Holy Catfish, Batman!

Cass & I drove home from Richmond in the second worst weather I've ever driven in. Rain doesn't usually fall in the same category as the snow & sleet of '82. That was so bad I had to stop twice in a 10 mile drive to clean the ice off my windshield wipers. But then rain doesn't usually fall in unremitting torrents. Bull Run -- the little river closest to my house -- was low last week. This morning it was over the old bridge piers. I've seen it to the top of the piers only once since I moved here. We got between 7" and 10" of rain in 24 hours. (Gee, how much snow would that be?) and we've gotten more since then. But we got home safe and sound after a very busy weekend at Grand Assembly.

I was so disappointed that none of my photos turned out very well. Then I realized the advantage. This photo is so blurry I can post it! Cass is in green, standing next to the girl in purple. The green fabric is actually more sage colored, not nearly so lime. You can't really see the dress, but you can catch something of the impression of a roomful of girls in matching formals.

Each one of these dresses is made up of 45 individual pieces of fabric, if you count lining and underlining as well as the main fabric. Interfacing adds 7 more pieces. One woman said it took her 40 hours to do each of the 5 dresses she made; another woman flew through a dress in 10 hours. I'd guess I spent about 35. I love doing it for Cass, but I never volunteer to do anyone else's dress.

This shows the dress a little better, even if you can't see the pointed v of the dropped waist. Cassie was prepared to hate the dress, but it turned out well. She liked that the lining was fabulously soft and silky. Besides, she was glad she didn't have to wear pink.

She's been given the position of Grand Patriotism (indigo of the seven colors of the Rainbow) for next year, a nice part and quite an honor for her age. She did a beautiful job leading the Memorial Service. She also found out she won first place in her age group at the ritual competition held last April. Add to that the usual late night pizza party, karaoke & making new friends and you have our weekend in a nutshell.

My Pink Alpaca Breast Cancer Shawl brought in $80 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The woman who bought it wore it to the banquet and it matched her pink dress perfectly. I was so tickled.

Next year's charity is the Shriner's Hospital Transportation fund. I'm not inspired yet but I'm sure something will spring to mind.

PS Did you know if you misspell kaoroke, spell check tries to replace it with Kerouac? I suppose they are kind of the same thing...