The Down Side of Spring

Spring has sprung, as Daddy would say. It is lush and green and there are flowers everywhere.

Everything bloomed at once this year, and it is causing allergy trouble for people who usually do not have problems. I was doing fine with the flowers.

Then it rained. All the mildew that happens when it rains, attacks me personally. I can’t breathe as well, and I get bad headaches. I’m on day 3 with this one, and Excedrin doesn’t make a dent. Only sleep makes me feel better. At least it’s gorgeous outside, and there is no snow. Maybe no snow is worth a headache sometimes!

The Up Side of Spring

I planted rhubarb, little baby plantlets that were growing at the base of some big plants at my mom’s house. I did this last year and by mid-summer the new plant was doing better than the one that came with the house years ago. The plant I just put in is looking unhappy at this point. I remember that I have learned in the past to “water the stick.” Even when all the leaves fall off, or when I’m down to one single leaf, I water in the faith it’s not dead yet.

Let’s face it, those weeds we try to eliminate? If you strip them of leaves and take the stem to ground level, the root alone is enough for it to make a comeback.

One year we transplanted a peony. It got down to one very sad, drooping leaf and I watered it each day anyway. Now it’s almost hip-high 5 years later, with many blossoms just ready to pop. So I’m planning to treat that droopy rhubarb plant the same way and hope for the best.

The Best of the Up Side

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the first of two days of the East Lansing Art Festival. It’s the first summer-like event we have in these parts, each year. I will be sure to hear Jen Sygit perform, and Mystic Shake, Kitty Donohoe and other musical friends… as well as some acts I don’t know from out of town.

Usually it rains at some point during Art Fest weekend. This weekend it’s just a chance of rain but they are expecting chilly temperatures (in the mid-60’s F) and wind gusts up to 33 mph. One more time I’ll need to bundle up well. I do not tolerate cold well at all.

It is very good to have the Art Fair. It is very good to have the promise of summer. It’s not so good to have this headache… but this, too, shall pass.

On April 27, five members of the Habibi Dancers (including me/Eudora, front right in first photo) performed as guests in a show at Hannah Community Center in East Lansing. We were invited by a troupe which rehearses at Foster Community Center, as we do. The Ballet Maria Luz, another troupe which rehearses at Foster, was also represented in the show.

I stood at the side of the stage as I often do, taking photos when I was not preparing to dance myself. I have uploaded a number of photos (34 total) to my flickr site as a photoset of just that show.

There are some fun shots, and some quite expressive ones with wonderful costumes… the photoset contains a lot more photos of the Mexican dance with double-circle skirts and the flamenco soloist, among others.

I have decided to give in to my enthusiasm for these photos and share a good number of them here. If you enjoy these, click the link above to see more.

If only you could see them actually dancing! There was so much good perfoming at that show, it seemed every single dancer was at their best. Wonderful.

I’m so glad we were invited. (I have lost my program so I don’t know the name of the troupe… if anyone out there knows, please feel free to let me know and I’ll update this post.)

Of course, this was three weeks ago. Life sure gets in the way… I finally processed the photos last Tuesday and now a week later I’m telling you about it. Whew!

Photos, though? They are timeless. The time passed since the performance does nothing to mar the excitement of these images.

These photos have been taken over the last week and a half. I do not remember a spring so full of flowers. Often the flowers start too soon and we have a frost which kills a lot of buds. This year, the cold held on so long that nothing bloomed until we were pretty much past freeze warnings. We have not had many really warm days, maybe two, so spring still feels tentative, but it’s clear we will not see any more snow, at least.

Here are the daffodils my father planted in the early 1970s, still coming up at Mom’s house:

I took that photo in the twilight so I ended up with flash, and the yellow is sort of over-exposed. Still, I delight in the big standard yellow daffodils and the big standard red tulips that return each year, more than 30 years after my father died. What a gift these are!

Here is a view in the neighborhood behind our house:

What a view! Look at all the colors on the trees and bushes, all at one time. Wonderful.

And two views of a bush I have never noticed before. Actually, it seems I’ve seen these as small decorative bushes, but this one is as tall as me and in front of a victorian brick house in Old Town. Does anyone out there know what this bush is? It is absolutely beautiful and I think I’m in love… (unfortunately, our yard is very small and I don’t think there is room for a bush as tall as me, but I can dream)

Here is a detail. The flowers turn lacy and white at the edges when they start to fade and wither. This actually makes them more beautiful, if you ask me:

I think all that knitting and other creative work we have done on behalf of the spring’s arrival, may just be starting to work!

I ran into Cyndi on Saturday at Threadbear as I was finishing up a class. She had to show me her finished SportZig. I was thrilled, of course.

Then she continued to flatter me (I eat it up). She had taken this project on a ski weekend (early March) and knit it in one day. In the end, she was able to get two bagz out of the yarn she purchased for one.

Way cool!

Here is a photo of my SportZig and hers. Guess which is whose? (Hint… purple is my neutral, or as Brian says, it’s my beige. Never mind I like turquoise, wild hot colors and rainbows… Cyndi looks wonderful in red. Hers looks more like cinnabar in person than in this photo, I just could not get the colors true. You can see the bags turned out well.

