Counting chickens and all that

Something it seems we must not do, seeing as how a couple of things which had been looked forward to had to be cancelled this week.

Last weekend one of the uke group folks had a positive test to the plague.  With someone else already away we were already down on voices, so the remainder of us made the reluctant decision to cancel Wednesday's performance.  While we really hated to disappoint those lovely folk at the seniors' residence, we just didn't have enough people to put on a good show.  However all is not lost; next month our town is taken over by a humumgous country music festival.  Many locals welcome it with open arms while many others pull up their drawbridge and stay home, only venturing out if they really must.....including, it seems, the lovely folk at the seniors' residence.  The manager and I had a nice little chat and I suggested bringing the festival to them which she heartily approved, so that will be fun.

Then on Thursday night at choir our director pointed out the lack of singers who were there that night, the fact that at least two folk - a married couple - have also come down with plague, and told us that last night's Christmas extravaganza was also being reluctantly cancelled. He has promised it will happen in the middle of next year; we will have Christmas in July instead of in December, and he still wants me to sing my Christmas ukulele song.  That gives me several more months of practice.....perhaps I may be able to play without looking at the music!  I know the words and just need to learn the sequence of chords, some of which is already in my brain.

Oh well.  C'est la vie, and all that.

The roster for next year's morning tea and BOM duties has been handed out, and I am down for late January.  Earlier this year an idea for a block popped into my brain, so I might just try it.  This is how it begins:

A 3-1/2 inch square, surrounded by two rows of strips cut two inches wide; it should measure 9-1/2 inches when finished.  Fabrics to make two more of these blocks are sitting on my sewing room table as we speak.  Once the blocks are done they will be cut once on the diagonal and joined with a black strip, probably one inch wide when finished.  All I am asking the group members to do is to make one of these blocks; I will do the diagonal cutting and rejoining, as I want the colours mixed up so it doesn't look too matchy-matchy.  I don't know if it will work, but thought it would be fun to try.

The diagonal of a 9-1/2 inch square is over 13 inches, which is a piece of mathematical trivia for you, and which will be how long my black sashing strips need to be cut.  

Words have been read.  Diamonds have been sewn.  Notes have been plinked and sing.  Hunting and gathering has happened, and so has passed another week.

It has rained, more very welcome rain, but the coming week is forecast to be hot, hot, hot......and dry.  Good weather for staying inside and sewing, perhaps.

Most of the books I read have been downloaded to my tablet, but sometimes I let my hair down and read a Real Book as I did this week.  The bookshop here is one of a chain which publishes a "reading guide" twice a year, so I have decided to use it as my reading guide too.  One book mentioned caught my interest, the library had it in their collection, so I reserved it and duly collected it on Friday.  It was finished last night (I'm a quick reader, always have been) and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's by Ariel Lawhon and is called 'The Frozen River'.  I won't spoil it by leaking any of the plot, but it's a good read.  Most of the story takes place over a cold winter in Maine in 1789, a winter experience foreign to many Aussies, but it really makes you feel as though you were suffering in the cold along with the characters.  The central characters really lived, Martha the midwife certainly did - as her descendants still do today.

The mangos from a local school's annual fundraiser are now all peeled, sliced and in the freezer.  The kids next door have all attended the primary school not far away and, for the past few years, they have had a fundraising drive in which I have happily participated.  ("It's mango time again......")  Girl 1 has been in high school for a couple of years, Boy goes off to high school next year - but Girl 2 still has several years at that school, so there will be mangos for a while yet.  Yum yum.....

Continuing with Etiquette of Public Places, Conduct in Church:

"A gentleman may walk up the aisle either a little ahead of, or by the side of a lady, allowing the lady to first enter the pew.  There should be no haste in passing up the aisle."

Indeed, no.  There is no need to sprint.  No doubt there will seats for all.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer