Frogfilk Con Report!
This is still jenn, posting on mrlogic's behalf. I apologize for the length of this post. I'm afraid I don't know how to post a link that goes to the actual message. *_*
I wanted to post a "con report" for Frogfilk, the housefilk organized and hosted by Kirsti. I tried to take notes each day, and I hope that my memory will allow me to fill in the blanks. But to summarize, this was a wonderful housefilk. I had a great time, I would love to come up again next year, and Kirsti has inspired me to try to organize a housefilk of my own.
[edit: many, many thanks to Callie and telynor for explaining what a cut tag is and how to make it work]
Friday, May 13, 2005
What with one thing (work, clients, guitar practice) and another (doing chores, finishing packing, waiting for us to get our act together), Tony, Mom and I did not manage to get on the road moving towards Portland until about 6:00 in the evening. We took my car and Tony sat next to me with Mom in the back seat. Tony would have let Mom have shotgun, but she was working on a report that had to be finished by Monday. She managed to wheedle Dad into letting her borrow his laptop (the man really loves her) so she could type as we drove up to Kirsti's house. This arrangement ended up working very well, not the least because Tony's height would have made the back seat very uncomfortable for him after a short while.
We were making very good time up until we were about 20 miles from Portland and a car accident snarled up traffic for over 10 miles. It took an hour to drive 5 miles. Yeowtch! But in spite of this minor unpleasantry, the trip was quite enjoyable. Tony brought his digital music player and entertained me and Mom with wonderful filks that he had recorded over the years. We have now been indoctrinated into Carla Ulbrich and Deirdre Flint, among others. These two were our favorites as they really knew how to bring the funny, but we also enjoyed...um...other people whose names I don't recall.
Tony ALSO had music from mrlogic and ASH Productions! We got to listen to Namarie and There's a Wall There, and I vehemently demanded that Tony send me copies of the music so I can listen to them my very own self. He agreed to do so, but possibly only because he did not want to upset the crazy woman driving the car. I will have to remind him of his promise when he gets home. I'm not worried, though. Thanks to that early phone call on Friday morning, I now have excellent blackmail material as I have seen what his hair looks like when he first gets up.
We finally arrived at Kirsti's house at about 9:15 and happily greeted Kirsti, the kids, the cats, and various other humans. The humans were limited to K, Dan, and Douglas and Juliana, much to our surprise. The other guests had yet to arrive. But amusingly, we did not have long to wait! Within 20 minutes, Vixy and Fishy as well as Callie all appeared.
Everyone arrived with food in tow. It was one of Kirsti's requests that we all bring something we like to eat, so that everyone would be assured of having some food. She supplied very nice meals without our help (she's so wonderful), but we all agreed that we should bring our share. Mom and I (and Tony, by default) brought a loaf of Great Harvest Bread, cookies, and chips. Douglas and Juliana brought a loaf of Blue Fox (a specialty bakery in Victoria) bread, and chips. Callie brought cookies and chips. So did Vixy and Fishy. LOL.
Everyone arrived hungry, so we started Frogfilk with fine dining on junkfood and healthy bread. It was great. Kirsti professed that I was an evil influence for forcing her to break her low-carb diet, but I noticed that she had second helpings on cookies, so I'm not too worried about her ire.
Once we were all reasonably sated (if such a word can be applied to filkers), we moved from the kitchen into the living room for music. Many of us were quite enchanted by Douglas's newest toy: a baritone guitar. I wish I were equipped to describe what made the guitar so wonderful, but I just don't know enough. Let me at least say that Tony, Fishy, and Vix were all suitably impressed with the tone and action of the instrument. Douglas, bless his heart, is very good about sharing his toys, and Tony borrowed the baritone to play us "False alarms at BayCon," which was quite wonderful.
Douglas himself led us through "Hot Frogs on the Loose." Juliana played "Dragon Time" on her dulcimer quite beautifully. Tony and Vix did a cover of "Walk on the Ocean," by Toad the Wet Sprocket. As always, Vix sounded quite beautiful and Tony, for all that he (wrongly, IMO) professes to be a "hack" was wonderful accompaniment.
