Paint-splattered.

We're getting ready for Red. 

A job description I recently saw asked for experience in distressing & dyeing. Sarah knew she had some work left to do on the Red costumes so roped me in to learn & to splash.

Not that it was entirely sporadic. The costumes are designed for Rothko (who was known as being notoriously messy) & his assistant, Ken who (at the time of the play) had only been working with Rothko a few months. Their costumes have to reflect that fact. 

   This is where Lauren came in handy as we stood & looked at her work clothes to see where paint splashes tends to land on her & asked about where exactly she'd wipe her hands or catch her brush. 

We did have fun whilst we worked though. 

I ended up with blue soles and orange toes. 
____________

I walked by the costume rack in DR 1 earlier.
Looks a little funny compared to the norm, pre-Tech.

 
Meanwhile I have put back on my pattern hat from previous months. I am Medical Gown Specialist In Residence. 
   ~ So much for packing a pattern away & thinking, they'll not be needing that one in a hurry. Next to Normal is presently needing white gowns for patients, white gowns & caps for doctors; I'm all about it. 
  This time though, there's not so much sparkle nor feather nor BC's favourite "merachoochoo"  (that is to say, no 'marabou'). 


I've also been hemming a dress for a fellow intern friend. I've decided that "boutique" is actually French for "badly-sewn". Show me one single shop-bought fancy frock that actually has a hook & eye well-stitched in and designed to stay put and I'll .... I'll dance a jig! Because it disnae ever happen, I tell you!

ART : Carytown

Boston.

So I was coming here to share a few photos & write about the walk I took on Saturday whilst the sun was out. I was going to write about the annual event of Monument 10k, which my friend Sarah took part in alongside 38,000 other walkers and runners. 
Then the news flooded with reports of explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon today. A friend of mine writing in response, 

Seriously? As if running a marathon isn't hard enough. And the
majority of those people would be running for good causes. Sick.

- Exactly. Meanwhile I find myself thinking that it could have been here; it could have been us. Many of the Mon.10k professional runners move onto Boston as their next race. London Marathon only a week away. Hopefully we'll know more over the next 24 hours although there's no adequate explanation for the Why? in this. 
    It should have just been another day for another race, not a scramble for security & emergency services. Making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Just stupid & senseless & saddening. Poor Boston. Photos can wait until another day.

 

Wall Art #8: Bubbles.

10K & Carytown

  

Monument 10k took place at the weekend. I took to the streets once the race had drawn to a close, freed up of traffic. I may not have been a runner that day but my route took me an equally good 6 miles to Carytown & back (as my feet could well testify).

Hehee!

Guerrilla Knitters took Monument by storm, 

         sprucing it up ready for the race.

 

The party was pretty much still in full swing as I walked down Monument amongst the groups of people sat out on the sidewalk, steps, benches & deckchairs on the median.



Up in Carytown, the streets were full of people browsing the shops, eating out with friends. I was happy to discover a treasure trove of a shop in Mongrel, full of interesting & quirky cards & gifts. 

Since I got my PINK fix in DC & at Maymont, I'm now adjusting to the blossom
which Richmond readily offers. It may not be cherry blossom but from afar,
it creates a beautiful purple haze which up close reverts to pink. 

Pretty.

~ ~ ~  

 The joke in town is that when a store or establishment closes, people ponder aloud what's coming next & their answer's usually 'oh, probably another frozen yoghurt house....'

I decided to see what all the fuss was about so I stopped off at Sweet Frog.

- So it's a sort of ice-cream factory set-up, except that the choice is just phenomenal & the taste way better than any frozen Müller's ever been. I ended up with a topping of strawberries, crunched-up Butterfinger & cinnamon crunch. Luke would've have laughed at my habitual lack of will & decision-making as I also combined mango with dulce de leche & something peanut buttery. Cleverly priced at $0.42 per oz.

~ ~ ~  

 Out on the streets, there was canine art to see from FETCH A Cure's Pets on Parade.

I liked the classic American landscape scenes,
in addition - of course - to the patchwork dog.

 

  ~ ~ ~

 

From Strawberry Street, if only to prove - See, it's not just
our address which favours Harry Potter numerology!

A Week In Pictures

It's been at Eighty-Nine this week, which is to say Hot. Humid. Summer heat already; 31ºC.
All the more reason to swap our 'back yard' for this far grassier one on occasion:

The ever-pop'lar hoplar.
Handy grill by shed in distance.
Even handier man to grill things not in view,
most likely making ready.

Draping projects continued onwards. We collected "Big Broad"(the dress form) from the freelance ladies to aid with mock-ups for Music Man's cast. (It's not just a big cast purely in terms of cast numbers.)
   I'm making underdresses for a Grecian scene & have been in a mostly happy place with it. Mock-up toiles; drafting patterns on brown paper; slash & spread - an inch taken from there, another two back added over there. It's been good to use that knowledge again. The stretch knit jersey was a bit more temperamental than I would've hoped in sewing but there's at least enough material to be fitted on each person before hemming.

'Big Broad' was followed by Big Red Bow.

The old Barksdale Theatre sign had been taken down. End of an era.

My mission was to design & construct something big enough out front for the "unveiling/ ribbon cutting event" as the Willow Lawn space was re-dedicated as

The Children's Theatre of Virginia. 

Having wrapped its tiny plastic fibres around me for days in the shop, Big Red Bow was shaped, sewn & constructed and thrown off the foyer's balcony in the name of testing. 

 Out at WL, our from-the-ground estimations had proven right.

(I could've evidently gone bigger still but fighting with twenty-four feet was tricky enough.)

WL being just over the border, we had a VIP from Henryco County to help tug the cord.

Plus Cake for the kiddies at 'Mommy & Me'.

( We're still adjusting to the new addition of "Show Bear".  He's not terribly attractive.
Naming him in zees widiculous Fwench accent makes eem seem a leetle better. )

- M. Sho'Berr.

 Other favourite things from the week:


< -  This.  Best New Favourite Southern seasoning Ever.  

They fixed up good!

"Burger Fixin'" with BC & an entire array of ingredients: 
 

Because we can,
at seven pence per slice!

Injun patterning with Puffy Paints.

Discovering Beatles' lyrics in the strangest of places
... Inside a pair of jeans?!