…but at Elderly Instruments, there is a divider in the CD department/ukulele section which reads “The Fabulous Heftones.” (That would be me… and Brian.) Next to us? Jake Shimabukuro, Janet Klein, James Hill.

Pardon me while I get giddy for a moment. That is serious company and I’m allowed to enjoy it.

I really try to keep you guys up to date and not leave you waiting for posts… I’ve been crazy-busy so have fallen behind.

• We have been singing a bunch this week. Brian and I played for a private party on Friday and we have another private party next Thursday. All good.
• I have had a number of classes to teach, both computer and knitting. Saturday I teach polymer clay and Needlefelted Embellishments.
• The weather is springlike. This year it was not “April Showers bring May flowers.” This year we had flowers at the end of April, we still have them. But the last few days we have had rain. Friday it was coming down “in buckets” so to speak.
• I am knitting a baby outfit from my yarn and Knitting at Knoon’s pattern. More details and photos later.
• Brian bought me seeds for an herb garden. I have done well some years and not so well others, we will hope this year is a good one.
• I have been cooking and baking. Food is such a comfort and a joy at times!
• And I can never say enough about my beloved. How I got this lucky in life, I do not know. We play music together, we eat together, we go for walks together, we laugh and laugh. It is a good life.

Back when I can write a real column… for now it’s bits and pieces. I’m well, I’m happy… I’m busy. Hugs!

It’s beautiful here right now, though the temperatures have plummeted and we are having frost warnings for several days this week. The flowering trees are spectacular this spring, it seems every possible bloom has bloomed. Some years we get frost at just the wrong time, after buds have formed, and it’s just not this beautiful. I am drinking it all in.

I pass Mt. Hope Cemetery, a historical spot in Lansing, almost every day. The early important civic folks for Lansing are buried here, it seems every large stone has the name of someone whose name is also attached to a park somewhere. Ransom E. Olds (founder of Oldsmobile) is also interred there, his family mausoleum visible from the street.

I love taking photos there in the fall. This year I realized I wanted to photograph it again in full-flowering spring splendor. Here you can see both seasons, the same view from the other side of the road.

The year my cousin Karen got married in Houston in April, I was bowled over by the bold flowers and color there. I spent a long weekend drinking in the beauty. Then I returned to Lansing in mid-flowering-tree season. It took that trip to understand the kind of beauty Lansing displays in the spring. For all the bold in Houston, the balance was gentle, almost feminine beauty, covering the landscape. I’m glad to have that perspective.

(To be honest, this spring photo is about a week old and the trees are totally green now. I wish I had time to sneak over there again today and photograph it again, but that’s not how the schedule looks for now.)

We have spring, for the last several days (actually about a week). I hear it is supposed to snow on Sunday? Ugh. We can hope I heard wrong.

I do remember one April 25 where there were piles of snow still underneath any shady bush. It’s possible to get snow again. Let us hope it is not so extreme to get a ton of snow… it has been humid yesterday, and over 80F today. Sometimes when humid warmth is hit by super-cold air, we get piles and piles of snow.

Right now I’m typing this with bare feet and wearing a tank top, bare arms even. I typically get cold easily (I would be happier with a wrap or light sweater but I’m on my way to a cozy bed so I’m not layering anymore at this time). I love knowing it was over 80 today!!!

Photos? These forsythia bushes really look great this year. Some years the frost hits just wrong and they don’t bloom much at all. this year, every single yellow bush is totally covered. I love these when they are this happy! Notice how the trees around them have no green leaves at all.

These photos were taken about a week ago. Today we have so many leaves on the trees that there is shade on the street. Amazing. They took about 2 days from almost nonexistant to thriving. The change has been incredible to watch.

Facing Reality

In my mind, I think I don’t do routine well. In fact, in some areas I have none. I get ready in the morning every day, but the things I do to get ready I switch around. I sometimes have breakfast first, sometimes get dressed first, sometimes prepare my class materials before any of the above.

Because of this, on mornings with a very short getting-ready time I miss things that should be routine. I typically forget to wear earrings or a watch, or I’ll forget to take my vitamins or some other thing that theoretically should be automatic for me to do.

Routine is My Friend

However, on a larger scale I have a weekly schedule or routine. I seem to have trouble when it gets disrupted.

Monday nights I teach computer classes at community education. Tuesdays during the day I’m home, typically doing computer/writing work (occasionally I have a class or guild meeting at night).

Wednesday I have CityKidz Knit! program followed by Habibi Dancers’ practice. Thursdays I’m at Rae’s. Fridays and Saturdays I teach random classes or work at home, and when we have music performances they often are Saturday nights. Sundays I teach at Rae’s.

Recovering from Schedule-Chaos

So far this year, I have not fallen into that routine. Since January things have been too intense to run on my familiar schedule. January we were coming out of holiday season and our friend Rev came to visit for three nights. February I was sick almost the whole month.

March, fortunately, was busy with the release of the ZigBagZ pattern collections and making up for lost class time… plus there were taxes to deal with. April we had Bosko and Honey as guests for two nights, and I performed in (and therefore rehearsed heavily for) the Habibi Dancers‘ 25th anniversary dance concert.

Whew! Whirlwind! I’m looking forward to some change. Change in favor of routine, regardless of what I have previously thought worked for me.

