"Leap together"

The title of this post comes from the most-cited part of Kermit the Frog's commencement speech, but I like this rhyming part better:

Life's like a movie.

Write your own ending.

Keep believing.

Keep pretending.

 

This is Memorial Day weekend, and I plan to go to the annual commemoration at the community center.

I have a red, white, and blue scarf to knit (because I fidget), one in the car and one in the house, depending upon whether I walk or (if it's rainy) drive over.  These are scarves I usually donate to veterans hospitals and other programs through the WWII Museum's Knit Your Bit program.

I've also been making progress on my Giverny Shawl:

Almost ready for the third and final skein.

Yesterday I went to Open Studio time for fused glass at the gallery.  The instructor forgot to slump my last piece into a dish shape, so I have to collect it later, but it came out very nicely and he was excited to show it to the group:

I made two new pieces, one inspired by the flames-shaped piece I found, and another just playing with some glass-dust-infused "paint" solution:

I think I will make four pieces featuring translucent glass, all using the same clear glass base (although they are unlikely to remain perfectly square or the same size - glass does that) and set them into a wooden frame, with a light inside.  That will look fantastic.  I have a piece set aside as the focus of the second one, and I'll see what the inspires me for the other two.

I picked up my other two previous pieces, one of which was shaped into what I hoped would be a candleholder but it's a bit shallow, so it might remain a dish:

The large picture, suggested by a piece of glass I found and used as the background, really pleases me:

You can see how two of the lilypads
glitter a bit.  The eyes really add life
to the fish, and the wisteria is dimensional.

Cloudy day light filtering through.

RadioVizion!

A good friend who isn't able to tread the boards (as theater people say) as much as he would like is in a play, so of course I had to go, even though I've just returned home from overseas.  So on Friday I flew to Dallas, worked a bit, then joined my host friends at their usual Friday night supper location.  They walk in and aren't given menus; I was but pretty much know my preferences: Mediterranean salad and a side of gyro.  They give me enough that half comes home (with our fourth flatbread) for a future meal.

Saturday started out usual for me:  yoga class and Torah study, both online.  Then a quick check-in before my friend and I started refreshing our browsers until the "REGISTER HERE" button appeared on the DFW Fiber Fest website.  It went smoothly for me this year and I have a good slate of classes.  Plus nine persons registered for the class I am teaching on Sunday!  And likely there will be more before September.

After that it was brunch at another of our usual locations, then stopped at a local resale shop to see whether I could get some crockpots for my class (no, but I did find two very large colanders) before going to see my friend's play at the matinee.  The Bath House Cultural Center always has art exhibits:

The play is done in the style of a radio show, with the audience in the role of - audience!

It was a lot of fun and very funny and I am very glad I went to see it.  Afterwards a quick stop back at the resale shop because I'd forgotten to look for towels (I found three), and the Red Truck Café for the weekly prime rib special:

Afterwards, my friend and I went to a Joann's to see what we could stock up on before it closes.  Since a storm that had been brewing finally arrived, we joked about needing to take shelter on the way home in the store.    Then it was a quiet evening, and an early flight home.

These are the masks from my trip:

Habemus Papam.

Not just a new Pope, but one from Chicago, so the city and memes have been going nuts.

We know he is a baseball fan:

He's the result of a marriage of a Cubs fan and Cardinals fan.

There is some speculation:

We're pretty sure he's a Bears fan, which might lead to updates of the Popemobile and regalia:

  

And of course, he knows which team doesn't have a prayer:

  

Of course, entering to a classic song is mandatory.  And I found it fun that his name wasn't high on the lists of likely chosen held by the major betting houses.

Some people have made the observation that:

It will now be a mortal sin to put catsup (or ketchup, or however you spell it) on a hot dog.

In addition to a pizza joint updating their offerings, other well-known Chicago food vendors have posted, both proudly:

 .....and cheekily:

May he live to the age of Abraham, or at least Moses.

Family Times.

 It was a busy weekend.  First, my eldest niece graduated from her masters degree program, with honors.  Tickets were limited but I received one, so of course took the time off work on a Friday afternoon.

Then her sister and I flew to DC, where the younger niece lives, and on Saturday went to Maryland Sheep & Wool.  We left midafternoon so I could get to Dulles in time for a flight - more on the trip next week.

I did some stash enhancement.  At left, one of the
vendor's show colourways.  At right, natural-dyed.

My contribution to the lunch.  And bananas.

I joked that I found this too late to be useful.

This is one of the two music performance areas.

There was a great display of knitted and sewn items in the annual Make It With Wool contest.

  

   

We both enjoyed looking at and speaking to the living history group.  I took a few photos but none are particularly good.

[Edited to add the above photos.]

Since I am now on my work computer and it won't let me upload photos.  I only have the ones I preloaded, of a dragonfruit that I finished before leaving.  They are really pretty, but this is the second time I've had one and it has no taste.  Maybe it's me?  Or the ones I've purchased?  All I get is texture.

But they are pretty:

 

From the top, left to right:  Whole fruit, a bit sliced off, better look at the inside, and peeled.

I did it again.

With the two weekends of travel, and holidays, I hadn't been able to get back to the studio to look at my last two pieces of glass.  When my parents didn't need me all weekend and there was an opening in Saturday's workshop, I went to see how they look.

I added a bit to the water scene, some more flower bits, and some pieces to make the fish look more like fishies.  I was pleased that the two lily pads made from the shimmery glass do shimmer in the right light, although they don't show much in the pictures.  There's a bit in the bottom leaf on the top photo:

Before.  I debated what to do about the fish.

After.  Still stylized but more identifiable.

The instructor and I discussed how to shape the other piece, which has fantastic translucency and I thought would make a nice tea light holder.

Yes, there is some lovely iridescence in the opaque pieces.

The piece will be heated and slump over the
cup underneath.  We'll see how it works.  If
it's not a tea light holder, it's a small dish.

The other students did some interesting pieces, including a plant stake with daisies and experiments with flowers and leaves between pieces of glass, and abstract pieces:

This student found a piece of glass to use as a starting point.

I also purchased some llama-shaped earrings that I will convert from hooks and wear next weekend.  My niece has our schedule planned - a few hours to meet friends and check out as many vendors as possible (just looking for her; mostly browsing the smaller dyers for show colourways for me), then we spend the rest of the time looking at the animals.  She's especially interested in sheepdog trials.

Over the past week, on my walks I've documented some of the surprises in my garden.  Last year a neighbor was giving away some iris sets.  Of the four I received, two did nothing; one seems to have a stalk that broke off early; and one has survived to offer several flowers:

  

  

  

I also have a tiny red rose bush that seems to have popped out of nowhere, and which is going strong:

  

I've tried to plant some ground cover under my two trees, and I think I need to water them a bit more:

The backyard has two kinds of mint and some Creeping Jenny.

 

I cannot remember what I planted in the front, other than that they are good spreaders with pretty flowers.

I thought the plants I added last year died off
during a winter free, but it came back.

Tour Eiffel Shawl update:  I am almost back to where I was when I frogged it last weekend, after some struggles on the eyelet rows and more frogging, but just a few of them.  I think it's less pattern error than knitter error as the way that row works is different from the others, and I don't quite have it memorized properly.  The good news is that this means I might be on the second hank by this weekend: