BooZoo!

Sketch v.1 Zydeco Poster, Q. Cassetti, 2010Zydeco derives from Les Haricots Verts (green beans/snap beans). I am working on a poster for the Zydeco Trail Riders event at the Rongo for the week of Grassroots. So, I am making a poster using beans, their swirly vines and heart shaped leaves, a pair of dancing boots ( one wears cowboy boots on the actual Zydeco Trail Rides)… and make it a love button by using a heart shape to hold the whole thing. Yes, there might be a bee or two. The reference is the BooZoo…who put out a CD called Zydeco Trail Ride…and BooZoo really personifies Zydeco as does Buckwheat Zydeco with his rhinestone embellished huge accordian. This is the prelim sketch. I am redrawing this to fit the format better…and take advantage of using my friends the vectors to do some of the woodcutty heavy lifting. I like what humor the beans have…and want to continue that. The  Scroll holds the word Zydeco. And the feet in the boots need to be longer…

I am chipping away at putting the Insiders information on a tab here on the Rongovian Academy of Fine Arts. You will see Inside Ithaca on the top right. Its been work to move the copy from the liveliness of  the interchange of  Facebook to a more staid, but more usable webpage. We will see. This is looking a bit like a project. Like the zoneball I am, I indiscriminately  what I thought was the Ithaca page and wiped out a bunch on the rest of the site. Dope. Dopey. It has pointed up new nice tools that Squarespace has made to bring social networking easy to flow to a blog etc. Cool.

Work continues apace. Lots of projects that are tangled webs of “we don’t know what we want and don’t have any ideas of what we are doing” and I tentatively step into this twisted route to try and figure it out by finding out all the things that are “wrong”. Its wild.

Kitty signed up for her dorm room today (substance free) with a lot of questions and promises to keep the environment substance free. She is committed to this…and it will give her a safe haven if all the students honor the code. Alex is running track even now (almost 8 p.m.). Rob is off at a meeting about the new bandstand to be built at the Tburg Farmers Market during Grassroots. Dinner will be late.

The rainy day has blossomed into blue sky perfection on the plateau.

looking backwards

from the Collection of the Clark Museum, Williams College, Williamstown MAToday was a quiet day. I got up early--and went down to a very fun and exciting kick off to the Hangar Theatre season with an introduction all around and the magic that the director, Ms. Dann wove around the 39 Steps, what she invisioned, how she came to that thinking and the more global idea around the premise of the show. It was poetry with all the actors, management, specialists all listening at the same time...yet for me, poetry. True poetry. We need to get a flip camera in action and film this stuff. We are wasting  such lovely moments that is "insider stuff" that our audiences would love in the intermission to calibrate their viewing and interpretation of these shows. I feel there is more I can give these people.

I am talking to you from my powerbook as we are lakeside. My palms are burning from how hot this computer gets..but I also have access to the wonderful shots I took last summer with Hartford when we visited the Norman Rockwell Museum and also the Clarke at Williams College. It is always so interesting to see what I am greedy to collect . Changes minute by minute.

Teensy Weensy Little House

Fencl House, Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com)/I am baking a pizza rustica for a Memorial Day dish to pass party and think that the name is a bit too pompous..too fabulous for what it is. So, I am renaming it cold cut pie. The phrase "cold cuts" cold cuts of meat...(not even good meat if you are counting head cheese and olive loaf...or the bologne extravaganzas) is chilling...and quite degoulasse. However, anything rustica is chic and implies all things elegant but "back home" old country style. This thing is double crust pie (puff pastry from the grocer's freezer) that is rolled out and put into a 12" springform pan. The bottom layer comes all the way up the side of the pan and is filled with a mix of eggs, parsley, ricotta (the good kind...not watery...from Sauders), salt and pepper, shredded mozzerella and parm, and a chip chop of whatever you have around the house in the cold cut department. If i have ham around, that goes in too... Pack it into the base and smoosh it down so its solid. Then roll the second piece of puff pastry and place on top. Crimp and trim edges...and put an egg wash on the top. Bake at 350˚ for about an hour. Let it cool to room temp and you are ready to slice and go. So, I have a window of time to talk to you

I was fumpfering around on the internet and found this thread of ideas that have me so excited.  Jay Schafer, The owner and designer of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company creates these tiny houses (on wheels) that you can either buy entirely built, or buy the plans yourself. Turns out, there is this nascent group of people who want to combine living greener and saner, with good design out there making waves in this tiny house community. There is Dee Williams (nice write up by Rowdy Kittens) who is one of the thought leaders on living a sustainable and intentionally simpler lifestyle. Resource for Life talks about the Small House Society:

Mission. Our desire is to support the research, development, and use of smaller living spaces that foster sustainable living for individuals, families, and communities worldwide.

