Mr Pink Goes on Tour

(Note: I sent this to the Head Can Opener Kidnapper, but I haven't seen it up on their site. So here's Mr Pink on tour with Confluence. )

After having spent some time in solitary confinement after having been found with Miz Swing-A-Way and the church key (you don't want to know!), Mr Pink is feeling more contrite. We were glad he was because the last thing we wanted on our tour was a wayward can opener making lewd remarks to other appliances and hooting from the back row. As we were driving to the first concert on the tour in Salem, we were hearing mutterings of "not the drill...not the drill" in the back seat.

After breakfast, we headed out on the road to Ashland. The weather was very cooperative, giving the turning trees' color brilliance. "I had an ancestor who was a big ole crosscut saw," said Mr Pink. "Worked out in Valsetz cutting the big firs. You can see him in pictures just standing there proud and sharp." I expected him to start humming some lumberjack song but thankfully we had Ella Fitzgerald on the stereo.

At Rice Hill we stopped at the K-R drive-in for ice cream. It was my first time there. Mr Pink had a hard time trying to make up his mind what ice cream to pick as there were over 20 flavors of Umpqua ice cream to choose from. In the end he settled for just watching as we had a chocolate black walnut shake and a chocolate coffee malt.

We reached Ashland in mid-afternoon in time to make a visit to The Web-Sters . Duffy found a book on Latvian mittens while Reid waited and looked on, the knitting "widow". Duffy also picked up the last ball of yarn she needed for the Modern Quilt Wrap. The ladies at Web-Sters were very friendly and helpful and listened patiently to Mr Pink's tale of his travels.

We met up with the other Confluence Chorus singers and the singers of Women With Wings and the Rogue Valley Peace Choir at the Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. While we waited for the concert to be set up Mr Pink lingered in the library. "Very interesting," he said later, "though I see God as being more a great metal press." Some of the singers from Women With Wings caught his eye. "Do you think I could go home with them?" he asked. "No," we said, "you're staying with us for now." He did enjoy the concert. "We are different yet we are the same," he murmured. "I suppose you could say that, though it's hard to think how I'm the same as you." "You have feelings," I told him. "You like to be appreciated and respected. Just like me." "That's true," Mr Pink answered. He has some pretty deep thinking, that can opener.

In the morning, we rose early to get a good start for Roseburg. Our hostess, Charlie, was quite taken with the can opener. "He has lovely lines," she said as she posed with him and a photo of her dog Chewy. After a quick breakfast, we headed up north. The rain we had been expecting had arrived making the roads slick. It was a little harrowing driving in the Bright Red Bug next to the big trucks through the hills. But we arrived in Roseburg safe and sound and reached the Umpqua UUC in time for Confluence's performance. Mr Pink made the rounds of folks in the chorus while we waited. He even made a friend out of one of the children of the UUC, Victoria, who was happy to hold Mr Pink. After the concert and a potluck lunch we headed on our way to Eugene. "You had folks in tears," said Mr Pink, touched. "It was amazing."

By the time we reached the UUC in Eugene, all of the chorus were tired. People were grumpy and having difficulty concentrating. The director gathered all of us together after we warmed up to give us a pep talk and remind us of how important it is that we be mindful of what we say about others. Our last performance of the tour received a very warm reception, bringing the weekend to a triumphant close."So what's next?" asked Mr Pink when we arrived back at Chez Runamuck. "That's up to the Head Kidnapper," I said as I unloaded the bags from the Bright Red Bug."I hope it's someplace fun," said Mr Pink. "This has been a great week.""And you'll mind your manners?""Of course," said Mr Pink. "Mr Man won't know me when I get home."

Fatigue

I'll try not to whine in this entry. It's hard not to when I feel like a dishrag after Thanksgiving for 30 people. So if the house has dust, oh well. The ole bod's saying that I bit too much so the clutter will have to just be tolerated.

The KCO's adventures on tour with the chorus will soon be up on the KCO's blog. It was very amusing taking pictures and explaining the story behind the KCO. While in Ashland I was able to stop at Web-ster's where I picked up the last ball of yarn I needed for the Modern Quilt Wrap and found a copy of this to add to my growing collection of knitting books. When I told the ladies at Web-ster's about the KCO, I got the laugh and look of people who are tolerating the mentally ill person's antics enough to humor her before shooing her out of the store. Reid, my tour carpool partner, just sighed and waited while his fiber fanatic friend flitted about the store.

Guilty pleasures

QueerJoe asks people what guilty pleasures they have. It's funny what people consider "guilty pleasures." What could be a guilty pleasure for one could be something ordinary to another. The joy something brings to a person shouldn't create guilt, but we can be such a judgmental society frowning at what may be just an innocent escape from the normal brouhaha of life that we feel we need to hide what we love to do. But we also love to go to extremes so finding a happy medium is not easy.

At any rate, here are my guilty pleasures:

1. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with the sauce packet.

2. Lying in my recliner with a comfy blanket and reading until the wee hours of the morning.

3. Standing in the shower just to luxuriate in the warm water running over my head.

4. See's dipping chocolate.

5. Zipping down a freeway onramp, especially if it's downhill and I'm driving a stickshift.

What are your guilty pleasures?

There should be something here

You're probably here checking to see if there's more for the Kidnapped Can Opener. He's in solitary confinement, having been caught in flagrante delicto with Miss Swing-A-Way and the church key. Tonight he's going to be doing time in the laundry. Mr Man, what have you been doing with this bad boy?

The Confluence Chorus Oregon Tour is this weekend. We sing at the Salem UU Congregation Friday night, then Saturday we'll be at the First Congregational Church in Ashland. Sunday we'll be singing at the morning service at the UUC of Roseburg, then singing in the afternoon at the UUC of Eugene. A very busy schedule which will offer times where I can sit and knit to my heart's delight thanks to Reid liking to drive. I've been informed that we must stop at Rice Hill for ice cream (the Umpqua Dairy's based there). Works for me. My only request is getting to Ashland with enough time for me to make a stop at Web-sters for one last ball of Kidsilk Haze for the Modern Quilt Wrap.

OFFF Day

It was a busy day Saturday. After a lovely breakfast and a stop at my LYS for a few skeins of yarn I needed for projects, I headed south to Canby for the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (OFFF). The morning was brisk and there had been a threat of rain murmured on the airwaves, but the day turned out to be perfect for a festival: warm but not too hot with some cloudiness to keep the outdoor vendors from cooking.

In past years I went by myself but this year I was with the PDX Knitbloggers. A rendezvous camp was set up on the green outside the main exhibition hall and near the spinners circle so while you were out checking vendors and animals you had a place to stash your things to be watched over. It was nice to have a place to go to knit and rest and chat with friends (not to mention share finds) then leave your purchases while you went to check out other vendors.

I was also there to receive the Kidnapped Can Opener. It was good that I was with a group because after a half hour had passed from our rendezvous time I was itching to go. I had a wheel to swap and vendors to peruse. While I was gone the KCO arrived and endured the photo taking of my fellow bloggers until I arrived to take it on its own journey of OFFF.

There was an Irish wolfhound show going on nearby. This is one of the smaller ones.

Spinners circle

Junior spinning competition

Lynnel and Linda of Rowan Tree Woolery with the Suzie and the KCO

Pygora goats

Jacob sheep

Bactrian camels (2 humpers)

Exhausted from an afternoon of fiber fondling