And it was a triumph, by jingo.....a triumph! 

Last year I mentioned that Meredith and Margaret take ballet lessons at Margo Dean's, an institution here in Fort Worth.  I believe I may legitimately refer to it as a bona fide "institution" seeing as how it's where I took ballet when I was a little girl, so that indicates longevity right there.  Mom pointed out that the recitals had certainly improved over the years, as when Jeanne and I were taking ballet lessons, the performances were nothing like this.  (Actually, I don't recall being in ballet recitals at all.)  Not so elaborate when Elaine was taking lessons there, either.

But nowadays the ballet school has gone uptown with a vengence, holding the performances at the William Scott Edrington Theatre, with pay-for tickets and programs.

It was certainly a pity the recital was set for this particular weekend, seeing as how it was also Mayfest weekend, meaning parking was hideous.  It was so hideous that it held up the start of the performance, as the lack of somewhere to park their parents' car made some of the participants late.  However, eventually everyone was in place and the show began.

This is wildly out of order, as that's at the end, but I just wanted to give an overview of the primary cast and the set.  The girls were fairies (Margaret) and bluebirds (Meredith); here's a fuzzy shot of Margaret onstage, leading the way off:

Since we couldn't use flash, and my camera hates it when it cannot use the flash and gets its revenge by producing blurry photos, this was the best I could manage.  Tiresome camera!  Here are my poppets after their performance:

I would love to be able to say those floral tributes were from me, but they weren't.  Truth is, even though it's been on my calendar(s) for ages, and I'd been happily anticipating going to the recital, I plumb forgot about it yesterday and would have missed it were it not for Elaine calling me forty minutes before it was scheduled to start.    There simply was no time to stop and get flowers, I fear, and - as I feared - their absence was noted by one of the girls.  I pointed out I was the videographer, as I was the only one with a camera in our group.  That oughta count for something, right?

And being videographer, here it is....the performances of Margaret and Meredith.  You'll note that they were each superior in their respective groups.  Also, during Margaret's turn onstage, I eventually zoom out so as to capture the little girl inspiring chuckles from the audience, as she abandoned dancing in favor of standing, grinning and waving. 

I know in theory how to change a tire but wouldn't dream of trying to actually do such a thing, and ditto for changing the oil, but by jingo, when something goes amiss with the car, Dan wades right in, identifying the problem and working out how to mend it. 

He changes radiators, for pity's sake. 

After getting the new radiator on, naturally a leak or two sprang up elsewhere.  Isn't that always the way?    That was Friday night, when Don finally couldn't stand it and headed to Lowe's to buy a proper light, as Dan and Joe had been using an ordinary flashlight as their light source.  AAMOF, until I took a flashlight out to them, Joe had been shining a penlight on wherever it was Dan was working. 

Yesterday afternoon, after having finally packing it in about midnight, Dan asked if I'd take him to Pep Boys, as we don't have the tools he needed to do whatever it is he figured he needed to do to stop the current leak.  Though Dmitry is as deedy with such matters as I, he went along, and at times tried to look as if he had a clue what was going on:

After deciding on the tools, Dan and Joe assumed the position they'd already spent untold hours in:

It's not perfect - hey, it's a car, right? - as there's still a few drops of something leaking, and the mysterious behavior of the RPM's, but it's drivable, so at long last off they went to visit their friend, Viktor, at his new job at Whataburger:

I think Dan ought to give serious thought to formally training as a mechanic.  If he can manage to put on new tail pipes, radiators, and who knows what all by guess and by golly, imagine how skilled he'd be were he to be trained!

And heaven knows it's not as if America is overrun with skilled mechanics. 

I bought the latest issue of Paula Deen's magazine, and in it I learned that Next FoodNetwork Star begins on June 1st.  

Can't wait! 

And I can prove it:

A 21 year old man from Crowley, Charles Ray Fuller, tried to cash a check  -  drawn on his girlfriend's mother's account  -  for $360,000,000,000.  It was made out to "Fulla Comp and Entertainment", presumably the name of the record company he said he wanted to start. 

That's three hundred and sixty BILLION dollars.  

The Sultan of Brunei probably doesn't have $360B sitting in his checking account. 

I must say it's refreshing to come across someone who didn't fall foul of the most common error by those seeking to start a business, which is underestimating how much money it'll take.  On the contrary, he could start a new nation with that much money. 

What a poltroon. 

From an article at CNN.com on how to prevent bacterial infections in hospitals and doctors' offices came this pertinent suggestion:

That makes scads of sense, and I'm sitting here utterly dumbfounded that it never once occurred to me during all those years of hauling various children to the doctor's office. 

It's an excellent, excellent article and I encourage everyone to read it.  Better safe than sorry!