Ketchup

I've really been neglecting this blog. My excuse, for last week, anyway, is that I've been busy. I spent one day working in the attendance office (those ladies are not paid enough for all they have to do!), one day giving math placement tests, and one day on an art field trip to the National Gallery of Art and the Hirschorn Museum of Modern Art. I gave the SAT Saturday morning, then we drove to Mom and Dad's house to visit overnight. While there, we went to see/hear Todd Snider at Ashland Coffee and Tea. We left Mom and Dad's around 3:30 yesterday and drove the three hours to my son's house to attend my youngest granddaughter's 6th birthday party. We left home at 6:30 on Saturday morning and got back at 10:00 last night. It was a very busy weekend, but it was great to visit with family. And earn $98 for giving the SAT.

Here's a photo of my Bloodlust (from All That Glitters) custom-dyed for me by Yarn Lust (etsy.com). I love it. It's 2% silver so it's sparkly; I'll use it to knit Shipwreck (knitty.com). She sent a stitch marker with each hank of yarn: one red heart, one black heart, and one clear heart. I have a feeling I'll need them for this. You can also see the beads I bought at Beads of Distinction in Key West; I think I'll need more of them, but I have to figure out how many and which ones go where. That's going to be a pain; I want the inside rows to have clear beads, the center red ones, and black on the outside rows. Thank God they're not needed until the entire center is knit; they go on the edging. But how am I going to figure out just how many I'll need and in what numbers? I can always break the yarn and add more beads when needed, but I really really hate having those ends to weave in. I may try a Russian join, which basically, I think, is spitting on the loose ends of yarn and then mooshing them together. If it'll work, I'm all for it. I hate to weave in ends on anything.

This photo doesn't show the sparkle factor, but it's there all the same. I plan to haul this to Florida and work on it this summer, but I'm not sure how well I'll be able to concentrate when a) I'm sitting on the porch in 90 degree weather while gazing at the Gulf waters a few hundred feet away with wool on my lap, and b) I can't concentrate when I'm in a room by myself anyway and this one is going to take some concentration.

Slacker radio works pretty well when we're in flat country with a really strong AT&T signal, which means it doesn't work well in this area but did closer to Richmond. We're interested to see if it's any better in Florida where there are a lot fewer hills and no mountains. I like that I can fine-tune custom channels to play songs by people that we like, but I do not like the cutting in and out when we're in less-than-flat land.

I'm not a very good traveling companion since I got the Crackberry. I mean, I can check my email in the freaking car! And Facebook. I hate Facebook, but it's interesting once in a while to log in and see what (mostly) boring things others are doing. I haven't had any luck sending photos to cell phones or others' email; something else I need to check on. And, like I said earlier, I can read blogs and their comments but cannot post my own comments. I still haven't attempted to tether it to my laptop, which I should do very soon because we're paying for it and I want to see if make sure it works before we leave for the summer.

I loaned Twilight the movie to a friend a couple of weeks ago (I know! I let it out of my possession for a good 10 days, but I did keep the codes for the iTunes downloads, just in case I needed to watch it). My friend and I usually don't like the same movies or books, and she's not obsessed sucked into the phenomenon as I am, so I didn't expect her to enjoy the movie. To my surprise, she thought it was well-cast and well-made, although she did say that she was a little disappointed that Edward didn't dress more elegantly, as described in the book, but overall, she really enjoyed it. Wow, and she's 61.

I'm almost to the toe of the boring socks I'm knitting now; I got a lot done on the bus on Friday and in the car this weekend when I wasn't fiddling with the Crackberry checking my email.

School's almost done with for the year; the kids are here till Thursday, and I have to work until June 18. That afternoon we're leaving for Florida as soon as 3:30 rolls around. We'll drive straight through to Orlando (with a dog and a cat) and spend a few days with my daughter and her family. Then--the Keys. For six glorious weeks. We plan to shop for a house while we're there.

I haven't checked any blogs since Wednesday, unless you count the drive-bys while on Crack(berry), and those don't count because the type is so tiny that I can't read it anyway. I'll try to do better. Oooh--I need to run over to June Cleaver's place and check out the Monday Swoon. This selfless woman spends hours each week ogling checking out finding photos of Swoon-worthy men and posts them on Mondays for those of us who can't get through the work filters are too busy to search for them ourselves. The lady is a saint.

