Updates

Leaf Update:

Rick cleaned up the entire driveway Wednesday night. Within a day and a half, it looked like this:



Since the leaves were wet, I was shoveling them off with the snow shovel.

Saturday afternoon was spent with a leaf blower and a rake. One large maple is 90% down, but we still have 2 sweet gums, another large maple, 2 large oaks, and assorted other trees that have barely begun to turn.

Dance Update

Class Friday night 4-5:30, then choreography practice from 7-8. Home, watch part of Indiana Jones, then to bed. Up the next morning, class from 9-11, followed by a show:



in bright sunshine with cool winds coming straight into their faces, hence the closed eyes. Once the breeze died down it was a gorgeous day, though.

Followed the next day by an Oiereachtas rehearsal, which is sort of like a dress rehearsal.


Oireachtas is a major competition, so this is a Big Deal.

And, like all Irish Dance competitions, no video recording is allowed during a competition, BUT we can take pictures and videos to our hearts' content during the rehearsal. Here's the hornpipe:



Overall I'm wondering if this works like theatre dress rehearsals -- that is, a bad dress rehearsal means a good show. Because the Oireachtas practice went incredibly smoothly overall (well, except for Annabeth totally forgetting her hornpipe steps, and the girl with her slipping). What does this mean for Oireachtas?

Current Status

Annabeth seems to be asleep on the couch, Thalia decided to skip the Halloween party she'd been invited to for this afternoon, and I'm thinking I'd like to sit around eating junk and reading silly novels. Rick is being industrious, though, putting quarter round around the kick plates under the cabinets, and leaf guards on some of the gutters.