This is "Push Week"

Last night's Crieff Choral performance of Haydn's oratorio "The Seasons" went very well. The Angus Chamber Orchestra accompanied us as they have done for the past two spring concerts, and beautifully too. Our three soloists were marvelous, but the chorus outdid themselves. Peter Rutterford, our conductor, selects music for us that we sometimes think is beyond the capabilities of an amateur (no audition) chorus, but somehow we manage to pull through, sometimes better than at other times. This time, however, we really came through and astounded even ourselves. (If you're looking for me in the photo above, I'm on the front row--behind the man with the bassoon.)

This morning Ally, the super-joiner, showed up at 7:30 as usual. He was waiting for Barclay, who didn't show up again. He has been wandering around doing what he could without Barclay's direction and without help. Bill and Don met on Thursday afternoon to go over the plan for this our last week in the house until the last week in April. According to that plan, a full crew of joiners is supposed to be finishing the utility room so that by the end of the week we can move some things from our kitchen cupboards into the new util rm cupboards in preparation for when the kitchen extension gets done and new worktops and sink get put in. I say "supposed to" because it is now almost 11 and no one else has showed up, nor has the order of insulation been delivered. It could be the lack of insulation (which must go in before interior walls go up) that is keeping the crew away. In this day of cellphone communication, we often aren't privy to what goes on between Barclay the crew boss and delivery lorry drivers.

We fly out early next Monday morning from Edinburgh so there's precious little time to get all the stuff packed away as it is. My studio is pretty much all packed up now. What remains are clothing, toiletries, cosmetics, jewelry. I have to get anything out of there that I don't want to get filled with sawdust. We've been taking boxes down to our friends' house where they're storing it for us, but they will be leaving on a short holiday mid-week and won't return until after we're away, so everything remaining to be stored must get sorted, packed, and taken over there by tomorrow evening.

I also will need to pack soon for our trip to the States where it will be warm, so I must get in my "vacation" head to do some mental "pre-packing." Quite frankly, none of my heads is working terribly well just now. And, to make matters worse, I'm about out of boxes until Don gets back from golf and goes to pick some up in Crieff. At least we have a meeting set here with Bill and Barclay for this afternoon. The frustrations just don't end.

Ah well, I shall go into my studio with the remaining boxes, put on a Beatles Number Ones CD, and think about getting into some short-sleeved tops and sandals in the coming weeks. And my hat. I can't forget my hat. And the sunscreen and sunglasses.