One of the benefits of tax season in my life, is that I excavate the piles on my desk more thoroughly than any other time of year. I always find unexpected treasures sharing desk space with the financial documents. This year is no different. I found a lost recipe, which I had put on my desk long ago intending to share it with you.

When I visited Susan Luks months ago, I took her a loaf of a bread I had made to rave reviews previously. Her choosy-eater teen liked it a lot, he even went as far as asking for a repeat performance. Of course, soon after his request I lost the recipe.

My brother Eric and sis-in-love Diana enjoyed this bread for breakfast one week, after I took them part of a loaf. Altu’s teen daughter visited one day and thoroughly enjoyed her taste, reminding me of her delight on a subsequent visit. None of these folks have to limit the foods they eat, and they are fond of my allergy-friendly recipe for its taste alone.

I bake with unusual ingredients and they do make a difference. Making this the very most flavorful way will probably require that you make your way to a fairly large health-food grocery (or website if you have nothing local which will suffice). However, the results are worth the effort spent in rounding up the proper ingredients. If you are in a pinch, you can substitute wheat flour (hard wheat would work best) but it will be merely a cousin to the real thing.

Note: I don’t eat wheat because of an allergy, not a problem with gluten. Therefore I am able to eat a little bit of some grains related to wheat… on occasion. If you wish to make this for a friend who has food restrictions, please check first and see if they can eat gluten and/or wheat relatives.

This bread is made with Kamut grain, a relative of wheat whose true origin is buried in marketing hype. I will just say that it is a wheat-relative with a very nutty flavor, regardless of origin.

The flour’s behavior when poured is closer to sand than powder. It does not get sticky in baked goods (it also makes good pasta, which can be purchased at the same stores as the flour). For some reason I tolerate Kamut better than wheat, though I still do not eat it often.

This recipe has no spices in it, so it is not like any other pumpkin baked good I have tried. The subtle flavors are the kamut. the pumpkin and lots of good vanilla (I get mine at the Mexican grocery). It is nothing like any other pumpkin dessert/sweet I have ever tasted (and I’m crazy about pumpkin). It’s light and satisfying.

This loaf has no egg, dairy/milk, potato, corn or corn derivatives, yeast or mold-related foods, potato or wheat. It is absolutely delicious, you don’t miss anything!

I do use white sugar when I make this, because I do not want the molasses in brown sugar to compete with the subtle flavors in the simple ingredients. Your mileage may vary.

LynnH’s Pumpkin-Vanilla Loaf

2 c Kamut Brand Flour (wheat relative, not gluten-free)
1-1/2 c White Sugar
1-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Salt (optional)
1 small can (1-3/4c) Pumpkin (not pie mix)
3/8 c Mild-Flavored Oil (I use pure olive, or try canola or soy)
2 tsp Real Vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350F. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl with wire whisk or sifter.
• Mix in pumpkin, oil and vanilla with a fork or wooden spoon. The mixture will be very dry, but keep working and it will combine.
• Divide mixture between two greased and floured bread pans.
• Bake 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean. (Test often, ovens are very different.)

I just finished a First-Time Toe-Up Socks class at Rae’s shop this past Thursday. We had a blast! Three of the four students chose the heavy weight of Socks that Rock yarn, and one chose a pewter-gray Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran.

They did a great job. Two ladies finished one sock, one started a second and needs only to bind off the first, and the fourth is also ready to bind off the first. Considering we all have lives that do not allow knitting as much as we might like, this was a great result.

I like the variety here. At left we have a rolled-cuff “bootie” or slipper, then a traditional-looking K2P2 ribbed leg, then two pair with stockinette legs topped with an inch or two of ribbing. This is the whole idea of my pattern… to give folks guidelines for the foot and then let them go in any direction they prefer when they get to the ankle.

Go, grrls! Nice job.

Yarnstorm always has beautiful photos. She went to Paris with her young daughter. Oh, my! The colors she found. I highly recommend a visit to The Colours of Paris.

(Yes, that’s how she spelled it, yes, that is a correct spelling in English in many parts of the world.)

I got out the longjohns and legwarmers again. It was 46F when Brian went to work at 11am Thursday, above freezing but far below room temperature. At least the sun shines, and the flowers are still blooming.

Here’s a photo of my friend April and little Isabel across the street, earlier this week, next to the daffodils on their debut day. It was over 80F that day, a bit hot if you stood in the sun long enough.

Warmth will return…

I read the Sunday Kalamazoo Gazette review of the Fretboard Festival online. I referred you to the article here.

Then I heard (from Jay at the Museum) that there was a photograph in the paper that I had not seen on the website. The next thing I know, Brian calls from work to say that Joel Mabus (bless his heart) sent the print article through the snailmail.

I just arrived home and got to see it. Wow. This photo takes up nearly half the front page of section B. (There were a lot of acts there this weekend, many better-known than us, and I’m stunned and thrilled that we got this much press.)

Thanks to Joel for sending us the article, Mark Wedel, the reporter, Jonathon Gruenke, the photographer, Mark Sahlgren the DJ for playing our music in Kalamazoo and otherwise telling folks about our music, and Jay and Ian from the Kalamazoo Valley Museum for inviting us. The folks in Kalamazoo know how to roll out the red carpet for we two Lansing folks.

Some days are just better than others. Today is one of those days.

• It’s 80F/26.6C degrees and sunny as I type this.
• The daffodils in April’s yard are blooming.
• Brian rode his bike to work two days in a row.
• The sorority girls are lying out on blankets in the front yard.
• I went barefoot for the first time today.
• The Dairy Queen is open.

It’s spring, and I am counting my blessings!

I was following links, checking out ukulele recording artists. On CDBaby (we love this site for independent musical acts) I found Elmo Aardvark: Outer Space Detective. There are actually several Elmo CDs. It seems there is a whole collection of performers on this disc. I must check it out!

Looking Back

I promised in the last post that I’d show you a pic of Karla and me in Kalamazoo as soon as I could get to Brian’s camera. Well, here we are. Can you tell how much fun we were having? Can you see the crowd of people behind us? It was a happy and bustling crowd.

And just in case you can’t see that crowd behind us, here is another photo, taken by Brian. I love the kid in front. There were plenty of kids there.

OK, I guess I need to move beyond the past weekend by now. Actually, I have some pretty serious deadline work to do in the next 2-3 weeks, so if you get posts that consist of a link or two, please forgive.

Looking Forward

I am teaching at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Fiber Festival from April 13-15. I have more than a few things to do between now and then.

I’m knitting a very special something for the fashion show on Friday night at the festival, and it’s the sort of thing I can’t get someone else to knit for me. It is a good thing it’s my favorite sort of knitting, but I’m not used to knitting that much every day.

I’m cranking along happily, but it takes two hands to knit… which conflicts with the two hands it takes to type. (Photo shows most of the thirteen yarns/colors I’m using in my fashion show project. Last time I used this many yarns, they were all variations on beige… this is much more enjoyable.)

I promise a travelogue of my Dallas trip when I return, but things may be more sketchy than usual here at ColorJoy. Yes, I’ll have days when I run off about this or that to blow off steam, but I’ll be staying offline a lot more than usual for a few weeks.

Delighted

Saturday we had the best of times in Kalamazoo, once more. The people there welcome us with open arms. And honestly, we had a few fans from Lansing who drove down to hear us, which was also a thrill.

Fans. Imagine that. I am grateful.

An Adventure

I’ll give you a little travelogue of Saturday, it was most eventful. We left around 10am for the museum and found fog and light rain on the trip there. We thought it would be a crummy weather day but it turned out to be very beautiful and even sunny in the mid-afternoon.

Friendly Welcome

We were greeted by Jay, who had been our contact person throughout. It was great to meet him. We unloaded our things and gave our CDs to the volunteers who watched the CD table all day (I love those folks, and I make sure to tell them how appreciated they are).

First we got oriented to the space, and we took a little time to look at some of the exhibits in the museum. What a class act this museum is!

Met Blog Friend Karla

As I was getting familiar with the space, I saw a woman wearing a spectacular sweater. In fact, it was a pyramid sweater, and it was being worn by nobody else than Karla (of the comments)! Her hubby, Darrell, is a bass player and was helping out with one of the workshops.

It was really great to spend some time with Karla off and on during the day. We got a photograph of the two of us, but it must be that Brian took it with his camera… I downloaded all of my photos and Karla isn’t in there. Pooh. I’ll show her off later, OK?

The Museum

They had a gallery which showed the personal collections of Kalamazoo folks. One woman collected Saudi Arabian crafts (she lived there for a while), and there were peanut butter containers, bottle openers, one-sided toasters, keychains, and even an assortment of “dangerous toys,” at least two or three of which I remembered owning as a child (moon walkers, with springs under your feet, and a snurfer, a sort of pre-snowboard contraption with a rope handle to help you stay upright… which didn’t work too well if I remember right).

