I Like Thursday: April Foolin’ Around

April! It's been another full-throttle month.  Whew!  Let's see what I liked best...

It kicked off with April Fools Day.  My local librarian celebrated the holiday with a sign that said "Please excuse the mess while I reorganize the collection by color!"  Indeed, the first shelf is red, orange, green, white, blue and black.  If you flipped the paper over it said "April Fools!"  

The eclipse was pretty cool - no fooling!  We chose not to drive up to Vermont to see the total eclipse, but instead hung out on our front steps to witness the 95% coverage.  We played with the colander, marveled at the strange shadows and the drop in temperature (about 10℉). 

We wished there had been more leaves on the tree to better see the funny crescent shadows the sun produced.  The pine trees gave us a bit of little taste of it.  And I had eclipse glasses, so we could look at the sun.  It reminded me of the Cheshire Cat as the slice of the sun got bigger (a grin without a cat).

 

My sister headed to Vermont to see the total eclipse.  A normally 2.5 hour drive took 4.5 hours up and the return trip took a whopping 7 hours.  For a mid-afternoon event, she didn't get home and in bed until 1am.  Nuts!  But I saw some of the video from there, and I have to admit, it was pretty awesome.  It would have been incredible to witness but I'm honestly just as happy I stayed home. 

Work progresses on the jacket.  I was amazed when the pieces all fit back together.  I was afraid everything shifted too much when I quilted it.  Now I'm figuring out what I want for pockets.  It's a lot stiffer than I thought it would be.  Maybe a few washes will soften it?  Have you made one of these?

We'll see what happens when I have it all assembled.

I could be fooled into thinking it was Christmas!  A surprise package arrived in the mail last week, containing guinea pig treats (which I'm sure my next fosters will love) as well as a jar of fig jam and an adorable guinea pig bowl (which I'm pretty sure is an egg cup).  Squee!  I had been drooling over my friend's photos when she made the fig jam, so I am so excited to have a jar of my very own.  And that egg cup is hanging out on my kitchen window sill where I enjoy it every day.

I came across this video of some amazing puzzle boxes.  Some of the patterns reminded me of quilts.  Ah, the beauty of math.

The New England Folk Festival!  Three days of dancing and music.  This is the first major mask-optional dance event I've attended since the pandemic started.  I had mixed feelings about being masked - like I was being selfish not sharing my smiling face with everyone else.  But I'm sure the crinkles around my eyes and my laugh broadcasted that I was having a wonderful time.

I danced most of the weekend.  Mostly contra dances (which is a called dance like a square dance, but in lines like a reel).  I attended one session called the Stream of Contradance - it was a 30 minute non-stop dance in which the caller continually changed the dance moves.  I did a lot of English dancing, too, which I enjoyed more than I remembered.  I need to return to our local English dance.

We attended a workshop on Bollywood dancing.  Rob was so disappointed that I didn't get up and join in.  But one look at the crowd and the energy required and I backed out.  Fully impressive how well everyone did.  I took the video about halfway through the class.

Once they had the moves all together the teacher split the class in half, had them face each other and had one half dance, then the other.  It was impressive.

Ah - a weekend of music, dancing, catching up with people and lots of happiness.  Disappointingly bailed early on Sunday - lack of sleep left me feeling unwell.  That gave me some insight to an over-tired two-year-old having a throw-down when Mom says they've got to go before the end.  But if I stayed I would have kept dancing!

Last like is my table project.  The wood was so dry it practically drank in the first coat of polyurethane.  The second coat went on smoothly, though, and I'm hoping to make lots of progress this weekend. (And I meant to take a photo but forgot!)

So much good stuff that all makes me happy!  Linking up with Not Afraid of Color's I Like Thursday.