"in time of daffodils"

Beef Fest was last weekend. I think most of you have been around for my other Beef Fest posts, but if not, they are here, here, here and here. David took these photos with his GoPro 3D camera. You are only going to be able to view them properly with the glasses you pilfered from the multi-plex, but posting them makes the man happy, so whaddaya want? (Note: He read this and wants me to tell you that you could also use "any cyan glasses" such as "the ones they put in magazines," but I'm going to presume that means as little to you as it did to me.)

It was a beautiful weekend at Beef Fest, despite the May Gray. In fact, the May Gray enhanced the experience, because it never got smoking hot. Friday night we had dinner, rides and fun with Steph, Shaun and Nathan, plus Andrew, David's friend visiting from Perth, and his colleague. Saturday I had spread the word and got a surprising turn-out--friends from preschool, kindergarten, China and Smith joined us at various intervals throughout the day. The photos above were taken at the parade, which we just love. Once again, we had the prime seats for both viewing and receiving the sugary bounty of the paraders--every kid had a year's supply of Starburst before it was over.

Some other highlights included playing with pretend snow (something about diaper technology--I tried not to listen too carefully; I am so DONE with diapers) winning a bunch of free cheese steaks, slamming my bones around in the bumper cars, watching the kids scream on the other rides, eating the aforementioned beef (burgers, tri-tip, carne asada, lumpia...you name it) and homemade ice cream and corn on the cob with fresh lime, getting an ace chair massage in the fresh air, and spending some lovely moments with my dear, sweet, wonderful friends.

You can see I'm a bit maudlin. I can't help it--doing things on an annual basis is a surefire way to notice the time passing. Like how Jarrah--who coined the name HERSELF--doesn't understand now why we keep calling it "Beef Fest" and keeps correcting us--"It's called SPRINGFEST." And how she's tall enough for every ride.

And then Sunday was FCC Kite Fest. Perfect kite weather this year--very breezy, sunny and cool. And how--for the first time ever--Jarrah flew her own kite, with no supervision. And for the first time (sob!) had no interest in the bubblicious antics of Sparkles the Clown.

We stopped on the way to Kite Fest to pick up souvlaki and skordalia at our favorite Greek place, and I recalled the many, many weekday mornings when I drove a fretful, chubby Jarrah to her class at "My Gym," where she disdained Circle Time and spent most of her time bobbing in the colored balls. And I looked across the street for the familiar big yellow building, and Readers, IT WASN'T THERE. There's a smoke shop in its place (it's PB after all) and I realized mournfully that not only had My Gym disappeared, but Jarrah's memories of it, too. When I waxed nostalgic, she had no idea what I was even talking about.

And kindergarten is almost over. More sobs. How did this happen? I wrote a post last summer about how she would go in and come out very much changed. And it's totally true. Even just the way we can read together now, and do--all the time. It's such a beautiful enhancement to our relationship.

Speaking of things being over, my last Advanced Acting class is Thursday. It feels even more weighty with symbolism since it is the last class my professor will ever teach, after 22 years. Now I can't imagine why I even hesitated that day in early January when I got a call from Lisa while searching for baby shower favors at Jo Ann's Crafts, asking if I was interested. It's been so amazing to be back in school after 10 years--those T/Th outings have really shaped my week. And I'm going to miss our little crowd of theatrical types and their various quirks. I'm going to miss discussing Shakespeare and Ibsen and Strindberg, reading together, commenting on each others' monologues and collaborating on scenes. I'm going to miss Lisa, who is moving to San Francisco, and mostly I'm just going to miss the camaraderie of the classroom. What can I say--I'm a sucker for school. And yes, I'm considering taking another class in the fall. Maybe Mime. Or Musical Theater.

On to the next adventure.