Having fun already

I collected my sister from the airport yesterday afternoon and she immediately started catching me up on things in her family - much to tell! We fed her a nice dinner, using the fancy china, crystal & sterling, though we warned her that "after tonight, it's back to the everyday stuff." We regaled her with stories of our Williamsburg weekend, we laughed at the kid stories she told, and she & I stayed up to watch a movie while TW went to bed. (After all, he had to work today.) We only managed half the movie before sending our tired selves to bed, but we still have the rest of the movie to look forward to.

One of the things that will make this a lot of fun is that, like me, she likes to quote appropriate song lyrics, and since we know a lot of the same songs, well, pity my poor husband! :D

Right now we're enjoying the process of deciding what sightseeing is best for a completely overcast, threatening-rain day...

Beautiful day in the neighborhood

The weather was very close to perfect when we got home on Sunday so I decided it was high time we finally put the screen in the storm door, never mind that we'll want to put the glass back in another month or so. I'm so glad we did! We've had the windows open even during the day (with the window stops or "burglar buttons" in place, of course) and opened the front & back doors when we got home from work. It's been lovely, despite the car alarms, barking dogs and the rest. I can't do this in spring, so I'm that much more delighted when we can do it in late summer or in the autumn. I just hope some of this lovely weather sticks around for my sister's visit - she arrives tomorrow.

My "inner milliner" is happy

Couldn't resist; bought a shallow-crowned, wide-brimmed straw hat at Williamsburg when I found a shop that sold 'em untrimmed ($18.95, vice $45.95 and up for decorated ones) as well as a cap to go under it. As I told the cashier, I'm bound to be in some show or other for which it will come in handy.

Mom reminded me that it was her paternal grandmother who was the milliner; did the hats for the ladies in the wedding party when Mom's parents got married. I'm sure she'd approve, though I don't know whether she'd admire my restraint at not buying the untrimmed felt hat as well, or smile knowingly at my reasoning that "I'll buy it on our next visit."

More proof that I married a good one

We were in Williamsburg this weekend w/ my folks (who are there for a week in a time share). Saturday we went to Colonial Williamsburg and got a wheelchair for Dad, whose balance is still just iffy enough and whose leg is just unreliable enough that we didn't want to take any chances with the uneven surfaces and all the walking. Dad's new shoulder is still recovering and is still under doctor's orders not even to consider trying to wheel himself lest he tear something. My huge-hearted husband did the bulk of the chair pushing - if Mom tried to "get behind the wheel", TW would politely but firmly take over. He didn't get to see much as a result, and had to coax that chair over brick sidewalks and up and down hills (fortunately neither too long nor too steep). He did this with nary a word of complaint, though Mom did manage to get in some time "behind the wheel", and he didn't protest when I "drove" Dad from our last stop back to the shuttle. Poor guy - he slept long and well last night but is still tired today.

He & I will definitely be going back on our own sometime in the next year so he can actually go in and see all the exhibits he's interested in, not just one or two.

Is fate picking on women?

My prayer list is loading up fast, and most of the new names are women: one friend's mother has breast cancer, another friend's mother has a brain tumor, a female friend is going thru some personally & professionally very trying times at the moment, another had gall bladder surgery last month (her 3rd surgery in as many years), and one up and died, leaving her husband a widower again (poor man has now buried 2 wives). Yes, she'd had serious health problems for years, but still...

Not that the men have it all that easy - a neighbor of ours at the cabin was diagnosed w/ Parkinson's in his early 40s, there's my friend who's a widower again, the friend whose mother has the brain tumor.

On the other hand, I learned last night that a Birdie alumnus, who's a struggling grad student (or is that redundant?), just landed an absolutely perfect job. The job is with a non-profit, making a difference in the educational lives of disadvantaged children. He'll be doing exactly what he wants to do with his PhD, but before he has the degree. Better, he can use the database he'll create as his dissertation. Best of all, he'll be getting a salary that is a better than living wage, with full health benefits and a retirement plan! This is a huge burden off his shoulders; I'm delighted he was able to land a dream job that pays 2 or 3 times what he expected to get.