Big Plans

I’m hoping to schedule some new classes and new musical performances for the next few months. If anyone out there reading this wants a particular class, do let me know and I’ll do what I can to schedule it, hopefully at a time that works for you and a handful of others. I can’t always do what you want, but I will see if I can work it out.

I have some promises to make good on, a list of four tasks (two of which have been waiting for months) for other folks who can’t do these things for themselves. After that, I’ll be free to focus even more on my business.

There are some patterns I need to finish up, and I am hoping to get some dyeing done in May. Therefore, I want to get these to-do tasks out of the way soon.

Thank You

On another topic, thanks to everyone who is sending me photos and other content for this blog. I’m drowning in wonderful photographs, which have been coming in at a rapid rate as I’ve been distracted elsewhere. I hope I can post a good portion of the photos coming my way.

The photos today I took a week ago, the first signs of spring, growing things in my own yard. The daffodil is a tiny variety that comes in early, and now the bigger ones are following suit. Also shown here are my beloved violets (others call them weeds but they may be my favorite spring flowers), and a few myrtle/periwinkle blossoms. It’s actually truly looking springlike today, there were even golfers on the course at MSU!

This Saturday, the Habibi Dancers (I am one) will be presenting their 25th anniversary concert at Hannah Community Center in East Lansing, Michigan. The City Pulse newspaper (I *love* these folks) put a relatively long article in their paper this week about the show.

They also included a photo of us in rehearsal for the show. I’m front/left, wearing green (though I’ll be wearing hot pink for the concert itself).

We first heard of Bosko and Honey (the ukulele act from Australia) on YouTube. Then last year in April we met them in person, at the New York Ukefest (we performed Friday, they were on Saturday). We really enjoyed talking with them but with all the distraction of a ukefest and conflicting travel arrangements, we did not get enough time to get to know them as we would have liked.

Luckily for us, they are on their way through the USA again. Tonight and tomorrow night they are staying with us. We have had much good food (Mama Bears and Altu’s) , some exploration (Old Town and East Lansing, and the weather has been wonderful for that), and a good deal of music making. Tomorrow we hope for more of the same.

The photo was taken last year at NYUkefest. I really love this video of their NY Farewell in the subway station. Wonderful.

Garnett Kepler (stage name Yasmina Amal) is in the State News (Michigan State Univ. student paper) today for her work at the World Languages Day at MSU. She taught a session called “Walk like an Egyptian” which included both dance and cultural awareness.

Garnett is my dance teacher and the Director of Habibi Dancers. The article is here.

Photo is the best one of Garnett I’ve ever taken; Minnesota, May 2005.

I went to Ann Arbor on Friday with several hundred other knitters (and a few non-knitters) to hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Yarn Harlot) speak. It was a promotional event for her new book, “Things I learned from Knitting …whether I wanted to or not.” I am very happy I went.

Every time Stephanie appears, a gathering happens where knitters convene and celebrate what they have in common. As she points out, many of us would not hang out or even get along if it were not for our yarn and needles, and the love of creating knitted items.

Some of us knit sweaters, some socks, some both. Our politics and religions are varied, our backgrounds, income level, anything you might want to use to define us, can not be defined.

I remember the days when she was “Stephanie Pearl (not Purl)” on the Knitlist. We occasionally wrote private emails to one another. I started my blog in November 2002… since I archive all personal email (yes, I’m obsessed but sometimes it is quite handy to go back in archives) I see a note Stephanie wrote to me on April 3, 2003. When I look at the Yarn Harlot blog page, the earliest archive is January 2004.

So it was early blogosphere time, and email discussion lists were how knitters met/found one another. She would write funny posts to the email list, rather than on her blog or in a book. Her posts were always a highlight of the list for me.

These days if we write, it tends to be a quick comment on the other person’s blog. She’s so busy with sometimes 300+ comments a day, that I’m sure correspondence takes up a huge amount of her time these days.

Now she’s promoting her 5th book. She is doing what outsiders think is impossible… making a living writing humorous books about being a knitter. She’s very funny to insiders, and confusing to those who have chosen to remain outside the knitting realm.

Whether you knit or not, whether her comments make sense to you or not (they do if you knit), she is authentic Stephanie. She’s real, she laughs at her human foibles.

Humans passionate over any activity (knitting, fishing, cooking, running…) will exhibit behaviors that are a bit confusing to those not similarly passionate. And these unique things can bring a chuckle without the need to feel “less than.” It’s just the product of intense immersion in an activity that brings much pleasure. In this culture sometimes we insult ourselves in order to present ourselves as humble. Stephanie avoids the insult and the postured humbleness.

Sometimes I contemplate how this very human and very approachable person has become sort of a superstar, at least in the knitting world. Let’s face it most authors can’t turn out the 750 or so listeners she had at her book launch for the last book, in New York City. She turns out hundreds of knitters at every one of her talks/book-signing events.

Superstars are sometimes worshiped rather than admired. But I think Stephanie’s real appeal is her humanness.

She admits when she’s not happy with her kids. She admits when she needs to focus on a writing deadline and all she wants to do is cast on for a new pair of socks. She admits she knit long past the point where she knew it was not working out, and admits when she has to rip out the work she did while knowing full well she would need to rip.

So many people in the public eye cover up their weaknesses. Stephanie writes books about hers, without losing her dignity in the least.

