Deer in the Headlights

On the far left, Ben totes a marching marimba. He was surprised to see me in the area where the parade was forming, hence the startle reflex. I found a spot that allowed me to sit in the car and read my magazine after taking this picture. I've seen enough of the local Christmas parades. They are long on old people in old cars, and pretty young girls freezing to death while perched on the top of the back seat of convertibles. Then they hurl hard candy at you, hard. It hurts. I am too old to think it is fun. And OMG, the traffic. They come from miles around to see this parade -- the population quadruples for a couple of hours. I don't get it.

Fortunately, it is still fun for Ben. He was so enthusiastic about carrying the marimba for this occasion that he practiced by marching a mile yesterday while carrying the marimba on his front side and his 50 pound backpack on his back. He thought it would toughen him up for the parade this evening. I guess it worked. He said the march tonight was much easier than yesterday's drill.

And speaking of drills, the driving lessons are going well. We go out every day and he is now driving on the road, he's mastered the route to and from school, is gaining confidence, and I'm unclenching a little.


Here's a table runner I made from fabric left over from another larger project. I'm calling this piece "Stars Over Ozark" and it is going to be a prize awarded to the person who sells the most raffle tickets for the quilt (Stars Over Mozambique) I donated to the church as a fundraiser for the Mozambique mission project.