December adventure

Snow doesn't come to western Oregon often. It's more likely to appear as rain or flurries. But this year we've been struck with the first of what the forecasters are saying are a series of storms that will accompany the cold air that has dropped from up north. For some of you folks in northern climes in the US this may not seem much but for Oregonians it's an event and we aren't as prepared for it as we could be. Besides, the stuff has so much moisture it turns to ice almost immediately so it's treacherous around here.

The concerts Confluence put on went well and despite the weather were well attended. When word of the coming snowstorm was confirmed most of our group who lived in Portland planned on returning as soon as possible Sunday night from Corvallis, which is normally a drive of a little less than 2 hours. Because of accidents and tie ups on the freeway, most folks didn't get home until after midnight. Emails telling their tales of sitting in stranded cars went out from their phones. The snow had started falling in earnest around 6 pm while we were taking down the risers and cleaning up the place in preparation for our Christmas party. By the time I headed out with my friends Sam and Clark to stay the night with them, there were a few inches on the ground and blowing wind.

Sam rode with me on the way to the house, for their house was in the hills over Albany and they knew the back roads well enough to know which had the least elevation. I hadn't driven in a snow storm at night before but knew enough to just go slow and steady in low gear. The Bright Red Bug with her new shoes took the challenge gallantly. We got to the house without any problems and settled in for a long winter's snooze.

The next day I hoped that the roads were more clear and for the most part the main highways were. But all the side roads and lesser traveled streets were glazed with ice. After a bit of a struggle to get my chains on my tires, Sam and Clark sent me on my way with a belly full of blueberry pancakes and bacon. The chains worked well on the ice so I was able to get to the highway without any problem. About halfway into the journey, however, I noticed there was extra noise coming from the chains. At first I thought it was that they had somehow shifted and gotten loose, but I learned later on that my driving on the pavement too fast with them broke a few of the links on the crossbars so they were banging on my wheelwells. It reminded me of a story Mom told of coming back from the beach with a station wagon full of hungry tired kids and Dad and crossing over the coastal mountains in the snow. They had one chain set with a loose string and it would go BANG BANG BANG on the fender. So I crawled my way home, banging away.

Four and a half hours after I left I got home, exhausted and ready to call it a night. I walked in the door to be greeted by the cats letting me know how hungry they were and why the heck I didn't leave more food for them and just where the hell was I all these hours. Then I noticed that the house wasn't very warm. When I checked the thermostat, sure enough there wasn't any heat. My furnace was on the fritz.

On Saturday after I had run some errands I noticed that the heat wasn't on and found that something in the furnace had indeed tripped an error code. The thought of having no heat in the house while I was gone was not a good one, so I called the furnace repair with hopes that they would be able to fix it in time for me to be able to get to concert in Salem. They did and I left with the confidence that my children and pipes would be warm. So when I came home to the house being chilled I wasn't happy. Not so much that the furnace didn't get fixed but the prospect of having to figure out how to pay for the repairman. It would work out, I figured, and called them again this morning. Sure, they said, we'll be over. I explained to the bookkeeper my situation and she said she'd work things out with me. So they came over, tried again to figure out what was tripping the furnace's brain, then left with my house thawing out. It was nice to come home to find the house nice and warm.

So more snow is forecast for tomorrow and the weekend. As long as the power doesn't go out, I think I'll be fine. Otherwise, I'll be shoving the piano away from the fireplace and burning my recycling.

La la land

This weekend was choir retreat weekend and the weather for once was very cooperative. Highs in the 60's, sunshine to make you loll about like a sybarite, and little wind, which for the coast is quite excellent. I rode down in another Bright Red vehicle, this time a Volvo, with a couple of my fellow singers, giving me some knitting time on another pair of DK socks. When the temp dropped, my yurtmates bundled in pj's and electric blankets while I had a flannel sheet for a cover. There are some good things about hot flashes. Apparently I also was very entertaining in the night, talking in my sleep about putting something over there and Margaret. Wish I knew who Margaret was.

The past week was spent mostly working on a pair of socks for one of the administrators where I work. He dropped a hint to me in a kidding way but I took him up on it. Size 12 socks, dude? Ya got 'em. Special gold toe ones just for you. When I finished them up I liked them so much I made another pair, this time intending them to be my size. However, they're just a tad small, so they'll be going to someone else.

