I made it!!

Holy heart failure, Batman! I finished all of the knitting. On time. Friday was the concert. We drove to Highland, Kansas for the event at the community college. Beautiful town, gorgeous theater. The socks were done, but I was still working on the first scarf. Behold the socks:



I am normally unable to knit in the car for two reasons. One, the roads around here suck like a Hoover vacuum, turning knitting into an extreme sport. Second, well, I get carsick from staring at my lap. Through a superhuman effort, I not only knit, I knit without frogging and I knit all the way to Highland! I bound off the last stitches just as we pulled into the parking lot.

The concert was amazing as always. If you are unfamiliar with Tommy Emmanuel, Google him at once. Your hair will stand up, your ears will jump off, and you will be dumbfounded. This guy inspires you to either take up the guitar immediately or burn the one you already have. He's my second favorite picker on the planet. He loved the socks (the purple ones are for his fiancee), but he loved another little bundle even more:

Little Himself was enthralled through the entire concert, sitting right up and slapping his knees to the music. Unfortunately, he fell asleep just as he got to meet his famous "uncle" for whom he is named. Hey, it was a big day!

Saturday was also a big day, with our last official visit to the Prairie for the season. Being the last day, the rangers wanted a picture of the group, so we posed. Dad, Himself, plus bass player T and fiddler S in a group, with me, Mom and Junior standing behind. They struck up a tune and we sang along. Just as the first shutter clicked, I looked down and noticed, "Hey, why is Himself's hair white?"

And his shirt?

Oh, God.

Yes, Junior had chosen THE most opportune time to barf on his daddy, leading to a series of pictures of grinning musicians and staggering, laughing women. Oddly enough, Himself and Little Himself are sharing the exact same "Huh?" expression.

It was some time before we composed ourselves.

Sunday was the icing on the musical cake. We put on our benefit concert for a local non-profit organization that aids expectant mothers. Counseling, sonograms, classes; they do all this and more at NO COST for anyone in need of help. A full 87% of their money comes from donations. Thanks to the folks around town, we raised $720 at the concert.

It was great. My parents did a set of folk songs, a local minister did a magic and comedy routine, and the area Suzuki class performed classical and Irish tunes.

I was backstage, knitting like a fiend on scarf number two. Three minutes before the door prize drawing, I bound off the last stitch and wove in the ends. I then hauled butt to the other side of the stage in order to hand off the prizes.

After the drawing, it was time for our part of the show. We started with Oh, Lonesome Me at high speed and went from there. Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Oh! Darling, and Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On the Bedpost Overnight? just to name a few. Junior made an appearance, too.

"You may not realize this, but Junior here is a hard-core blues fan, and he's asked if we would play his favorite song!"

A heavy blues intro by Himself, and we launched into the lyrics.

"Itsy bitsy spider...

went up the waterspout.

Down came the rain...

and it washed that spider out!!

But don't you cry...

you know that sun came out again!

Yeah, out came the sun...

dried up all that rain...

the itsy bitsy spider

went back up the spout again..."

It rocked.

That was followed by In My Life, the song I sang to Junior a few hours after he was born. Just like the first day, he fell asleep in my arms.

Say it with me now... "Awwwwwwwww!"

It was a great moment.

I even made my instrumental debut that night. Sweet Georgia Brown, with full band accompaniment.

I played the kazoo.