Marie is Finished!

Today I finally finished my Marie Antoinette. I pretty much worked on her all afternoon - except for some breaks to play with Eco and some phone calls.

Here's a quick snap from my phone, I'll get you a better one soon:

I wasn't that happy with her at first, but realized once I took a step back and looked at her, I liked her even more. Once I saw her in the photo, I was happier still. I hope you can see this link - here's what she's supposed to look like. All pieces are knitted (including all the curls) with some embroidery for her face. She has a crocheted flower on her dress and a ribbon choker.

Tomorrow she will go out in the garden where we'll take better photos.

Garden of Lies

This is a long weekend in Canada, and a quick check of the major cities shows that almost all of us will have 2 dry days and 1 rainy one. That's not so bad - it's May and we are above the 49th parallel after all.

For me, this weekend is usually about some big gardening - a long self written "honey do" list. Or sometimes I have no plans at all, I just put on my overalls and garden gloves and get out there - moving from place to place starting and finishing projects in no particular order. It all needs to get done.

From a distance or to the untrained eye, my flower beds look full and possibly even cheerful with little yellow flowers in bloom, but it's a trick. You see in some of the gardens the little yellow flowers are intentionally placed ranunculus or maybe even little poppies (see previous posts), but in other spots they are most likely buttercup, and possibly even a dandelion or two. Oh the horror. I'm cheating in my garden. And I fooled you. How dare I?

And there are other indications that a long weekend is approaching  - more and more trailers and fifth wheels start showing up in the neighbourhood as people retrieve them from winter storage, and get them packed ready for a quick get away. These RVs don't make me envious or even jealous. They make me happy. You see, the more neighbours that leave town for the long weekend, the quieter it is around here for me - and that can be a vacation in itself. And I am perfectly fine with that!

Here's my group:

 Thanks for watching

Back to routine

Sorry it's been so quiet around here, I was busy rehearsing for Shimmy Mob  today:

 ...  primary objective is to raise donations and awareness. Funds raised via Shimmy Mob will be donated to Abused Women and Children shelters throughout the world.

 This was only my second performance in anything, ever and so I've been having anxiety dreams for about a week. (I look forward to sleeping well tonight.) But I felt I had a pretty good grasp on the choreography this time and had a good group of ladies to dance with. They were fabulous! Everything went very well. The only not-so-good part is that where Jp was sitting, I was behind another dancer so even though he video'd it, I can barely be seen. But I believe I was completely in view of our facilitator who was also recording it on a tripod so once she posts that I might be able to get a better idea how I did. 

Many of the ladies went on to two or three other events today and so it may be a while before I can share some photos, but I promise I will. 

Here's a video from the Singapore group: 

And with most performers, it amazes me - months of practice, hours of rehearsal, hours for costuming, hours to get performance ready all for a 3 minute song. I guess that's what some actors must go through - and then to find out their scene was left on the cutting room floor? Big lunch box let down!

There were over 50 countries and about 150+ groups around the world performing today - which also is World Bellydance Day. Here's a video clip from Erie, PA

Now it's back to my regularly scheduled programming - just dance practice, and housework and gardening, and work work and blogging and all the other stuff that fills my days. No performing this summer (not that I know of). Although I have to admit that today went quite well, so I wouldn't be surprised if before you know it I've signed up for something again!