A moody, misty morning

Just the sort of day that makes me want to snuggle down and write!!


Last night, I went to the ballet. DH won tickets in a lottery where he works, and since he'd rather watch mildew grow than watch ballet, he sent me with my dear friend LG. And since LG won't be able to make it to knitting on Saturday, she gave me my birthday present early. Talk about the most heartfelt, thoughtful wonderful present. She took the time to knit and felt napkin holders, and then sew pretty soft napkins to go with them. I am just agog with delight!
See the pretty buttons on the napkin rings? She went through both her button box, and her late mother's button box. Since I knew her mom, it makes the buttons even more special to me.

Oh, these are SO going to be used next Saturday! And often after. The Artistic Director gives them his full approval.

LG and I went out for dinner in a delightful family-friendly place that made me think of a nice, bright pub with plastic dinosaurs scattered around. The food was healthy and delicious, and the conversation was so grand. We laughed and talked - I could have stayed there all night, but there was dancing to see!

And oh, what dancing it was! Our local Oregon Ballet Theatre. The corps du ballet was a bit ragged in their timing, but that's about the worst I can say. The costumes were delightful, the music was grand! LG's neighbor was a principal soloist in the first piece, singing excerpts from the opera Nais by Jean-Phillipe Rameau, written for the court of Louis XV of France. The costumes referenced the clothing of the time very wittily with little tutu length panniers on the ballerinas, and skin tight knee britches and long vests on the danseurs. Quite an ambitious undertaking and rather well done. Three principal couples showed me how differently they could dance. One couple was so elegant - with extensions that seemed almost elastic, and perfectly mirrored lines - his arms behind and above hers, held up at precisely the same angle. his legs and hers, the tilt of the head - You have no idea how hard that is to do until you've tried it. And then they accomplish this constantly, while executing leaps and pirouettes and gravity-defying lifts that they manage to to perform with no appearance of effort . . .

Another couple was strong, and superbly balanced. She would go up on one toe, cock her leg up behind her, and stand as still as if she had been cast in snow-white epoxy. And he had such crisp sharp movements. His middle name must be precision.

And the third couple were young, light, and she had the most graceful arms and hands.

OK, this is allegedly a knitting blog, so you are probably getting bored to tears. Two other things to mention, and then I'm on to knitting. The Afternoon of a Faun was set in a ballet studio, with only two dancers, and the choreographer, Jerome Robbins, used the clever conceit of having them dance as it watching themselves in a ballet studio's mirrored wall, which was the audience. Until just at the end when they made tender contact with one another eye to eye instead of reflection to reflection. So lovely!

And finally, Bolero, that weary old warhorse of so many symphonies, was danced on a set with panels of corrugated tin suspended from the flys, representing the defenses we put up around ourselves. And as the dance went on, the panels were lifted away, one by one. It was so absorbing, so enthralling that I lost all analytical awareness and just let myself be carried on the waves of sound and movement. Wow!

OK, this is a knitting blog. And yet, sometimes we go to the dark side - the C-zone. I am determined to make some fun hats, and this one just demanded creation yesterday.

Queen of love and beauty - winter crown,.