Dad Did This ...

He turned the vase here, then carved it while down south this winter. He did two other ones, very different from this one, too.

Mom and Dad and I went to the wood carving show on Saturday. We didn't see anything as good there, I don't think. Mom agrees with me.

Then I got groceries and made a huge mess in the kitchen, making green pies and baked tofu and coleslaw. Rafe brought lemon cake and raspberries after his stilt-walking gig. We had a feast and yacked and laughed 'til late. I got up this morning, fed the cats, went back to bed 'til after noon, had a shower in a vain attempt to steam the crud out of my head, headed to the APs to hang out with them and Mary's crew. Rafe came for dinner and we all yacked and laughed 'til late. Rafe's first stilt experience was when we were seven, on the ones Dad made for me. Tonight, he got all three of Mary's kids up on his stilts. Good weekend. Sleepy now.

Frostiness ...

Some pictures I forgot to post before.
Hoarfrost on a string ... the hangy-downy bits are just frost



Some more hoarfrost on a grass stalk



Leaves stuck in the ice on a puddle

What I Did Easter Weekend ...

It was beautiful out on Friday! Jeanette dropped by on Friday with her sweetie for a walk-by hugging. While she and I were yacking in the livingroom, her sweetie was playing with my fridge magnet words in the kitchen. I've had "I want me so over you." at the top of the board for quite a while. Underneath, he added "I want to be beneath you." Way to change the energy of that statement! Thanks!

I went out to the lake on Saturday to hang about and have Easter dinner with the family. I stopped at Mary's on the way to see the art project she's working on. When Cory and I went up to the store we ran into an old friend of mine who's been asking Mom about the Fair the last couple of years. He'd love to go. I think he'd love it.

Because two of the cats I serve are idiots who will eat until they puke, I have to come home to feed them. So I drove back to the city Saturday night and back out to the lake Sunday morning for the egg-hunting.

From bright blue skies and warm temperatures on Friday to this on Sunday morning:



We hunted for eggs in the snow:



"I found a egg in the bath bird!"



There was a never-ending cycle of cleaning, meal preparation, meals, liberally augmented with going out, coming in, talking, reading, knitting, singing, playing, building of snowmen, and laughing. Mom, Mary, Cory, Ernie and Mona took turns reading The Timewaster Letters and laughing themselves silly. Cassandra sang a lovely song about the "Hippy Dippy Dance" and she and Rose sang the Hokey Pokey one a bunch of times. Mona incited a conspiracy of lasagnas and grocery lists that made things more relaxed and efficient, I think. It was a big weekend for Rose and Cassandra. They had always slept in their play pens in a corner of the big up-upstairs bedroom when at the lake. They've now moved into the bottom of the two bunk beds in the upstairs (only one "up") bedroom ... how grown up! It snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed ... look out the windows behind the hard-working girls:



Lots of games of Carcassonne were played, but I didn't get a chance to get into one of them this time. It looks great, though, and I look forward to trying it. Linda learned that plying the adults with wine improved one's odds of winning:



By the time I left to go home (to feed the stupid cats again), most of the snow was gone:

la-dee-dah-dee-dah

We all know frogs say la-dee-dah-dee-dah, la-dee-dah-dee-dah, la-dee-dah-dee-dah. We all know frogs say la-dee-dah-dee-dah, they *don't* say mm-mm-blah! ... Rose and Cassandra and Mona taught me that song today. We sang it a bazillion times an' now I'm la-dee-dah-dee-dahing off to bed with my allergies.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Signs of Spring ...

Sneezing.

I didn't wake myself up sneezing this morning ... it rained! Just a little bit, but enough to stick the allergens to the ground, I guess.

The Harleys are out.

I saw one of those big motorized broom thingies today, sweeping the sand off the boulevards for the graders to pick up. Street cleaners can't be too far behind, I figure.

Oh, and Mom thinks she saw a robin.

Happy Birthday, Vince!

Barbara has an appointment right at Annailese's naptime today, so I'm going with them. We hope she'll fall asleep in the car on the way there but I kinda doubt it.

On the hippie front, I've heard from nine (including me) of thirty, and four of those are the same family ... and I may lose one of them to another crew because Dubs needs someone he can count on. It's two or three better than most years, but geeze! I've also heard from four who haven't been on the crew before who would dearly love a chance to prove themselves, have already worked for us as working SOPs, and did contact me. All four of them are in if there are spots available, once I finish chasing the rest down.

Tiger ...

... does not like girl cats. This is what the people at Kitty City have figured out, having watched him with lots and lots of cats when he's been boarded there. He terrorizes the girl cats. Each time he's out of his room, he'll pick one and "tree" them somewhere. The last time, he bit someone who was trying to keep him from attacking a poor girl he'd treed behind the washing machine. He doesn't get into it with the boy cats over territory. Nope. If he's let out of his room with only boy cats, he's as docile as a lamb. Yes, it turns out the fierce jungle kitten prefers the company of boys. No wonder the house is a war zone with him and two girl cats.

I'd pretty much resigned myself to having the house divided in two as long as he's here anyway ... this just confirms it.