We had such a good time! I met some folks from City Knitting in Grand Rapids, (I’ve already met a few others from this reaaally great store in East Town). I am embarrassed I am going blank on their names right now, I should have taken a notepad. One of them said she had knit my Fast Florida Footies pattern, which of course made me feel good.

I met a few young women waiting in line, one from Canton and one from Dexter (I think I got that right) who were in the (second) photo above I tried to take without being noticed… see them laughing in the photo? I am not good at hiding, not at all.

Almost everyone was knitting while waiting in line. The 5th grader in that photo said she was not a knitter (and those around her were teaching her to say “not yet”). I told her I learned to knit in 5th grade.

The first photo here in the post is a crowd of folks from the Lansing area with Stephanie. This way photo-taking took less time, she could get on with signing another several hundred books for those willing to wait in line.

The last photo is the rainbow that followed us for about 30 minutes on the commute to Ann Arbor. Rae was driving (yippee) so I had time to take dozens of shots trying to capture the colors. We could see it from bottom right to bottom left, the whole arc, much of the time (and every color down to violet was easily visible to the eye, though not obvious in the photo). Gorgeous.

Stephanie, thanks for the great party! “The Knitters” had a great time, thanks to you.

This spring thing comes and goes, but we have not had snow for several weeks. As I type this, the temperature is just barely above freezing. A few days ago, we had an incredible summery few hours followed by wind and rain.

My days are incredibly full this week and next, I may give you more photos than text during that time. Off to teach Guitar-Trim Socks at Rae’s! If I’m lucky I’ll have time to go to Threadbear after work, to see Jillian Moreno and Amy Singer (Knitty) launch their 2nd Big Girl Knits book. I hope.

On Ravelry, one of my Friends has posted that she finished a BottleZig, no photos yet. She did write me a nice note saying how pleased she was with my instructions. As someone who loves teaching in person, it pleases me that I can put the words together on paper to teach from afar. That note made me very happy!

Then Mary took my Maxi ZigBagZ class on Thursday this week at Rae’s. She started a bag in colors that are really her style, more muted than my typical colors. She has a heathery brown and a heathery teal as her solid colors, with a sort of beige/light brown/cream and a light greens set of multicolors. Incredible choices, and I will be very interested to see the fabric as it is created. The photo here is the knitting she was able to finish in the first class session. I got a note from her the next day and it sounds like she is zipping right along on it. Watching colors develop in the fabric, especially when one color is constantly changing, surely keeps me interested in a project!

I also see that MyMerinoMantra has started a bag, too. She had some Noro Kureyon color-changing yarn, and came in to Lansing to buy the Maxi ZigBagZ collection pattern plus two colors of Cascade 220 as her main/solid colors to go with them. This will be a lovely combination. I am eager to see how that develops as well!

As for me, I’m tired of knitting ZigBagZ but not colors next to one another. Right now I’m knitting a hat in one solid (purple) yarn and a self-striping green/turquoise/blue. Gorgeous. It’s a new technique for me, but anything that allows me to play with color contrast makes me very happy. I’ve taken a few photos and will post those as I get a chance in the next few days.

Brian and I think we may drive to Chicago for an overnight tomorrow. I am really eager to eat Indian food on Devon Street (Avenue?). I love the clothes there, too, but usually it takes me so long to find something I really want that I won’t make Brian go through the agony. I may buy some bangle bracelets as a prop for the upcoming Habibi Dancers show. I’m doing a dance that basically requires bangle bracelets for the costume. These are easy to find (they come in tubes) in that section of town.

And Patel Brothers grocery? That is a heavenly place, as well!!!

This post is for the knitters within driving distance of Lansing, Michigan. Sorry to my out-of-area readers… I do appreciate you but you probably should skip this post and come back soon for the next one.

I never seem to finalize a class schedule. I tend to think I need to wait until it’s all final until I can announce. However, this is not going to happen this month, I’m afraid.

Some of you already know some of what I’m going to announce here, because you may be on the e-newsletter lists for the shops where I teach. I am adding classes all the time, but I’m going to tell you about the ones coming up in the next few weeks.

Tuesday, April 1 (tomorrow) 6pm-8pm	Threadbear Fiberarts	Darn that Sock - The long-term socknitters out there know that tossing out a beloved handknit sock is heartbreaking. LynnH will present two different ways of repairing a worn sock, depending on how worn the fabric is. Bring handknit socks in need of repair, and a small Chibi or other blunt needle with large eye. LynnH will bring a few spares in case you have none at this time.
Thursdays, April 3 & 24, May 8 6pm-8pm	Rae’s Yarn Boutique	ZigBagZ: Maxi Collection - Lynn’s new hit pattern using lots of color but not lots of fussing. Make a strong felted project bag. The BiggieZig is a large purse-substitute bag, and the BurlyZig is a project bag which can handle a sweater or a good portion of an afghan in progress. Lynn will guide you through color choices, combining Noro Kureyon self-striping yarns with solid-colored contrast yarns. These bags stand up to real use and will look great for a long time.
Saturday, April 12 Noon-4pm	Yarn Garden of Charlotte, MI	Perfect Hug Shawl - If you need a shawl that does not fall off your shoulders, this design in three variations stays put because it is shaped like a rainbow. There is even a Goddess-sized version for up to size 5X. A great gift, this is fast and easy, and does not take much yarn. Try your lumpy-bumpy first handspun! Good if you want to break away from scarves, or you want a quick knit with just a little bit of variety to keep boredom at bay.

