Goodness, Gracious...Great Falls and Fire

Um...OK.  Sorry about that.  But this post is so random, I couldn't come up with a title.  So, there you have it.  Tara's Pun of the Day.

First, to get caught up a little.  Above, that really is Great Falls.  We went there with our friends from Texas, the Bentleys, when they came to visit before our trip.  We had a great time hanging out with them.  Always good to see friends from home.

Besides going to Great Falls, the kids did some pre-July 4th fireworks:

And my cool friend Anne brought us this awesome Texas cutting board:

I LOVE IT!!!!!

That thing on the cutting board is a Dragon Fruit.  We bought it for the Summer of New Things, and we were going to put it in a smoothie.  But it went bad before we could work it into the meal plan.  Not to worry, we'll get another one.

The night after the Bentleys left, Kev and I went to Wolf Trap to see the GREAT Pink Martini.  What an awesome show.  The tickets were a Mother's Day gift from Kev, and it was worth the wait.  Pink Martini asked that no one take pictures during the show, so here is just the stage.  We were just about the youngest people in the crowd.  Not sure how so many old people know about Pink Martini.  Lucky for them, though.  Everyone should go see Pink Martini. 

On our way up to Maine, we stopped in New York to attend the Holt Family 4th of July picnic at the lake place.  It was fun.

There were hot dogs, ice cream, and fireworks - all the required elements for a proper Independence Day.  There were also row-boat rides and canoe rides, and the sailboat debacle of 2013, in which Kev got the Sunfish caught in the seaweed and had to be rescued by his mom.  For the record, it wasn't his fault.  The boat was in great disrepair and not at all sea-worthy.  But it was still funny.

Daph's first canoe trip:

My successful knitting project in Maine inspired me to get back in the groove.  A Maine yarn shop lady taught me how to use a swift and ball-winder, so when we got back, I clamped mine on the table and got to winding.  It is a very soothing activity.

There was a minor knitting setback when I went with my cool friend Jill to a knitting event at a local winery and failed at the two projects I brought to work on.  No big deal...we had a great time anyway.  Lots of nice people with interesting stories at a beautiful venue.  A nice way to spend a Friday afternoon.

On Saturday night, Kev and I went out to dinner at La Lou - LOBSTER RAVIOLI!!!

And then we went to the Tally Ho to see the Woodshedders, which was really fun.  These guys are so talented.  There were actually real HIPSTERS there.  You almost never see hipsters in Leesburg.  It was kind of like being in Dallas for a night. 

The Tally Ho used to be a movie theater, but it was kind of old and yucky.  Last year, they gutted it and turned it into a music venue, and it's really pretty great.  It gets funny bands, like LA Guns and Gene Loves Jezebel and and The Marshall Tucker Band.  I always look forward to new show announcements.

Sunday, we went to see Despicable Me 2 with G-Ma and G-Pa.  It was not quite as good as the first one, but still good.  Might have been more fun if we had seen it in 3D.

Yesterday, we saw this moth stuck to the side of a car while I was waiting for a new battery at the Subaru dealership.  My phone doesn't take the best pictures.  The moth was very yellow, and HUGE.  Like the size of my hand.  The Subaru salesman wasn't too happy to see it on one of his Brand New Cars, so he flicked it away after I took the picture.

Today,  Daphne went to a clay sculpting class and made a dragon.  She had a blast.  It will get fired in the kiln and glazed and fired again, and she will get it back in three weeks.  This is the same place where I made my owl.  We both can't wait to go back.

While Daphne was sculpting, I was knitting.  I finally (after about 7 re-starts) got the second sleeve of my Owl sweater going, and now I'm almost done with it.  Woo hoo!  Sleeve attachment is next, and then I start on the actual owls.  I am going to get this sweater done in time for fall.

If anyone has been wondering, I have 94 birds on my Life List.

I have been keeping myself very busy and distracted because I found out my parents and Jeff and Chief and Scout are moving to Indiana.  This is pretty devastating, so I'm trying not to think about it.  Some people don't mind living away from their families, and some people even prefer it.  But I am not one of those people.  Anyway, I'm not really going to blog too much about it because it sucks, and I don't like talking about it, and this blog is a happy place, but I thought I should mention it because it's kind of a big deal and it's what's happening, so there you go.

I will probably be knitting a lot of sweaters in the future.

OK.  I'll end with this.  The other day, Daphne suddenly dressed up like a ghost.  "I wanted to freak you out, Mom."  She's a funny little kid.