpipes and so on, rather than wondering just what tempo this tune is and what one should dance to it. There were some very good dancers at the ball, of course, so we just watched them when we were unsure!

The rest of Heritage Week in Summerside includes a bean supper tomorrow night (but we're expecting a big snowstorm so that may be cancelled) and the Mayor's Heritage Tea on Friday, I think. I've been to that before now, and it's always a big deal, with folks in costume and everything.

I've been reading a lot of fantasy lately (Judith Marillier's stories of Irish myth and magic) and watching "Doctor Who" as I knit in the evenings. Very strange combo, I know. I am also reading another of Nuala O'Faolain's books, this one the autobiography. So, it's her for the bike at the gym, Marillier's Dark Mirror on CD in the car, and her Child of the Prophecy in book form otherwise. It's just like my knitting - I'm all over the place.

Speaking of which, I'm finally working on Fred's Durrow sweater - I've frogged and ripped the first sleeve a number of times, and I think I'm better off just LOOKING at the photo of the cable than trying to read the chart. I seem to go terribly wrong when I'm following that - I can be absolutely correct, every stitch in the right place, etc., and then on the very next pattern row I have too many stitches in one spot and not enough in another. But K's teal beaded socks are done, and now I must pull up MY socks and get a few things finished - My Teach is still on the first front, E's first kilt hose still in mid-calf, and the Durrow has to be finished before it gets too warm to wear it!

I've been awfully tempted by various vests, however. I have two different sorts of lilac-coloured yarn, one Briggs & Little (2 skeins of Regal, I think), and one Shetland DK (VV find, 4 skeins, 50 g. each). I'm terrified that neither is enough for a vest, though. After all, vests are just like sweaters without sleeves, and sweaters take a LOT of yarn. I have several skirts which would be greatly enhanced with a lilac-coloured vest. How about THAT! Thinking that far ahead is very unusual for me. I usually just choose fabric or yarn I like because of the content or the colour, and worry later about what to wear with!

So, waiting for the next snowstorm (we're actually down to one every two weeks now, instead of one per week.). The piles of snow are unbelieveable! It just hasn't melted since before Christmas. You risk an accident at every corner because visibility is so bad, due to the enormous piles of snow. I usually scorn the idea of "going South" but this year...it looks attractive!

Try to remember this in July

Man, is it cold! We've gone a couple of years without the -36 windchill and I'd forgotten what it's like - the car was sluggish this morning (at -22) and I thought I would never get the gearshift into neutral so it could sit, idling, for a bit before I had to get in and drive for 20 minutes. However, it was more willing to shift gears later on the drive in.

We are caught up in the excitement of a costume ball! A local theatre is doing a Valentine's Day period ball from the era of the Noel Coward play "Private Lives", set in 1929/30. In addition to the ball, our tickets provide for 6 ballroom dance lessons (in the six weeks leading up to the ball) and assistance with making a ballgown of the period. I've a huge stash of fabric, with 9 different chiffons with glitz, entirely appropriate to the 1929 period. I have just to choose! The 30's bias-cut satins aren't going to do it for me, so I've plumped (pun intended) for the no-waist late flapper look, with a shift in something shiny (I have silver satiny stuff and a red/burgundy taffeta) and some glitzy chiffon to drape over it. I may have to do a couple before I decide.

Fred has his black suit, fresh from the cleaners, and a new formal shirt and black silk bow-tie. Won't we look splendid!

Where Have I Been?

Returned from the Irish Arts Week in the Catskills on Monday, and have been working flat out ever since, that's where. The week was jam-packed, with two dance classes every day (morning and afternoon), plus dances every night, concerts, sessions, listening rooms, CD launches, lectures on Irish music and history...it was exhausting! But wonderful.