This schedule is a bit light, for one because a few classes with many sessions are already started. In addition, I’m preparing for the Habibi Dancers’ annual concert which will be Saturday, April 19 at the Hannah Center Auditorium in East Lansing. We have a lot of extra rehearsals in the weeks before the show, and that is cutting in to my teaching (and singing) schedule(s) for a while.

At least it looks like Brian and I will get a day or two as a “spring vacation” in between classes and rehearsals. At one point we had planned 5 days out of state. At this point it looks like maybe we will go to Ann Arbor for one day (it’s about an hour away) and maybe Chicago for an overnight (not quite 4 hours away), with a dance rehearsal day in the middle.

After being sick for most of February, I have had to schedule/reschedule classes, plus there is now an unexpected Saturday rehearsal.. We are making lemonade and will call it two vacations, even if short and local.

I hope some of you will join me for these classes! We always have a great time.

I don’t take enough pictures during my CityKidz Knit! program. I’m so busy answering questions for two full hours, there is no time to think of photographs. It is sort of amazing, they are so busy learning new things every single week.

Last week we had some extra special knitting. This first photo is a 4th grade boy who wanted to make something on circular needles. He determined to make a hat for his younger brother (a toddler if I get it right). It was so stretchy that he was able to wear it himself for this photograph.

First he started on circular needles, knitting back and forth as if he had 2 needles, to make a non-rolling garter fabric edge. Then we joined into a tube and he knit a while for the body of the hat. And then we started to decrease for the top.

The decreases required double-pointed needles given the resources of the room. This boy was alternately very impressed with himself (working with 6 needles on one hat, actually knitting with only 2 but it looked impressive), and afraid of this new thing that looked like it might be hard enough he could mess up. Or so it appeared that was the issue, from my vantage point.

He said his heart was pounding during that last inch or so. I told him “you rock” and did admit it looked hard but reminded him that he was doing well even if it looked scary.

He worked on this hat for many weeks, a difficult thing for a child to do. I had promised him that he would finish the hat that week, in the 2 hours we had together. Unfortunately he had to wait for me a few times because of the other big deal in the room (more later) which also took my time. So at the end I told him I’d finish the last 2 rounds for him and get it all put together.

I did 2 rounds of decreases and then finished the hat. He does know how to work ends in, but I had promised a finished item and I really needed to make good on that. He is capable of doing another hat without me doing a stitch. It’s a LOT of stitches for a kid of that age, though, and I am not sure he wants to do something that “big” for a while.

The reason he had competition for my time, was that three of my girls were learning how to follow a pattern. Actually, another of my boys (an older child than most of my kids) asked if he could learn to follow a pattern, last week.

After showing them the wonderful knitted heart that Priscilla gifted me with at Rae’s grand reopening open house (see photo), we determined that making one of the MochiMochiLand.com hearts, would be perfect. (Free pattern here.) It takes me (experienced knitter) 45 minutes to make a heart, start to finish. They figured it would be a great gift for a Grandma.

So this week the boy who had requested this project in the first place, did not make it. But three girls decided to dive in without him. Some knew how to purl, some did not. Some knew how to decrease, some did not. All of them were at least working on the first heart lobe’s decreases when they left. One girl finished one side of the heart and had started a second.

My plan is, if the kids bring me a finished heart or they finish one in class, I will take photos and send them to Anna H., who is the designer of the heart pattern we are using. Anna and I have corresponded about this pattern already, and she loves to hear from folks who like her work. Of course!

The last photo here is one I took a few weeks ago. I tell you, sometimes I have over a dozen kids knitting at one time. Sometimes that is delightful fun and sometimes it pushes me. I think in this case, being pushed is good for me. At least, I feel that way after I’ve gone home and thought about it!

This was Thursday night after dark:

This was Saturday around noon:

Thursday I found daffodil shoots several inches high with yellow buds showing. Friday morning, the little snow in photo #1 was all the snow in our yard (and the pile it represents used to be almost as tall as my car). Friday during our performance at Foods For Living (2-4pm) it went from no snow to an inch or more. By Saturday morning, it really looked like 5 inches (~11cm) on the front windshield of the bug. Ho, Ho, Ho!

I have over 200 photos I took last week and before, in case I had time to show you. If I even try to slog through much of that, I am going to drown in past information.

For now, I have to say that I am delighted to really feel well again. Finally. We sang at Foods for Living on Friday for 2 hours. Then we spent a while filling up a cart with groceries. We came home and stuffed them into our rather small food storage area. I made significantly wonderful Swiss Chard with onion and tomato as the highlight of dinner that night.

Saturday we played at Rendezvous by the Grand in Old Town Lansing (MI) and that was more fun (of a totally different sort). The building was once an early-1900s bank with mezzanine and huge tall windows, rounded at the top. Gorgeous.

At one point I was singing “Till There Was You” (written by Meredith Willson , from the show Music Man/1957… many people know it from the Beatles), and the room was rather quiet and actually paying attention to our music. (This being a “night spot” I would not expect this level of attention.) I really enjoyed hearing the acoustics of the building at the moment, which totally make a good moment better.