Festival Exhibits and Impromptu Tunes

Brian found some good vinyl LPs at a booth there, I think it was a club. There were many booths of instrument makers, including Kingslight Guitars… the luthier’s sister is a singer in Lansing, and he figured out that I knew her through Riverwalk Theatre when we were at Coopers Glen Festival last summer. It was good to touch base again.

We jammed a few tunes sitting right near the CD tables by the front desk. We could not do it much, as the space was pretty loud and we did not dare push our voices before the concert. It was great fun, though, and we even ran into Leslie, a bass player who we met camping in the Musicians Campground at Coopers Glen last August.

Banjos, Banjos and More Banjos… and Joel Mabus

I stepped into the auditorium to get my bass which was being stored in the control room, and when I came out I took a minute to listen to Joel Mabus answering questions after his “History of the Banjo” lecture. Someone asked about alternative banjos (guitar-banjos, mandolin-banjos, banjo-ukes, etc.) and he asked me to show the crowd my bass.

That was pretty fun. We definitely get into Banjo Festivals because of my bass, it looks like a 6-foot-high banjo though it is fingered like any upright bass “fiddle” or guitar might be. It actually has strings designed for an electric bass.

Our Musical Show

At that point there was just time to tune our instruments and get on stage. We got there early so that the sound guy could get us all situated. We were ready to sing a few minutes before our appointed time and I asked if we could just start. No sense waiting when the crowd was already waiting long enough, and we would rather sing than stand around.It was a wonderful crowd, people sitting on the floor on either side of us, and on every chair they had put out. By the time we were on our third song or so, the sun came out full force. We were standing in a window at the end of a hallway, and the sun really baked down on poor Brian in that tuxedo, but we were fairly distracted from the warmth of the sun, by the warmth of the crowd. It was a wonderful time. We played about 40 minutes.

Brian’s Uke Workshop

After the show, Brian went to the workshop room to teach any comers about some basic ukulele chords and techniques. I ran to the CD table to sign CDs for anyone who wanted an autograph, and then I joined Brian in the workshop room.Brian does a great job at these workshops. He teaches one chord, then has them sing a one-chord song. He adds a second chord and then they sing a two-chord song. He continues in this manner until they know five chords (in less than an hour) and then they play “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” which is a great five-chord song. They love it. I never get tired of that magic, having a crowd playing that song together so quickly.

Chatting, Making New Friends

After the workshop we answered many questions, in my case mostly about my instrument. I had a great chat with the cello player from the Royal Garden Trio, whose name is Mike. I previously met Brian Delaney of that group a few years ago when he went to the Midwest Ukefest in Indianapolis with a mutual friend. It was good to get to know Mike as well.

One woman who sat center front during our concert, had met us during the Coopers Glen Festival. She knew the words to many of our songs, even ones that many folks don’t know. Usually that is the sign of someone who owns our CD’s, a true fan, though it’s sometimes a fan of Tin Pan Alley music rather than The Fabulous Heftones.

We got talking again after the show. I just love talking to her, she is just a really positive person who asked me great questions about our music (including Annette Hanshaw, my favorite singer of the 1920s) and my bass.

I wish we had longer to chat, in a less busy environment. We could have talked much longer, I’m sure, if the museum were not closing and we were not trying to talk in a crowded hallway. She is visually impaired and someone thought to ask her if she might like to “see” my bass. She took her time touching the whole instrument from the top down, and I wondered why I had not thought to offer this to her before.

I’m sort of bummed now that we got home, I didn’t ask her name… we talked so long and I work hard at names, but we were so engaged chatting about music that I slipped in this case. It sure was fun chatting with her, and two folks I think were her friends (who happen to live in our neighborhood in Lansing, of all things).

Wrapping it Up at the Museum

Our workshop actually ended at 4pm and that was the official time that the festival ended, though the museum closed at 5. We were there until just before closing time.

I asked at the desk on our way out if there was perhaps a Japanese or Indian or African restaurant in town that might be good (and easy to find). The ladies at the desk were so helpful! We got directions to Saffron, an Indian restaurant I’d passed by last summer when I was on my way to Allegan for the Michigan Fiber Festival.

Great Indian Food at Saffron

Oh, My! That food was SO delicious. I love Indian food, we’ve eaten it in many states and even in Canada at Niagara Falls. I’ve had lots of Indian food in Chicago. This one was the best I’ve had, I think. We shared an eggplant/potato dish and a chickpea dinner, both with thick and flavorful sauces. Wow.