Overview. The Small House Society is a voice for the Small House Movement. The movement is the result of concerns about what we are doing to the environment, and what the environment is doing to us (wild fires, flooding, hurricanes), as well as a shifting economy. Some people just desire to live simply so that others can simply live. Because of this, architects and builders are now providing smaller housing alternatives. The increase in websites, books, and magazines about small houses reflect the movement’s growth. Small house dwellers include those who have moved into a smaller space or made better square feet per person use of the space they have. Members of our group might include families of five happy in an arts and crafts bungalow, multifamily housing in a variety of forms, and more extreme examples, such as people on houseboats and in trailers with just a few hundred square feet around them. Size is relative, and mainly we promote discussion about the ecological, economic and psychological toll that excessive housing takes on our lives, and what some of us are doing to live better. It’s not a movement about people claiming to be “tinier than thou” but rather people making their own choices toward simpler and smaller living however they feel best fits their life.

And another signal for this group "Simple Living" which Wikipedia frames up this way:

Simple living is a lifestyle characterized by consuming only that which is required to sustain life. Adherents may choose simple living for a variety of personal reasons, such as spirituality, health, increase in 'quality time' for family and friends, reducing their personal ecological footprint, stress reduction, personal taste or frugality. Others cite socio-political goals aligned with the anti-consumerist movement, including conservation, degrowth, social justice, ethnic diversity and sustainable development.

Like Anti-consumerism, simple living can be a reaction to Consumerism and Conspicuous consumption. Thorstein Veblen had denounced the materialistic society in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899); Richard Gregg coined the term "voluntary simplicity" as one path to simple living, in The Value of Voluntary Simplicity (1936); E. F. Schumacher argued against the notion that "bigger is better" in Small Is Beautiful (1973); and Duane Elgin carried on the promotion of the simple life in Voluntary simplicity (1981).

Simple living as a concept is distinguished from those living in forced poverty, as it is a voluntary lifestyle choice. Although asceticism generally promotes living simply and refraining from luxury and indulgence, not all proponents of simple living are ascetics.

Any way you slice it, there is something really compelling about these small structures, the life they represest and the charm of that existance. Not on my act upon list...but to see Kity look at this stuff, I could see her building one of these some year at the new school. Not an impossibility at all.

USA Cassetti

Poster for Bunch show featuring the Star of Bethnal Green Star artworkWell. Its the kick off to a beautiful weekend. Changes in the household. Mandy and Sonata coming back for the summer. Bruce on board. Alex listening to live music on the commons and swimming in the creek with his friends. Kitty and I bopping about shopping and looking and laughing.We took in the grocery store, Countryside Produce in Interlaken and Funky Finds in Tburg. Funky Finds is our new and curated second hand store owned and curated by Jill who we met a few years back while she was waitressing at Simply Red. She has a real handle on what people like so racks of pearly snap shirts, cowboy boots, used jeans, cute sundresses, and other household things are there in good order. I got a pair of very snappy boots the other day. Kitty bought rainbow suspenders. Today it was a snap shirt for Alex, a vase, an odd 70s type apothocary jar, and a vase ($1.50 that I bought to give to someone with flowers in it).

Rob and Bruce took in GlassFest in  Corning last night with music and lights and neon installations in the Park which Rob related were spectacular. They got home late and then inspired, winged it over to the Rongo to hear Warren Bunn's band, Thudknuckle play.  So it was very social for many yesterday and today. I was totally beat from the week ( a trip to Sauders early yesterday morning combined with the "oops we forgot it was June next week--need to get this work done" thing that happens always before a holiday. It was blood pouring out of my ears with the sheer volume of stuff that needed to get done. So sleep was the greatest gift I could be given.

I was talking to Peter Flynn the other day about the actors, technical people, directors, shop people ... everyone who comes to Ithaca for a month or so during the summer. They get a place to stay, but frankly, its pretty cold soup as there is nothing that says "hey...this is fun". Given the Ithaca Journal has really stopped any arts/culture reporting ...and the radio is more Public Radio stuff...(the ladies at the booksale and not the hipster)...That I said off the cuff to Peter, that I would get a list...not promising much, more more would be better than nothing. I mean, how can they learn about the farmers markets, the great restaurants, the fabulous used culture, fashion and dancing, the gathering places of our town? So, bright and fresh this morning, I thought that maybe I could use my network to write this thing and posted a note on my Facebook page:

Today is the beginning of a little questionnaire I am conducting on behalf of my friends at the Hangar Theatre. To set the stage:

We have all sorts of artists, designers, actors, technicians and creative folks coming soon to bring us the Summer Season at the Hangar.