Slacker

No, I'm not accusing you. It's an internet radio thingy where you can chose the genre you like, or you can make up your own station of music that you like.

I tried to download it onto my Blackberry last week, and every time it failed. I don't know about you, but when something that costs me an additional $30 a month isn't working properly, I get a bit excited (read: really pissed off).

So, just to aggravate myself some more today, I tried again to download Slacker, and on the second try, Slacker for Crackberry succeeded. I now have my own (free) internet radio station that we can listen to wherever we go (that a cell phone signal can reach).

I am happy.

Amended to add: Yeah. Lots of buffering, lots of empty silence while buffering. An interesting concept, but I'm not sure that I'm equipped for it yet. Mentally, or maybe emotionally. I need to go online at home and check Slacker help (it's, of course, blocked here at work) to see if I'm doing something wrong or these pauses are the nature of the beast. Whatever. When it worked, it was great; maybe we'll actually be exposed to some new music again after losing our favorite XM station.

P.S. Todd Snider (I am too freaking headachy to try to link) is playing at Ashland Coffee and Tea this weekend, so we're heading down that way on Saturday. He's a big name in the alt-country/Americana genre. I hope my headache is gone by then. Loud music + headache = misery.

So, would you like to see what we did Saturday night?

I'll show you anyway. I'm mean like that.

Joan, Scott, Liz, and Berend (Joan's daughter and her boyfriend) (Liz's boyfriend, not Joan's) went with Tom and me to Ashland Coffee and Tea Saturday night for a show by Eric Brace and Peter Cooper, our absolute favorite singers. (Go to their website and listen to their music. I'd rather listen to them--and Last Train Home--than anyone else. Yes, Betty, even more so than Neil Diamond!)

Joan and I are a little....obsessed (but in a good way) with these guys. We had such a good time listening to the music, talking about the music, talking to Eric and Peter, talking to our husbands, enjoying the food, and trying to reassure Liz that we wouldn't totally embarrass her. (Thanks, Betty!)

They played a mix of their own songs, songs from their duo cd, and songs that they haven't recorded. Their voices are so different, but they blend together so well. The harmonies are so beautiful.

Kevin Cordt, who is part of Last Train Home and also a jazz group, took the train from DC to the coffee shop. The stop is literally feet from the entrance.


Here you can see some of the studding on Peter's suit.

Rumor has it that he paid $40 for the suit. I'm guessing that having the crystals put on cost a whole lot more than that.

Toner shortage continues

I managed to score 4 bottles of toner today. We're not due to get our shipment till the end of the month (and that's if I believe Xerox), and I had to put the last bottle I had left into one of the copiers yesterday.

At a time when jobs in this division are likely to be cut, I don't want to run out of toner now. I need to keep busy.

I'm hearing some really heartwarming feedback from the faculty, though. It's nice to be told that I'm doing a good job. I appreciate it. I mean, I know that I'm doing a good job, I get things done fast and before they're due, but it's nice to hear it.

On the knitting front, I'm plugging along on my thigh-high legwarmers. I've done about 12" of the second one. Another 6 or so inches and I'll be able to turn the heel, knit a couple of inches in k2p2, then bind off. That day can't come soon enough, although then I'll have to rip out most of the foot of the first one and do the ribbing. They're just too thick to be worn with my good ol' Birkenstocks. But thick is good when it's cold (which it hasn't been for a week--not that I'm complaining, and I hear it will be this weekend).

Tomorrow night we're off to Ashland to see Eric Brace and Peter Cooper. Tom and Scott will tolerate Joan and I drooling panting thoroughly enjoying the hair the view the music. If Liz and Berend are brave enough to come along, I know we'll embarrass them. But give us a break, kids, and don't mess with our high. We old ladies can be tough bitches cookies.

Not that you're old, Joan, really.

Winners!

Bis and Elaine are the winners of "You Don't Have to Like Them Both". Please email me your mailing info at rita knits at g mail dot com. I'll get them in the mail--really--honestly--truly.