I want to go back, and soon. That was really a treat. For some reason I forgot to take photos of the food, which was presented beautifully… but before dinner I got a photo of the colorful tables with sea green and yellow plates, and blue cloth napkins. ColorJoy tables!

Music in Charlotte, Michigan

Even after dinner, we were not done with our day. We had heard that some of our friends were performing Irish (and pseudo-Irish and folk) music at the Charlotte Public Library. It was not far out of the way to go there, and we had time. I’m glad we went.In the photo you can see Alisa on Viola at far left. Working left to right, you can barely see the back of Joseph’s shirt (with a stripe) behind her (on violin/fiddle). Then comes Bob on Bass (the only guy I think I might not have met before) and Wally on guitar and mandolin, then Steve on guitar and pennywhistle, and Ann on percussion. It was a fun time, and we knew several folks so we chatted a while after the show.

Home Again, Home Again…

By the time we got home, we were happily exhausted. I “hit the feathers” early that night.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. What a fun life I have sometimes!

Photos: Brian and I in the museum lobby (thanks to Brian Delaney for taking this excellent shot), Joel Mabus on stage with many interesting historical banjos, two photos of downtown Kalamazoo within blocks of the museum, Brian at the front of the workshop classroom, an artful shot of (me tuning) my bass and the walkway outside of the library, colorful table settings at Saffron, our friends performing at Charlotte Public Library.

Mark Wedel of the Kalamazoo Gazette wrote an enthusiastic review of the Fretboard Festival in Sunday’s paper. It can be seen here on their M-Live website.

He lists highlights of the event, including “The Fabulous Heftones fabulous time machine.” He goes into detail on our act, getting all the facts right. There are of course many other details he also details. We are appreciative of the effort Mark put out to get things right. It’s too bad we didn’t get to meet him personally, but it was a very crowded space and he had so much to do, I’m sure

Thanks, Mark!.

At the University of Michigan there is a program/web page where three students are writing about their experiences eating organic. It looks well-organized, and they offer a small list of recipes (though one calls for cream of chicken soup, which surprised me on a site of this sort). You guys like recipes, and food definitely is art… maybe you want to check it out. It’s called Eat This!

You may also be interested in the Eat Local Challenge blog. There you can see a most artful photo of large white goose eggs surrounded by small green & brown chicken eggs. Simple beauty!

Diana writes:

I found a site teaching Ukulele online that suits me, its in ‘Japlish’ (Japanese-style English) and is fun, the guy really took time to tell what he knows, and so far, it seems like good info.
http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~kunisige/eukulele_f.html

I especially love the cartoons :-}

Thanks, Diana! This is a great thing to share on our own Ukulele-teaching Day.

(I read part of the page before posting it… the English is good enough to follow, though not translated perfectly. The chart of what parts of the instrument are called, shows frets spelled “flets.” I’m so glad English is my first language, it is SO hard to learn.)

Mark Wedel of the Kalamazoo Gazette wrote an enthusiastic article on us (Brian and I, as The Fabulous Heftones) which can be seen on M-Live (if you give them your zip code and birth year). Here is the article. He did a good job. I did tell him we opened for Steppin’ in It and that at least one of the guys in the band (Andy Wilson) plays uke. I think that’s a cool sign that young folks are discovering the instrument (Rachael Davis also has a uke, as do a bunch of the folks who record with Earthwork Music). Somehow the quote says we claim credit for Andy playing the uke… which I didn’t say, but since he did the interview by phone I think he did a pretty good job with the rest of the facts.

Andrew Kroll also interviewed us via phone and email, for the Western Herald, but as of midnight I did a search and did not find an article for 2007 on ukulele, heftone, or fretboard. I’m guessing then that the article will come out tomorrow, the day of the event.

I’m getting excited. It will be a really fun day, a great event. My wonderful brother, Eric, really wanted to come but he works on Saturdays. I will see Karla… anyone else?

Photos: Above, Brian and I at the Lansing Country Club, and  left, at Coopers Glen Music Festival in Kalamazoo last August.

Every spring, in our yard it is the violets that bloom first. When they come I know that winter may blow a snowflake or two more, but we are in a warming trend for a long time.

I love the violets! They are “weeds” but we make sure to never use anything on our lawn that might endanger their happiness. These weeds are the very best sort.

This morning I got up and found a single violet that Brian had plucked and placed in a spot where he knew I would not miss it. I almost cried in joy. He knows how important the spring flowers are to me, and he loves me enough to take time out in his morning to share the news of the first blooms of spring.