I would like to construct an insiders guide to the Summer in Ithaca (which we all know is pretty fabulous) from shopping to things to do, from localvore groceries to high end dining, from dancing under the moonlight to cool morning dips in the lake. These artists are bringing us such happiness in their performances, I ...figured lets give them local happiness in their spare time.

I would like to construct an insiders guide to the Summer in Ithaca (which we all know is pretty fabulous) from shopping to things to do, from localvore groceries to high end dining, from dancing under the moonlight to cool morning dips in the lake. These artists are bringing us such happiness in their performances, I ...figured lets give them local happiness in their spare time.

So each day of this week, I am going to ask a question and would love it if you could give me five places (if there are five) and a simple one liner or even phrase that sums up why you recommend this. I will post all of this stuff to a Insiders Guide to Summer in Ithaca Page...so its there for all of us too!
Here is the first question. Remember: up to five entries with short descriptors):
I love buying groceries, food, wine, things to eat at these places.

And then I decided I would merge it all on a Facebook standalone Page " An Insiders Guide to Summer in Ithaca" Please Join us... I find it all very exciting in a way dumb way. Someone has already complained about the format without putting any comments or entries...but IWe  will morph this thing into a web page so its more maluable...as soon as I can do it.

We are lakeside. The day is cool and glorious. My yellow tree peony has 8 fat buds with one having burst! Time to straighten up a bit. The weekend unfolds

 

Hair Standing on End

Whoa. Time is one continuous stream of sweetness, thick maple-y flavored moment...that I rush to keep up with. The last few days have been committed on the front end (8 a.m.) through to seven with paying work and the last minute non paying work for The Hangar ( few days turn-around on 14' banners...thank the good god that I worked in vector). I am a bit blurry. And my poor personal work...done-zo. This, this, is what Sunday is about.

However, after a fun and amusing time at the Pourhouse, I am inspired to do a poster for the Zydeco Trail Ridesr pre Grassroots  at the Rongo. The Trail Riders connection is wonderful Jim Reidy. Zydeco actually translates to haricots vertes (green beans) or snap beans. I am thinking a valentine that incorporates green beans with dancing boots..... A design that incorporates past with present....maybe with a demon(weigh in please) or 

I hear Kitty singing outside with La Poochita. Hermione Camp contines to try to be part of the home team...

getting later

In Progress, Q. Cassetti, 2010, mixed mediaThe outdoors club trip was a great success. There has been more talk about the fun everyone had, the beauty of the site, the mildness of the rapids. The grown ups went off to dance (our Zydeco graduation party as Professor Pask called it) at Oasis to Preston Frank and a large part of Donna the Buffalo (Jeb, Tara, Ward, the base and drummer). Oasis was small and warm to begin with and after the first set, people were melting, the beer was selling and the throng continued to dance on. We had a great time and danced through to about ten which was a nice little workout and quite energizing.

Rob was off at six this morning for a down and back with his parents to New York for doctor consulation for his mother. All positive, for now. And I write you as the rice is cooking for dinner.

We have a new visitor here at Two Camp Street. She (I think) is a very friendly all white cat we have christened Hermione Camp. Hermione was Hermon Camp's daughter who, according to family tales, would go up to the roof of the house and raise the flag on the roof when the Union Soldiers would win a battle. Hermione attended Wells College (I think we have a certificate in the attic).  So, a new Camp Street resident has taken her place here. She has, we think, been living in the barn (upstairs) but is so well mannered and nice, it would seem funny if she wasnt someone's pet. We will give it a week or two and then we will take her to the vet. MeiMei is fine with her. TJ is showing off and being the King of the Cat Empire...but he will settle down. Shady, as the biggest cat, is totally non plussed.

More Irish Spring sachets need to be hung on my trees...as someone is nibbling the edges of the leaves...and that is not cool. Then, the next step is shady hair.

Bruce is here through Memorial Day. Amanda shows up Friday with Baby. Another chapter of Rob and his sister wives continue.

