wowza

DH and I went to hear Denyce Graves in recital last night at Moravian College. It was an incredible performance. The woman commands such stage presence and conveys the message of the song or aria so believably through her acting. I was completely enthralled. Her accompanist Brian Zeger was amazing as well. The collaboration between the two was so evident. It was the highlight of my musical year so far. Thanks honey for insisting that we go and finding the way to make it happen. You're a dream!
The program you ask?
Schubert Heimliches Lieben, Der Tod und das Mädchen, Gretchen am Spinnrade
Brahms Nicht mehr zu dir zu gehen Meine Liebe is grun, Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer, Die Mainacht
Celia Acerba Volutta from Adrana Lecouvreur
Mascagni Voi le sapete from Cavalleria Rusticana
Robert Saari When the Forsythia Bloom (a cycle from a new composer)
DeFalla Siete canciones populares españolas
A set of spirituals: Scandalize my Name, Prayer, Swing Low and Git on Board
3, yes 3 encores... including Habañera from Carmen by Bizet and two very humorous encores I need a dog and I'm hungry both of which had one foot in the classical realm and the other foot in the musical theatre genre.
The audience was totally engaged. I wasn't alone in my admiration for these artists.


On the knitting front, I present to you:

Pattern: Chinese Waves by Margaret Radcliffe
Size: CO 49 stitches
Yarn: Lily's Sugar 'n Cream
Color: Key Lime Pie
Needles: US6

I am not a real fan of green. I made this for a colleague that I work with. But I have to say that this cloth shouts spring to me and I need that about now. Fortunately I have another skein of this in my stash, cuz I think I'd like one for me too! It's a great pattern for using varigated yarn and this will rank right up there with the infamous DW cloth that I also LOVE to make! I found this pattern through the weekly dishcloth group on ravelry, the place where I spend most of my web time.

I got some yarn from ebay yesterday in the mail. The woman who sold it posted that it smelled of mothballs but there was 500g for $9.99 in a mixed lot of wool so I bit. Before we left for the concert I took the odiforous skeins outside and hung them to air out. I brought them in after returning from work today. Granted it was a very windy, sunny, sometimes snowflurry 24 hours but there is absolutely no remnant of odor on the skeins. DD claimed the lot of this (2OOg of worsted weight) for mittens and a hat There are another 200g in a similar colorway and then 100g of some fun thick and thin mostly browns but with teal yarn.

The cruddy part of the day was the walk through of the construction site where I'll be teaching K and 1st grade music next year. Once again, it's evidenced that our school is the stepchild of the school district. Makes no sense, cuz our kids do as well as if not better than those that come from the Taj Mahal in the country... go figure. One of these days I'll stop sucking on the fuzzy end of the lollipop... they won't care though. I'll just be replace with an incompetant boob and they will be blissfully unaware of the difference. What a shame!