Corncobs & Russian Gowns

Friday, February 4, 2005

And thus it was time, once again, for a road trip, brief as it was. Within that very hour, they would be leaving to pick up Carrie-Bri and Eve from home. There would be few snacks but a clump of fresh grapes (which OLeif had only used part of in his chicken salad the night before). And then they would finally be headed to Chicago and Wheaton to see the school of Paige’s dreams. There would be stories and laughing and scheming once again, after a month of absence. And the Moss’ from Australia that night… it hoped to be a good day.

In the meantime, Collette hoped the weather promised not to be too very cold. The morning before, the radio had woken her with the proclamation of there being “freezing fog” in the area, and true enough, it was.

At work, the patio was covered with what appeared to be flat ice pansies, sparkling hard under the sun. And all the vehicles had to be scraped once again. This time, a library card would hardly do to take off the ice. But the spatula just used for an omelet the night before, served well.

At home the night before, there had been preparations for the upcoming spring events. For the youth fund raiser – the “Buckaroo Café & Auction” to take place in the massive barn out back on the church property.

Joe was going to dress up as a corncob for one part, if possible. Rose’s idea was to find a large corn on the cob costume for him to wear. Upon the announcement of fresh corn on the cob being served at the café, Joe would come running across the stage, thus dressed, disappear, and come crashing across the room being chased, screaming for his life, run toward the back, and gloriously trip and fall over in his obnoxious costume. It promised to be good fun, if there was any possibility they could actually find an adult corn cob costume.

Meanwhile, for the madrigal dinner, Carrie was busy fashioning a hat of leprechaun green for Joe (to match the leprechaun shoes from Grandma). For Rose, she slipped a cream-colored silk top with rouching under Collette’s old Russian court ball gown of cream and ghosts of sparkling gold roses. She would wear a gold medieval cross on a chain – the very same Carrie wore at the first madrigal dinner four years before. It all appeared to be coming along well.