Today was mostly spent tidying and sending things away. Folks from various corners of Portland came and picked up various things, slowly creating more space in the house.

I also made snowcream tonight with the snow I saved in the freezer. Snowcream, for those of you who didn’t grow up with it, consists of a bowl of snow, evaporated milk, sugar and vanilla. When I called Dad to ask him for the recipe, he said that you just mix those things together until it tastes right.

sigh

So that’s what I did. Mmmm… snow cream. Rob was not impressed, but I think Christina appreciated it. I grew up thinking that everyone made snow cream, then thinking that it was a Southern thing. And now I’m beginning to suspect that it’s a very localized thing. Like, maybe just Tennessee. Have you ever had it?

This is the last of these re-run posts. The Rabbits, Carrots and Whales tour was very short, but I used to tour nine months out of the year. I don’t do that anymore. At least, not the same way, but it does seem like I’m gone an awful lot.

This is the last day of tour! We had the best support that we’ve had at schools the entire tour. The cultural arts representative brought us juice and warm muffins. The kids were great. The choir teacher helped us pack up when we were done. It was the perfect end to the tour. Sungura even stayed in one piece. Although in a moment of irony, as we were packing Joe accidentally stepped on the Little Brer Rabbit puppet he made during rehearsals, and broke the rod. But that was our only casualty

Then we drove home. Seattle has really nasty traffic.

Thanks for joining us on tour.

If you’re a Tolkien fan and live in the Portland are, head over to McMenamins’ Kennedy School for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Birthday Bash.

Saturday, January 20
J.R.R. TOLKIEN BIRTHDAY BASH
With jugglers, live music by the Scraff Orser Band, the entire LOTR trilogy
and more! Come in costume to compete for prizes!
11 a.m. ’til close; music at 7 p.m. | Free | All ages welcome

Ever been to a J.R.R. Tolkien tribute party? Yeah, we didn’t think so (unless you came last year, or the year before that…). Celebrate the birthday of Tolkien by coming dressed as your favorite Hobbit, elf, wizard or other character from one of his amazing novels. We’ll have Hobbit-inspired food specials, the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy in the Theater, a performance by Willamette Radio Workshop and much more.

WRW will be doing The Hobbit’s Greatest Hits at 2:00. Don’t miss out.