I am the baklava bandit
it was a good weekend. Saturday, we got pictures taken that we will not be sharing with everyone at Christmas because professional photography is freaking expensive. wow!
we're doing another photo directory at church. it's a pretty nice deal overall, of course. the sitting fee is waived because the photographers basically come and camp out in a couple rooms for several days, and you get what amounts to a volume discount. people show up to get their pictures taken [or can submit a picture of their own for a modest fee], and you get a complimentary 8x10 of the picture you choose for the directory.
then, of course, the photographer sells you more pictures. we'll be getting just a small handful of pictures to give to our family, in addition to their special "trio" thing that they were pushing: one picture of the two of us together, and then individual photos of each of us.
after pictures, we went clothes shopping. David needed jeans, and it was a beautiful day to go shopping. just ask everyone! David is often pretty uncooperative about clothes shopping, so I wanted to take advantage of his willingness to do the shopping thing, even if it was only lukewarm willingness. we managed to find him some jeans that fit, and he let me buy two pair. I also got myself a couple new shirts for work.
Saturday afternoon and evening were spent in Greece, which will be a separate entry, someday.
Sunday we spent a fair bit of time at church. I was worship associate, plus coordinating after-church treats, plus I counted money. it was a very good service, overall. if I'm feeling inspired later, I might even comment more on it in a separate post.
after church, ate food, then David washed dishes while I worked in the yard for a bit. the flower bed by the garage has now been cleaned out and weeded. I cut all the dead grasses down in the jungle, and cleaned up in that little area that our next door neighbor doesn't seem to want to acknowledge is his. we also talked finances, and went through our financial "fire" drill.
Sunday evening, we went to see Arabesque Music Ensemble at the Englert. I learned about this by an email sent out to UI staff and students, because the concert was sponsored in part by a UI student group. and it was really fun! we had a fair number of people in the audience who were familiar with the musical tradition, and so they knew some of the cues that I would have missed. and once the performers knew that the audience was willing to participate, they invited more clapping, even some responsive singing. at one point, a ripple of laughter went through the crowd at something the singer said in one song, but we have no idea what was amusing. but it was still really cool to be a part of it, and also to see all the wonderful interplay between the performers on stage. they were obviously having a good time, too, and enjoying themselves. they obviously liked working and performing together, and that added a lot to the whole experience. I'm really glad David agreed to go when I suggested it. [more likely, David thought, Robyn's interested in going out somewhere? must take advantage of rare opportunity!]
I think one of the most fascinating things about watching the group was the percussionist. he had one instrument: a riqq [tamborine]. it was astonishing the multitude of different sounds and effects he achieved with this one instrument. if I'd been listening to a CD, I would have thought there were several percussion instruments.
at intermission, they gave the audience complimentary Arabic coffee and baklava. they had like five different varieties of baklava, so we tried several different kinds. the coffee was sweet, but still tasted like coffee. I made a face immediately upon taking even a tiny sip.
I bought a CD. and I came home with about five or six pieces of baklava wrapped in napkins, stuffed in my pocket. this is funny in part because we already had baklava in the house, left over from our Greek meal Saturday night. but these were different varieties! must find baklava cookbook...
anyhow, the concert started at 6:00 [or thereabouts] instead of 7:00, and so we were home a little after 9:00, which was really pretty awesome. we had time to unwind and talk about a few things before heading up to bed at a reasonable hour. I won a couple pair of shoes on eBay [I didn't expect to win both!], so I processed payment for those. David looked up Davenport restaurant info for our trip tomorrow. petted the dog for a bit, and remembered to Frontline him. to bed.
we're doing another photo directory at church. it's a pretty nice deal overall, of course. the sitting fee is waived because the photographers basically come and camp out in a couple rooms for several days, and you get what amounts to a volume discount. people show up to get their pictures taken [or can submit a picture of their own for a modest fee], and you get a complimentary 8x10 of the picture you choose for the directory.
then, of course, the photographer sells you more pictures. we'll be getting just a small handful of pictures to give to our family, in addition to their special "trio" thing that they were pushing: one picture of the two of us together, and then individual photos of each of us.
after pictures, we went clothes shopping. David needed jeans, and it was a beautiful day to go shopping. just ask everyone! David is often pretty uncooperative about clothes shopping, so I wanted to take advantage of his willingness to do the shopping thing, even if it was only lukewarm willingness. we managed to find him some jeans that fit, and he let me buy two pair. I also got myself a couple new shirts for work.
Saturday afternoon and evening were spent in Greece, which will be a separate entry, someday.
Sunday we spent a fair bit of time at church. I was worship associate, plus coordinating after-church treats, plus I counted money. it was a very good service, overall. if I'm feeling inspired later, I might even comment more on it in a separate post.
after church, ate food, then David washed dishes while I worked in the yard for a bit. the flower bed by the garage has now been cleaned out and weeded. I cut all the dead grasses down in the jungle, and cleaned up in that little area that our next door neighbor doesn't seem to want to acknowledge is his. we also talked finances, and went through our financial "fire" drill.
Sunday evening, we went to see Arabesque Music Ensemble at the Englert. I learned about this by an email sent out to UI staff and students, because the concert was sponsored in part by a UI student group. and it was really fun! we had a fair number of people in the audience who were familiar with the musical tradition, and so they knew some of the cues that I would have missed. and once the performers knew that the audience was willing to participate, they invited more clapping, even some responsive singing. at one point, a ripple of laughter went through the crowd at something the singer said in one song, but we have no idea what was amusing. but it was still really cool to be a part of it, and also to see all the wonderful interplay between the performers on stage. they were obviously having a good time, too, and enjoying themselves. they obviously liked working and performing together, and that added a lot to the whole experience. I'm really glad David agreed to go when I suggested it. [more likely, David thought, Robyn's interested in going out somewhere? must take advantage of rare opportunity!]
I think one of the most fascinating things about watching the group was the percussionist. he had one instrument: a riqq [tamborine]. it was astonishing the multitude of different sounds and effects he achieved with this one instrument. if I'd been listening to a CD, I would have thought there were several percussion instruments.
at intermission, they gave the audience complimentary Arabic coffee and baklava. they had like five different varieties of baklava, so we tried several different kinds. the coffee was sweet, but still tasted like coffee. I made a face immediately upon taking even a tiny sip.
I bought a CD. and I came home with about five or six pieces of baklava wrapped in napkins, stuffed in my pocket. this is funny in part because we already had baklava in the house, left over from our Greek meal Saturday night. but these were different varieties! must find baklava cookbook...
anyhow, the concert started at 6:00 [or thereabouts] instead of 7:00, and so we were home a little after 9:00, which was really pretty awesome. we had time to unwind and talk about a few things before heading up to bed at a reasonable hour. I won a couple pair of shoes on eBay [I didn't expect to win both!], so I processed payment for those. David looked up Davenport restaurant info for our trip tomorrow. petted the dog for a bit, and remembered to Frontline him. to bed.