I hear that there are videos of Last Train Home and Peter Cooper and Eric Brace on YouTube, but I can't link to them from work. Stoopid rules. No YouTube, no myspace, no facebook, no flickr, no Raverly (reason for that one: dating, personals. It's a freaking yarn/patterns group!).

Betty said that SHE listened to the guys. This was a major sacrifice for her, what with the steel pedal guitar and country stuff. But I really appreciate that she tried.

If you're in the area, on February 14, Eric and Peter will be at Ashland Coffee and Tea. Great for a Valentine's Day date! Tom and I will be there, and Joan and Scott will mostly likely go, too. Join us; we'll be sitting right in front of the stage.

My blog is famous, sort of

Peter said he's seen my blog. Oh Lord. He knows I lust after his hair.

(He said he's bald underneath all that hair. The man does have a good sense of humor.)

The show Saturday night was wonderful. Peter brought Alex McCullough (steel pedal guitar player), so it wasn't his usual acoustic show. Either way, he sings beautifully, and inserts humor into his songs and tales. Fun show.

How I spent my Saturday evening

Running my fingers through Peter Cooper's hair.

I love my random number generator!!!

That really made it so much easier to choose winners. Now I have the list of winners but I haven't chosen the prizes, so for now I won't announce them. Please give me to the end of the week to get that done.

I'll have to have these contests more often! What fun it's been to meet so many new people and read new blogs. I still have a ton to read.

Later!

Oh--my sisters and I are having one of our Sisters' Weekends this weekend, including a trip to Ashland Coffee and Tea to hear Peter Cooper. At least, Joan is going with me to the show. Betty doesn't like country music. I told her to ignore the steel pedal guitar, but she can't get past it. Oh well. Her loss! She'll miss out on his hair musical genius.

Last Train Home

I think it was about two weeks ago that we saw Last Train Home (linkie in sidebar; don't have the html worksheet file on this computer. Laptop, I miss you!) at Ashland Coffee and Tea. Great show; they did some older songs they hadn't done for a while (at least, not that I remember, and we all know what my memory is like), and that cutie, Alex McCullough, played bass guitar (last time he played steel pedal guitar). I love their music, whoever happens to be playing in the band. They're all good.


Kevin Cordt (trombone), Tom Mason (lead guitar, accordian, trombone), Alex, Eric Brace, and Dave Van Allen (steel guitar). Drummer Martin Lynd is in the background, unseen.

Tom Mason tells a good, dramatic, funny musical story.


They're incredible. If you ever get the chance, go see them.

I have their cd and dvd, Live from the IOTA, to give away in a contest. I just haven't thought up a good contest. Any ideas?

I can't call him Weasel anymore

Another illusion shot all to hell.

Today I met with our fine Mr. HR Person to discuss my placement on the secretary's pay scale. It starts $5000 higher than the assistant's pay scale and continues way into the stratosphere, or so it seems to one who's never expected to make nearly so much on the assistant's pay scale.

Last week I told him that Step 8 simply was too low, being $3000 less than I was making as an assistant, considering that I'll be working 10 hours more per week and two weeks more per school year than I was as an assistant. I gave him a resume of the years I worked as J's office manager when she had the Jazzercise franchise in town and the clerical work I'd done as a teacher's assistant for the 14 years in another school system. At a meeting this morning, he offered to start me on Step 22, when I'd have been willing to start on Step 15.

Good thing I didn't mention that going in.

I love my new job. I've been kept quite busy for the last week, and today the teachers started back, so the deluge begins. I had a little time to check my email while manning the phones for the main secretary's lunch hour, but that's all. It's crazy, but I love it.

I may even lose some weight from being on my feet all day.

Please forgive me for not blogging as much as I'd like to. There's so much I want to write about, but right now I'm too tired when I get home to sit at the computer. I haven't even gotten through the weekend's email yet. And I haven't had a chance to even mention the Last Train Home show we attended last weekend at Ashland Coffee and Tea. I also no longer have the use of the school's laptop, which I hope to have amended in another couple of weeks. Maybe. I mean, I hope to have my own laptop in a few weeks, not another school one. The desktop in my new office is 5 years old and won't even shut down unless I manually shut it down, much less anything else.

But I love my new job. I'm pretty damn lucky.

