Cross Blogging

Just received notice that this great new blog in MA (my former habitat) posted an article on me. Thanks, Marcia! What a wonderful thing to come home to.

Just got back from a great great few days in Asheville, NC, (a few pics coming soon) with my mom and I'm getting ready for a birthday party this evening for Bernard Kaiman, the nearly 90-year-old force of nature in international folk and Scottish country dance in this region.

Work, as you might imagine, is still taking a backseat until tomorrow, when I will plunge in up to my elbows and wallow in fiber! Mmmmm, lovely!

Dancing School in the Basement

I love the name Dancing Threads Studio. It captures the dynamic nature of my materials, is a little "in" reminder of my passion for international folk dancing, and it's a link to my friend and fellow dancer Pascale, whose Irish tapestry studio also is called Dancing Threads Studio.

However . . .

I've been getting all my ducks in a row so I can teach classes in the studio beginning in Feb. 2009. Created a nifty class catalog and everything. Excellent.

I procrastinated a little (not as excellent) but still was doing things in good time. Getting a little excited . . .

Until . . .

In addition to the business license forms for my city and county I had to send in a "Home Use for Occupation" form. I read the regulations in question to make sure my activities wouldn't cause a problem, filled out the form, and sent it in.

A couple of days later I received a call. The concerned and apologetic voice on the other end regretfully informed me that it would be impossible for me to run a gallery and a dancing school out of my home.

Uh?

Referring to the brief (owing to the amount of space provided) paragraph where I described my business on the form I assured the concerned person on the other end of the line that I would operate neither a gallery nor a dancing school. I explained that mostly I'd hang out by myself making art but that I occasionally wanted to offer a class, which would never start before 10 a.m. or last past 9 p.m.

Oops! TMI

Mr. Concerned said all business activities had to take place between dawn and dusk. Referring to the regulations, I noted that they specified 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Mr. Concerned said, well, that might be all right, but I really couldn't have a school of any sort in the basement because they just couldn't have loads of people just invading the neighborhood all the time.

Seriously? How big did he think my studio was?

Perhaps sensing the fact that my head was spinning, he suggested that I speak to someone with a little more authority to straighten things out.

In response to her questions, I explained to Ms. Authority that I planned to have fewer than one class per week, and sometimes (as in summer) whole months might go by without any classes whatsoever. I said class size might be around six students and that several of their cars could be accommodated in our driveway. I reiterated that the threads, not the people, would be dancing and that, for heaven's sake, we were a bunch of quilters and felters--how crazy could it get?

I figure what she doesn't know about us quilters and felters won't hurt. :-)

She asked me to e-mail an expanded description of my business activities with all these points in it. I did, and then I waited.

For three days.

Then I called to follow up. Thankfully they had not rejected my petition--they simply had not received it. Once Ms. Authority received it, however, she quickly approved it and wished me good fortune in my endeavors.

Whew!

So, I'm all official now in TN and studio classes are on for the spring.


My city and county business licenses, my state sales tax form, and . . . my Spring 2009 Class Catalogue! (plus my "Sculpting with the Quilting Stitch" guild flyer and my friend Sharon Ritchie's Tutu Die 4 postcard).

Seat-of-the-pants wrap-up--Part I

I'd love to create a long post about favorite places in the area (Pioneer Valley in Western MA), but that would require heights of organization and planning that I, frankly, am incapable of --aside from plans for our (very) impending move, so I'm going with a much more seat-of-the-pants approach . . .

Today I had lunch at Judie's in Amherst, MA, with my friend Cindy--fellow quilter, fellow dancer, fellow ex-Pittsburgher, fellow office supply junkie, fellow Belchertowner (for a couple more weeks anyhow), and fellow foodie and Judie's devotee.

And while my sister is the queen of photographing beautiful food before digging in, I apparently am the queen of gluttony.

I dove right in to my lovely, velvety bowl of seafood bisque. I excavated all the best bits of my decadent lobster salad and enjoyed them with Judie's scrumptious creamy onion dressing. And . . . well, the key lime pie with creme brule cheesecake top (pure culinary genius) boggled the mind and I savored each bite in between sips of a perfect cappuccino.

Then I remembered I was supposed to be taking pictures. So here's the one photo I did get:
Guess this is why I trained as a journalist, not a photographer.

More as I can . . .

Oh, the joy!

So here's the dancing part of "Dancing Threads"

Last night we went to Balkan Music Night in Concord, MA, and it was amazing! We crept through driving rain for two hours to get there and it was well worth it. First was the concert.

Divi Zheni (Wild Women), an American-based Bulgarian chorus/band conducted by Tatiana Sarbinska. Very theatrical in their presentation.

Hye Fusion, a brilliant American-born trio comprising Malcolm Barsamian (clarinet), Brad Perch (oud), and Charles Dermenjian (darbuka) who played amazing Turkish classical and folk music. All three were consummate musicians.

Baščaršija, a fun Boston-based group that sang Bosnian torch songs with great attitude and style.

Turli Tava, creating down-home Macedonian dance music of the best sort, musical soul food like the stew from which they take their name. Walt "Vlado" Mahovlich, Sašo Dukovski, and Seido Salifoski were great, and the accordian player/vocalist had a beautiful voice.

Then came the dance party to end all dance parties (except for the Zlatne Uste party in NYC, I suppose). One fabulous band after another in both the main dance hall and the kefana.

Speaking of ZU, here they are in the middle of it all, Balkan brass blasting away.

It was a total crush of concentric (sometimes eccentric) circles, loud, excellent music in the semidark (hence the questionable quality of the photos), and a wonderful variety of great food (that almost kept up with demand).

My youngest was pooped when we got there (only half an hour before bedtime) but couldn't help but dance whenever we were in the dance hall. We left long before the 2:30 a.m. closing because we had tired kids and a long drive home, but I am so glad we made a point of taking this last opportunity to go--feeds the soul!