valentines

Happy Valentine's Day! This morning, I gave Jeff a card I had bought in a London shop. He looked pretty cute this morning when he got up...his hair sticking up all over the place; I'd have taken a picture if I knew he wouldn't kill for me for it later. He was pretty patient with me when I got back home from the UK...I was pretty jetlagged and incoherent as I rambled on about what a wonderful time I had and all the great people I had met and how much I missed them (this after being away from him for nine days! my only excuse is that I WAS pretty jetlagged).

Mike Whitaker posted yesterday in Blatherchat saying, "We... that is, Anne and Lawrence and Decandent Dave and I... saved you some dessert. Well, we would have but the white and dark chocolate mousse Anne made for lunch today was just too tempting." See It *was* a very nice chocolate mousse...

:-D You guys are too cruel! That mousse looked wonderful!!!!!! I wrote Simon today and asked him to give Dave a huge hug from me (Dave's visiting with him and Talis right now, I believe), but now I've passed on another message to give him instead... >;-D

It was good to see Annie and Sara at my sister's last night. After dinner, Ruth, Annie, Sara, and I donned our dancing costumes (mine consisted of a pink tutu stuck on my head) and danced wildly in the living room to the recording of Aqua's "Barbie Girl" that I made ages ago for Sara. Annie and Sara are wild for it, horrifyingly enough (picture a 3-year-old yelling, "Wrapped in plastic, it's fantastic!"). Annie put on her Jessie costume (consisting of a summer hat and her rubber boots) and Sara wore her Snow White dress from Hallowe'en. At some point, Jeff and Kaarel came out to observe us in amusement until Sara and Annie grabbed their hands and dragged them onto the "dance floor", haha. Serves them right for laughing at us.

I brought some Clotted Cream Fudge for dessert; Annie and Sara inhaled them within a matter of seconds.

UK Trip Highlight(s) Du Jour

Lissa's homemade chocolate brownies. She brought some to the airport to share around...yum! I can see why they're legendary. I'm also floored that amidst all the chaos of visitors and sightseeing and recovering from the convention, she actually found time to bake. (!) I love Phil's and Lissa's kitchen, by the way...very cool layout with a stunning view.

The German hand jive. Some of the Germans taught me this over the weekend, and it's way fun; feel free to ask at OVFF, and I'll show you. During one part of our concert (our encore? "Gone Filkin'" by Tom Jeffers? can't remember), I noticed Anne Whitaker at the back of the room doing the German hand jive. I immediately dropped my tambourine (Lissa's tambourine, actually...thanks, Lissa) and followed her lead. Within seconds, nearly the entire room was copying me!!! Very cool to see that...the UK filk audiences are unbelieveably enthusiastic about everything :-). I'd love to know the origin of the German hand jive thing, if any of you UK types know.

Meeting Teddy. For those of you who aren't familiar with Teddy...he is one of the best-known personalities in the UK filk community, much beloved. His outfits (which he makes himself, I believe...he's a talented costumer) are wonderfully happy and bright. VERY bright. :-) My first meeting with Teddy occurred on the first night of the convention, whilst seated with a bunch of others around a low coffee table. When Teddy arrived, I couldn't reach him to shake his hand. Most others would have just nodded and waved politely from across the table, but not Teddy...without hesitation, he dropped to his knees, crawled beneath the table, then reached up to shake my hand from his prone position. :-D Teddy promises to send me a picture for my Geeky School Photo Page soon.