The photo here is of last year’s violet crop. Today we have maybe a dozen blooms, but more will follow.

OK, I speak approximately two words of German, but photos of baby Knut, the polar bear cub, need no language. The video is so adorable it just made my day.

I’m not into “cute” as in cartoony things. However, real baby animals are authentically cute in a way that agrees with me wholeheartedly.

Thanks to Alda of Iceland Weather Report who found the link from Timbo. My second day of spring is better with a bear cub in it.

Today is the first day of spring! I’m so happy we are taking strong moves toward warmth.

I feel fully myself in the summer, my favorite temperature is 84F (29C). I love it when I can let my skin be enveloped in the air without feeling vulnerable to cold. We are not there yet, but the first day of spring is a promise.

Last weekend the Fenner Arboretum had its Maple Syrup Festival. Warmth is definitely returning to us, one day at a time.

Here is a photo I took last year of the first blooming daffodil in our yard. Dream on, my friends, it’s coming soon!

Last August, Brian and I (as The Fabulous Heftones) performed at the Coopers Glen music festival in Kalamazoo. It was wonderful, and the crowd really responded to our act.

Well, this Saturday (just a few days away) we will be performing in Kalamazoo again. We will be at the Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival, at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

The event is from 10-4, and we will be singing at 2pm, followed by a basic ukulele workshop at 3pm. We will bring a few instruments for those who do not own a uke of their own, first come, first served… of course bring one if you have one.

I am tickled pink that our photo is on this poster next to Joel Mabus. Joel is such a master of so many musical things, and he has been prominent in the music business much longer than I’ve been playing bass. I regard him highly as a musician, songwriter, and human being.

It is an honor to play at the same event where Joel will be found. He will be doing a talk or two in the workshop rooms.

Also pictured on the poster is the Royal Garden Trio. We know these guys and jam together when we are lucky. And then there are all sorts of other folks who will be there but who are not pictured. It will be a great time, I’ve heard it was great last year and the organizers are great.

We have been interviewed by both Mark Wedel for the Kalamazoo Gazette and Andrew Kroll for the Western Herald (also in Kalamazoo, the WMU student newspaper). It seems that Kalamazoo is ready for a musical party of sorts. I really am looking forward to the day.

Perhaps someone out there will want to come? It turns out that Karla and I will be connecting there that day, as her hubby will be assisting at one of the workshops. Anyone else? Bring your instrument or your knitting, or both!

Does anyone know what this means? It’s not as cute as a flamingo, though it’s brighter. It appeared sometime today on the corner of our lot, when I was looking the other way.

I think it means construction noise and a hole in my yard. Drat.

Drew Howard (also known as Captain Midnite) sent me an email this morning. He is often the “bringer of good news” and today is no exception.

There are now nine new videos (songs from the Four Chairs Benefit) on Youtube. They are posted under the user bucqui (Drew’s wife Bonnie) or you can link to them individually from the below links. Bonnie is really good at this, she does a lot of videotaping, she seems to be at many local events, behind that camera. (Oh, if you see a guy on pedal steel or “dobro” in the background, that would be Drew.)

For these shorts she used two cameras and put them together into one edited film for each song. She makes us look good, and I am very appreciative.

My favorites? For Rachel and Dominic I love If I Needed You (Dominic in a rare performance singing and playing guitar rather than bass). Laura and Brandon are particularly electric in Under the Pines. And for us, I’m delighted with Cuddle Up….

Rachel Davis & Dominic
- If I Needed You
- Shine On
- Please, Please Poppa

Laura Bates & Brandon Foote
- Shenandoah
- In the Pines
- Hard Times

The Fabulous Heftones
- Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine
- Bye-Bye Blues
- Cooking Breakfast for the One I Love

Well, the weather guys were right this time. Snow.

The porch is just wet, but the grass is white. As are all the houses on my street, or so it seems…

When it snows, there is so little color that the sky can look pink. Our eyes strain for any hint of color. Hmmm, maybe noticing the subtleties of nature is a good thing.

Priscilla sent me photos of her yard on March 14. She even had flowers blooming! We may get snow Monday, but I’m celebrating the promise of spring by showing you her flowers. (Of course, I did get her permission.)

I love bulbs. When I take the time to plant them, I make sure I purchase the ones that come up in early April or even March. If I have to dig in dirt (not my cup o’tea), I want flowers every year for a while, and I want them as early as possible.

I once planted grape hyacinths in our yard.  They are starting to peek out, but Priscilla’s plants are really ahead of mine.

