Pink Martini

We were so excited...last night, we got to see & hear Pink Martini in person. They performed with the Richmond Symphony Pops orchestra. Wow, were they GOOD!! We swayed, bobbed our heads, clapped, tapped our toes, and kept from singing along (okay, so I did softly sing along with Sympathique) (and my niece and I softly sang along with Yolanda.) Their new album will be out mid May, can't wait to own it. I was sorry I didn't wait for an autograph but the line was long and they hadn't even appeared in the lobby yet. My niece and I did get t-shirts. I wore mine today and met the woman who sat next to the groupie who'd come down from New York. He was waving his arms to certain songs, and when Chine Forbes offered up some CDs, he was first down to the front....and then many people went forward to the front and danced. How fabulous is that!?

Smithsonian Craft Show

We drove up to DC to see the Smihsonian Craft show. It's really good, really high end, really worth the drive. We bought a ceramic piece that is very cool. The center circle lifts out and is a separate little plate. We loved the way the potter cuts notches in his pieces. Even the little bowl has a tiny notch cut on the underside. The ceramic artist's name is Sang-Joon Park and he's an alumni of Pratt, just like Chuck.

New random art finds

These small works of art keeping showing up. The "jacket" was on Grace St. near Ipanema restaurant and the piece with the text was on Broad St. outside of Art6 Gallery. I love finding these.

Tea time at Carytown Teas

While my old friend Paula was visiting from Connecticut, we decided to have tea at a tea shop. What a wonderful, peaceful time. Patricia, the owner of the shop, made us delicious cucumber sandwiches and provided scones with clotted cream. We ordered two types of tea, a Bulgarian lemon balm and a black tea with ginger. Both were so yummy. You can check out the web site to see the different types of teas Patricia offers at Carytown Teas. Call ahead to make a reservation and have yourself a relaxing tea time. THANKS Patricia! We loved it.

Virginia Tech

There's nothing anyone can say to add to what's already been said. The shooting at Virginia Tech was very tragic. These images are from walking around my neighborhood with my dog this morning.

more of the Vietnamese restaurant

We were seated right under the TV, though there were many empty tables in the place. The cut-out woman with the baby is by a mirror, and if you look closely, you'll see John and Susan and the TV reflected in it. The TV was showing, what I assumed, was a classic Vietnamese mythic tale. The monkey man was very fabulous. The women were beautiful and laughed a lot with high little voices. The pig nosed man was pretty scary looking. Any idea what this story was? The food was very good with large portions, as you can see from two of the dishes we had, and it was very inexpensive. What a treat.

Vietnamese restaurant

Our friends, Susan and John, took us to a tiny Vietnamese restaurant, tucked away behind a busy street. John described it as like being in the guy's house. Also, the owner is an artist. There are almost life-sized painted wood cut-outs of women leaning against the walls. His studio was in a corner behind where we were sitting. None of us had ever seen such an unusual clock! The whole thing was a pendulum. You helped yourself to chop sticks from the container on the table. It was like we were not in Richmond.