Last Train Home

While I'm avoiding packing, I'm going to show all y'all some photos of the Last Train Home show at Ashland Coffee and Tea back on June 21.

We also saw them in Roanoke the night before; I think I've already mentioned that. Maybe too many times. 202 is a fantastic restaurant in the Market area; the food was so pretty that I wanted to photograph it, but it's such an upscale-type place that I was too chicken to do so. Believe me, that's saying a lot. I'll photograph anything anywhere.

Fayssoux McLean opened for them. She's a very sweet lady who taught school until this June, when she retired after the release of her first album, Early. She's got a beautiful voice and has such a genuine presence on stage. She's still trying to take in that she has released a real live cd.

This isn't a good photo, but it's what I've got.

"Throw my ticket out the window......." They opened with one of my favorite LTH songs, Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You by Bob Dylan.




I wish I could remember the story that Tom Mason was telling. He's a sometimes-member of the band, and he's damn good. And fun.

While I'm waiting for the photo to upload, may I interject that I just saw another creepy big plastic head Burger King commercial? With a little Burger King? Please, just stop it, Burger King! Every time I think it's safe to go back (love their burgers, although I'm trying to stop eating burgers, so nevermind) to that damned place, another one of those creepy freaky commercials comes out. Good God.

I hate that damned creepy king.

Back to Last Train Home.

The cute kid playing steel guitar that weekend is Alex McCullough. I thought he was about 18; he's 33. He's the same age as my son.


And a good time was had by all.



By the way, LTH will be in Harrisonburg at Clementine on July 18, while WE are in California. Geez. Go if you're in the area; the cover charge is only $5, and they're worth far more than that. And the food at Clementine is some of the best you'll ever have.

We're off!

(Don't say it. I know what you're thinking.)

We're off to Roanoke to see Last Train Home tonight. I missed their last appearances in the area when I rushed off to Orlando a few weeks ago, which meant I missed the winefest also. Drat.

But we'll make up for that this weekend. LTH is also at Colonial Downs tomorrow, so if it's not raining, we'll go to see them in the early evening, then run to Ashland for their show at Ashland Coffee and Tea. It'll be a fun weekend. I'll get to knit (or string beads; my arms and hands hurt just thinking about it) a lot.

And I don't have to work on Monday! I'll come in Tuesday to pack up the office for its annual "move everything out so the custodians can clean the floor" and to learn how to assign lockers. It involves computers and school software, so how hard can it be?

I crack myself up sometimes.

Eric Brace and Peter Cooper

Eric Brace has perfect teeth, and Peter Cooper has perfect hair.

(In case you can't figure out which one has perfect hair, that's Peter on the left.)

We saw the two of them at Ashland Coffee and Tea Saturday night. Eric, lead singer and head honcho of Last Train Home, brought his East Nashville neighbor/friend/singer-songwriter Peter Cooper. They just finished a whirlwind tour of Germany and the Netherlands; if you're interested in history, music, and humor, read Eric’s and Peter's blogs. Reading them reinforced my desire to go back to Germany and not be sick so I can enjoy it.

It's always a pleasure to listen to great performers at AC&T. Their listening room is low-key, conversation is discouraged, everyone is politely asked to turn off their cell phones (usually there's one moron, male, who has to "take" repeated calls during the music), and the beer and wine is good. Notsomuch the food; we ate across the street at the very expensive (for our usual nights out) Iron Horse Restaurant. Good food, but I'd really rather pay less and enjoy it more. But their Key lime torte was out of this world.

I asked Peter if I could take a picture of him; I hate to aim a flash at someone without warning them first. He asked if the photo was okay. With my usual tact and grace, I said, "It looks sort of like a mug shot, but it's fine." What I meant, Peter, is that the flash washed out your gorgeous face, I should have stood farther back, but your perfect hair shows up fine.

I swear, I had this unlikely (for me) desire to run my fingers through that hair. But I didn't. If I knew him better I might have. Until the end of the show when it was all sweaty. Ick. But, hmmmmmmmm........

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Apologies to Tom. I love you, sweetie. You'd probably egg me on. Just one more reason why I love you.

