CELINE et al....

In spite of the lousy reviews you might have read, the Celine concert was AMAZING. If you are a Celine fan, then all the negative comments you read about her being schmaltzy or geeky or whatever can just be ignored. She IS all that, and it's adorable! I tried to take some pictures, but wasn't very successful...

The stage was wonderful -- she (and the dancers and back-up singers) mostly stayed on the outside square, while the band was in the centre -- and the centre part moved up and down as needed. So we had a view of her at all times! She would 'disappear' into that center square whenever she went for a quick change... and you can see in the picture that the stage had 'wings' right out into the audience, as well.


And when she had her back to us or was facing the other side of the audience, we could always see her on the big screen which was right above us.

Anyway, she sang for about an hour and 15 minutes, most of her best songs (Power of Love, I'm Your Lady, Drove All Night, Because You Love Me, etc.) and her final encore was, of course, the theme from 'Titanic.'

The only negative thing I've ever said about her is that she has a weird fashion sense -- but who really cares, when she can sing like that??

Anyway, it was a wonderful concert, and my husband didn't drool, try to rush the stage, yell out his undying adoration, or any of the other things I thought he might do to make a total fool of himself! lol

We spent the night at the YWCA Hotel (it's perfect ... two blocks away from the concert, affordable, clean and comfy, AND I always know I'm contributing to programs for women when I stay there). On Tuesday afternoon after we checked in, Michael decided to have a little nap, so I took my knitting down to the lobby, where there's a great little expresso (latte) bar. I'd no sooner curled up on the couch with my knitting needles than a woman came over to me asking to see what I was knitting! She was on staff there, and immediately went in to her office to bring her Noro socks to show me... (another lousy picture!)

... and then printed me off the pattern from her computer. I LOVE that knitting in public is such a great magnet!

The morning after the concert I had to go find one of Vancouver's best LYS's... a place called Three Bags Full, and it was lovely. Sivia Harding works there part time and I was hoping to see her, but it was her day off. You'll be proud of my restraint ... I only bought two skeins of Fiddlesticks Knitting 'Zephyr', a merino and silk laceweight blend, and, of course, a skein of Noro to make those socks! (Pics of that and other assorted knitting tomorrow... my camera battery is getting recharged as we speak).

Then we drove along the waterfront in Vancouver's West End ... one of our favorite spots.





I'm wearing a little lacey cowl I whipped up on the ferry on the way over ...

(Lion brand 'Suede' in navy blue; cast on 18 stitches on 12 mm needles. k1, yo, k2tog across the row, k the last stitch. Repeat that row until the thing is 20" long -- about 20 minutes of knitting, I think! Cast off, turn it a half twist and sew it together. Voila -- a 'moebius' cowl!)

Made it onto the 3 pm ferry, and we were home by supper time.