yo mama

Saturday was the International Yo-Yo Open and New York State Yo-Yo Contest, so kids and I were up bright and early to head into the city. The event was held at the South Street Seaport, which was a perfect place to spend this beautiful summer day, on the waterfront with skyscrapers behind us and tall ships all around.

Yo-yo competitors were there from around the world, doing some of the most amazing tricks. If you haven't seen what yoyoing is lately and still think it's either up-and-down or walking the dog, take a look at this video for an example of the kinds of tricks we saw. Radical!

It was kind of crowded with a few hundred spectators to the front of the stage area, so I parked myself in a good spot off to the side, where I could still see the performances, and took advantage of some knitting time in the sunshine. Between the train rides and the yo-yo time, I'm now 1/3 of the way through my lace ribbon scarf -- yay! I was joined by Cindy, the dyer of Apple Laine yarns and mother of Devon, Canadian yo-yo champion, while waiting for his turn to compete.

We walked along the waterfront, checking out the Brooklyn Bridge and two of the New York City Waterfalls.

Eventually made our way to Playing The Building at the Battery Maritime Building, where David Byrne from the Talking Heads has rigged up an old organ so each key actually plays a part of the big empty building -- tinking a radiator, vibrating a metal beam, blowing air through a plumbing pipe.

Back to Connecticut on the train in time for yet another Shakespeare performance. This time, it was Much Ado About Nothing, with a Flower Power twist. Leonardo daVinci from Kathleen Krull's Giants of Science series, book on CD borrowed from the library, provided entertainment during the car rides. I saw a rainbow while on the way home on Friday afternoon and a shooting star on the way home on Saturday night, perfect bookends to an awesome day.

Met up with some friends at the farmers' market on Sunday morning for a corn roast and contra dancing. By Sunday evening, we were all toast and the threat of rain would likely cancel the performance we were hoping to see that night, so we settled in for a movie and some mitten knitting. I was happy to get back to work on Monday so I could rest. :-) Who knew those first yo-yos from the kids' Grammy last Christmas would lead us to such fun?!