Now, at this point it had already gotten pretty darn late for Mom and me. Furthermore, I had stayed up Late on Wednesday night chatting with Vix and Tony, I stayed up late again on Thursday night chatting with Tony, and I had been driving for 3 hours on what should have been a 2 hour drive. Mom and I both started to fall apart fairly quickly. This posed a problem. We were initially meant to stay with Callie at her house, but Callie wasn't ready to leave yet. Mom and I were not too keen on the idea of my driving us for a half-hour alone to Callie's house through Portland at night. Some of you know what my navigation skills are like (for those of you who don't, they're abysmal), and Mom wasn't in any shape to save my bacon.
Fortunately, Kirsti had extra beds and was able to let us sleep at her house. We promised to come visit Callie's home the next day (Mom wanted very much to see her 1910 Craftsman house) and schlepped off to bed. It was all we could do to remember that we have to eat our vitamins before we brushed our teeth. Mom and I just don't do well after midnight, and this was closer to 1am. We briefly chatted about how wonderful this was and how glad we were that Mom came to Frogfilk, and then we went to sleep to the sound of Callie singing.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
I woke up to Aaron's piping voice exclaiming "Mommy! I'm up now!" which was quickly followed by Dan hushing him in gentle, if slightly desperate tones. I dozed for a bit, but the smell of bacon (which still smells good even though I don't eat it) and the knowledge that Kirsti was downstairs waiting to chat eventually dragged me out of bed. (The bed was soooo comfortable. I'm getting sleepy just thinking about it.) So I took a quick shower (which was also wonderful) and shuffled down for breakfast with Mom close behind me.
Mom and Kirsti and I had a wonderful time chatting while eating pancakes and toast for breakfast. The kids were both up and enjoying the novelty of guests. I managed to get hugs from both Alice and Aaron, although Aaron was initially not entirely pleased that his mother was paying attention to persons other than himself.
After about an hour or so, Callie arrived with doughnuts! These were no ordinary doughnuts, let me tell you. They were fresh, sweet, wonderful doughnuts that would make any sweet-tooth's day. I managed to snag a chocolate-glazed French cruller, so I was in a pretty darned good mood.
Juliana and Douglas were both staying out in their camper in Kirsti's driveway (I suspect this is part of the reason why K was able to put us up at her house). Juliana came in the house to enjoy breakfast and to share two very wonderful things with us. The first wonderful thing was a beautiful blue shawl she had knitted which she insisted on calling something like her "humility shawl." The reason behind this was that Juliana had poured months of time and hundreds of dollars into the shawl, and when she took it off the needles, it was about twice as long as any one person could possibly wear without tripping over it. But regardless of its distressing length, the shawl was as beautiful as any creation I have seen. I describe it as "blue," but it was really a beguiling mix of at least 6 or 7 yarns in various shades of blues and purples.
The other wonderful thing was Tansy, a delightful little dog who is some kind of poodle mix. Tansy is smaller than a largish cat (to give you an idea of her size), completely white, and had recently had a haircut so she could see. Her little black eyes would look out inquisitively from under her white bangs, making Tansy almost irresistible. She was a favorite during the weekend.
I am afraid it is quite impossible for me to recall and retell all the wonderful chatting that happened during the morning. I can only summarize by saying that there was rarely silence and the conversation was always interesting.
Eventually Mom and I took a tour through Kirsti's yard. It is important to know that less than 2 months ago her yard was little more than dirt. Now, anyone would be charmed by the changes she has made. Her front lawn is covered in vinca, a wonderful flowering plant that grows a bit like strawberries do. She has brought in a gorgeous red rhododendron which is showing its pleasure with its new home by bursting into bloom. There are also irises in white, purples, and yellows shooting up in various locations, exclaiming their pleasure with the rain and warm weather. Her roses are not yet in bloom, but I do not doubt that they will be glorious when they do. It will be no hardship to visit Kirsti in late June or so.
And then, to everyone's delight, mrlogic called! His timing was perfect, as everyone was awake and fed and THERE to talk with him. Tony was very pleased to sing his parody of "When I was a Boy," and he, Vixy, and I all enjoyed playing "Letters from Heloise" and "Penelope's Loom" over the phone. We all wanted so much for mrlogic to be part of this filk and were thrilled to have a chance to include him. It was all over much too soon.