My voice is really doing great after all that illness for all that time. I have not felt this in control of my “instrument” in a while. And there we were, singing to friends and new fans… and the room was still, and my voice was resonating in a two-story turn of the century building, and we were playing our hearts out. Well, this is one reason I sing. It was magic.

And the people who came out… thank every one of you. Doug and Cynthia came first, then Libby and Chris and Darby, folks from the Dagwood’s Tuesday open mic clan, a crowd of employees from Elderly Instruments (where Brian works, just around the corner and down one block).

Surely at this point I have waited too long to post and I’m forgetting someone, but it’s not at all intentional. Libby came around to give me the nicest of all compliments and I will not forget that. It was just a lovely time. Just wonderful.

And with that I’ll sign off and make other things fit into a different post.

Photos: None of us, it’s sort of hard to take pictures of ourselves while singing.

Stage (with Scratch & Sniff performing) showing vast tall windows. The Well-Fed Kids, not standing very still in their enthusiasm (you should HEAR these guys and their vocal harmonies, they are wonderful). Scratch & Sniff (Phil Wintermute and Paul Bennett) up close and personal and with odd-colored stage lighting. Cynthia with crowd behind her… Cynthia is such a friend (she’s a knitter as well as a music person) and she usually looks more bubbly than this (but here she was paying attention to the music).

Cynthia and I dress somewhat alike and wear our hair in braids often, and are about the same size. People often confuse us. In fact, once I saw a video of contra dance where someone thought C. was me, and I was confused myself. I finally figured out it couldn’t be me (given that I could not see the dancer’s face) because she was wearing clothes I did not recognize. Too Funny! I love having this energy-creating person in my life, she is a joy to me.

That is news enough for me today. Spring is officially here, even if it is supposed to snow tonight.

We are preparing to go sing right now, and then we sing again tomorrow. My voice is doing very well after so much illness, I am delighted. There is nothing like singing when the whole body supports the sound!

I have lots and lots of photos taken but none processed for web yet. One is an 8-year-old boy wearing a hat he knit… in the round, on circular needles and then Double-Pointed Needles. Very Cool! I also have photos from Carla for the create-spring-into-existence project.
Photos soon, I hope. Until then, maybe I will see a few of you at our concerts.

Thursday it was so warm and sunny that I left my coat behind and did not miss it. I was wearing my beret/hat, a sweater and legwarmers, but no coat, scarf/shawl, or gloves/wristwarmers. No problem. It was lovely.

The snow in our yard is down to a very small pile, not a whole yard wide and not all of two inches deep. At its  largest (in February), it was several feet high from so much shoveling all in a short while.

Friday they are predicting snow. In a 24-hour period we may get enough to shovel. That’s March in Michigan for you.

I still like it better than the February we had. (Ugh.) Thaws alternating with snow is my cup of tea right now!

I can not tell you how glad I am that February is over and we are on the way to better days. The weather service says we will still have some cold days, but not as much cold and snow as we had in February anyway. This would be normal for March. In fact, we usually get a few flurries in April, too. In the meantime, the few melting days give me hope.

And the performance schedule for The Fabulous Heftones has also warmed up a bit this week! I’m happy to have a musical week lined up.

We will be playing two vastly different venues this Friday and Saturday, Foods for Living health food store in East Lansing (from 2-4 in the afternoon), and then Rendezvous on the Grand, a very fine social/drinking establishment in Old Town (three bands, show 9:30pm-1am, I do not know when we will be on during that time). How different can it get? And all fun, of course.

So here is the postcard I’m mailing out this week to friends without email access (click to get a larger image):

If you want an Adobe Acrobat PDF document to print, Click Here. It will print 4 postcards for you, that’s how the document is set up, but it is quite readable.

This postcard presents three new venus, places where we have never performed before. May I exclaim out loud about how excited I am that we will be playing JazzFest in Lansing this year? Our music is indeed very early jazz. My favorite singer of the 1920’s is Annette Hanshaw, who was one of the first Jazz singers (though sadly forgotten through the years, she was brilliant). I do a good number of songs she performed.

And let’s face it, an act in their home town is often passed by for someone outside the city limit. I am very happy to have a chance to smile at Lansing from an Old Town stage on the 2nd day of August. This is looking up to be a good year!

The MMKG (Lansing, Michigan greater area knitting guild) is in transit. Tonight is the monthly large meeting (3rd Tuesday, 7pm-9pm). However, we are moving toward a new location. We have been in University Lutheran Church (East Lansing) for many years. However, this month we have a temporary location and then we will move to a long-term new home.

Tonight we meet at the Okemos branch of the CADL library, also called Hope Borbas Library. When I was a little girl (around 1962) we lived in downtown Okemos. (This was before the mall and Meijer… there were horses in the barn which now is Pilgrim House furniture store.) Mom would walk us to the library where Hope Borbas herself read me stories. She was a kind person, and when her life ended too soon they honored her by naming the branch after her. I love that.

I also moved back to Okemos for one year as an adult, I think it was around 1990. At that time, the library was still “downtown” Okemos (which has a mall now a mile or two away, overpowering any sense of a real downtown). For a reference point, locals, it was about a block from Traveler’s Club Restaurant and Tuba Museum.

