Spin Me a Fish Tale

The spinning retreat is history and my wheel is set up once more in my craft room.  I unpacked the last of the fiber samples today, put the extra bobbins back in their spot, and should have all of my needles reorganized soon.  There's always a certain hint of sadness when I return from a retreat like this.  I miss the camaraderie of fellow knitters and/or spinners.

I probably won't spin a lot of these fibers again simply because I tend to purchase 4 oz. packages of dyed and prepared fiber.  I think I have "fiber ADD" in that I get bored very easily when I'm spinning and 4 oz. of spinning one colorway is about all I can handle before I'm ready to move on to the next color combination.  It IS a good feeling, though, to know that I CAN flick locks or card wool or comb it if I have to.  I know how to do those things and, should the need arise, I can prepare and spin fiber in less processed forms.

Saturday afternoon I left the retreat and headed straight over to our church for the dress rehearsal of our children's musical.  That's me, the old overgrown "kid" in the middle.  Despite being exhausted from 4 days of knitting, spinning, and not enough sleep, I managed to get through my scenes.

We gave two performances of "Fish Tales" on Sunday and the congregation in each of the services seemed to enjoy it.

I had a sore throat but only had one choking spell (unfortunately in a scene where I had lots of lines).  Since there was no good spot to turn off my mike, I just hacked away and then made some comment about having a fish caught in my throat.  Groan!

Speaking of fish, we only had one little mishap when one of the children was supposed to pull a fish out of the "pond" attached to her fishing line.  The fish came up fine but then fell off her hook down below the stage.  She looked at me with big eyes because the next few lines were all about admiring the fish.  Not to worry.....I handed her a fishing net and suggested that the kids try to "net" the fish.  Luckily the little magnet on the end of her line snared the fish yet again.  I didn't dare try to get down on my stomach and try to reach the fish myself because it would have taken half the cast to get me back on my feet again, I'm sure.

I even got to do a kazoo solo and let me tell you, I was sweating it about that.  I never knew that playing a kazoo could be so challenging.  I couldn't get a buzz out of that thing initially but eventually I got the hang of it.  I swear that kazoos were round, white things back when I was a kid.  Maybe there is a different technique to the ones today.

I managed to do most of the choreography for the songs and remembered most of the words to the choruses although I did get a little freaked out at one point when the girls faded out on me and I was practically singing a solo - on a section that I didn't know all that well.  Here I thought that I'd just lip synch through the parts that I didn't know very well and let the kids do the singing in the spots where I was shaky.  Not to be, eh?

The kids who had the speaking parts did great.  They got their lines down pat and also did a great job on their solos.  All in all, I had a lot of fun being back on stage.  Now I just have to get through one more performance at a retirement community and then we can put "Fish Tales" to bed.