Thank you for sharing the hope and promise of warmth, Priscilla!

At least Saturday night, right now, I am feeling very happy. After a week or two of sadness I am delighted with this development. I know all emotions are appropriate at times, and a normal day will have many emotions in it, but this happiness is hanging with me and it’s wonderful.

After the Friday night concert we crashed relatively early for us. Saturday I helped Rae out and watched her store so she could go to a class at LCC.

I’m a teacher first and foremost, and I rarely work the shop alone (only when five others ahead of me on the list can not do it), but I did fairly well. I only had to tell a few people to come back/call again because they needed Rae. We were busy and that means I was not bored at all. It’s all good.

I went home for less than an hour to change into “Lynn Heftone” stage garb for our performance at Altu’s restaurant. I love singing there! We had a different crowd than is typical, but some new fans (can I really use that word? I think it’s accurate) came and that was delightful.

We have a few children who really enjoy our music and one of them was at the restaurant when we started playing. They totally get the joy we feel when we play it. How fun it is to sing for a child.

Playing music on stage with my beloved is the most fun I can think of right now. Of course, there are many fun possibilities but this really made my weekend special. I am appreciative.

Next Saturday we perform in Kalamazoo, and Brian also does a basic ukulele workshop. I’ll post about that again in detail soon.

Now I am totally exhausted and that is just fine with me. Sunday I teach my Watercolor Bag (see photos) at Threadbear, which will be great fun. And then I will be able to have a quieter evening on Sunday than I have had in a while.

We did not get photos at Altu’s tonight (I did have my camera out but the friends I might typically ask to take photos were gone… no doubt because it was St. Patrick’s day which means there were a lot of performances to choose from tonight.)

We had the MOST fun you can have playing a concert on Friday night. The lineup was some of the hottest (mostly young) musicians in Michigan, and us. We are just getting to know this crew and they are great, both as people and musicians. I’m proud to be on the same stage, and in the same circle, as they are.

Here are some photos. 1) Josh Davis solo (he is also in Steppin’ in It and Shout Sister Shout). 2) Rachael Davis with just her voice and her hands as instruments, a wonderful combination… and no, Josh and Rachael are not related although they both are in Shout Sister Shout.

3) An artful but slightly blurry photo of Brian and I on stage, showing the incredible woodwork and windows in the church where we were playing. Photo taken by Rachael Davis, thanks a bunch.

4) The Finale, where most of the musicians who had played that night got up and played together. (Photo by Katie, thanks.)

Drew Howard usually doesn’t sing much even at jam sessions, he often prefers to back up others on stage. However, he has this great song “Love-a-rama” or Love-o-rama” and it’s great and easy for folks to just join in and play easily if they don’t know it well. So I suggested we have Drew do that song for our last number and we could all play. I’m glad I made that suggestion, it was a great time and an energetic way to end the concert.

They raised $1,200 for the classroom, a wonderful thing. And the musicians had fun, the audience was great. Everyone came out ahead on the deal. I loved every minute.

We (The Fabulous Heftones, Brian and I) are honored to be in the company of some very fine musicians Friday. We will be performing for the Four Chairs Benefit (for a classroom serving autistic children on the south side of Lansing, which is short four chairs for the students assigned to the room).

Somehow our name got placed first on the poster. Some of the others on this stage are full-time musicians and I’m honored to be on the poster with them at all. It is an incredible lineup, some of the hottest young musicians in Lansing will be there, you’ve heard me mention several of them here.

Do consider joining us. It’s at the Methodist church next to the Capitol building in downtown Lansing, a beautiful old building in good repair, with a great performance area.

The sun is trying to make its way through the filmy clouds this morning. I have sunshine through my windows but although there are shadows I wouldn’t call this “sunbeams.” Any light is welcome, in any form.

Brian and I talked more this morning than we usually do, I went to bed early so I got up a little earlier and we had time. Usually I’m still mostly asleep by the time he leaves.

Well, the result of being in a waking-up state while chatting meant that I kept hearing words we said and associating them with song lyrics tucked into my subconscious. Once it was a pre-disco 1970’s song… and then a 1920s song I learned from a Tiny Tim album or two.

Now, most people remember Tiny Tim from seeing him do one or two songs on Laugh In or Johnny Carson in the ’70s. He was a “strong flavor,” for sure, but nobody makes it in show biz by being vanilla. I never met him personally, though now we do the Ukulele circuit where he also performed and if we’d been around two years previous we surely would have found ourselves at festivals with him.

