Picture Sunday

Hello, end of weekenders, and welcome to Picture Sunday, now back and badder than ever. And you can take that whatever way you want.

Friday Chill Night was canceled this week, because I had to go to Mr M's. See, he'd roped me into playing a festival in R'noke yesterday. He had a half-hour, and was going to do a few solo pieces, a few pieces with other people (like me), and then turn things over to two of his students for a piece.

Now, I was really hinky about this in several ways. First of all, this was the annual Local Colors festival, celebration of all things ethnic. Those of you who've been around a while may remember the story of the Sauerkraut Band playing there a few years back. Sound problems galore took up about 40 minutes of our playing time, we played to a wildly cheering audience for two songs, and - the festival people kicked us off the stage. (I'm not kidding. They were yelling, "Run!" if I'm not mistaken. It was time for the main act.)

So, well, you can imagine. How in the hell would some clarinet players fit in with all those belly dancers and steel drummers and mariachi bands? I was convinced that if I could handle the stress of having unkind epithets hurled in my general direction, I might not be wily enough to dodge the rocks and garbage.

Then there was that other thing. The piece Mr M and I decided upon, well, before Friday night we'd never played it all the way through without stopping. We tried Wednesday night and it ended in a fight, and so it was to B'burg Friday after work to do some serious practicing.

We didn't.

We worked on it about 20 minutes, played it through twice, and went on to other things. I went to bed nervous Friday night.

However, when we arrived at the festival, my fears waned. Well, not at first - it was absolutely packed, the most crowded I've ever seen the place. But when we got to the stage, we were told by the operators that we were on Stage 2. We walked to find Stage 2, and when we did, I immediately dubbed it the "Sidney, Clayton, and Juglesh" Stage (if you know your "Animal House"), or the "We Didn't Really Want Your Kind Here, Anyway" Stage.

Because it wasn't even a stage. It was a canopy. It was a canopy facing a grassy knoll where about four people sat, and in between us and the knoll was a sidewalk where people were milling going in and out of the festival. No one would notice us, much less hear us.

And so I suddenly wasn't nervous at all. I was like an ant to these people! And so I became very calm and relaxed and actually ended up playing fairly well. And was more than happy to get the hell out of there right when it was all over. Which we did. Photo courtesy of the DeepFatFriar, who went along as photographer and fun guy to hang around with.





















And it was really windy. My hair blew right off my head. I'd just put it back in this picture.

Then I came home and enjoyed a Saturday Chill Night.

It rained all day today, so I did what all kids do on rainy days, I stayed inside and played.

Actually, I thought you might like to see a little work I did on this week's Comfy Chair Cinema movie. I needed a little set decoration for this week's feature. And so rainy day play became Fun With Paint!

A little floor liner first, in case I got messy.




















My illustration board, which I'd had forever for just something of this nature and finally got to use. And a tin of blue paint.




















Ahhhhh, hard at work - I mean, play - there.




















And a finished product!




















Now, what happens with that? Well, you have to hie yourself to the Comfy Chair Cinema to find out, don't you?

And now it's time for this week's recipe du jour.

I've had a package of skewers in my kitchen drawer for some two years. To be honest, I don't even know why I bought them. Oh, that's a lie! I do! It was for one of my first recipes, "Easter on a Stick." Anyway, I seem to have been saving them all this time, knowing full well I'd never make anything so elaborate it would be served on a skewer. So it's time I started using them.

Now it's time to enjoy them to their fullest extent. Would you please welcome, from the "Fiber-Filled Italian" file in cardland, Sticks Marinara.






















All you need is some sticks and some marinara. (The sticks made an appearance in last week's Cinema movie, "The Typewriter." One bit part and now you can't keep them off-camera.) And you don't even have to worry about cooking time, because the sticks will always be al dente. Don't forget to sprinkle with a little cheese, because, well, that makes it special, doesn't it.

Happy week.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* And yes, the aforementioned and sneak previewed movie is up at the Comfy Chair Cinema. I'm whoring like mad tonight, aren't I? Anyway, it's called "Whooosh!" and even comes with a short behind-the-scenes feature that's not really interesting at all and I have no idea why I included it.