I didn’t do my normal 7QT post because I’m doing a ‘staycation’ and I didn’t really have anything to write about, so I thought I’d check in on Monday and give you more of a bits and pieces/notebook on a Monday.

(Staycation-staying in my house….but doing things I enjoy along with things that need done, and mostly staying off SM!)

• I love Vermeer, so this story which goes in-depth into the painter’s “View of Delft” was a fun read for me. Scientists figuring out exactly where Vermeer painted the scene from, how cool!

• I took a short break from the Cardigan Project to knit up a really quick shawl, featuring yarn I’d gotten over Memorial Day weekend. It’s very easy —just basic KFB at the beginning of every other row, and all garter stitch. The yarn I’m using, from Frabjous Fibers, is insanely fun and delightful. Ravelry notes here. (Sorry, no picture, but soon!)

• Unlike some folks, I am a huge Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, probably because the first musical I fell in love with was The Phantom of the Opera. So I signed up for the Broadway HD channel on Prime Video, and I finally saw Cats—which, OK, really does not have more than the barest plot, so I was a bit….confused….when I first saw it. Second viewing was better. (And seriously, as a child of the 80s, “Memory” holds a big place in my musical psyche. My grandparents had the sheet music and I remember playing it on their piano many times.)
  
  I also watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (with Donny Osmond, very cute, why don’t more community theaters do this, it’s FABULOUSSS).
  
  I haven’t seen Jesus Christ Superstar onstage (Or in a stadium, as ALW intended), so that’s up next. The channel isn’t all “movie” versions—a lot of them look to be recorded live version or recorded theater versions without an audience (like Cats—this is not the 2019 one!).
  
  And yes, I love the music for Jesus Christ Superstar—I actually first heard it on my parents’ two album recording—all four sides, baby! I dimly remember seeing the film version at my friend Anne’s house when we were freshmen in high school, and since I don’t remember much of it I must not have thought it was that great! But I do love the music.
  
  

• It’s been so hot that cooking has defeated me, but then I remembered a recipe from Magnolia Table Volume 2……Greek Pasta salad. The only think you have to cook is the pasta and it’s served COLD. Heavenly delights! And so good it’s well worth the cost of the book. Farfalle pasta, rice vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, basil….I change the recipe by adding cherry tomatoes cut in half as opposed to the recommended stewed tomatoes, and I add 6 oz of feta, not 4, because in my world more feta is better. It’s SO GOOD. And it serves so many, you can eat it for lunch for a week if you’re a singleton like me (not even kidding.).
  
  

• From my sketchbook….I saw the Canticle of Zechariah antiphon for the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and then had to sketch it. This is one of the view times I’d done direct watercolor and I really like how it turned out!

And congratulations, Princess Beatrice!

Her dress is a vintage Norman Hartnell from the queen’s collection, and the tiara is the Queen Mary Fringe tiara, also on loan from the queen. Only married women can wear tiaras, so that’s one reason for the excitement surrounding the first time a royal bride wears one. That, and seeing all the goodies from the queen’s vault!

More photos here—you can see the dress better in these photos. It’s one the queen wore to the opening of parliament back in the day, and Beatrice has had the Anne of Green Gables-ish puff sleeves added to it. The tiara that she’s wearing is the same one Queen Elizabeth wore on her own wedding day!

(And seriously, why don’t more of the queen’s granddaughters raid her closets?! She must have so many gorgeous vintage dresses in there!)