I decided to pull out our “Tiny Tim Live! at the Royal Albert Hall” to revisit the song “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlght” (having a wonderful time). I am really enjoying this concert.

I would like to go on and express my opinions of Mr. Tim’s work (most of which I genuinely enjoy as pure entertainment) and how so many people have opinions based on not enough information… but I would be distracted from the point of this post. Which is about creating an enjoyable day.

I have a lot of work to do and I’m writing this instead. Dang.

But I leave you with one final happy/good day note: Isabel drew me this picture on the back of an envelope yesterday. Her drawing illustrates a clear understanding of the concept of “ColorJoy” at the age of not-quite-three years old. The envelope contained a thank you note from Isabel’s mommy, April. My friends are very good. This is something to celebrate.

And with that I must leave the computer… next appointment? Lunch with my friend Altu. Then CityKidz Knit, a Toe-Up Sock class at Rae’s, dinner with Brian and a music rehearsal.

Yes, it will be a good day.

Once I had a cat named Muffett. I got him at only 5 weeks old, he fit in the palm of my hand. He was always a tiny runt of a cat but he lived to be 17 years old.

I have only ever had one pet, and I was very lucky it was this fine feline. My cat was so gentle and sweet and people-loving that my friends cried when he finally died.

Old animals get wise, I think. I have a special fondness for them.
I just accidentally found myself on the blog of another Lynn. She has an old cat. She also has a young human around… and the photos are excellent…

Photo: added later in the day by request, my cat Muffett in one of the few photos I have of him. Black cats do not photograph well.

It took me till almost dark to get on that hammock. I did take a lot of photos (for my web shop) from the porch and I hung up the hammock in the very late afternoon. I sat in the hammock for a few seconds at that point.

After taking today’s mail packages to the Post Office just before 8pm, I got on the porch. That sun was hanging very low at that point but it still gave off some light. We decided what we would eat for dinner but I decided to get out on the porch for a while first, while it still was warm enough for that.

So for the record, I am typing this blog entry from the front porch, in the hammock, on March 13. Thirteen was a lucky number this time. (I realize this is a short spurt and we are going back into snow in just a few days… that makes this warmth even more wonderful.)

Yes, I’m wearing a hat and 2 somewhat light sweaters, two pair of wool socks, and wrapped in my good Ethiopian Gahbi (cotton blanket). But I’m not wearing gloves or even wristwarmers, and it’s March. No coat, no earmuffs (and I am very big on earmuffs until it’s quite warm, dorky or not).

I was colder sitting at my desk inside the house just two nights ago, also wrapped in my Gahbi wearing 2 pair of socks. Life sure can be funny.

This is the life!

Look at this thermometer in my kitchen. Can you see why I want to dance and jump up and down? (Um, 73.8F  would be 23.2C for the non-US readers out there.) I am trying to figure out how I can get into my hammock on the porch and still do constructive work for my business, since Tuesday can be the only truly productive deskwork day I have all week, and last week I did not get much done.

Brian rode his bike to work today. I see people all over wearing short sleeves and shorts. Kids are on their bicycles. April and little Isabel and I went on a quick walk around the block, and Isabel showed me her adorable bike with training wheels. She is timid to get on it, but she loves how pretty it is.

I am the first one on the block to open windows and doors on days like this. I can smell neighborhood barbecues lighting up already. I hear kids go by on bicycles, talking by yelling forward or backward as we did when I was that age. A realtor is scrubbing the front door of a house just put up on the market this week. Squirrels are running at full speed across the street, narrowly missing (so far) the traffic which is a little faster than usual because of the general spring rush.

This mom in the photo went by our back door with two toddlers in a wagon. The child wearing the hot pink hat was waving back and forth as if she were the Queen of England. Too cute.

It is still too early for flower photos, but two days ago there was no sign of violets and today their leaves in the yard are maybe an inch or so (2-3 cm) across and very green. Violets are typically the first flower in my yard, and I await their arrival eagerly.

There was a pile of snow in the back yard yesterday, crusty but still hanging in there. It is gone today.

I have perhaps never been this ready for a little warmth. I think I will head for the porch with my laptop as soon as I post this, and I will figure out which work I can do out there at least until the battery goes dry.

I went on a 5 minute walk around the block just now. I have a jam-packed day, have already done much business correspondence and preparation of boxes for shipments of orders sold this weekend on my web ColorJoy Shop.

