Fri Aug 26 - *laughs at self* You know, I didn't get into D&K's house until nearly 5 am or so, maybe 6. Around 4 am I finally woke from my car-nap, and went ahead and stopped for coffee and breakfast then finished the drive into town. When I got to their house, I didn't bother to pull the whole bed out. I just lay down on the couch and crashed for another hour or so. Dayle tried sneaking around quietly in the kitchen, but I was happy to wake up and chat for a bit while she got ready to leave for work and then their big motorcycle trip.

After they both got out the door, I hooked up my laptop and finished up some last minute emails, paying bills, and balancing my checkbook. It was imperative that I knew how much money I had to stock up for the coffee bar for the weekend.

Before I left town I managed to get over to Susan's place to leave her some fliers for the choir. There's an event in town tomorrow (which I cannot be at since I'm headed to the dyestuffs retreat) where we'll be recruiting people to join our chorus. So I made fliers for the booth, and I hope they all have a great time tomorrow. I'm sorry to miss the festival!

And yippee! The last of my spindles have arrived! My mail is delivered to a 24-hour Kinko's location, and this is the first time they've ever forgotten to leave one of those "we have a box for you" notes. I was worried that the shipment was never sent, or got lost, or something. And here it was just collecting dust on a shelf in the back. This was a set of four spindles that I bought specifically for teaching opportunities, so I really wanted them before the retreat.

The drive itself was uneventful except for the minor part when I got slightly lost in the town where I actually graduated from high school. It's just not fair that I spent only one year living there, and now twenty years later they've completely added whole new towns and roads and can get me lost just trying to head over to the grocery store. I even stumped my Mom at one point when I called her to ask, "Where am I?!?" since apparently I was driving on roads she still hadn't tried yet. But I got turned back around correctly, got all the groceries I needed, and was on site at the campground within another 15-20 minutes.

The best thing about the weekend so far was reclining in the cool of the evening/night and teaching people how to spin yarn on a drop spindle. I taught four ladies this evening how to spin, and they really really got the concept. I *love* teaching! And I'm also thankful that I bought so many spindles on eBay recently, because I had plenty of spindles to loan out and to demonstrate on. And I finally figured out a few new ways to teach better, so it was definitely a win all around.

I also promised Bjo to take on the task of being the photographer for the weekend, with the specific intention of handing off a CD of photos and a stack of photo releases for her when we leave on Sunday. So I got about 43 people photographed and signed off this afternoon and evening, and started taking lots of pictures of all the projects people brought to work on. I'm really enjoying being an event photographer.

Tina and Lynn are bunking down with Mariam and me in the "computer cabin" and they bought red hats for all four of us for the weekend. We've been teased a little that the four of us "aren't old enough for red hats" but isn't the whole red hat thing about breaking and ignoring common conventions? If we want to wear red hats, we will!! So there! *hee hee* I adore my hat—it has little sequins and feathers on it, too. All four hats are different, but we all look great! And now I'll have a hat for when we all go to high tea, again.