I do want to get my impressions up of CVCA’s senior trip, but first things first! Here are my three cats:
Bocca (the big tiger cat), Emma (the white cat – her real name is Enigma), and Macska (the long hair).

So, I was out doing my usual Saturday errands, and I saw that Maize Valley Farm
(of the Halloween Maze fun) was having a Celtic festival today. Being
rather into that sort of thing, I stopped for a little over an hour.
The festival was very small – 4 vendor booths, 2 stages, and one
athletic field where grown men wearing kilts were hurling very heavy
objects. The music was okay (the bagpipes were fun), but mostly I was
enjoying the small-festival nature of the event. These were not
world-class musicians or athletes; they were just people who like all
things Celtic (except, hopefully, haggis). This made me quite happy.

As you can see from the photo, I decided to get a (temporary) tattoo
(largely inspired by Caribbeaner’s pirate tattoo from a few years back,
and my love of the Celtic cross). This raises an interesting question:
can CVCA fire me for getting a visible temporary tattoo of an ancient
Christian symbol?

*whew* The female mriordan was in charge of putting on CVCA’s
Junior-Senior Banquet this year, and it went off well. It was a very
lovely evening. It is fun to see the kids get dressed up – they do it
very well. I’m mad at myself that I did not get any good photos of the
students – they all came out blurry or dark.

Prom also gives me the chance to get dressed up. Luckily, someone else
who has some talent also had a camera, so a decent photo of mriordan
squared exists.

I have to admit that any romantic airs of the evening were canceled by
being part of the official set up and tear down crew. You can only get
so romantic when you drive to prom in separate cars, and I showed up in
shorts and a t-shirt so I could move heavy audio equipment into the
building. Still, it was a very nice evening, even with the inelegant
arrival for us.

It was also much fun to see Julie Claypool again. She and Mr. Myers
were showing off their finery as well, and it added nicely to the
festivities. Meredith and I did not get to see as much of Julie as we
could have hoped for (what with having to run things and all), but it
is good to see Julie when she is in town.

I liked Greystone hall as a venue. The setup was elegant, and the
staircase added much to the effect. The steel drum band that played for
2 hours was WONDERFUL, and as happens with all cool music, it  made me wish I had and
could play the instrument (in this case a steel drum). The music made the evening light and fun.

The food was great. I had chicken, and the company at the chaperone
table was much fun. Being someone who gets very excited over desert, I
was a little sad to see desert was small bars of various cookies and
brownies, but they were still tasty.

Mr. Myers’ senior video was again well received, and although he
downplays the importance of the video, it is a real (reel?) highlight
of the evening.

On the whole, the evening was a great success. The music and atmosphere
were fun, the kids looked great, and everyone behaved well.

I’m just glad that Meredith will not have to be in charge again!

For those who have asked (that would be Julie), here is my pizza
recipe. Note that I am an organic cook (not in the natural food sense)
who deals in measurements that start with “about.”

Warm up 2 – 2 1/2 cups of water in the microwave, to a very warm bath temp (about 80 seconds on my microwave).

In a large bowl, add 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Add water and mix well. Add some honey if you like. Mix.
Add 1 tablespoon of yeast (I buy it by the jar to save money).
Add 1 cup of King Arthur (employee-owned!) wheat flour.
Add about 2 cups of King Arthur unbleached white flout.
Add about 1/2 container of oregano to the mixture.
Add about 1/4 cup of olive oil (I just guess and pour some in).
Mix well. Add more white flour as needed to get the dough to stick
together. NOTE: The more flour you add, the more it will be like a
traditional pizza (aka, one you can hold to eat). I have found the more
flour you add, the more flavor you lose. I add just enough flour to
make the dough hold together. You can always add more later.

If possible, let dough rise 1 hour.

Get out two cookie sheets and lightly coat them in olive oil.
Split dough into two equal lumps (add more flour if it is too sticky).
Put one half on each pan and roll out (add a dusting of flour if the
rolling pin sticks).
Lightly coat each pizza shell with olive oil.
Lightly dust each pizza with ground red pepper.
Add pizza sauce (14-16 oz. should do).
Add cheese (I use finely shredded mozzarella, 2 8-oz. packages – you may need a third depending on the pizza size).
If possible, let pizzas rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to about 425 degrees. Bake pizzas for about 10 minutes. Check pizzas often after 10 minutes. Allow cheese to brown.

These pizzas will probably need to violate pizza etiquette and be eaten with a fork. Enjoy!