Weekend music

We're off again this weekend to see Eric Brace (of Last Train Home) and Peter Cooper (see Red Beet Records, Eric's label) at Ashland Coffee & Tea. Great music, great place to listen to it.

Peter has a new cd, Mission Door, on Red Beet Records. From what I've heard of it, it's beautiful music and he has a beautiful voice.

We're looking forward to hearing the two of them together.

Statcounter and Hamburg, Germany

I love this statcounter thingy. I checked my stats today to see who's been by in the 24 hours or less since I added it.

Someone from Hamburg, Germany checked out the "House Concert" post. Our musical bud Eric Brace is in Hamburg today, so, hello, Eric! Have a wonderful time in Europe. I am so jealous; I'm ready to do some traveling far away from here.

We'll see Eric and his friend, Peter Cooper, at Ashland Coffee & Tea on May 24.

LTH will perform at the Vintage Virginia Wine Fest at Centreville, VA, on June 1. Wine and music, my favorite combination!

And Steve Wedemeyer will be with them that weekend, too. An added bonus.

Saturday night's show

I mentioned before that we saw Bill Kirchen at AC&T on Saturday night. It was a great show, fun, lively. See if you can guess how old he is: (Not you, Tom; you know how old he is!)

He is 60!!! Tom is 62, and he looks a lot younger.

He's a really personable man, friendly, upbeat. This is Joan with us; she's my younger sister (one of 3).

Knitting content:

By the way, I'm wearing the bamboo t-top (Oat Couture, Tropical Tee, love the pattern) that I knit last year and never blocked. The side seams twist, which I don't like, but not having the motivation to block it, I just ended up wearing it and pulling it into place occasionally. It really doesn't pull that much over my boobs; it's a little loose, and by the end of the evening it was really droopy (not my boobs. I'm wearing my Soma bra.). I washed the tee in the washing machine last night (no hand-washing for me) and it came out looking a lot better. I laid it to dry and I'll see how it did tonight. I hope that takes care of the twisting seams, but I'm not counting on it.

I'm going to knit another Tropical Tee in coral bamboo, a size smaller, a couple of inches shorter, and with longer sleeves. Maybe a tiny bit of shaping at the (I wish I had a) waist. This one is knit with Southwest Trading Company's bamboo; the second will be Classic Elite Bam Boo. I'm curious to see how the two compare.

FO: I finished Joan's birthday socks this week, too late to give them to her this past weekend, but they're finally done. I started them in August of last year for her early September birthday. Now they're finished and I've cast on for a pair of (black)hearted socks in Claudia's Red Wagon colorway, all bright and springy.

Joan's socks, fini:

On to springtime with Red Wagon!

On the road again

I don't remember the last time we stayed home for the weekend. I'm not complaining, just wondering. Let me see if I can remember where we've gone.

Last weekend we went to Ashland Coffee and Tea on Friday night to hear Tom Russell. (I'm too lazy to link today.) He's a fairly good singer-songwriter, but not much of a showman. The next night a guy that Tom likes was going to be there, so we bought tickets for that show.

Saturday night we heard Bill Kirchen and Too Much Fun at the same place. My sister, Joan, and her husband, Scott, came with us (I begged them, just in case the show was as boring uninspiring as the Friday night show). This one was a lot of, well, fun. Bill is only 60 but looks considerably older, and for an old guy, he sure can rock. (Remember that this is coming from a 55-year-old.)

The weekend before we went to Saturday night and Sunday afternoon Last Train Home shows in Arlington.

And, this coming weekend, we're going to Johnson City, Tennessee, to hear Last Train Home again, then spend the weekend at my cousin's hotel, the Skyline Village Inn. Maybe go to Biltmore on Saturday afternoon (if I get out of bed) or, if the weather's bad, to one of the gem mines in the area.

I think that we'll actually be home the following weekend, unless some show pops up. But the first weekend of May we'll go to a benefit in Richmond (I don't remember what it's for) headlined by Bill Kirchen and Jerry Jeff Walker. We went all the way to Belize last year to see 3 Jerry Jeff shows, so Richmond isn't such a stretch.

Maybe by that time, it'll be warmer and we'll be able to spend some time outdoors on the weekends. I can only hope.

New contest!

When I saw this on the bathroom door at Ashland Coffee and Tea, I knew I had to have a photo of it.