Doldrums

Farmers Market Flowers, Q. Cassetti, 2010Kitty and Alex are back from their two days away--weary but happy. Kitty has been bubbling over about the wildlife, the eels, snakes, birds, natural sights and smells. Alex has, not to put too fine a point on it, gone to bed.

My apple trees are thriving (with the add of little bags of half bars of Irish Spring Soap to fend off the deer). I was rattling on about apple, cherry and maybe peach trees to Peggy, my go to friend on all sorts of important topics, and she sagely nodded and said she thought it was a good idea. I want to plant a bunch (more than 10, less than 200) fruit trees in the back yard and do a you pick. It would take advantage of our big field in the back that we mow anyway, and there might be some benefits beyond the fruit. Say, taxes? And with fruit trees, you know what's next? Right...Heres a hint... buzzzz! to help the trees and amuse this person. More to research but I think this is going to happen.

Have been fascinated to see where my name and work has popped up...and where this work has come from. Behance seems to be the primary source of getting the work into all these alternative spaces... but we will see.

I have also been researching old candy and cigarette vending machines. They are pretty cheap and pretty accessable. I am sure I went beyond ebay and started troling Craigs list for this sort of thing,, I mgiht be able to do something cheaper and better that way. I would like to get one and work with the shop at the Hangar Theatre to do a dispensery for buttons, stickers, postcards and show related stuff along with art bars (Ithaca's art candy bars) and other things along that line. I just need to better understand how to make that happen before I make the big play. It is, as you know, a take off on the artomat machines (www.artomat.org) but, with the artomat machines comes the artomat art. I want to keep this stuff local and see what we can come up with. I wonder if I can enchant some of my friends to do this too...? Your thoughts?

I am tired but dont want to sleep. Tonight is zydeco dancing at the Oasis Dance Club with Preston Frank. Should be fun. I do not know if the kids will go as LOST is in conflict with the timing on this.

Work in progress

Making honey from past mistakes, work in progress, Q. Cassetti, 2010Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt a marvelous error;
That I had a beehive here inside my heart.
And the golden bees were making white combs
And sweet honey from my past mistakes.

-Antonio Machado

<<Illustration is a work in progress...not completed. I just wanted to see it/ share with you albeit incomplete.

I havent writting in a while as I have had a backlog of work to do...and finally, just finally I have crashed through all of that and I can sit back for a second before launching into the new pile of paying work and personal projects.

The Yearbook has gone to press. I love it when I can learn new things about software, design tricks to make more silk purses out of sows ears, and the figuring it out and surprising oneself when you use the tools and DO Figure it out. It turned out to be 135 pages of images out the ears (all submitted to me as RGB files that needed to be converted). I raided my own picture archive as well as hopping from facebook page to facebook page asking my new HS friends If I could use their images of prom, hanging out etc.and they all to a one were lovely and approved my request. This little exercise really pointed up how good cropping can make a photograph (even a bad one) and how the energy behind a school happens with photography, but not with the yearbook staff. This integration of resources (excited photographers, new media, photoshop and the Lulu book company) is where the real zing happens. And, with a bit of trepidation from former experiences, I was expecting to spend a ton of time futzing with the pdfs to make them right. Lulu got in front of that since my last big publishing, and created an add to InDesign and Acrobat with all their presets easy to access for the final pdf. So that was a snap. And despite my files being huge and having to learn how to use their recommended ftp program...it all went without a hitch. And...I saved the color pdf 3 times and saved one out entirely as a decolored pdf for the black and white (figured that one out) as well as enlarged the book for the softbound black and white (all within Adobe Acrobat in the advanced features!). I ordered 155 color hardbound books, 55 hardbound  black and white books and 35 black and white softbound books. And if we want to order more, no problem. I placed the order around 3 on Thursday and by 3 on Friday, the softbound black and white was finished and shipping. Where is the problem here? !

Kitty and Alex are on the Delaware River on a paddling trip. The weather has been like summer so I hope even if they take a splash, it will remain a fun trip for them. Rob and I had a fun night visiting at the Pourhouse. Bruce comes in today for two weeks. We are having some fun folks over to talk about their projects and ideas. Tomorrow we have Preston Frank and Zydeco dancing in the afternoon. Maybe some cooking. The bone processing has reached another level. Maybe make soup to take a chunk out of inventory.

Need to go. Projects to do, people to see.

 

no sugar here.