After this, Tony, Vixy, and Fishy went out to Powell's Bookstore for the obligatory book-drool, Callie and Juliana went out in search of yarn, and Mom and I went up to our room in search of much-needed sleep. Naps are SUCH wonderful inventions. We were so tired. I slept for two whole hours and probably could have slept for another hour except I was afraid I would miss something if I stayed in bed too much longer. Mom did not get quite as much sleep as I, I'm afraid. She was worrying about not having finished her report, so she spent some of her naptime typing on the laptop. Poor Mom; it's awful to have work hanging over you. But at least she got some sleep, and she was able to reduce some stress by getting closer to done on the report.
Once back among the living, we chatted more with Kirsti. I also was invited to play several games of Tic Tac Toe with Alice, which we both enjoyed, although it quickly became apparent that neither one of us was playing to win. There is something rather humbling about having a 6 year old deliberately avoid a winning move in order to keep you interested in the game. I have to admit that I was overwhelmed with the need to hug the stuffing out of her more than once.
When Callie returned with Juliana from their yarn expedition (which was quite successful), she, Mom and I went over to her house to a) collect a blanket and overnight bag so Callie could stay the night at Kirsti's and b) to satisfy Mom's desire to go ga-ga over the architectural features of the building.
Callie's house is quite worth a bit of drooling. She has some very old and beautiful plants adorning her yard, including an antique rose which smells sweeter and more amazing than any rose that has been bred in the last half-century. The inside of her home is no less appealing. Between the restoration of original features (such as hardwood flooring), the addition of more modern amenities (the half-bath downstairs), and the artful decorating, the house is practically perfect in every conceivable way. And of course, yarn crowded every corner in a multitude of textures and hues.
This trip to Callie's proved doubly advantageous, for Mom happened upon a scarf she admired. I quickly purchased it from Callie and presented Mom with her belated Mother's Day present. Now I just have to figure out what to give my sister for her belated birthday present. *sigh*
We were all getting hungry, and arrived back at Kirsti's not a moment too soon. Kirsti had made some absolutely delicious mushroom stroganoff for Mom and me (the carni--excuse me, omnivores ate turkey stroganoff) and we snarfed it down as quickly as decorum would allow. Well, possibly more quickly than decorum really allows, but everyone was polite enough not to mention it.
Then it was time for Alice and Aaron to go to bed, and I helped insomuch as I was able. As part of the bedtime routine, Alice read me a lovely story about Frog and Toad. And then I read Alice a funny story about the Kiss that Missed. It was all very sweet.
Then it was time for FILKING. Woohoo! Below, I am going to include a list of (most of) the songs that were played that night. I am doing so in the hopes that some of the songs will be familiar to various readers, and that people will enjoy mentally revisiting them. Vixy and Mom were teasing me for keeping a list of songs until Tony made the analogy of a baseball enthusiast who misses a game can still enjoy reading the statistics the next day. So nyah! ;op
It stormed off and on during the filk. At one point, we took a rain break, and Vixy and I went outside to admire the thunder and lightning. It really poured down for a while, and we delighted in the wild wetness of the night. Tony made the effort to stick his head outdoors long enough to inform us that we were crazy. We ignored him for being silly.
During the evening, Kirsti's friend Tina visited with her husband and two daughters. It was unfortunate that Tina hadn't called first, as it meant that Alice and Aaron were already sleeping when her children arrived. Tony, Callie, and Douglas all rose to the challenge of playing pieces that were both interesting and suitable to children, and I think they succeeded admirably. Tina and Co did not stay long, though they were all quite attentive to the music and seemed to enjoy themselves.
Still, I am selfishly glad they were not present in the wee hours in the morning when we were all getting tired and irritable. It is best to make personal mistakes in the presence of close friends who understand your history and love you unconditionally.
It is an unfortunate truth that no convention can go off without a hitch, and this maxim holds even for a relatively small housefilk. I suppose we should be grateful that there were no fires in the kitchen, no complaints about noise (although, with acoustic instruments, that's not a surprise), and no damage sustained to any musical instrument (except maybe Vixy's head). But we were all missing absent friends (3 in particular) and feeling sad for empty spaces that couldn't be filled, and I think it becomes more and more difficult to keep sadness in perspective as we get increasingly tired.
However, even considering these snags, things went about as smoothly as could be reasonably expected. Suffice it to say: we stayed up late sharing love and support, and (most importantly) we were all there in the morning to enjoy our last day.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
I was up until almost 5 in the morning. I slept until almost 11am. I am glad I got up when I did, but I was still rather sorry not to sleep for another 2-3 hours. However, arising from bed was rewarded with French toast, so I did not lament for long. Tansy was extremely cute as she sniffed about the kitchen, vainly hoping that someone (anyone!) would drop some bacon. At one point Tony did soften and gave Tansy a teensy piece which she ate very politely and with extreme cuteness.
Then mrlogic called again! Twice in two days the timing was perfect as far as the housefilk was concerned. As a special treat, mrlogic sang "Night Shift" to Kirsti over the phone, which she really appreciated. Kirsti put in a lot of work to make Frogfilk a success. I am glad that she got that song as a reward. Our boy did good, and I'm proud of him.
After the phone call, we had a picture party, in which we all made a sign celebrating the First Annual Frogfilk of 2005. Everyone contributed some drawing, and many of us contributed a frog. :o) Tony drew a guitar, Kirsti drew many wonderful frogs hiding in various places on the page, and Vixy sketched out a collection of our barn animals which she then let me color. I had fun with the peacock.
Once we finished the banner, we all gathered at the top of Kirsti's stairs for pictures. Tony was our designated Camera Man, and figured out how to set the timer on every individual camera, affix it to his tripod, and then ran up to be a part of each picture shot. We must have stood for a dozen pictures, but it was fun and we were all glad to do it. We have each promised to review our pictures carefully and send the best ones to each other.
By this point it was after 2pm, and Mom and I had to head home. Everyone was sad to see us go, and we were sad to leave, but the boring call of grown-up work beckoned and we could not ignore it. Mom and I chatted about how much fun we had the entire drive back to Eugene, which was fortunately unhampered by car accidents or other delays.
Mom is now utterly smitten with filk. She wants very much to attend a filk convention to see what they are like. We are even thinking that we could host a housefilk of our own some time in the late summer (we have already put forth possible names of Dogfilk, Furfilk, and Wheezefilk) I am charmed by the notion that at the age of 56, my mom is discovering her inner-geek.
Set list for Frogfilk on Saturday Night
SONG (person who wrote it)--filk performer(s)
Boy Wonder (Carla Ulbrich)--Tony
Frozen Man--Tony
It Happens Every Day (Dar Williams)--Tony and Vix
Persephone's Song--Vix and Fishy
Hockey Monkey--Tony
Flatten the Grass--Callie
Hippopotamus--Douglas
Mammal (TMBG)--Tony
Count the White Horses (EC)--Callie and Tony on Baritone
The Extra--Tony
The Murderous Toy--All
The Marvelous Toy, Mark 2--Callie
No Hurry--Vixy and Fishy
David Duchovny--Vixy and Tony
Get Out the Map--Tony et al.
The Ocean (Dar Williams)--Vixy and Tony
Sanity Time--Callie
Devil's Music-Callie
Queer Eye Parody-Tony
Skill at Wit-Vixy and Douglas
Mal’s Song Vixy and Fishy
City of New Orleans-Douglas
Penelope’s Loom-Me, Vixy, and Tony
CaveCon-Tony
Hot Point, Warm Heart-Tony
Wild Mountain Thyme-Douglas
The Reader-Tony et al.
Falling Free-Callie
Six Transit-Tony
50 ways to change your movie-Tony
Faster than Light-Vixy
Stars-Vixy on guitar
Indigo Girls Song-Tony and Callie
Door into Summer-Douglas
Christians and Pagans (Dar Williams)-Tony
Highwayman (Alfred Noyes, Loreena McKennit)-Vixy and Tony
Darkness-Douglas
Maxwell’s Wave Equations-Tony
Ninja’s Lament (Tune: Streets of Laredo)-Juliana
Stray Dog Man-Douglas
Dr. Who parody of Grandfather’s Clock-Douglas
Streets of London-Juliana
Sweet Baby James-Juliana
Isle au Haut-Juliana
I wanted to post a "con report" for Frogfilk, the housefilk organized and hosted by Kirsti. I tried to take notes each day, and I hope that my memory will allow me to fill in the blanks. But to summarize, this was a wonderful housefilk. I had a great time, I would love to come up again next year, and Kirsti has inspired me to try to organize a housefilk of my own.