Where's the contest in this?

Read the notice. The first person who can tell me what's wrong with this sign (as I see it) will win some Claudia yarn to be determined, probably after I come back from Florida.

UPDATE: I'm getting some good guesses, but they're not the mistake or odd phrasing that I'm looking for. You're welcome to guess as many times as you like!

Last Train Home again

We had us a musical weekend (yeah, I know that's not written correctly, but it's what I want to say), two nights of Last Train Home. Friday night they came to town to a new restaurant/bar which at this time is more of a bar and the place to be seen, judging by the crowd at the bar that night that shouted louder and louder as the music played and more people yelled. At each other, that is, not the band. We could barely hear the music and we were sitting near the front. My ears hurt from all that screaming, and it was frustrating that we couldn't hear the music well.

The food was great, though, and the prices aren't bad.

We spent the night with my sister who lives in town, which saved us a 45-minute ride home in the middle of the night. Zippy was there and wouldn't sleep with us; he preferred the freedom of the entire house and visiting with Kipper. It was nice to visit a little when I got up the next afternoon; then we drove to Mom and Dad's house for a drop-in and sandwiches before we went to the Saturday night show at Ashland Coffee and Tea; this is a surprisingly unpretentious little place with a full coffee and tea menu plus some food and a wonderful "music listening room" where only whispers are allowed during the show. It holds 150 people with no "standing room only" crowds allowed, the acoustics are decent, and there isn't a bad seat in the house. Too bad it's about 3 hours from home; that's the only real drawback to it, although we spent the night with Mom and Dad and had a nice time visiting the next day.


That show was so much better. There were maybe 100 people there, and there are chairs and tables that you may not move, so it doesn't get crowded.


We got there early enough to be the first people in (not that I was worried about that, not old Obsessive-Compulsive Me), so I chose what I considered to be the best table there. Right up front, next to the tiny stage. Tom went back out to the car and slept for a while, and I sat in there and knit(ted?). I dropped a stitch somewhere on the sole of the sock and didn't see it for a while, and when I did, I couldn't see well enough to pick it up correctly, so there's an odd-looking spot, but it kept the stitch from running and I'm the one who'll be wearing it, so big deal. I used to be enough OCD that I had to fix everything perfectly, but I've kind of gotten over that, if I'm the one it's for.


So anyway, the show was wonderful. There are usually the core group of four, and others mix and match as their schedules allow. In larger venues, there are as many as 11 in the group; most times we've seen them, there have been five or six (you can check their website if you want to see who's who; I'm too lazy, once again, to list them. But they're all damn good. Except I'm just not crazy about having having the trombone in the mix; it just doesn't fit their music that well. Loved the accordian this show.). There were five on Friday night, six Saturday night. People fly in and out all the time, it seems. Steve Wedemeyer used his Blackberry or whatever the hell those things are onstage to check in for his flight home to Houston the next night.

Some of them live in East Nashville (as distinguished from Nashville, which Eric Brace, lead singer, emphasises); one in Houston (or was it Austin? You know me and geography.), one in PA, some in DC. It seems pretty incredible to me that they manage to stay together as a band, what with members living all over the place and flying/driving in to meet the others. They started out in DC and most moved to East Nashville a couple of years ago.

Okay, I'm rambling. It was a good show, a good night. These guys are so good together. It's not a serious show; they joke around, but they don't mess around with their music. That's serious stuff. Go to their website (in case you haven't seen it before or don't know where to find it or something) and listen to the songs they've got there for your listening pleasure. They're not country, although they play a lot of country songs. They're not rock, although their music contains a lot of rock. They're not bluegrass, although, you know. (But three of the members formed the group The Starlighters, which is a bluegrass band.) They're just good.

Take my word for it. Buy their albums. You won't be sorry.

Last Train Home

Last Train Home is coming back to Harrisonburg after a year's absence! These guys are just the absolute best alt country band--or any kind of band, for that matter--and they give an incredible show. Come join us; some people from school are showing interest, maybe we can pack the place.

Good times, good times, to quote my grandson.

They'll also be at Ashland Coffee & Tea the following night and Tom and I are planning to go there, too.

Yeah, they're that good.