Wayne Thiebaud inspiration, Q. Cassetti, 2010Cold day. Still trying to catch up...but seeing the end of some of the projects. I have posted some cakes I took pictures of at Totino's Cafe in Horseheads...As you know, I love taking pictures of cakes whenever they are good as I would love to make a body of cake art inspired by Wayne Thiebauld, a San Francisco painter who is a fresh kick in the booty every time I see his work.

It was Rob's birthday: day two last night. We had a quiet dinner with Ron and Mary..with lots of talk around the prom and medical issues in the family. Love medical issue talk. Makes the sauerkraut so sweet.

Tomorrow is dancing. I got a brand new, used and broken in pair of black cowboy boots for dancing ( from our new and wonderful store, Funky Finds, here in Tburg) for only  $30. Surprisingly, I find them more comfortable than anticipated. Our last class is tomorrow, and then our graduation is at Oasis at the end of the month with Preston Frank. Should be fun. We are all going (kids too).

Friday, Kitty and Alex leave early to go on the weekend Outdoors Club trip to the Delaware Watergap with some whitewater canoeing. Alex had a wonderful time last year...and is looking forward to the trip. Kitty has decided that this is the trip she would prefer to going on the Senior Class Trip which is a few days at Hershey Park--which, I can't blame her. Snooze Fest.

Had a great meeting with Peter Flynn at the Hangar. The doings are very exciting there...and the fall season from his detailing sounds wonderful and very spirited programming. I wll be helping them with the graphics for that program as well. Some portraits/ some strong graphics. Need to move on that sooner than later. We will need to jumpstart the year to get the theatre working on a more regular schedule with a better handle on the scope of publications and print they produce over the course of the year.

Two nice things:  My Bee work was selected to be on the highlight list at Behance  or here>> Another one is that the poster I did for Bunch for The Star of Bethnell Green (in November 2009) will be in a show from May 25-28, 2010 at the Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, London. Now, I am an international me! Wahoo!

EOD Monday

Yukako and Rebecca's corsages from Vine Garden Florists, Q. Cassetti, 2010Phew. A moment to myself. Sorry I have not been chatty recently, but I have been busy making memories like the memory fairy that I am. Friday was work and then down and back to Horseheads to pick up the complete James Bond outfit from Mens Warehouse (talk about an operation) to Saturday with shuttling for hair, corsages and then the finishing and prepping the pre prom dinner for eight (the foreign exchange students, their dates (one being Kitty) and another couple.

Alex was all figured out by his prom date, so we cut strawberries and got him tied and buttoned, and of course, photographed for the big event. Vine Garden Florists did a wonderful job with the flowers down to how they were distributed-- in a glorious grid that allowed Kitty and me to oogle and awe over who got what and what color was the dress>? After the beauty parlour buzzing with proms and weddings (complete with Champagne set up for the members of the party) our heads were awhirl with glamour and glitz and fabulousity that put our meager little party to shame. But wait, we didnt know about the cars.

Alex went off to a show stopping picnic by a waterfall...and a wonderful time. Kitty had the foreign exchange students and their dates (she was a date) and two more for dinner provided by the staff (read Mr. and Mrs. Cassetti, we know how to serve). We had a ton of pictures that I bossed them into giving me..., we had food and fun, multiple desserts and then the Rotary sent a member's antique cars over to take the tribe to the prom. Lets just  say that was the cherry on the top of the sundae. Everyone came home safe and sound with Alex winning a door prize. A computer? No. A clock radio? No. A gift certificate? No..... A paperback Bible! If one were to read anything into it...what could one surmise? I have many answers to this that I will not bore you with...but its all pretty funny.

Sunday, I  had my hour interview with Jackie Merwin on the Bohemian Potluck Show on WVBR (93.5 fM) about my engagement in the local music scene. I made a bunch of prompt cards (thank goodness) and  after Shady Grove activated the alarm system in the minivan waiting for me...she was then allowed to sit on my feet which settled both of us down and from what the boss said, I did a good job. So...onward. First radio interview, done. Bring on the next. I was amazed at how easy it was...and how I didnt ummm and ahhh my time away. After that, we celebrated Rob's Bday by splitting a sandwich at Shortstop and then driving down to Horseheads to return the James Bond costume (and not ringing up extra charges) and home to pick up the sleepy teens to go to dinner to cheer on Rob for another year! We went over to StoneCat and had a great time seeing friends in crowd and having a moment to talk with the amazing Scott Signori who we all are tremendous fans of not just his cooking but his total adorability and spirit-- which is another affirmation we are living in heaven on earth.

More tomorrow. My bee book awaits.