[edit: many, many thanks to Callie and telynor for explaining what a cut tag is and how to make it work]
Friday, May 13, 2005
What with one thing (work, clients, guitar practice) and another (doing chores, finishing packing, waiting for us to get our act together), Tony, Mom and I did not manage to get on the road moving towards Portland until about 6:00 in the evening. We took my car and Tony sat next to me with Mom in the back seat. Tony would have let Mom have shotgun, but she was working on a report that had to be finished by Monday. She managed to wheedle Dad into letting her borrow his laptop (the man really loves her) so she could type as we drove up to Kirsti's house. This arrangement ended up working very well, not the least because Tony's height would have made the back seat very uncomfortable for him after a short while.
We were making very good time up until we were about 20 miles from Portland and a car accident snarled up traffic for over 10 miles. It took an hour to drive 5 miles. Yeowtch! But in spite of this minor unpleasantry, the trip was quite enjoyable. Tony brought his digital music player and entertained me and Mom with wonderful filks that he had recorded over the years. We have now been indoctrinated into Carla Ulbrich and Deirdre Flint, among others. These two were our favorites as they really knew how to bring the funny, but we also enjoyed...um...other people whose names I don't recall.
Tony ALSO had music from mrlogic and ASH Productions! We got to listen to Namarie and There's a Wall There, and I vehemently demanded that Tony send me copies of the music so I can listen to them my very own self. He agreed to do so, but possibly only because he did not want to upset the crazy woman driving the car. I will have to remind him of his promise when he gets home. I'm not worried, though. Thanks to that early phone call on Friday morning, I now have excellent blackmail material as I have seen what his hair looks like when he first gets up.
We finally arrived at Kirsti's house at about 9:15 and happily greeted Kirsti, the kids, the cats, and various other humans. The humans were limited to K, Dan, and Douglas and Juliana, much to our surprise. The other guests had yet to arrive. But amusingly, we did not have long to wait! Within 20 minutes, Vixy and Fishy as well as Callie all appeared.
Everyone arrived with food in tow. It was one of Kirsti's requests that we all bring something we like to eat, so that everyone would be assured of having some food. She supplied very nice meals without our help (she's so wonderful), but we all agreed that we should bring our share. Mom and I (and Tony, by default) brought a loaf of Great Harvest Bread, cookies, and chips. Douglas and Juliana brought a loaf of Blue Fox (a specialty bakery in Victoria) bread, and chips. Callie brought cookies and chips. So did Vixy and Fishy. LOL.
Everyone arrived hungry, so we started Frogfilk with fine dining on junkfood and healthy bread. It was great. Kirsti professed that I was an evil influence for forcing her to break her low-carb diet, but I noticed that she had second helpings on cookies, so I'm not too worried about her ire.
Once we were all reasonably sated (if such a word can be applied to filkers), we moved from the kitchen into the living room for music. Many of us were quite enchanted by Douglas's newest toy: a baritone guitar. I wish I were equipped to describe what made the guitar so wonderful, but I just don't know enough. Let me at least say that Tony, Fishy, and Vix were all suitably impressed with the tone and action of the instrument. Douglas, bless his heart, is very good about sharing his toys, and Tony borrowed the baritone to play us "False alarms at BayCon," which was quite wonderful.
Douglas himself led us through "Hot Frogs on the Loose." Juliana played "Dragon Time" on her dulcimer quite beautifully. Tony and Vix did a cover of "Walk on the Ocean," by Toad the Wet Sprocket. As always, Vix sounded quite beautiful and Tony, for all that he (wrongly, IMO) professes to be a "hack" was wonderful accompaniment.
