Sorry for the hiatus in posts to all you in the Flock. As Buckwalter informed you on his blog, my mother and aunt were here this weekend, and a joyous time was had by all! We really had a blast, although it was awfully hard to see my mom go on Monday morning. I think the one thing that really makes me miss the Land of 10,000 Lakes is her, so it's kind of tough.
But it was so great to have her here! She even braved coming to school with me! My kids were really excited to meet a member of my family -- I remember always being so excited to see that my teachers had some sort of a history, a past, and people in it too.
We had a great time hiking in Red Rock Canyon on Friday. It was a more difficult hike than I had planned for, but we did great. And for the first time (there must have been something in the air) I saw real wildlife at the park! We encountered a burro, and then later saw a family of burros. A nice Belgian couple even took our picture with the wild burro -- pretty crazy stuff. And highly illegal, I imagine. But what an awesome picture!
And at least we weren't the ones feeding the burro apples from a plastic bag. You will all be happy to know that the man who was doing that did not deposit his garbage on the ground, but brought it back to his mini-van with him. I know all you national park people will be shocked by that -- I certainly was -- the only reason we approached him and the burro was because we thought he was some kind of ranger. Turns out we were wrong. But our mistake got us a great picture with wildlife!
We also went to two of the knit shops in town -- adventures galore! I'm working on a bag from the
Black Sheep Bag folks -- the Booga Bag. I have to wait for my 10.5 circular needles in order to continue, but I've already begun, and am excited to finish it! I've never made a bag before, and suddenly, I have two in mid-production!
It was a great birthday weekend, even though I had staff development on my birthday. Oh well. Life goes on. At least another teacher bought me lunch, which I thought was very thoughtful and kind. And definitely unexpected! And also delicious.
Also, the drag show, La Cage, was exciting and what some would call a "laugh riot." The Celine Dion impersonator was extreme, and left Buckwalter crying and falling off his chair in laughter. My personal favorite for realism would be a tie between the JLo and the Britney Spears. But my favorite for excitement was the Dolly Parton, Liza Minelli, and Bette Midler. But who could ever top Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow! It was truly a blast. The host was a scream -- she was so funny and outrageous and on the edge. Wonderfully talented, all of them. Great dancing too! I guess I can't say enough good stuff about it.
The weekend was just such a blur, but there was so much fun in it. I'm sure I'll add more as time goes by. But I'll leave you with one more picture -- this time my mom and I sing with the Sunspots, after two elderly ladies belted out the tune too. Julio, the lead singer, made a point of always talking to our table, and he began calling my mom "Momma" at some point in the night. Then, eventually, he yelled from the stage, "Momma! What's your favorite song?" (We wondered later how we would all answer that question -- what a tough one!) She replied, "Always." (A great song by Irving Berlin -- my mom's parents' wedding featured that song as the music, causing Buckwalter and I to have it at our wedding to remember them). One man in the band knew the chords, but he didn't know the words. So the two ladies in the crowd sang it first, one very sweetly and nicely, and one a little off tune. Then Julio asked "Momma" to sing, but she needed a little help with the words, so he pulled me up too.
Here were are, mid-song. The woman in blue sang right before us. And that, of course, is the infamous Julio in the red suit.
And just in case you ever need to sing "Always" at the Aztec with the Sunspots, here are the words!
I'll be loving you, always. With a love that's true, always. When the things you've planned, need a helping hand, I will understand, always, always. Days may not be fair, always. That's when I'll be there, always. Not for just an hour, Not for just a day, Not for just a year, but always.They don't write them like this anymore. Sigh.