Charles O. Dickerson Prom Highlights From Two Camp Streeet, May 15, 2010 I will catch up with you later. It has been back to back since Friday and just need to catch up with the catch up. Tomorrow is an exciting new day!

05.13.2010 @ 9:26 pm

Its sick, I know it...but the crunch of all the "yes, no problem" volunteer work which, as expected all hit, late...has been fun. Breathless, but fun. I have had a real bonding with InDesign ...learning all sorts of new things-- like how to turn the artboards around, how to use the secondary guides etc. It has been, albeit under pressure, quite rewarding personally. The end is in sight. I have tapped Kitty and her friends for really good photography. I have made friends with strangers over Facebook to get images, to get information and to network for this publication. It truly is a brave new world of accessable content, content that to many of the providers has no value until an editor (read, me) sees a place for it and then, kaboom, value. Take that to another/higher level and think of the future opportunities. And for that, I am grateful and introspective. I need to stew on this for a while before I can be salient and distill down the "key learnings' (one of my favorite corporate phrases) and be able to articulate them with out edge. It was chilly today...fleeces and wool shirts...but still promising to be spring without the snowflakes and hail of last week. The Regional has a lovely sale of things from granola basics like dried blueberries, raisins, dried cherries, dried cranberries, and organic raw sunflower seeds (5 lbs for $5.) to nice oil, cheese "orphans" to the more exotic. We had haircuts by Thea (and good ones!) for prom in the kitchen of all the guys we know. Tomorrow its the dinner jacket pick up, the patty shell bake off, the shortbread making, and strawberry mascerating for the multiple entertainments in the near future. I have started another bee book from an insect vantage point that is as rich and chewy as Robbing the Bees by Holley Bailey. More pix and more stuff to come. Need to turn in as the dancing the Mamou last night has definitely taken me to another place.

40 and chance of showers.

Spring Iris Bed, Q. Cassetti, 2010Another pedal to the metal day. I am seeing the end of the yearbook...its in sight. I have been scrounging pictures from Kitty and her friends on Facebook, digging into my own mom archives and seeing what the team has...so its editorial pressure along with retouching (even lightly) the images to take them from RGB to CMYK, adjust the resolution to work etc. Lots of color correction with basketball imagery (can you say grainy and yellow?). Ah well. The end is in sight. Forgive me, this has been my spare time recently, so the addage about "all work and no play ...." pertains very much to this gal. Dull Girl to say the least.

We shopped at Sauders on Saturday and then prepped Kitty's birthday (from the notes below). Sunday, we took Alex to Elmira to rent a dinner jacket for the prom this Saturday. He was very specific...no colored tie, no colored vest, no spectator patent leather shoes, no no no. He has been watching James Bond and talking randomly about "gentlemen's sports" so he was direct to the poor clueless gal waiting on us who "knows" what "good" is and that we had definitely gone off the tracks on this one. White shawl collar dinner jacket, black pants, black tie, standup collar, pleated shirt, silver accessories, black shoes. Not sure about the cummerbund, but that is part of the package (which I think is hilarious as the only thing you can keep are the socks)...but its top of the head to the tips of your toes all in one rental package. And, I am sure if you want a hat, a cane or whatever else in the pimpin' mode, the rental company would be more than happy to oblige. While he was being measured, Kitty and I went to gawk at the bridal store next door to our amusement. Then it was back to the office with Rob going to the concert at the Rongo for Mother's Day and I yearbooked. I did take a little break to cut up bars of Irish Spring soap and wrap them in old onion bags and hang them from my new apple trees (who are thriving). Take that deer! The big fat peony buds are on the edge of popping and the lilacs are out.

Rob's Birthday is this Sunday. Prom is Saturday with lots of rushing around having to do with hair and clothes and flowers. I am having the foreign exchange students and their dates (one being Kitty) for dinner prior to the prom. We should have a little family gathering for Rob and I need to dive on the present while I have time. I know what I want to do...I just have to do it.

Alex is down for breakfast, so I need to go say hi and stop playing hooky. Hope to send you a little cheer later today, if I can.

 

The party continues. Someone is playing the offkey piano (we have two...one that has suffered, and one that came with the house)...a group is watching junky tv. and the other group is yakking it up in the summer living room. The hot chocolate chip cookies have vanished. There are some interesting pairings going on.

Poor Rob is asleep on his feet. The build was plenty for this poor guy.

I am scrounging for pix. Might you have pictures of homecoming or Mr. Trumansburg?