Now, at this point it had already gotten pretty darn late for Mom and me. Furthermore, I had stayed up Late on Wednesday night chatting with Vix and Tony, I stayed up late again on Thursday night chatting with Tony, and I had been driving for 3 hours on what should have been a 2 hour drive. Mom and I both started to fall apart fairly quickly. This posed a problem. We were initially meant to stay with Callie at her house, but Callie wasn't ready to leave yet. Mom and I were not too keen on the idea of my driving us for a half-hour alone to Callie's house through Portland at night. Some of you know what my navigation skills are like (for those of you who don't, they're abysmal), and Mom wasn't in any shape to save my bacon.
Fortunately, Kirsti had extra beds and was able to let us sleep at her house. We promised to come visit Callie's home the next day (Mom wanted very much to see her 1910 Craftsman house) and schlepped off to bed. It was all we could do to remember that we have to eat our vitamins before we brushed our teeth. Mom and I just don't do well after midnight, and this was closer to 1am. We briefly chatted about how wonderful this was and how glad we were that Mom came to Frogfilk, and then we went to sleep to the sound of Callie singing.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
I woke up to Aaron's piping voice exclaiming "Mommy! I'm up now!" which was quickly followed by Dan hushing him in gentle, if slightly desperate tones. I dozed for a bit, but the smell of bacon (which still smells good even though I don't eat it) and the knowledge that Kirsti was downstairs waiting to chat eventually dragged me out of bed. (The bed was soooo comfortable. I'm getting sleepy just thinking about it.) So I took a quick shower (which was also wonderful) and shuffled down for breakfast with Mom close behind me.
Mom and Kirsti and I had a wonderful time chatting while eating pancakes and toast for breakfast. The kids were both up and enjoying the novelty of guests. I managed to get hugs from both Alice and Aaron, although Aaron was initially not entirely pleased that his mother was paying attention to persons other than himself.
After about an hour or so, Callie arrived with doughnuts! These were no ordinary doughnuts, let me tell you. They were fresh, sweet, wonderful doughnuts that would make any sweet-tooth's day. I managed to snag a chocolate-glazed French cruller, so I was in a pretty darned good mood.
Juliana and Douglas were both staying out in their camper in Kirsti's driveway (I suspect this is part of the reason why K was able to put us up at her house). Juliana came in the house to enjoy breakfast and to share two very wonderful things with us. The first wonderful thing was a beautiful blue shawl she had knitted which she insisted on calling something like her "humility shawl." The reason behind this was that Juliana had poured months of time and hundreds of dollars into the shawl, and when she took it off the needles, it was about twice as long as any one person could possibly wear without tripping over it. But regardless of its distressing length, the shawl was as beautiful as any creation I have seen. I describe it as "blue," but it was really a beguiling mix of at least 6 or 7 yarns in various shades of blues and purples.
The other wonderful thing was Tansy, a delightful little dog who is some kind of poodle mix. Tansy is smaller than a largish cat (to give you an idea of her size), completely white, and had recently had a haircut so she could see. Her little black eyes would look out inquisitively from under her white bangs, making Tansy almost irresistible. She was a favorite during the weekend.
I am afraid it is quite impossible for me to recall and retell all the wonderful chatting that happened during the morning. I can only summarize by saying that there was rarely silence and the conversation was always interesting.
Eventually Mom and I took a tour through Kirsti's yard. It is important to know that less than 2 months ago her yard was little more than dirt. Now, anyone would be charmed by the changes she has made. Her front lawn is covered in vinca, a wonderful flowering plant that grows a bit like strawberries do. She has brought in a gorgeous red rhododendron which is showing its pleasure with its new home by bursting into bloom. There are also irises in white, purples, and yellows shooting up in various locations, exclaiming their pleasure with the rain and warm weather. Her roses are not yet in bloom, but I do not doubt that they will be glorious when they do. It will be no hardship to visit Kirsti in late June or so.
And then, to everyone's delight, mrlogic called! His timing was perfect, as everyone was awake and fed and THERE to talk with him. Tony was very pleased to sing his parody of "When I was a Boy," and he, Vixy, and I all enjoyed playing "Letters from Heloise" and "Penelope's Loom" over the phone. We all wanted so much for mrlogic to be part of this filk and were thrilled to have a chance to include him. It was all over much too soon.