It is beautiful outside, though it is not sunny. There are birds chirping and according to my thermometer (which usually reads a little high) it is 53F outside. All the snow that sees sunshine during the day melted yesterday, and daffodils are pushing up green shoots in my yard. I do not see any violets with leaves yet, and they are always the first to bloom on our corner, but today it seems possible this will happen soon.

I wonder today why I do not walk around the block every morning. I always say I want to, but I think I am too busy. Usually I can spare 5 minutes! I think I need to put that closer to the front of my conscious thoughts. It really does start a day well.

Off to do the business of a self-employed teacher/artist/musician. It will be a good day.

I finished my sample mini-Gansey sweater after dinner on Sunday. (The Gansey is a historic fisherman’s sweater documented first in the 1830’s… one distinguishing feature is the initial knit into the bottom near the hem, see my upper-case “L” at bottom right.)

Here you can see the resulting item of my weekend adventure/learning process. It’s just plain adorable. The sweater body measures about 6.5″ lying flat, and about 9″ tall (16.5 x23.5cm). The gauge is about 5st/in worsted-weight wool. It is softer in person than it looks here, because I “sharpened” the photo to show the stitch detail more clearly.

An Artform in Wool

As Beth warned, the collar was designed for learning and therefore it is too small for the neck of a doll or bear. I can either love it for what it is or rip out the collar you see here and knit a larger rolled collar if I choose, at any time. For now it stays, it looks cute empty. I need to go on to other things.

The only thing left now is to work in the 26 yarn ends (yes, I counted, I have a tendency to count things others don’t). I did block it, it’s drying now, ends tucked inside for the moment.

Jump Start into Busy Season

Now begins a crunch time for my business. I have some projects I must do and one in particular requires a lot of stitches to be knit by me and nobody else but me. The other is an administrative task.

I’m started on the paperwork but not the knitting. Both will take more focus than I usually have, and so close to a week of grief it may be a challenge to stay on task. However, maybe it will be a comfort to be very clear about two priorities and nearly nothing else. I have some classes to teach, a few rehearsals, a few musical performances in the next month. Other than that I need to be really focused.

Beth is Inspiring
And with that I will delay the focus long enough to say that Beth Brown-Reinsel is such a good teacher, I highly recommend you check out any class she might be teaching in your area. Actually, she is going to be teaching for Threadbear Fiberarts Monday and Tuesday. From Beth’s website it says:

Mar 12-13—Threadbear Fiber Arts, Lansing, MI:
Maine Mittens, Lecture of Estonian Culture and Knitting, Aran Cardigans from the Top Down. Contact: 866-939-2327 or info@threadbearfiberarts.com

If you want to see when Beth will be in your area, you can check out her schedule page.

Photos

I took the class photo quietly so that I would not disturb anyone, but that means I am cropping out a lot of folks, one of whom said specifically that she didn’t like to have her photo taken. I did want to show you how colorful the classroom was at Heritage Spinning.

The photo of three sweaters would be mine at top (green Patons Classic Wool), Ana’s in white at left (Shepherd’s Wool), and Keith’s in blue at right (Philosopher’s Wool). This is where we stood about an hour before class officially ended. Ana finished and worked in all her ends by this time, though you can not see the second arm. I had one arm partly knitted. Keith had his collar knit, plus one full arm and most of a second at that point. When I got home I still needed to knit almost a whole arm and all of a collar.

Yes, I got 5 hours of sleep. Yes, I had to drive 1.5 hours to class and the same home. Yes, I distract easily in a group and thus have homework to finish before I can go to sleep tonight (and we lose an hour because of daylight savings, which is supremely bad timing). It was perfect. I loved my Saturday.

There are 9 of us in my class, and Beth is her usual calm and peaceful self. We learn a lot… about the history of this garment and other sweaters by comparison… about yarn structure and increases and under-arm gussets and welts and knitting needles and the Channel Island cast on… and a bunch of other things that all pertain somehow to this workshop.

It was a socal group during some routing-knitting stretches, and I particularly liked discussing everyone’s choice of yarn and why it did or did not work well for the project. I probably talked a little more than the others at times, but I talked less than I would have doing anything else I normally do. Of course I did keep quiet when Beth needed to talk, which is when it matters most.

I’m knitting with a plain-jane workhorse yarn, Paton’s Classic Wool, in grass green. It is working out well. Green is such a hopeful spring color, and the color brings me joy right now. I was just sooo happy to be in that class knitting this tiny sweater today. It was great to feel a real rush of happiness today while knitting. I did not take that feeling for granted.

And now I need to sign off and finish knitting the body of the sweater so that I can do arms and neck tomorrow in class…