Pritty sharp

A drop of golden sun

My fabulous officemate sent me this link, which I insist that everyone take a mere four minutes to watch. It will brighten your day. It may brighten your life.
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At the central train station in Antwerp, Belgium, an elaborate event was staged by several dozen dancers and enthusiasts. First, the beginning strains of "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music are played, and people in the main hall start looking curiously around. Then a couple of dancers hop into action. Then a couple more, and they twirl across the floor, collecting more dancers, until it’s a huge, joyous production, with the general public staring on in increasing delight.
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If it doesn’t warm the proverbial cockles of your heart, nothing will! As a "Sound of Music" fanatic, of course, I confess I had a tear in my eye.
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Yay for performance art!

Happy birthd'Easter!

We had a great little birthd'Easter in Livonia yesterday. Miss Philly whipped up some seriously scrumptious fixin's, and Angie was in town from L.A., so there was lots of catching up to do.
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Scott's birthday card informed him that he might be a redneck...

...and Page learned that a dog can get real lucky if she hangs around the kitchen counter before Easter dinner.

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Thanks for the photos, Christi! Of course, all I took was a jerky, five-second video, with my voice saying, "Oh! Damn. I thought I was recording!" So - no pictures of the rest of the gang this time. Next time I'll get it right!

And... unzoom

I feel as though I climbed on board a rollercoaster about a month ago and just climbed off this morning, my first morning of sitting around in pajamas until noon!
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First of all... all hail my Glaswegian stylist. The extraordinary Penny took this shaggy disaster -
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- and replaced it with this easy, breezy knockout of a haircut:
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My mother called it "nothing short of miraculous." After that, I felt I could freely run around New York City like the fabulous creature I now was. And what a week! I have loads of photos (thanks, Dad!), and here are just a few:
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Dinner in Chinatown

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Four Lady Liberties
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Waiting for discount Broadway tickets on Times Square
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Above it all
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Zippin' around on the subway
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It was an adventure. There was much running about and sightseeing, but there was plenty of relaxing, too. Penny and I loved having our little kitchenette in our room at the Radio City Apartments: after a while, we felt like native New Yorkers, shopping at the supermarket and whipping up late-night snacks at home.

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And let's not forget the stage shows! We saw "Mamma Mia!" (I'm still humming ABBA tunes), and we saw Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" with none other than Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everett. In both cases, though they couldn't have been more different, there was one common denominator: I had a huge grin plastered across my face the entire time.

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It was terrific.

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As it happened, I was slated to attend a training session in Radnor, Pennsylvania, the day before my family was to disperse back to our homes in Copenhagen, Glasgow, and Ypsilanti - so I just took a train from New York City to Ardmore and a taxi to Radnor. The rest of the team met up with me there and we had a pretty great few days: lots of learning during the day, plenty of refreshments at night. We managed to get into Philadelphia a couple of times, too. I tried not to sing songs from 1776 to my colleagues, but failed. I can't help it. I sing!

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And finally, after that, I got home. Couple days at work, and now the weekend. I've stepped off the rollercoaster ride that started when my mother arrived in mid-March. I loved every second of it: her visit, the trip to the Big Apple, and my little business junket. But it's also pretty spectacular to be home again.

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And tomorrow - off to Livonia!