TV behind the scenes

I had sent a press release about the Spring House Walk to the WGN Morning News "Around Town" producer back in mid-February and they agreed to cover it! The only thing bad about morning news is that I had to meet the crew at 7 a.m. Thursday.

It was my second time meeting the segment host, Ana Belaval. She's so much fun. This was the first segment in front of one of the five houses on this year's walk.

This is neat shot of the four-person crew in action.

This is what she was showing - a lighted case that displays the keys to every room in the house, labeled with family member or servant the room belonged to or what the room was called. There are envelopes at the bottom of the case with labels handwritten by the home's original owner.

I had to submit a form describing what we'd feature in each segment and figuring out who would subject themselves to interviews. Fortunately, I was able to work behind the camera (with another House Walk volunteer) let the homeowner and my coworker do the talking.

Oops. Here I am in the background talking to my coworker. A volunteer who was with us was hiding in the bushes.

My coworker being interviewed. She's a natural.

Here's the museum group with the host. I'm excited to see how many people come to the House Walk on Sunday. Ticket sales are going very well (even before the TV coverage - I already had it covered in the two local newspapers) and the weather is expected to be nice with a low chance of spotty showers.

What a lovely graphic that aired with the segments. Guess who designed that?

Thanks, neighbors

Our neighbor, M, stopped by last night to give us some treats in exchange for letting them have packages delivered to our house. It's a homemade onion and cilantro flatbread and an Armenian honey cake.

The flatbread was warm so I had to try it. I tasted more cilantro than onion, but I like both so it's all good. The "kids" are alright.

More spring blooms

We never planted this, but it shows up every spring - Woodland Phlox.

The darker purple flowers are lunaria, the money plants.

And our Bridal Wreath is blooming.

And look at the progress my clematis has made in less than two weeks!

Learning mahjong

Allison hosted a mahjong lesson at her church last night and had a great turnout. She opened it up to the public and it was sold out almost immediately.

I helped her set up and brought homemade cookies, a veggie pizza and wine, oh, yeah, and leftover bread slices.

My charcuterie creation with Allison's ingredients.

Learning the basics.

So deep in thought lol.

After the lesson, each table played a game and, shockingly, I won at my table.

The instructor gave me a little gold duck for my win.

Ten years

Birthday concert

Our friend, L, celebrated her birthday with a house concert by Michelle Malone on Sunday night. She said it was her fifth time hosting the artist and her 40th house concert. Wow.

For dinner L made lasagnas and had people being drinks or sides. We brought a lot of baguette slices (I said two loaves would be plenty; Andy insisted on buying four. I sliced three and there were plenty of leftovers).

Two birthday cakes are better than one, especially when the one is coconut.

That’s a fire

Rather than stuff this dried, decorative grass in yard-waste bags, we had a fire and burned it.

Turned out to be quite the fire.

New ‘do for Lou

L asked me a few days ago if I would have an aneurysm is she got her hair done like this. With Cousin C's wedding coming up I just replied, "Don't." Well, she already checked with C who said it looked cute so with her and W liking it, I was clearly outnumbered. It's even Disney-approved.

So, of course, she got it dyed. This is the "flat" version ...

and the "curled" version. She said she got lots of compliments from guests, coworkers and her leaders. Her exciting news Friday was that she was one of six people with her job chosen to train the next group of incoming coworkers!

I'm glad this is the back, significantly toned down from what she had shown me earlier.

Cat library puzzle

Piper usually doesn't bother my puzzles, but this one must have been particularly interesting.

Ruby prefers puzzles with bigger boxes. This one doesn't quite fit her.

All done with one piece missing.

Parkway tulip

Our second parkway tulip on April 16, getting ready to bloom.

In full bloom Tuesday.