Music - current and potential projects

Went to buy some music yesterday - 30 Songs for Voice & Piano by Faure, to work on in my voice lessons, plus an oratorio anthology and a big, fat book of Cole Porter songs. We had already decided that I'd get the Faure to find a French piece to work on, since that's a language I'm comfortable with, and I love Faure's music. I'll also take the oratorio book to my lesson this week to see if my teacher thinks there's something in there I'm ready to work on. The Cole Porter is just because I like that stuff and want to have the music handy, just in case. I was tempted to pick up some Irving Berlin or Rodgers & Hammerstein too, but figured I needed to leave something unbought. That will give me an excuse to make another trip, as well as making the purchases more manageable. After all, with each anthology running an average of $20, it's all too easy to run up a very big bill indeed.

Now I'm really looking forward to this week's lesson...

Housework; sigh

Spent the day doing the domestic diva thing, mostly laundry - seven loads, including the bedding off both beds (2 duvet covers and 1 blanket included), all the bath and dish towels, and even the tub mat, shower curtain and liner from one bathroom. Almost none of this stuff is folded yet, but at least it's all clean, not to mention that the shower curtain is ironed (it's cotton - I had to iron it) and back in place, clean sheets on our bed, clean towels in the bathroom, and so on. I also made a huge bowl of salad and "containerized" it for lunches for the next coupla days so we can have healthy lunches that don't cost money better spent on costumes or power tools. ;-)

I'm tired & achy from make so many trips down to the basement, but feeling virtuous. (Now to get all this laundry folded and off the sorting table, um, living room couch...)

G&S marathon

How was it? Exhausting but worth the sleep deprivation. Plenty of high points, starting with opening the weekend with a rousing chorus of "Hail, Poetry". All those voices - thrilling! And then, several wags following it with "Play ball!" :D Well, it is the de facto anthem of so very many G&S fans. ;-)

Got to hear some wonderful voices ("Sweet & Low", from Utopia, Ltd, was another high point), see some great cut-ups, sing Hail, Poetry as Ruth with a good-sized chorus behind me making the stage fairly vibrate, sing alongside some fun people, reconnect with some out-of-town friends and make new ones. Not enough time to visit with everyone I would have liked to, but at least we were in the same room for much of the weekend.

Singing Grand Duke was fun - our principals did us proud. I found it a bit boring sitting on the risers waiting for the chorus' next entrance, but of course that wouldn't be an issue with a staged production. Still not sure whether I'd want to do Duke again, but if I do, it had better be an edited version; that's one G&S that's ripe for some judicious pruning.

Electile dysfunction

Every 4 years I have this problem - I get so fed up w/ the bloviage, mud-slinging and obfuscation that I pretty much tune out all the campaigning until mid-October. So when a friend sent me this today, I just had to share it:

Electile Dysfunction: The inability to become aroused over any of the choices
for President put forth by either party during an election year.

Are you ready for the End Times?

Although K & I met through community productions of G&S, we never actually did a show together. The closest we ever came was when she teched a show I was in, or I once loaned several sets of finger cymbals and a tambourine to a production of Patience that she was in. Apparently we look just enough alike that at least one friend thought at first that we were the same person. :D (He once complimented her on "her" performance in a show that I was in; she had to sit it out.) As a result, we used to joke that we were matter and anti-matter; should we ever manage to appear on stage together, it would be the end of the world.

Well, K was in town for the G&S Sing-Out this weekend. She mostly sat in the audience drinking in the music or hung out in the lobby getting caught up with friends she hadn't seen since she moved out of the area years ago. But yesterday morning, before she had to leave to go back, she & I sat on stage, together, singing the Yeomen of the Guard choruses from a shared score. We even have pictures documenting this momentous occasion.

So it's happened - we have now sung on stage together! You'd better make sure your will is current and the rest of your affairs are in order, as the end of the world is just around the corner.