I just Googled for the Hope Borbas Library, though, and it is shown as on Okemos Road south of Mount Hope (not as far as the railroad tracks). It looks like it’s near the light at Science Parkway. I sure am glad I spent the time to look it up. For those who would like to check out a map to the new location, here is the page presented by the Capital Area District Library/CADL website:

http://www.cadl.org/news/locations/okemos

I hope local folks will join us. You do not need to be super skilled, you just have to love yarn and knitting and/or crochet. It’s a friendly group, sort of large, so do tell folks you are sitting with that you are new. They might think they should remember meeting you before, with 30-50 people at a meeting. You need not be invited to show up and be welcome (and the snacks are always artful and tasty, if I can lure you that way).

Oh, for the record, the 3rd Tuesday meetings starting in April 2008 will be at the Haslett Public Schools Administration Building at 5593 Franklin Street in Haslett, very near the Middle School.

(Click image for a Letter-Sized PDF poster.)

On Tuesday I made brownies, three bread pans/18 smallish squares… and piled them on a disposable plate. And took them to the corner Meineke Muffler shop. I went in maybe an hour before they were to close. Apparently I caught them at a slow time, because three guys were standing at the front desk, apparently chatting.

I asked “So you guys like brownies, right?” They answered in the affirmative. So I told them I made them brownies as a thank you for giving me a good week. And I drove away, no doubt as they were diving in to the goodies.

That made me feel good.

My friend Temesgen is a musician who specializes in one specific style of ancient Ethiopian music. He is the house musician for Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine (see photo at right). He plays there the first Saturday of most months (sometimes messed up by holidays, for example he will not play in July).

Temesgen has a website, Temesgen.com, and he has several CDs available there as well as a new video he just released. There is also a Youtube version of it, for those who like to subscribe to Youtube contributors. I just watched it and enjoyed it very much. It is not like any sort of music I grew up with, but it’s soothing and rhythmic in a way that is more like the earth and less like a march or a polka.

I knew Temesgen’s wife Carol back when I was still teaching computer classes. I taught her how to code HTML web pages (when there were no truly functional programs that created web pages for you). But I digress. Just suffice it to say that in Lansing it seems that everyone knows everyone these days!

Do consider taking a look at a video by a man who is keeping alive a musical tradition that is dying out. And if you find this interesting, consider reading some related detail on Wikipedia (much of which was contributed to the wiki by Temesgen himself):

• Temesgen
• Begena (instrument shown in photo above)
• Krar (smaller instrument)
• Music of Ethiopia (A bigger picture)

I had a sound in the back wheel of my car. It sounded like something plastic dragging, then a clunk, then a drag and another clunk. I got on the ground several times after hearing it, and looked for something but there was nothing. It seemed louder when I would brake to a full stop. I was worried.

I went to the corner Meineke Muffler shop, where they are “just folks” and talk straight talk to me. I’m pretty sure this is a franchise, but at least the folks on the corner (where I can walk from our house) have always felt right to me. It’s not fancy, but that makes me clear they aren’t marking up my repairs to pay for the decor, you know?

I’ve been going there maybe 15+ years (starting when I did not live in the neighborhood), whenever they can do the work. (I have a VW New Beetle, sometimes the dealer is the only place… sometimes another shop with the right sort of Bug Computer does my work.) For mufflers, brakes, shocks, things like that, I always go to this corner shop.

When I had my ‘85 VW Golf with 250,000 miles on it, they did not act like I was wrong to love/keep that old car. A dealer doesn’t look twice at a 14-year-old vehicle, they just think you need a new one. And since it’s their business to love new cars, of course that’s what they think. But at Meineke they like old cars, they understand.

One guy who has been working there 11 years, told me he expects my car to go maybe over 300,000 miles. (I had just told him that it had 131,000 already on it.) I tell you what, that is the guy I want working on my car!

Meineke has twice in the last year sent me away with a little tweak and an explanation… but they didn’t need to bill me and they chose not to. Hey, if they did not need to order a part and have a mechanic on it more than the initial look, they can do it that way. Of course, most shops can bill a little for that and I’d pay it, it’s business. No real big deal.

Today? The coolest news. When I got 2 new tires earlier this year and the tire place moved the front ones to the back, one of the bolts did not get screwed on well. It unscrewed itself. Since I have a sort of hubcap that seals on the wheel tightly, the bolt was in there clunking around. The cap is made of plastic, so that explains the way I described it. I could hear it better when I was going slowly, which makes sense. Nothing wrong with the brakes or the shocks. Woohoo!!!

Can you feel my relief? My elation? He showed me the problem. He screwed the bolt back in securely. He sent me away without a bill. My Joy Bug and I are having a very good day.

Yup, that shop will get my business again. These folks are the real thing.

On February 29 we were still chilly here, and the piles of snow were so big sometimes they could block the view of most of a small car. Somehow we lucked out and got a serious thaw just in time for March.

It was 52F/11C when I woke up yesterday. I turned off the furnace and opened the back and front doors, and let the fresh air revive our house. I thrive during months where I can keep windows open, and I never quite feel fully alive when cooped up. It was a delight to have those doors open for about an hour. I wrapped up in a blanket, wore a hat and wristwarmers, and my heart felt toasty warm!

