whirlwind weekend.

What a weekend. On Friday Ella had her beach picnic day. Fortunately the unbearably hot weather had moved on and it was a lovely day for hanging out on the beach. They go around to the picnic area, where the town doesn't dump sand, so it's very rocky. They find crabs and things and were throwing the rocks to make the squirters squirt.

There is some, rather dirty, sand which Ella and her friend were playing in.

That soon turned into her being totally buried in that sand. This only 40 minutes before she had to be at her ballet rehearsal in full costume and make up. I had to go and hose her off in the cold tap water.

Then Saturday was the ballet concert. We dragged Oscar and Remi along and as much as they complained, it wasn't that bad. Here's some photos taken (without flash) of Kit's dance.


He did a great job and even managed not to itch himself for the whole dance.

Ella's dance was so cute...not as much light so the photos are mostly blurred.

I'm just so glad that it's all over as it was a little all consuming there for a while.

Saturday night Matt and I had our REM concert at Jones beach. It's a fair drive , so we left before 5pm and got there in time to tail gate a little and have some dinner. All day it had been humid with threatening skies, and by the time we went into the concert, we could see some lighting off in the distance.

For those that don't know, the Jones beach venue is outside. It is gorgeous. We were up high, and we could see lighting over towards CT on one side and the moody Atlantic out to the other. Oscar called to say Ella was worried about us because of the lightning, and while it had just started to rain, we told him we were fine. Then the thunder got closer and closer and suddenly BANG! CRACK! BANG BANG BANG! lighting hit the stadium not far from where we were sitting. We were quickly evacuated and then it started to rain in earnest. Loads of people made a run for their cars and left, but the concert wasn't cancelled. We had to wait maybe 1 1/2 hours until they planned to bring the band on. And it was WET.

The concert did start again, but the whole thing was in the rain. We had rain coats, but all the water went right through-that's how hard it rained. We had wrinkled fingers and toes from being wet for so long. And the rain had really cooled things off. And while it was a good concert and great to hear REM, a wet band isn't really into the performance as much as usual. They even announced they would do their encore without going off. And the whole time there was lightning going off around us (but further away). In fact the lighting was getting all the ooos and ahhs that fireworks get. It was certainly a concert to remember. And sorry-no photos (apart from a really blurry one on my phone that I have no idea how to download).

Then yesterday I went into the city with my friend to the Lincoln center craft fair. I used to go to this every year when we lived in NY. A great fair, although the renovations at the Lincoln center meant that it was smaller this year. We walked up from Grand central station and just happened across a huge international street fair all up 6th Ave. It was fantastic; 2 fairs for the price of one. We did get rained on again, but after the night before I could handle being a little wet.

And the other big bonus about going to the Lincoln center fair; I got to see my old lovely pottery teacher, Margaret Wozniak. I was keeping a look out for her stall, but it was she who spotted me first and came running out to hug and kiss me. She is such a gorgeous person and her work is stunning. I wish I had photos of her work to show-I'm going back next week and I'll take photos (didn't want the extra weight of my camera with how my back has been). It's been 4 years since we've seen each other and it was just so lovely to reconnect with her. We became very good friends when we lived in NY, but as she is Polish and her English has all been learned spoken, it has been very difficult to keep in written contact with her. She used to do craft fairs in CT, but apparently most of them have been cancelled. Anyway, getting all that Margaret love was just what I needed. I can't wait to see her again next weekend.

But after all that walking and my late night I was absolutely shattered last night. Glad to be able to take it easy today. And only school tomorrow and Oscar's graduation ceremony on Wednesday and then I'm there...Summer hols and life can just slow down to my pace and all routine can go out the window. Oh how I long for it although I'm sure it will go by all too fast.