After this, Tony, Vixy, and Fishy went out to Powell's Bookstore for the obligatory book-drool, Callie and Juliana went out in search of yarn, and Mom and I went up to our room in search of much-needed sleep. Naps are SUCH wonderful inventions. We were so tired. I slept for two whole hours and probably could have slept for another hour except I was afraid I would miss something if I stayed in bed too much longer. Mom did not get quite as much sleep as I, I'm afraid. She was worrying about not having finished her report, so she spent some of her naptime typing on the laptop. Poor Mom; it's awful to have work hanging over you. But at least she got some sleep, and she was able to reduce some stress by getting closer to done on the report.
Once back among the living, we chatted more with Kirsti. I also was invited to play several games of Tic Tac Toe with Alice, which we both enjoyed, although it quickly became apparent that neither one of us was playing to win. There is something rather humbling about having a 6 year old deliberately avoid a winning move in order to keep you interested in the game. I have to admit that I was overwhelmed with the need to hug the stuffing out of her more than once.
When Callie returned with Juliana from their yarn expedition (which was quite successful), she, Mom and I went over to her house to a) collect a blanket and overnight bag so Callie could stay the night at Kirsti's and b) to satisfy Mom's desire to go ga-ga over the architectural features of the building.
Callie's house is quite worth a bit of drooling. She has some very old and beautiful plants adorning her yard, including an antique rose which smells sweeter and more amazing than any rose that has been bred in the last half-century. The inside of her home is no less appealing. Between the restoration of original features (such as hardwood flooring), the addition of more modern amenities (the half-bath downstairs), and the artful decorating, the house is practically perfect in every conceivable way. And of course, yarn crowded every corner in a multitude of textures and hues.
This trip to Callie's proved doubly advantageous, for Mom happened upon a scarf she admired. I quickly purchased it from Callie and presented Mom with her belated Mother's Day present. Now I just have to figure out what to give my sister for her belated birthday present. *sigh*
We were all getting hungry, and arrived back at Kirsti's not a moment too soon. Kirsti had made some absolutely delicious mushroom stroganoff for Mom and me (the carni--excuse me, omnivores ate turkey stroganoff) and we snarfed it down as quickly as decorum would allow. Well, possibly more quickly than decorum really allows, but everyone was polite enough not to mention it.
Then it was time for Alice and Aaron to go to bed, and I helped insomuch as I was able. As part of the bedtime routine, Alice read me a lovely story about Frog and Toad. And then I read Alice a funny story about the Kiss that Missed. It was all very sweet.
Then it was time for FILKING. Woohoo! Below, I am going to include a list of (most of) the songs that were played that night. I am doing so in the hopes that some of the songs will be familiar to various readers, and that people will enjoy mentally revisiting them. Vixy and Mom were teasing me for keeping a list of songs until Tony made the analogy of a baseball enthusiast who misses a game can still enjoy reading the statistics the next day. So nyah! ;op
It stormed off and on during the filk. At one point, we took a rain break, and Vixy and I went outside to admire the thunder and lightning. It really poured down for a while, and we delighted in the wild wetness of the night. Tony made the effort to stick his head outdoors long enough to inform us that we were crazy. We ignored him for being silly.
During the evening, Kirsti's friend Tina visited with her husband and two daughters. It was unfortunate that Tina hadn't called first, as it meant that Alice and Aaron were already sleeping when her children arrived. Tony, Callie, and Douglas all rose to the challenge of playing pieces that were both interesting and suitable to children, and I think they succeeded admirably. Tina and Co did not stay long, though they were all quite attentive to the music and seemed to enjoy themselves.
Still, I am selfishly glad they were not present in the wee hours in the morning when we were all getting tired and irritable. It is best to make personal mistakes in the presence of close friends who understand your history and love you unconditionally.
It is an unfortunate truth that no convention can go off without a hitch, and this maxim holds even for a relatively small housefilk. I suppose we should be grateful that there were no fires in the kitchen, no complaints about noise (although, with acoustic instruments, that's not a surprise), and no damage sustained to any musical instrument (except maybe Vixy's head). But we were all missing absent friends (3 in particular) and feeling sad for empty spaces that couldn't be filled, and I think it becomes more and more difficult to keep sadness in perspective as we get increasingly tired.
