Labor of Love completed

Wow! I haven't written in my blog in quite some time. So sorry for anyone who faithfully follows it and has been waiting and waiting for me to finally write something. . . It isn't that I don't want to write; it's more like hard things have been going on, and I'm trying to cope as best I can. However, I've had several experiences recently that I'd like to write about, so this may be a collection of posts rather than just one.

Remember how several weeks ago I wrote a post about the love quilt we were putting together for my niece? If not, basically everyone in our family made a quilt square of their hand print with a special message and then my aunt took it back to one of her friends who is a talented quilter and put it all together. The result is beautiful. Here are some pictures so you can see for yourself what it looks like and how happy our beautiful girl was to receive it.

These are pictures of the hand prints people made. They are a good reflection of each person's personality, I think.

Here's our happy recipient. My sister told me that when she received the quilt she enjoyed looking at it, putting her hand on all the hand prints and saying, "They really love me."

Look at the beautiful stitching my aunt's friend did on the front and the back. Wow! Thanks to her for doing this for us.

"Oh Say Can You See. . . "

I meant to write this the other day, but, alas, I got distracted so it didn't get done on time. This is becoming rather of a regular occurrence. Oh well! Better late than never.

So there I was sitting just off the court of the EnergySolutions Arena. I couldn't help thinking that if I were sitting here for an actual game I would have quite an awesome seat! These weren't even the plastic seats but the padded folding chairs. But I digress. Before I get on with my story already though, I have to add just one more thing -- I also thought how much bigger everything looks from this viewpoint instead of miniature from the nosebleed seats where I usually end up. The players would actually look their height and everything!

A panel of judges was sitting about a hundred feet in front of me. I watched as the next singer was called up. She walked to the front clad in black pants and a nice blouse. She pulled the microphone out of the stand and started singing, "Oh, say can you see. . ."

She didn't sound too bad, but one of the judges raised her hand just after "rockets red glare" to stop her. She walked quickly off the floor as the next person was called. Again I listened as the strains of the national anthem began all over again. I was fascinated at first, especially as I listened to each person's take on our country's most famous song. I was also quite interested to note the mode of dress. Some people went completely professional while others took the jeans and T-shirt route. The Fasionista informed me those jeans wearers hadn't read the Web site, however, because it says to dress professionally. . .oops!

You may be wondering just what I was doing on a Friday morning listening to 40 people sing the national anthem. Well, the Fashionista was auditioning to sing it at one of the home Jazz games. We were planning to go to lunch afterwards, but she didn't want to go to the audition by herself so I accompanied her. I found it interesting, but you can only listen to so many people sing the national anthem before it starts sounding tedious. And I was worried about just how long those famous words were going to be stuck in my head. . .

After listening to 30 people, finally it was the Fashionista's turn. She walked confidently up and took the microphone. She put a bit more interpretation into her version than most, and I thought she also added more emotion. Either way she is a talented singer, and I hope it works out for her. The judge cut her off after "rockets red glare" so I'm not sure what that might mean. She cut a number of people off (some deserved to be cut off, particularly those that changed keys where they weren't supposed to--insert wince here, or who dragged it out so you thought it would never end) and others were allowed to continue. In any case, I found it to be an interesting experience and am glad I went with the Fashionista.