Knit night was time for catching up with my buddies. Rachel brought out the shawl she finished and socks she made with StitchJones yarn. The shawl is just gorgeous. The socks striped up so beautifully. Nice job, Rachel. She was also wearing a pair she had knitted up. Cindy couldn't help being silly with them.

It was also a good opportunity to show my Clapotis. It's done! One skein Blue Heron rayon boucle and 2 skeins BH rickrack, all colorway Denim.

Christmas is coming and projects are coming along. One I'm doing required that I do a nice long stretch of grafting (45 stitches). I am happy to say that all my fears of the dread Kitchener have been erased. It's not entirely error free but it's grafted well enough to be invisible to the untrained eye. Sorry, no pics. The receiver may be reading this. Thumbs up!

Updated: I made a mistake in attributing the shawl. The maker was Rachel, not Tammy. My apologies.

Scenes from a Festival

I have one question for those of you who live below the freeze line and go through summer with humid heat.

How do you do it?

Sweet mercy mother, it was hot in Miami. Hawaii was warm but nothing like Miami. If I had to do the tropics again, I'll do Hawaii. But I survived the heat and the sun without getting burned or heatstroke. Thank goodness for Mr Carrier and the air conditioner. Otherwise you'd find me passed out under a palm tree from too many mojitos.

I'm glad I went though. The music was fabulous and the atmosphere of the GALA festival was so welcoming. Someone described it as a big family reunion, and in many ways it is (without having to bring cole slaw). This time though many of the women didn't come. I don't know if it was due to the cost or lack of interest, but there were far fewer women's choruses there than usual. So many of my conversation partners were men: singers, spouses of singers, support, and directors.

I have a ton of pics left to sort through but I wanted to at least share some that to me speak of the experience. So enjoy!

It was the music.

The young and the young at heart all making music together.

Of course there was audience participation.

The directors got a workout.

But the rewards were incredible.

There were storms and sunshine.

And a lot of cameraderie.

For love and peace.

And warm feet.

Back from the beach

This weekend was chorus retreat weekend. In the spring and fall we go somewhere where we can spend the night and have an intensive series of rehearsals. It's exhausting but the results are great. Most of the time, anyway. This was one of the good weekends and I was able to get soprano centered recordings for making a rehearsal tape.

We stayed at South Beach State Park which has RV places and yurts for accommodations. The yurts are similar to cabins in RV parks: heated, have electric hookups, and have bunks and a futon bed for sleeping. You bring your own bedding and make sure they're clean when you leave. Food is a communal thing -- each section takes on a meal then the chorus goes out one evening -- and there are showers and flush toilets.

Retreat is also a good way for folks to get to know each other a little more. So we have our meals together, have a no-talent show, and revel in our cameraderie of mutual exhaustion.

With the arrival of spring, there were tiny wildflowers and spring growth everywhere. The misty rain added an extra sparkle to the leaves and made for pretty pictures.

I may have some knitting time

The concert last night went okay. There were a few glitches but they were handled with aplomb. Those I talked to enjoyed the concert and it was a great turnout for Portland, which means the chorus will come back next year. If the turnout had been poor, we would have seriously considered not performing in Portland again, so I'm glad.

This weekend I opted to perform Friday only. The injury to my knee is not improving with all the moving around so I'm home giving it a rest and knitting. I went to my primary care doc Thursday and he thinks I have a torn meniscus. I have meds now to deal with the pain and have a feeling this will end up with my having some sort of surgery to repair my knee. I've done this before so I know what to expect. Whatever happens I'm going to perform in Miami in July. It would be great to be able to do it standing.

The latest Knitty is up and there are a few patterns in there that interest me. I'm particularly interested in doing Laminaria in the Malabrigo Baby Merino Lace in colorway Loro Barranquero. This may end up being my Miami shawl. We'll see. I also liked Spirogyra but I want to use the patterning for making a pair of socks instead of fingerless mitts. That will take some mathwork to figure out. Lace Ribbon , Brighton, and Yosemite are also nice ones that I'd knit up (On Brighton I'd make sure that I had a really secure foundation for the handles so that they don't prematurely rip out). Some of the other patterns are too funky for this broad to be wearing. I'll do my Kauni sweater instead.

Just another blustery day in River City

We had a little storm come through, one of those fed by subtropical moisture that comes north and whips us about. It was a strong one that generated hurricane force winds at the coast and threatened to be nasty further inland. It turned out that once it hit the coast mountains the winds cut down quite a bit so we didn't get as much damage in the valley as was expected. But the coast is flooded with trees down and roads closed. One tree in particular, an ancient Sitka spruce that was a landmark for travelers going to the beach, was finally felled. I've been trying to get a hold of my relatives on the coast but the phone lines are still down. I'm hoping they didn't sustain much damage or get flooded out.
Confluence's concert is next weekend in Salem (Saturday) and Corvallis (Sunday). We ran through our music last night and it sounds good. There are a few rough spots but if the chorus is like any other it will pull itself together at the last minute. We're hoping that the weather is cooperative. As for the West Linn Community Chorus, the commute there and other things convinced me that it wouldn't be a good fit, so my Thursday eveningswill still be open.
The knitting needles are going great guns. Item number four is just about ready for felting and number five is getting churned out. I have been taking pictures of the FO's to post after the holidays because some of my readers will be recipients. Of course I could post pictures of all of them and make them guess which one they're going to get, but that wouldn't be nice, right?

Hodie Christus natus est

This weekend was the fall chorus retreat. This year we went to South Beach State Park and filled the air with song as we worked on our holiday concert songs. The works that our director Ray chose for us are a little more difficult than ones we've done in the past, but the challenge has been great. There is some old rep for variety but I'm having to learn a new part on them, so it's not a walk in the park sotospeak. I came home exhausted from the trip but at least I had a voice. I was expecting to be voiceless but I must have done the right thing (lots of warm water and tea to drink). I feel much better about how we're progressing. So if you're in the Salem or Corvallis area, come see us the second weekend of December. It's going to be an incredible concert.

Today after a rather stressful day at the office, I pulled out the spinning wheel. The Louet S10 is behaving very well and I'm finding my groove with it. I succeeded in working up the barf roving I received at Black Sheep Gathering for practicing my chain plying and came up with a not unattractive yarn (see above). I'm currently working on the second color of the Shetland/alpaca blend and am almost through the second ounce. It may look like twine now, but it will be a good color when knitted up with the other colors.

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.

Out in the hinterlands

The concert at the SummerBlue gathering for the Benton County Democrats went well. While it was muggy, the Dems stopped moving and shaking enough to listen to us. We had a marvelous audience. The party was held at the Dancing Oaks Nursery which is located south of Monmouth Ore (an hour's drive from the capitol, Salem) and is tucked into the foothills of the coast mountains. Later, our director received a phone call from the organizer of the party to thank us for the performance. We received a lot of good feedback, including that even though it was an amplified outdoor performance people could hear the words of the songs clearly. *thumbs up!*

Sunday was the first rehearsal of the whole chorus in preparation for the tour at the end of September and our holiday concert. Thanks to my friends Clark and Reid I was able to get the music all copied and sorted, for by the time the weekend drew to a close I was exhausted. More incentive to work on getting in more exercise!

Days of Tea and Knitting

Melissa (or Teaknit Melissa as I call her to differentiate her from the other Melissas I know), is an East Coaster who migrated West. Her eye for detail in all she does is amazing. Not only is she a great knitter but she also is a great photographer. Check out her work here.

Q. When did you learn how to knit? Did someone teach you or did you teach yourself?

A. I learned to knit from my father when I was a little girl. I don't remember knitting very much, but it stayed with me. Then when I was in my early teens my dad learned to knit continental and then I knitted that way. Not purling, but knitting continental. It wasn't until around 10 years ago that I took it up again and got pretty serious. Unfortunately my father wasn't alive by then and has never seen me really knit. I think about that a lot when I'm knitting. Imagining him looking over my shoulder or commenting on my technique or the beautiful yarn.

Q. If you were sent into exile, which 5 knitting books would you take?

A. My first emotional response would be NONE! Knitting books are a luxury item in some strange way to me. But, backing up into that question, I guess I would choose 4 different issues of Interweave Knits and Knitting in the Old Way.

Q. Describe the most unusual/notable occurrence that happened while you were knitting.

A. Here in Portland, I've met my best friends: Four women who are always there on Sunday afternoons to knit, for each other's birthdays and every holiday (not to mention when we just need to talk or knit and talk or just KNIT.

Laa la la la

This year Confluence Chorus is doing outreach concerts in various places in Oregon. Next Saturday Influence, Confluence's subgroup, will be singing at the Benton County Democrats will be having a garden party fundraiser called SummerBlue 2007, held at the Dancing Oaks Nursery in Monmouth Oregon. More information may be found here. We'll be starting up rehearsals for our tour of southern Oregon that Sunday. If you visit, say Duffy sent ya!