However, even considering these snags, things went about as smoothly as could be reasonably expected. Suffice it to say: we stayed up late sharing love and support, and (most importantly) we were all there in the morning to enjoy our last day.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
I was up until almost 5 in the morning. I slept until almost 11am. I am glad I got up when I did, but I was still rather sorry not to sleep for another 2-3 hours. However, arising from bed was rewarded with French toast, so I did not lament for long. Tansy was extremely cute as she sniffed about the kitchen, vainly hoping that someone (anyone!) would drop some bacon. At one point Tony did soften and gave Tansy a teensy piece which she ate very politely and with extreme cuteness.
Then mrlogic called again! Twice in two days the timing was perfect as far as the housefilk was concerned. As a special treat, mrlogic sang "Night Shift" to Kirsti over the phone, which she really appreciated. Kirsti put in a lot of work to make Frogfilk a success. I am glad that she got that song as a reward. Our boy did good, and I'm proud of him.
After the phone call, we had a picture party, in which we all made a sign celebrating the First Annual Frogfilk of 2005. Everyone contributed some drawing, and many of us contributed a frog. :o) Tony drew a guitar, Kirsti drew many wonderful frogs hiding in various places on the page, and Vixy sketched out a collection of our barn animals which she then let me color. I had fun with the peacock.
Once we finished the banner, we all gathered at the top of Kirsti's stairs for pictures. Tony was our designated Camera Man, and figured out how to set the timer on every individual camera, affix it to his tripod, and then ran up to be a part of each picture shot. We must have stood for a dozen pictures, but it was fun and we were all glad to do it. We have each promised to review our pictures carefully and send the best ones to each other.
By this point it was after 2pm, and Mom and I had to head home. Everyone was sad to see us go, and we were sad to leave, but the boring call of grown-up work beckoned and we could not ignore it. Mom and I chatted about how much fun we had the entire drive back to Eugene, which was fortunately unhampered by car accidents or other delays.
Mom is now utterly smitten with filk. She wants very much to attend a filk convention to see what they are like. We are even thinking that we could host a housefilk of our own some time in the late summer (we have already put forth possible names of Dogfilk, Furfilk, and Wheezefilk) I am charmed by the notion that at the age of 56, my mom is discovering her inner-geek.
Set list for Frogfilk on Saturday Night
SONG (person who wrote it)--filk performer(s)
Boy Wonder (Carla Ulbrich)--Tony
Frozen Man--Tony
It Happens Every Day (Dar Williams)--Tony and Vix
Persephone's Song--Vix and Fishy
Hockey Monkey--Tony
Flatten the Grass--Callie
Hippopotamus--Douglas
Mammal (TMBG)--Tony
Count the White Horses (EC)--Callie and Tony on Baritone
The Extra--Tony
The Murderous Toy--All
The Marvelous Toy, Mark 2--Callie
No Hurry--Vixy and Fishy
David Duchovny--Vixy and Tony
Get Out the Map--Tony et al.
The Ocean (Dar Williams)--Vixy and Tony
Sanity Time--Callie
Devil's Music-Callie
Queer Eye Parody-Tony
Skill at Wit-Vixy and Douglas
Mal’s Song Vixy and Fishy
City of New Orleans-Douglas
Penelope’s Loom-Me, Vixy, and Tony
CaveCon-Tony
Hot Point, Warm Heart-Tony
Wild Mountain Thyme-Douglas
The Reader-Tony et al.
Falling Free-Callie
Six Transit-Tony
50 ways to change your movie-Tony
Faster than Light-Vixy
Stars-Vixy on guitar
Indigo Girls Song-Tony and Callie
Door into Summer-Douglas
Christians and Pagans (Dar Williams)-Tony
Highwayman (Alfred Noyes, Loreena McKennit)-Vixy and Tony
Darkness-Douglas
Maxwell’s Wave Equations-Tony
Ninja’s Lament (Tune: Streets of Laredo)-Juliana
Stray Dog Man-Douglas
Dr. Who parody of Grandfather’s Clock-Douglas
Streets of London-Juliana
Sweet Baby James-Juliana
Isle au Haut-Juliana