They had predicted a large drop in temperature yesterday and a small accumulation (1/2″, about 1cm). Neither happened. And I woke up today and the sun is shining just as much as it can. There are clouds but room between them for the sun to make its way and brighten up my house in a way that I have not seen in far too long.

Apparently we are just north of where the predicted weather actually hit. I talked to Diana yesterday and they were sitting around freezing, while we were balmy. They are only just over an hour away, southeast (near Ann Arbor, we are in Lansing, Michigan).

Today they say it will be below freezing and they are predicting 2 inches/5cm. That seems so minor, like no snow at all, after the feet and feet of snow that has come down during February. One can drive in 2 inches of snow without a plow. We are in business now!!!

I am counting down, not literally but emotionally… my violets typically bloom in March. Come on, Violets! Here is a photo of them from a previous spring:

Well, here I am late afternoon updating the post. The sky is now typical Lansing-winter white, and the National Weather Service is predicting snow both day and night for now through Saturday. At least 30% chance of snow every day/night till Friday night, where it becomes merely a “chance” of snow.

Just the same, it’s getting close to the end of this weather and I am feeling better just thinking that thought.

It snowed again last night. Depending on where you look it may be 1-3″ of snow. It’s not very cold out, and if I had energy and leisure I’d make another snowman. I’m really excited to be working, though, so I’m OK with all that.

The birds seem unaware that it looks like winter. They are singing like it is spring. I hope they are right. It is the last day of February, on a long-February month, and I know that my violets in the yard usually bloom in March. So maybe the birds remember things like that.

I am taking photos for my patterns today and my camera ran out of batteries. Luckily I live pretty close to a place where I can get them, but I’m still working with wobbly knees so I drove. I noticed that it seems half the neighborhood is out shoveling, even though it’s midday on a work day. It would be the perfect day to meet neighbors… but I’m working and can’t go out and socialize.

I saw a funny sight on the way to the store. This guy of retiree age was pushing his very fancy snowblower. First I noticed how he had to turn his head to not get snow in his face (that would really bug me). Then I looked at the machine he was pushing.

The blower was really big… most are about the width of a shovel but his was more like a lawnmower, with a blade over knee-high. And this guy was cleaning snow… off his street. His street. Wow. Maybe he likes snow, or maybe he likes his snowblower as much as my father did. Or maybe his car just doesn’t go when the snow is this deep. The guy’s driveway was only one lot away from a more-traveled street.

As for me, indoors is where I want to be when it is snowing outside. Unless it’s really warm snow and I can make a snowman. But not today.

Photo: Snowman Brian and I made on January 1 of this year. That was fun!

Nature is bigger than me. We’ve had one squirrel (or so it seemed) in the attic off and on for a few months. Yesterday the noise level increased, it seemed there was more runnng around. Then I heard chirruping sounds. That was new. I think we have a mating couple talking to one another. Great!

I am not in charge. Thursday is a busy day but on Friday we will go into the attic and make sure we get any boxes that are stored in there, out of there. We know where they are coming in, but with piles of snow on the roof we can not close it up until it’s warm. We need to know they have gone out for the warm afternoon to gather food, and then we can close the hole. That is, if there isn’t a nest of babies.

Guess we need to actually go into the attic every so often to make it feel less safe for them. Or something. Slamming doors and growling like an animal just makes them sit still for a while but they are not moving out. Eucalyptus oil did not deter them for even a few days.

OK, focus on the good stuff… Tonight is the Schuler Book event. And I’m assembling photos for you of the evolution of my ZigBagZ pattern. That story may take a few days.

I am looking forward to a Friday with no appointments. Have a great day today, and stay warm if you have snow… as I do.

I had a student last fall, at Rae’s yarn shop, who works for Schuler Books (a very fine Michigan-owned bookstore with a handful of shops in a few cities). She told me they needed a knitting person for a book promotion, and connected me with the proper person at the East Wood Towne Center store.

There has been good promotion out in the press, thanks to Schuler’s. However, I have been so distracted not feeling well and working on this pattern, that I didn’t do a lot of it myself this time.

The book is called 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. It is full of mostly-small projects, all which take one skein of yarn (some skeins hold more yardage than others, so the projects do vary a bit in size and complexity).

I am quite pleased with a number of the projects in the book, and its predecessor (One-Skein Wonders). As would be expected, other folks like some of the ones I like and some different. Imagine that!

In fact, I almost never want to knit scarves after knitting *only* scarves in the first 20 years I knew the knit stitch. I get so coldthat I prefer a stole or shawl. However, this book has a scarf I want to k

hope that those who normally go to knit-in at Rae’s will join us at Schuler’s Books tomorrow night. Here is the publicity blurb Schuler’s sent out:

The project is a relatively simple knit which will not be able to be completed in one session for most folks, but we will get participants on their way. If you have a friend who wants to learn to knit, this might be a fun event to go to, together. You can knit along with us or you can knit your own thing and be there just as part of the larger Lansing knitting community.

Schuler’s is providing free yarn and the publisher, Storey Publishing, is providing gifts for the first 10 attendees. Bring size 7 or 8 needles with you, only the first 10 people will get needles. I understand Rae will bring some supplies for folks to buy if they come without needles, but if you have the right thing that will make sure you are all set.

Please join us, if you are a knitter in Lansing. We can show Schulers how many of us there are in this fine city! Represent!